Four university presidents reflect on leadership

Four college presidents discuss leadership on the eve of William & Mary's 333rd birthday. From left: W. Taylor Reveley IV, W. Taylor Reveley III, Robert M. Gates and Katherine A. Rowe. Photo by Katie Warner

Higher education may face more challenges than ever, but four college presidents who met on the eve of William & Mary's 333rd birthday said the university is uniquely poised to succeed because of its long-standing commitment to its students.

"I think that is just crucially important to produce genuinely good citizens," said W&M Chancellor Robert M. Gates '65, L.H.D. '98, who was president of Texas A&M University from 2002 to 2006. "It is utterly central, in my judgment, to the future success of our troubled country."

W&M President Katherine A. Rowe moderated the panel discussion among Gates, W. Taylor Reveley III HON '18, LL.D. '18, president emeritus of William & Mary; and his son, W. Taylor Reveley IV, who has been president of Longwood University since 2013.

The occasion, held Feb. 5 in Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall, was part of the university's Charter Day festivities, including the launch of the Year of Civic Leadership, which focuses in part on W&M's role in developing students into leaders who will work in service of the common good.

The conversation sprang from insights found in the recently published book "How College Presidents Succeed: Lessons in Leadership from Three Generations of Reveleys" by Michael Nelson '71.

"The book takes a long view of higher education in Virginia to analyze the capacities of leadership necessary for university presidents in the 21st century. It's required reading, I think, for anyone who's passionate about the topics of leadership and higher education today," Rowe said. "And, very boldly, I promised Taylor III there were going to be lots of book sales."

The book chronicles the lives and leadership principles of a remarkable trifecta of public servants: the Reveleys, three educators with a talent for treating people - even those opposing their initiatives - with respect and dignity. According to Nelson's book, they are the only trio of grandfather, father and son to all serve as college presidents, beginning with the late W. Taylor Reveley II, who presided over Hampden-Sydney College from 1963 to 1977.

A shaggy dog story

Rowe's first question to the Reveleys: How did this book get written?

"Well, it's a bit of a shaggy dog story," Reveley III said. "For 150 years, there have been Walter Taylor Reveleys in Virginia. T2, T3 and T4 all ended up being presidents of schools. We don't know of any other family in Virginia who's done that, so we thought it would be a good idea for us to do an oral history, just for our family."

Nelson, the Fulmer Professor of Political Science at Rhodes College (where Reveley II was once on the faculty) and a senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, agreed to lead their conversations and organize the transcripts into a narrative. "He said it would take three months. It took two-and-a-half years," Reveley III said. Once finished, Reveley III said they decided "there's enough succulent material here for a book and, ultimately, a tome emerged with a picture of William & Mary on its cover."

Gates wrote the foreword. For W&M's 24th chancellor, one of the book's most important takeaways is blunt: Change or die. "Institutions have to adapt," he said. The trick is figuring out "how to preserve and enhance the traditions that make a university great and at the same time, get rid of those things - the barnacles, I call them - that grow on institutions and become obstructions to change."

But to succeed, he said, "change has to be a process that is transparent and inclusive, that brings along all the stakeholders, the faculty, the students and, above all, the alumni."

Reveley IV noted that the president's role with its governing board is vital. "Regular, robust, real communication that goes both ways," he said.

Communication is key

All four presidents agreed that over the course of six decades (and counting) of Reveley presidents, the work has gotten trickier. Gates noted he was president of Texas A&M "before the time of social media. People had email and they used it, but if you're leading an agenda for change, what the president has to be is present. You have to have a consistent message and you have to repeat it over and over and over again in every forum you can. You attend student organization meetings and meet with the faculty senate. Frankly, too many university presidents are invisible, especially to the students, but even often to the faculty."

Another thing that has changed in recent years, Rowe said, is that people are questioning the value of higher education. The panel said it's important to keep reminding people that a liberal arts & sciences education delivers benefits in many different ways. "The value of education is not just preparing people to get a job, it's preparing them for life and to be part of a democracy," Gates said.

Reveley III, who became W&M's 26th president in 2008, emphasized that especially in times of turmoil, one's college experience can provide a stable foundation.

"During a period of great challenge and anxiety, your education stands you in good stead," he said. "There are a number of perennial virtues that will always shine through and will be just as true 10 years from now, 50 years from now, a century from now as they were 50 years ago, or 100 years ago, or in 1693. There will always be parents watching their teenagers turn into American citizens. So long as we keep that as a North Star, things will work out."

It's also important, Reveley IV said, to take care of yourself. It's a high stress job with a multitude of competing - sometimes impossible to reconcile - demands.

"Before I started at Longwood, my dad told me something that stuck with me," Reveley IV said. "The job is wonderful but, until you've actually done it, you don't realize that it's just indescribably more challenging than you think it will be. So as you do it, take good care of yourself and the people around you. Look for those sources of refreshment and rejuvenation."

Susan Corbett, Communications Specialist

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