Conversation not Confrontation
P erhaps you have seen the television commercial that features a middle-aged man wearing lederhosen who grew up thinking he was of Bavarian ancestry only to discover through ancestry.com that he needed to change into a kilt, because he was actually of Scottish descent. The point is that today – with advanced genetic testing and […]
Experience Counts
In early May, international news organizations reported that the Chinese government had canceled a scheduled visit to Hong Kong by the USS Stennis. The Navy supercarrier had been operating in the Asia-Pacific in the midst of ongoing tensions among the nations in the region over Chinese man-made islands in what otherwise would be considered international […]
Growing Gold
Hardy souls still discover places in North Georgia between Lake Allatoona and Lake Lanier, not too far from the Brenau historic campus in Gainesville, where they can grab shovels and sluice pans then follow the red blazes hacked into pine trees on public lands to a nice, fast-running creek to see if they can hit the alluvial lottery. These ancient […]
The Future is not What it Used to Be
When I look back at old newspaper clippings that quoted me, some things bring smiles of personal warmth and satisfaction. Others generate a slight tinge of embarrassment when they reveal today that only a few years ago I may not have been as farsighted as I thought. Don’t bother Googling. I will own up to […]
Why Must Brenau Raise $40 Million Now?
SHORTLY BEFORE my March presentation on financial management to a group of new college and university presidents in Washington, D. C., at the American Council on Education annual meeting, a detailed article appeared in the Washington Post newspaper about the collapse of Sweet Briar, the 109-year-old Virginia women’s college. The seemingly “ripped-from-the-headlines” nature of my talk […]
Practical Art, Practical Science
To help commemorate the university’s 135th anniversary and to celebrate the opening of the new Brenau Downtown Center in Gainesville, planners for this spring’s Brenau Gala developed the theme “The Art & Science of Brenau.” That truly captures the essence of the university. The Brenau Downtown Center represents a nexus of that expression. First, it […]
Does Brenau Need a Women’s College?
For 135 years, an all-female institution has been the heart and soul of what is now Brenau University. Indeed, for 93 years – up until the time trustees changed the institution’s charter to pave the way to multiple coeducational campuses, online degrees, and graduate programs – the Women’s College WAS Brenau. In today’s collection of […]
Higher Ed 101
A continual irritant for me as a university president is reading in a publication like The Wall Street Journal a headline that says something like “Is a Four-year College Degree Really Worth It?” In these pieces some higher education expert (often “self-appointed”) seizes on a bit of data about unemployment rates among recent graduates or anecdotal […]
Low-risk Investment
President’s Message, Winter 2012-13 By the time you read this, one of two scenarios will be playing out: either the United States will have “gone over the fiscal cliff” because government leaders could not agree on a compromise for addressing national budget deficits and soaring national debt; or, we will be learning how to live […]
John Jacobs: The First Man in a Band of Brothers
President’s Message, Fall 2012 I read an historical novel about 15 years ago entitled The First Man in Rome. It accurately and compellingly described the method of civic leadership and governance applied in Rome prior to establishment of Caesar and his descendant line of Emperors. The Roman senate acted as a democratic body, governing the city-state […]
