Last Friday night my wife Adele and I had dinner with a number of students. One of them, an incoming freshmen, asked me, "Just what do you do as president anyway?" It was a good question. In fact, given that I am new to this job, the answer comes into sharper focus daily. Let me try to describe to you how I see my role at Tufts.
For a relatively small university, Tufts is a complicated place - seven schools, four campuses, 8,500 students, thousands of employees, and over 80,000 living alumni. It would be a gross overstatement to say that any one person "runs" the university. Our traditions of collegiality and shared governance between the faculty and administration make the job of a university president quite different from that of the typical CEO.
If I am going to be an effective leader, I need to know Tufts well. I have spent the past few months visiting with faculty, staff, trustees, and students to get their perspective on the challenges we face. Each time I meet with people, I ask them the same question: If you had three wishes to make Tufts a better place, what would they be? Many of these conversations have been quite revealing.
At heart I am a teacher and love interacting with students. I am advising ten freshmen this year together with Dawn Terkla, head of Institutional Research. I am learning a lot both from my freshmen and my peer advisors. Next year I also hope to do some teaching. I enjoy being in a classroom, and I am not ready to give it up.
Probably the most important part of my job is helping to shape University priorities. At any point in time, people have far more good ideas than the University can possibly support. For example, from my conversations with students, I have already learned that many of you believe Tufts would be a better place if we reduced tuition, increased financial aid, built more dormitories, provided more support for large on-campus social events, provided more late night dining opportunities, reduced the size of classes, improved mail services, paid our custodians more - I could go on.
Faculty have their own list of priorities. As your new president, I am spending a lot of my time listening, trying to understand how to make the hard choices that will best strengthen Tufts. Given that we have only one pot of money, we must use it wisely.
Making that pot larger is another major part of my job. Fundraising is more than just asking people for money. Most people give because they want to make a difference. We must sharply articulate a vision for our future and help donors understand how they can help us achieve this vision. I think students can play an important role in this process, especially in communicating to donors our needs in the area of student life. Since many donors want to meet the president, I expect to spend a fair bit of my time on the road.
Helping to build a stronger sense of community and increasing the visibility and reputation of Tufts are other important components of my job. Over the course of the academic year, Adele and I will host some eighty different functions at Gifford House. Many of these events will involve large parts of the student community. For example, on Sept.12 we will host a reception to welcome the senior class back to campus. We will also host dinners for distinguished visitors to Tufts, government officials, trustees, alumni, and other friends of the University. We will also be visiting alumni clubs around the country throughout the year. (I am starting to think that my real title should be "University Stomach" given how many meals I eat on behalf of Tufts. One of the occupational hazards in this job is a growing waistline.)
In addition to the above, there are lots of other things to do - chairing numerous meetings, maintaining good relations with our neighbors in Medford, Somerville, Grafton, and Boston, meeting with various student groups, acting as the primary point of contact between the trustees and the University - on some days the list seems endless.
It is an incredibly interesting and rewarding life, one that brings me into contact with smart and dedicated people on a daily basis. I feel very fortunate to have this wonderful opportunity to serve Tufts.
One of my greatest challenges (and yours as well, I suspect) is to find balance in my life. If I let it, work can easily crowd out time for everything else. I try to run three or four times a week, usually early in the morning. I also like to sail in the summer and ski in the winter. Anyone who wants the ear of the president is welcome to run with me. Just send me an e-mail so we can coordinate schedules.
I run early - usually around 6 a.m. - but my pace is reasonable. Hope to see some of you jogging around campus.
Lawrence S. Bacow is the 12th president of Tufts University.
@jump:Bacow
