What do you see as the rewards and challenges of being a college president today?
I am thankful every day to have assumed the presidency at Wheelock College, an institution whose mission is so closely aligned with the mission of my life. I have already received many great rewards since becoming part of the Wheelock community in July.
There is a tremendous amount of scholarship taking place within our community. Whether it is our faculty leading research in the early childhood and social work fields, our alumni being appointed principals or elected to public office, or our students leading legislative effects here in the Commonwealth, there is a lot of progress being made in improving the lives of children and families. Among our undergraduate students is the Secretary of the National Federation of the Blind, and a student who leads the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ education training on transgender youth. These leaders, among others, illustrate the importance of what we do at Wheelock.
Nothing comes without challenges, and some of the challenges I’ve observed thus far have to do with responding to the ongoing needs of students, keeping up with trends in our fields and changing demographics, and above all, ensuring that we are providing an equitable, accessible, and field-based education for all students.
As part of our diversity and inclusion efforts, Wheelock College recently implemented gender neutral restrooms. This followed an assessment of the needs of our community and research on other institutions. We recently converted all single stall restrooms on the Wheelock campus into gender neutral restrooms. So far we have one multiple-stall gender neutral restroom on campus. Soon in each residence hall, we will have multiple-stall restrooms that are both single-sex and gender neutral to provide options for everyone.
Additionally, in response to changing demographics of college students and the changing face of higher education, Wheelock recently joined numerous other institutions of higher learning as test-optional. We will no longer requite SAT or ACT scores as part of the undergraduate admissions process, beginning with fall 2017 applicants. We hope that this will make a Wheelock education accessible to more students.
Why Wheelock College?
The mission of Wheelock College – improving the lives of children and families – is at its core, the mission of my life. I am humbled to work for this mission in my capacity every day.
There are actually many parallels between the mission of Wheelock, and that of my former school. As Founding Dean of the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development at Southern Methodist University, I was responsible for building programs to respond to specific needs – such as those in teaching, leadership, counseling, and higher education – programs which lend to improving outcomes for students in our ever changing world.
At Wheelock, one of my biggest attractions as an outsider was the Aspire Institute. Aspire is Wheelock’s innovation hub, whose mission is to advance knowledge and solutions in response to social and educational challenges. The Aspire Institute is doing great work, and I want to identify ways to elevate the Aspire Institute in the industry and establish it as a leading educational innovation, research, and evaluation center.
What impact would you like Colleges of the Fenway to have?
The Colleges of the Fenway has proven to be an invaluable resource for our students and for our institution. Students receive the benefits of expanded course offerings by cross-registration with other COF institutions, and they can participate in social and athletic activities with their neighbors. If students are unsure whether they want to choose a college like Wheelock with a specialized mission, or instead go to a larger university with wider offerings, they can get the best of both worlds through Wheelock’s participation in Colleges of the Fenway.
From an institutional perspective, I have already seen first-hand the valuable sharing of resources and information through COF. I have received great advice from my peer presidents and I look forward to continuing work with leaders of COF institutions.
Learn more about Dr. Chard here.