TERRE HAUTE — Students, staff and faculty at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College welcomed their incoming president, David Behrs, with open arms during a reception Tuesday.
“I have to admit, some of us were a little apprehensive about having a male candidate for president,” said Lynn Payne, president of the student senate, during a short welcoming program.
“But with a down-to-earth personality and a real concern for the well-being of the students in and out of the classroom, he quickly won us over.”
On behalf of the campus, she presented his family with gifts — Woods jackets for Behrs and his wife, Maureen, and a Woods blanket for his 14-year-old daughter, Emily.
Behrs is the first-ever lay president, and the first male president of the Woods. The college has a women’s-only, campus-based undergraduate program.
The Woods External Degree program is open to both women and men.
Behrs, the 15th Woods president, will assume the position July 1.
As Behrs, 47, took the podium at the Le Fer Hall ballroom, he thanked the campus community for its warm welcome. “I’m looking forward to working with all of you to realize that vision of moving to the next level — a level of national and international prominence,” he said.
Later, in an interview, he was asked about being the college’s first male, lay president. “It’s a humbling experience,” following in the footsteps of such great leaders as Sister Joan Lescinski and other Woods’ presidents, he said.
The board of trustees, Sisters of Providence and campus believe he can provide the passion, vision and leadership to take the institution “from what is already an outstanding institution to one that I think is world class,” he said.
Achieving the vision will mean working collaboratively with all groups that have a stake in the college, he said.
Describing the college as “a jewel,” he said it has been educating women to assume leadership positions in society for many years.
In the future, he’d like the college to be known nationwide as an outstanding institution that provides a world-class education.
“I can’t see why we can’t go to that next level where we are one of the providers of graduating the next generation of leaders in this country,” he said.
Many nationally prominent women who have leadership positions in government and other areas have been educated at women’s colleges, he said.
Among the priorities when he becomes president will be increasing enrollment, securing outside funding and building the endowment.
He hopes to have a “robust, vigorous” campus visitation program for prospective students. He expects marketing efforts to reach out to such areas as Illinois, Kentucky, St. Louis and the West Coast.
He hopes to internationalize the campus even more, both on campus and through its online degree programs. “We should be able to deliver academic programs all over the world,” he said.
On a more personal note, he and his wife, a first-grade teacher, have started looking for a home in the Terre Haute area, and his daughter, Emily, has visited Vigo County high schools. She will be a sophomore next year.
Another daughter, Beth, is a junior at UCLA.
Current President Joan Lescinski said she has spent many hours talking with Behrs since it was announced he will become her successor.
“I have learned he is an extremely thoughtful person who listens well and thinks before he decides,” Lescinski said. “I am confident that he is exactly the right leader for us to take the college further now into the 21st century.”
Behrs met with a transition committee for the first time on Tuesday.
Behrs currently serves as both the associate provost for university initiatives and vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at Dominican University of California, 12 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. He has more than 22 years of experience in higher education.
Troy Brownfield, president of the Woods faculty assembly, said that when the campus community first met with Behrs, there was very quickly a consensus that he was the right one for the job.
“There was a feeling in the air,” he said.
Hiring Behrs “is a very revolutionary step, in a way, for the college,” Brownfield said. The campus community is filled with optimism about the future with Behrs as its leader, he said.
Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.
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St. Mary-of-the-Woods greets its new leader
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