Stuebner embraced at MC: Marietta College holds official welcome for its 21st president
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Marietta College held a ceremony to officially welcome its new president who will start in July.
Susan Stuebner - who will be the 21st president of MC - was introduced to a group of students, faculty, staff and others at Dyson Baudo Recreation Center Wednesday afternoon.
MC Interim President Margaret Drugovich opened the ceremony by thanking everyone for coming.
"We're really glad that you're here and the biggest part of this program is going to be Sue being able to get a chance to know you a little bit and meet with you," Drugovich said.
According to Drugovich, Stuebner has spent the last 30 years of her career preparing for this moment and she started her career as an assistant women's basketball coach and from there grew her experience at various schools, including Dartmouth and Allegheny College.
"She spent the last eight years as the president of Colby-Sawyer College," Drugovich said. "There is no better preparation for the presidency than a presidency. And so I think you can see what I see here, she's impeccably well prepared for this experience."
Drugovich said MC's student government association, the staff council and the faculty council have prepared welcome letters for Stuebner and she was going to give them to her and then she invited Stuebner to speak.
Stuebner talked about herself, sharing some information about her family, career and why she chose Marietta College.
"I really don't like to focus on myself that much," Stuebner said. "I'd much rather focus on all of you, but I do think you probably wonder 'Who the heck is this person talking to us?'"
She said throughout her career her passion has been the sustainability of private regional colleges with students who don't come from high means or institutions that don't have a billion in endowment and this focus came from her undergraduate experience at Dartmouth where she was involved in several activities and she received a full liberal arts experience, and experience that was transformative and that launched her into higher education.
Stuebner said she is from Minneapolis, Minn., and spent most of her adult life in Pennsylvania and the northeast. She has a 92-year-old mother, a wife, two grown children and a two-and-a-half-week old granddaughter.
"We have three dogs, two 80-pound labradoodles and one 10-pound (cavalier King Charles Spaniel/poodle mix) that runs the house," Stuebner said. "So the backyard at the president's residence will be lively. We love kayaking, hiking, walking, anything near water."
Stuebner said she was not actively looking for a position when she saw the job opening at MC but she knew she had to take a look at it. She said the more she read about MC and the more she went through the presidential search process, the more she got excited about the potential fit.
Stuebner said some of the things that jumped out at her about MC is its long-standing commitment to liberal arts, the unique and distinct majors it offers as a small college, the experiential learning at the school, students she met and their praise for the college and the school's incredible sense of community.
Stuebner also talked about her thoughts on Marietta Forward, MC's strategic plan that it launched in February.
"Marietta Forward is a great roadmap in terms of where the institution can go... I'm really looking forward to having conversation not only about Marietta Forward but how do we present Marietta to all constituents and help them understand how great this institution is and what a great education students can get here," Stuebner said.
She also said Marietta Forward includes ways to diversify revenue and she has had some experience at Colby-Sawyer College building partnerships and developing graduate and professional programs.
"I had some great conversations today about early inklings about where we might go," she said.
"There's a lot of wonderful points in Marietta Forward but I think we have to pull out the most pressing ones and get started on those right away."
After Stuebner spoke she mingled with attendees and talked a little more about her vision for MC.
Stuebner said Marietta Forward maps out a lot of different options for where MC might go, including new academic programs at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels.
"So just listening today to hear what ideas people thought maybe had the most promise is really exciting," she said about her conversations with people about plans for the college.
When asked about what idea most excites her Stuebner said "I think more strategically looking at a couple graduate programs but taking the time to do it right offers some promise in really understanding what are the needs in the region."
Stuenber's first day is July 15.