W. Houston Dougharty, hired last year to replace Tom Crady as Vice President of Student Affairs, officially arrived on campus last week to begin his tenure.
What were your initial impressions of the Grinnell campus and students when you were interviewing for the position of Vice President of Student Affairs?
The thing that impressed me the most was that when I was interviewing just at the beginning of finals week, I was blown away at the number of students who showed up to meet me. This was critical beginning of finals week, where folks are working hard to get ready for exams and writing final papers, and there were 15 to twenty students there for lunch. To me, that told me a whole lot about how much folks love the place and how important this place is to them.
I was struck by the warmth of people, people's willingness to actually engage and have conversations, whether that was having dinner with faculty or lunch with students. Everyone seemed very willing to engage and very willing to meet me where I was, which I really appreciated.
Have your perceptions changed at all now that you've been able to spend more time on campus?
One of the special things about Grinnell that I've been able to sense is that there's a very unique combination of people being very dedicated to this place and loving this place and still feeling the room to be their own funky selves. I don't think that's a combination you find everywhere. I think you find a lot of places where it's either/or, where either it's 'We're all about this place and we loose our own identities in it,' or 'We're so into our own deal we don't really connect to the community.' I'm pretty excited about it because I like to be proud of the place where I am, but I also like to be pretty much myself. And to be able to be authentic in a place that also supports you in that, where you also have commonalities, I think is a pretty nifty combination to find.
In a previous interview with the S&B, you stated you weren't coming to Grinnell with an "agenda for change." Have you formed new plans since beginning your work here?
I'm really focused on student learning and engagement. I'm really focused on students achieving their goals and their dreams. I'm very committed to diversity and to wellness issues. I'm very focused on how do we work hard, play hard and stay healthy? I think we do the first of those two things really well here; I haven't figured out yet how healthy we are.
From a staff perspective, I'm very interested in figuring out what our resources are here. I'm very interested in figuring out what the talents are in the team that I've got and making sure that we're matching our resources with our challenges. I think it's critical that we be exemplary role models because I think students learn from us more by watching us then by listening to us. Proactivity and intentionality are really important to me. Life on a college campus can get really wild and really crazy. I think that it can get so wild and crazy that you're constantly sort of rocked back on your heels, reacting to what's going on. I'm very interested in us figuring out how we can be intentional and proactive.
You've indicated in the past that knowing students and the needs of students is one of your top priorities. What are some of your plans for getting to know students more?
I think one of the most important things for somebody in a position like I'm in to do is to be present. Showing up [at Disco], since Disco is such a huge part of this culture, it makes sense to check it out. I also hung out at the pub for a while. I think one of the best ways to get to know students is to be a part of their lives. One of the things I'm hoping to do is to spend some nights in some of the residence halls, to actually see what it's like to live in a dorm.
You mentioned that you stopped-by Disco.
Yes, I went for about half an hour.
What did you think?
Well, you know I lived through disco, so it was interesting seeing part of my own personal history relived, in terms of the way folks were dressing. I didn't expect to hear the Bangles. I was expecting more Donna Summer. Obviously it was an eclectic musical mix, but it seemed like folks were having a great time. I flew in about ten o'clock and got to Disco at about eleven. A few students who I had met before walked up and said, 'This is awkward.' I asked, 'It is?' They said, 'Yeah, normally administrators and faculty don't come hang out at our parties.' I said, 'Well, I'm not checking up on you. I'm just sort of trying to get the vibe.' They're like, "Well, that's cool." So, I hung out and chatted for a while. It was fun.
Were students' interpretations of the style accurate?
It was all over the map, but I loved the polyester. I don't know where some of those outfits came from. Thrift stores? Mail order? Mothers and fathers?
As you settle back into life in Iowa and among the students of Grinnell, do you have any office decorating plans?
I have lots of stuff yet to come. I've always been known as having a very ecclectic office. So, if you look across there, there's Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown,, who is my favorite blues guitarist; John Waters, who is one of my favorite filmmakers; and David Sedaris, who's my favorite writer. And, you know, my Big Boy bank collection. You'll see lots of pictures of students whom I've known over the years and a lot of whom I stay in contact with through Facebook, actually. It will be a pretty eclectic mix in here, so I'm looking forward to that stuff arriving.
--interview by Katie McMullen
