In September 2021, Hartwick College (Oneonta, NY) announced that its president, Dr. Margaret Drugovich, one of the first out LGBTQ presidents in higher education in the U.S., would be retiring in June 2022 after fourteen years of leading the campus. In April 2022, the board of trustees at Hartwick announced its incoming president, Mr. Darren Reisman, JD, who will also become a member of LGBTQ Presidents and Leaders in Higher Education. Executive Director Terry Allison conducted telephone interviews with both the outgoing and incoming presidents to share with you some of their leadership and career experiences.

President Drugovich Reflects on a Successful Tenure
Allison: Thank you for speaking with me today, Margaret. I wonder what originally brought you to Hartwick College and what advice you might have for other leaders in choosing a leadership position.
Drugovich: I’m happy to speak with you, Terry. My advice is to try as hard as you can to find a good fit for your experience and for your leadership style. Hartwick College emphasizes broad-based liberal arts education enhanced with experiential learning. I completely embraced this combination. That was a great fit for me. From the start, everything about Hartwick appealed to me. The commitment of the board and the community was tremendous. The students were more collaborative than competitive, and very engaged. Since I’ve been here, we’ve had major challenges: the Great Recession; the demographic downturn; now the pandemic. I originally found that Hartwick had a strong community, and this has proven to be true as we negotiated our way through these crises. Of course, we never can know all about an institution, but if I were to advise someone today, I’d say, “Pay attention to red flags; don’t underestimate problems that you detect. There are always challenges; make sure you’re comfortable with them.”
Allison: In undertaking a leadership position, we’re always met with surprises, sometimes delightful, sometimes disappointing. Is there anything about serving as the campus leader that surprised you?
Drugovich: How phenomenally generous people are. I have found it to be a great privilege, a life-giving opportunity, to be with people who are willing to give so much support to others. It’s a beautiful thing; it truly is. Also, I found the adage, “all politics are local” surprisingly true. People in higher education often start from a very altruistic place, but they also think very locally, and have a tendency to prioritize those issues most important to them.
Allison: I used to use the analogy of opening day on San Francisco Bay, a resplendent display, but no one heading in the same direction.
Drugovich: Exactly. As presidents, we feel a great sense of urgency to guide an institution towards a common direction. Individuals must be willing to move beyond the local to see the broader picture. That’s the leadership challenge, bridging that gap.
Allison: Your time at Hartwick College of fourteen years has more than doubled the recent average for presidents nationwide. Why did you find it important to stay? How did you keep your leadership fresh during your long and successful tenure?
Drugovich: I promised myself I’d stay as long as I could move Hartwick forward. I have such a deep belief in the place and the community. We have maintained forward motion inspired by our aspirations. I worked hard at alignment with the board, and once achieved, that’s invaluable to a president. So, before now, it was never the right time to leave. Now, we have our Flightpath platform in place, we have completed the first year of a fundraising campaign to support Flightpath, we are celebrating the 225th anniversary of our founding—it seemed to me to be an ideal time for a leadership transition.
Allison: And have you decided on next steps?
Drugovich: I’ve decided to give myself some time, to take six months to think about what is next. I’ve been collecting advice from people I admire on the best way to navigate this time of transition. It is time for some reflection.
Allison: You’ll be giving a keynote address at our upcoming Leadership Institute (June 15-17, 2022, Pasadena City College). Could you give us a preview?
Drugovich: I’m calling it, “It’s Not About You; It’s All About You: Navigating the Public Space of Leadership.” Mostly, we begin our leadership with the idea of service; it’s not about us, but the college, the mission. But, as soon as you are the president, you’re the decision-maker. It is about you. It becomes very personal as you are the one who has to say no. That’s often what people remember most, that you’re the one, for example, who would not approve the funding for what is most important to them. You enter the position with a service framework, then the political framework quickly takes over. Very few of us are prepared for this aspect of leadership. I think it will be an interesting topic for us to discuss.
Allison: How should one prepare? If you were advising a mid-career leader in higher education about the career goal of a presidency, what might be your first question?
Drugovich: What is your personal motivation for wanting the role? Power, influence, financial rewards – those are not the best reasons as they are unlikely to sustain you. Leadership goals must come from an authentic place. Some people might say, “I’m ready; I’d like to contribute more.” That’s authentic. Then they have to be prepared to work harder than they may have imagined. My mother once said to me, “But Margaret, you’re the president! Why do you have to work so hard?” There is much that the president does behind the scenes; what is publicly visible is only one part of the role.
Allison: Very few institutions in the U.S. or internationally have had LGBTQ presidents, chancellors, or CEOs. Hartwick College is one of the very first to have successive presidents who will be part of our organization. Does this say anything about Hartwick College? Or is this coincidence?
Drugovich: I have two answers. First, Hartwick is an open, welcoming community. And during my time here, I am certain that my situation – I was the first out lesbian president with children on a campus -helped to sustain and grow that acceptance. I know because people have told me that this encouraged students, faculty, staff, to join the campus. Second, we had a comprehensive presidential search with a deep pool of great candidates, and Darren Reisberg was simply the best candidate. He will find a safe and welcoming environment here.
Allison: Thank you, Margaret. It’s been great speaking with you. Would you like to add anything?
Drugovich: Yes. I’m looking forward to speaking at the Leadership Institute. Higher education needs leaders who are able, willing, and passionate about growing their skills. I’ll see you in Pasadena.

Towards the Next Stage of Success
Darren Reisberg will assume the presidency of Hartwick College on August 1, 2022. Mr. Hartwick is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Office of the Joyce Foundation as well Chair of the State Board of Education in Illinois. He previously worked at a major law firm, then in senior leadership roles at the University of Chicago.

Allison: Welcome to our organization, Darren. My first question is one you were likely asked repeatedly in the interview process, “Why Hartwick College?”
Reisman: Thank you, Terry. I found that Hartwick could clearly articulate its value in combining the liberal arts and experiential education. With its new Flightpath platform, it has momentum, energy, and relevance. Twenty percent of students are in Nursing, a high-need major. Hartwick is deeply committed to sustainability. And…you can’t put a price on how beautiful it is. The campus and the area are stunning. I also grew up in New York and northern New Jersey, so in a way, it’s a homecoming.
Allison: Could you discuss your career path? You stepped out of higher education for several years? Does that help you in the role of the president?
Reisberg: To chair the State Board of Education, I had to find a position where I could do both. At a private foundation, I could see much better how to make the case for support, and how to align the request with the goals of the foundation. There has to be some give and take. Having been on the other side, I think I’ll be able to make better asks.
Allison: What challenges do you anticipate coming into Hartwick College and your first presidency?
Reisberg: Hartwick invested much in designing a new platform, Flightpath, which has just been implemented. It provides each student with a personalized guidance team of four: a student success coach; an academic advisor; a career coach; and an alumni mentor who also connects the student to internships. As president, I will need to work with students, faculty, staff, the board, our communities and our alumni to make Flightpath a success. We will need to implement and evolve Flightpath while continuing to engage everyone in its success. Our board members are making extraordinary commitments to working with our students so that we can sustain meaningful internships. My challenge is to take my previous experience in policy and politics to help Hartwick succeed in this essential project.
Allison: Speaking of politics, I wonder if you’d like to comment on a topic from our upcoming Leadership Institute from your perspective as chair of a state board of education. We will discuss “Confronting the Moral Panic,” and how higher education can work more closely with K-12 to address the anti-Critical Race Theory and so-called “Don’t Say Gay Laws.”
Reisberg: In Illinois, I co-chaired with a student a Safe and Affirmative Schools initiative. Higher education can work with K-12 to put out clear guidelines on that; how to support diverse students, including trans, non-binary, and questioning students. We worked to implement culturally responsive teaching and leading standards. I realize that some states are not at all on that path. Perhaps more research and case studies from states like Illinois will provide evidence about the benefits of safe and affirmative education and schools. Higher education prepares the teachers, of course, so building teachers’ expertise in these areas is critical.
Allison: Are there any other thoughts that you’d like to share with us, Darren, as you move into the president’s role?
Reisberg: I feel very lucky to have had great mentors in college presidents. Find yourself a mentor! I think it’s important to be excited and optimistic, but not delusional. I’m energized and motivated, but it’s hard work leading an organization. I’m humbled by the opportunity.
Allison: As I mentioned to President Drugovich, you’ll be the second consecutive LGBTQ president at Hartwick. And I’ll ask you the same question. Does that say something about Hartwick or is it just chance?
Reisberg: Hartwick is a very welcoming environment and so is much of higher education. I give all the credit to people like Margaret and to your organization’s work in helping higher education to become more inclusive. During my interviews, I never faced questions or felt any concern about sexual orientation. We’ve come a long way in a short time.

Pasadena City College Flourishes

Earlier this fall, LGBTQ Presidents executive director Terry Allison had the opportunity to chat with one of our co-chairs Dr. Erika A. Endrijonas about her leadership of Pasadena City College.

Terry: Erika, it’s a pleasure to speak with you about Pasadena City College (PCC) and your presidency. When I was a dean at Cal State LA I worked extensively with PCC, which was just down the street from where I lived. How did you come to the presidency there?

Erika: As is typical in some searches, I was not an active candidate out on the market. Previously, I was at Los Angeles Valley College, where I was able to put the college on a solid financial footing and help it to regain full regional accreditation. When the first PCC search failed in 2018, the outgoing president reached out, and by then I was ready to consider.

Terry: You are president and superintendent?

Erika: Yes. In California community colleges there are various types of CEO positions. The president/superintendent typically leads a single college district. One can serve as president in a multi-campus system where there’s a chancellor. And of course, there’s the opportunity to serve as the chancellor of those multi-campus systems. I moved from a presidency within the Los Angeles Community College district to Pasadena City College, a single college district. I’ve now been here almost three years. PCC’s success was definitely a big draw.

Terry: How would you define that success?

Erika: PCC has been known as a very diverse campus that lives its mission of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Just one example: In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, there was a call to action from California’s statewide chancellor of community colleges. PCC has seven locally elected trustees and one student trustee. Four of our public trustees and our student trustee serve on statewide committees for DEI work. The board truly supports all of our students and understand how important the DEI initiatives are for our students to achieve their educational goals.

Terry: I understand that PCC’s exceptional work has been recognized recently in an unusual way?

Erika: You must mean the Mackenzie Scott gift, right? Out of nowhere, I received a once in a lifetime call. The first call was simply that someone wished to speak to me about a potential major gift. When I took that call, I was stunned. “We would like to give PCC an unrestricted gift of $30 million….” When I asked why, I learned that Mackenzie Scott works with a team of advisers who assist her in supporting institutions with a reputation of creating pathways to economic mobility. Ms. Scott also is known for recognizing ethnically diverse, female, and queer leaders. Over 90% of her previous gifts had gone to organizations with BIPOC, women, and LGBTQ+ leaders.

Terry: But you had to keep this a secret for a couple of months?

Erika: Yes. Working with Ms. Scott’s advisers I was allowed to let only a few people know so that when the funds were transferred, we would be able to accept them. The timing ended up being perfect. Ms. Scott announced that round of her gifts the very morning of our Foundation Board meeting, June 15^th of this year.

Terry: And how does PCC plan to use the funds?

Erika: Our foundation endowment grew overnight from $41 million to $71 million dollars. My goal was to think about what would be best for PCC over time. Rather than investing in signature programs that I supported, we set up a process of annual proposals for this funding. I call this “president proofing” the funding. It’s not about the leader’s goals; it’s about institutional goals. As I mentioned, PCC is known for student success. We have the highest combined transfer rate to CSU and UC campuses combined within California. We want to be able to move the endowment earnings to programs to sustain and expand student success. This includes technical programs as well, which we also do very well. PCC will celebrate its 100-year anniversary in 2024. By then we should begin to see just how much this astounding gift contributes to reach our strategic goals.

Terry: There are still challenges, of course. How has your campus responded to the COVID-19 crisis?

Erika: Enrollment is down, as you can imagine, throughout all community colleges in California. We have a funding formula that recognizes 70% FTES, 20% the demographic we serve, and 10% performance metrics. While California has rainy day funds and some great success metrics it’s also holding us harmless for enrollment downturns during the pandemic.

Terry: Would you like to leave us with any big, audacious goals you have for Pasadena City College?

Erika: PCC has the goal to close all equity gaps by 2027. That’s a statewide goal, but one we’re well-positioned to meet. I hired the first cabinet-level chief equity, diversity, and inclusion officer with the California community college campuses. Once she helped us better understand our needs, I promoted the position to the associate vice president level. We are doing everything we can to help all students reach their potential.

Terry: Thank you Erika for your inspiring leadership both of Pasadena City College and of our organization.

Jeremy Flanigan, media and communications assistant, joined us in October of 2020 and soon demonstrated his dedication to our organization. He used his most recent birthday as a fundraiser for us. Through Facebook’s partnership with Network for Good, Jeremy raised $283 of birthday gift contributions!

Jeremy joins several of our members in making personal contributions and raising funds to sustain our organization. We have listed gifts for 2020 and 2021 on our Donors page: LGBTQPresidents.org/The-Annual-Fund.

As LGBTQ Presidents & Leaders in Higher Education begin to develop grant requests to foundations, these personal gifts serve as an excellent indicator we can cite when applying for financial support. As treasurer of our organization and a donor, I urge you to join our generous contributors by making a gift of any size that fits your philanthropic budget.

Dick Senese

https://conta.cc/3eLgUPv

LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education is proud to announce the election of two officers for 2021–2024 terms. We also are seeking nominations for at least one, and possibly three at-large member positions, pending a bylaws revision proposed for June 2021.

Dr. Richard J. Helldobler, president of William Paterson University of Wayne, New Jersey, has been elected by the board as co-chair of our organization. President Helldobler joins our recently re-elected co-chair, Dr. Erika A. Endrijonas, president and superintendent of Pasadena City College, California, to lead LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education. “I am honored that my colleagues have elected me to this important role, and I am excited to help lead this dynamic organization forward,” says President Helldobler. “LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education has provided me with great professional development opportunities and, just as importantly, good fellowship. I look forward to working with everyone to further advance LGBTQ issues in the academy through its continued growth and expanded reach.” Rich had served as a member at large for the organization since 2018 and generously offered William Paterson University as a host for our first online Leadership Institute—on June 18^th–19^th, 2021. For more on Rich’s background, see his presidential page.

At our annual Members Meeting on January 15, 2021, we also elected Richard (Dick) Senese, PhD, LP, president of Capella University, as treasurer. “I am honored to serve among my peers to support our important advocacy mission. As a proud member of the LGBTQ community and the leader of a preeminent online higher education institution for working adults, I know more can—and must—be done to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in all fields—but especially in the post-secondary education space. I look forward to lending my voice and expertise to move the needle.”. For more on President Senese, see a brief bio here.

LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education’s bylaws currently call for three members at large. Two members at large are continuing—Rusty Barceló, retired president of Northern New Mexico College and Charlita Shelton, who held several presidencies before her recent appointment as special consultant to the president of Gonzaga University. Now that Rich is co-chair, we definitely have one opening for a member at large. In addition, the board will consider introducing a bylaws revision to membership at our June 17, 2021, Membership Meeting, to change the board membership from “three members at large” to “three-to-five members at large,” expanding opportunities for additional participation. Further, the board will introduce a bylaws revision that names the executive director as an ex officio, non-voting member of the board of directors.

The board has received several expressions of interest and nominations for member at large. If you would like to nominate anyone or volunteer to run, then please send an e-mail to info@lgbtqpresidents.org.

LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education recently spoke with Merrill Irving, Jr., president of Hennepin Technical College (HTC). HTC serves over 7,000 students and offers more than 45 career and technical programs on two campuses in the suburban Minneapolis cities of Brooklyn Park and Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Terry: Before we plunge into the COVID-19 era, let’s think back a year ago. Who was HTC? What were your goals and how were you achieving them?

Merrill: HTC is Minnesota’s largest technical college and contributes significantly to the state’s workforce development efforts. Over 62% of our students are from underrepresented communities, and we are committed to making educational opportunities more accessible, helping students overcome challenges, and creating equitable outcomes. We work to promote women’s enrollment in non-traditional fields. We have a number of nationally ranked programs in technical fields. For example, according to GradReports we are ranked second nationally in information technology; third in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; fourth in accounting; and in the top 15 for both culinary arts and automotive technology. We have highly successful programs in manufacturing engineering technology, including automation robotics and fluid power. One of our fluid power graduates was recently hired by NASA.

We are a continuous improvement and learning organization. For example, we recently completed a persistence study and found that black men over the age of 25 are the least likely to persist and most likely to have a hold placed on their enrollment. Donor-directed funds are now helping to support these men to succeed. We also continue to build our cultural competence as an organization. For example, we used the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) to assess our individual and organizational competence level and found that despite previous work and our own assumptions of competence, we only scored at the national average. We need to move from understanding to taking specific actions to improve our results with diverse students, to move from acceptance of cultural diversity to integrated practices to achieve a goal of meaningful inclusion. We hired the YMCA of the North to do anti-racism training with students, staff, and faculty, and the pandemic has not slowed us in our efforts.

Terry: Is there anything else you’d like us to know about HTC?

Merrill: One of our greatest outcomes is our 99% job placement rate of graduates in their field of study. Many students have a job before they complete their program. That’s great for a student population that includes 46% students of color and 25% being the first in their family to attend college. One of our programs in automotive technology, Ford ASSET, brings in students from all over the country to be part of our training program that provides students the skills to succeed in the rapidly advancing automotive industry. HTC generates over $300 million in economic impact to the state of Minnesota each year.

Given the nature of our programs, we’ve faced some real challenges this past year. Over 80% of our courses require some form of face-to-face experience. We have programs in nursing, dental assistant, manufacturing and engineering technology, and many others where students must engage in some form of laboratory or hands-on experience. Moreover, a majority of our students were unable or unwilling to pursue courses completely online during the pandemic. Approximately 25% of our graduates go on to pursue a bachelor’s degree within six years of completing their program at HTC—higher than we originally had thought.

Terry: That segues nicely into my next question. Now tell us about this past year at HTC. How have you adjusted as a campus? Are all your programs still running?

Merrill: We’ve been in the process of slowly returning to normal. First, we had to completely close the College for a couple of weeks in spring 2020. Very few of our faculty had any online experiences. Asynchronous vs. synchronous online learning wasn’t even in their mindset. We had to consider how we could schedule to protect our students’ learning as well as everyone’s safety. We made huge efforts at the beginning of the crisis in implementing effective instructional design, and this took a tremendous amount of resources.

As president of HTC my biggest leadership challenge is fear. Am I going to lose all my students—and then my job? Am I going to catch COVID-19 at work? How do we keep our students learning through a culture of fear? Planning was also a major challenge. How could we look beyond even a week when everything was changing so rapidly? Luckily, we were able to use CARES Act funds immediately to support our enrollment initiatives. Our enrollment was up 25% in summer 2020, but down 10% that fall, and down 13% this spring 2021 semester when no further funds were available. Still, we have met our budgetary goals. Our new normal for the immediate future is a lower level of enrollment.

Finally, we can’t ignore the losses of COVID-19. Three of my family members have died. My leadership team has to work hard to keep up people’s sense of hope—to help manage their losses. Part of that loss is working from home and therefore the lack of social interaction. We are staying focused on our strategic goals and celebrating when we can. This spring we will have a beautiful virtual graduation with a storytelling video about our students. But everything won’t return to the pre-COVID-19 era. Our transfer and general education courses will largely remain online, and we will continue to adapt in-person courses as needed.

Terry: After the killing of George Floyd, Minneapolis has been at the center of a movement to end racial discrimination and to reimagine policing. How has HTC been part of these activities?

Merrill: It was beyond real. Freeways shut down. Buses shut down. Students were marching. And this upcoming spring and summer, we face another challenge with the trials. One thing we did is partner with Wallace State Community College in Alabama. They shared art projects on George Floyd and one of their students wrote a song for us—a beautiful song. You know, I’m a college president, but first and foremost in this society, I’m a black man who has to deal with all that that means.

Then, there’s something many people don’t know. 30% of state police officers come out of our program. Three of four officers charged in the George Floyd killing are our graduates. We don’t teach the techniques they used, but as our graduates have told us, different police departments have different cultures. The work culture is very different as is the ongoing tactical training depending on the location within Minnesota. Our state has a higher standard for peace officers than most, requiring a degree, but HTC must look at what else we can do to improve policing.

Terry: I had no idea you played such a significant role in training police officers in Minnesota. After the killing of Mr. Floyd, has HTC changed anything about your officer training program?

Merrill: We immediately worked on diversifying the groups who advise us on our program. For example, a black police officers association now is represented. We are also working with Minnesota State University, Mankato to create a new degree program related to cultural competency. Our police training program is integrating more empathy training. As you probably know, there’s often great suspicion of police among black people and other underrepresented groups. There is cultural suspicion of the profession. We are trying to focus on barriers to equal representation in the police force. They are more social and cultural barriers than educational ones.

On a personal level, I have stepped up my activity to help change our culture. I have chaired a law enforcement advisory commission for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. I just participated in a Mossier’s Proud to Work summit on anti-racism. That’s just one of my many commitments to address racism and to promote full equality and inclusion of LGBTQ communities.

Terry: What leadership lessons helped you to serve as president of HTC during these tumultuous times?

Merrill: Coming into this crisis, I had already learned to lead comfortably being me—a young, openly gay, black man. During my career so far, I have found a push for leaders in higher education to conform, and that’s not me. I think my unconventionality helped me as well as my core values of trust, honesty, and integrity.

Terry: What further leadership lessons have you learned or shared during this past year?

Merrill: One thing that I’ve learned is the power of listening … and giving some more thought before answering right away. Empowering others to act. In this Zoom world of Hollywood Squares I found that everyone was focused on me—looking at me for all the answers. I focused on how to leverage and empower other leaders. I learned that everything doesn’t require a reaction. Before I might have said, “I’ll look into that and get back to you.” Now, I’ve gotten to the point where he can say, “I don’t know.” As a leader it’s important to learn when you don’t have control and when you can’t predict what’s next. That offers a sense of freedom.

Manhattan School of Music is a venerable New York City institution, situated in the Morningside Heights/West Harlem neighborhood. Founded in 1918, MSM is one of the world’s premier conservatories of classical music and jazz. Recently, musical theatre has become an added focus. President James Gandre, formerly a dean and later provost at Roosevelt University in Chicago, earlier served as a student affairs administrator at MSM. Jim returned to MSM as president in May, 2013.

Terry: Jim, first, how in the world is MSM operating in the age of the pandemic? How are you teaching music in this new era?

Jim: Well, to say that we’ve changed our methods and way of operating would be an understatement. We are all dealing with moving to a virtual environment, but a virtual environment in the performing arts has additional hurdles. How does one perform when there are limits on numbers of people in a room and when you can’t be close to another? Of course, I’m biased, but I have to say our staff and faculty accomplished Herculean things on behalf of our students. First, we allowed our students to choose whether they wanted to learn on campus or be 100 percent remote. And, for those on campus, most of the classes they have in person are performance courses while the vast majority of their classes—about 80 percent—are online. For most of our classes, our faculty didn’t try to replicate what we did pre-pandemic, knowing that we couldn’t get close to that experience online. Instead, they decided to create new and different experiences. These included more focus on chamber music repertoire and in the case of opera and musical theatre, creating filmed versions of opera and musical theatre, recording indoors, and filming outside while physically distanced. These strategies have greatly expanded the learning of our students and it is likely that we will use much of what learned and continued to do some of this work once we are out of the pandemic. If anyone would like to view some of our students work, you can visit this site to see all of our livestreamed or prerecorded performances: https://www.msmnyc.edu/livestream/.

Terry: So, you have been able to maintain nearly all your desired enrollment. That’s quite an accomplishment! Tell us a bit more about your student body and where they go after graduation.

Jim: Our students come from more than 50 countries and nearly every US state. Indeed, 50 percent of our students are from outside the United States. So, as you might imagine, the pandemic had the potential to hit us particularly hard. We budgeted for a 10 percent decrease hoping that it wouldn’t be worse. The good news is that our enrollment was only eight percent down this fall and looks like we might get to only seven percent down for the spring. After graduation, our students, like students at all colleges and universities across the country, go on to a variety of careers. Of course, many of our students become professional musicians. We have Emmy, Tony, and dozens and dozens of Grammy Award winners. We have multiple members of every major symphony orchestra in America. Every major opera company has our graduates on their stages every year! Each year at the Metropolitan Opera alone, we have four to five dozen graduates performing either on stage, as music coaches, or as musicians in the orchestra. For me as president, it’s such a joy to go to Lincoln Center or Broadway or almost any jazz club here and see our graduates at work in nearly every performance. I take enormous pride in their accomplishments.

Terry: And who teaches at MSM?

Jim: Our faculty are amazing! The folks who teach privately—one-on-one weekly lessons—are national and international artists such as world-renowned violinist Pinchas Zukerman, the great jazz bassist Ron Carter (also an alumnus!), or the Tony Award winner Randy Graff. Approximately 50 of our faculty are members of the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as well as members or former members of chamber ensembles such as the Tokyo and Juilliard String Quartets. Collectively, our voice faculty have performed on all of the greatest opera stages of the world and have performed thousands of times at the Met Opera alone. This kind of conservatory training is very much patterned after an “old-world” artist/mentor-student model.

Terry: You’ve had some great success at building financial support for MSM. Tell us about that.

Jim: MSM has not had a great record of fundraising throughout its more than 100-year history. When I arrived back at MSM in 2013 (I was here before from 1985–2000), we were still doing great things training our students, but fundraising, which my former boss Chuck Middleton used to say provided the “margins of excellence,” was lackluster. We first stabilized our enrollment which had been seesawing for years. We began to show our board and our loyal, but small group of donors that we could be fiscally responsible and move towards greater heights. At that point, we took on what was for us a big project, a $16.5M renovation of our main performance space. We accomplished this on time and on budget, not an easy feat anywhere, especially in NYC where things normally cost more than almost anywhere else in the States. Once that was accomplished, we turned to the endowment. Just in the past half year, we have grown the endowment through cash and irrevocable pledges by more than $4M and we’re in a quiet campaign to raise $7M more during the next year. If we do this, our endowment will grow to $42M which is the size of our annual budget. This is not where we want to be, of course, but when I arrived the endowment was in the low $20Ms, so this will be a big achievement and milestone.

Terry: Schools in the arts have a long history as LGBTQ-friendly environments. What would you like to highlight about MSM’s support of students, faculty, and staff?

Jim: It’s true that arts schools have historically been more friendly to the LGBTQ community than others, but I wouldn’t say this was completely true or universal. Although I was out during my entire time at MSM—1985–2000 and when I returned in 2013—I had many colleagues here during my first tenure who were afraid to come out. I was a finalist for the presidency of a sister institution a decade-and-a-half ago and later found out from two different members of the search committee that the board chair said to them he wouldn’t allow a gay president and stopped the search. The good news is that today much of that has changed and nearly disappeared at these institutions (heterosexism, like racism, sexism, and other -isms, still exists on some level even in the best environment). I remember that when I was offered the presidency here, the board chair and I were talking and at one point he stopped and said, “How does Boris feel about this?” I answered that he would be thrilled, and the chair said, “Good,” and moved on with the rest of the conversation. You know, each year my husband Boris (Thomas, JD, PhD) and I host all of our identity student groups in our campus home and we always ask the questions “When did you first know I (Jim) was gay and how did that make you feel?” The two most common responses are “proud” and “safe.” For them, to see oneself in the leadership of the college is so critical. This is especially true for students from non-Western countries for whom my presence as an out gay man is nearly unbelievable as it simply would not happen in their countries.

Terry: I should mention that president Gandre’s husband, Boris Thomas, has attended several of the meetings and institutes of our organization.

Jim: Being the “first spouse” of any institution is a tough job. You’re nearly as visible as the president, you most often have some obligations to be “on” at various events (and for MSM at lots of performances), but you most often don’t get paid and most often the spouse has his/her/their own profession that has nothing to do with the institution with which he/she/they is intrinsically linked. Boris is amazing as the first spouse. He really enjoys the people here and the campus loves him and is always asking about him when he’s not at events (I sometimes think they like him far more than me!) My presidency would not be as successful without him, that’s for sure.

Terry: Congratulations to you both! I look forward to listening to more of your streaming content (https://www.msmnyc.edu/livestream/).

Jim: Thank you!