2008 Woodie Awards
Q & A with Brian Casey
By: Andy Bruner
Issue date: 2/12/08 Section: News
Brian Casey, associate dean for academic affairs at Harvard University, spoke with The DePauw over the phone Monday from his office in Cambridge, Mass. Casey visited campus last Friday as one of two finalists for DePauw’s presidency.
The DePauw: What are your first impressions of DePauw after your visit?
Brian Casey: I established impressions of the institution before I came to visit, because I’ve been engaged in this process actually for a couple of months, so I’ve certainly done my homework. And actually at one point earlier in the year I had come out and quietly visited campus, just because I wanted to take a look. But my impression this time was that this was an extremely engaged campus from students to the staff to the faculty, extremely interested in this process.
TDP: Did you know anything about DePauw going into the search process?
BC: Yes I did, for two reasons. One is rather personal. One is professional. I went to school in Indiana. I went to Notre Dame so I became first familiar with DePauw in the ‘80s. And then the other thing is I’ve been in higher education administration for 12, 13 years now. And I think every administrator keeps a running awareness of the 115 or so schools that are the leading research schools and the leading liberal arts colleges. DePauw has always been a part of that perpetual screening that you engage in being in this business.
TDP: Where does DePauw excel?
BC: Right now DePauw has certainly a very healthy endowment and a healthy financial situation. It has dramatically increased the size and reach of its faculty. ... It has invested quite significantly in building new facilities over the last 10 to 15 years, some absolutely gorgeous, world-class teaching and research and faculty spaces. It has a very engaged board of trustees.
TDP: Where do you see room for improvement at DePauw?
BC: There might need to be an increased effort to get the DePauw story out to a wider national and international audience. I think it’s the best potential story in American higher education and we need to say it. I think DePauw, much like its peer institutions, is entering a difficult phase where the public is going to scrutinize the use of tuition, discounting rates off of tuition, and the uses of endowment.
TDP: How do you specifically qualify to put through these improvements?
BC: I think the University will have to explore all the possibilities of new media. Your typical 17-year-old gets information on colleges in ways that are dramatically different than they were even 10 years ago: YouTube, Google, MySpace, Facebook. Students contemplating college get information from a myriad of sources. DePauw should be rather boastful of its strengths and should go out there and be quite proud of speaking of this.
TDP: Some people feel as though the DePauw president is not available to the common student. How do you envision your role in relation to the student body?
BC: I don’t know how Dr. Bottoms related to the student body, but I would hope that the president was first, visible, and second, available, whether through formal forums or other venues. ... A president must constantly balance external requirements and internal requirements, and you’re amiss if you let either side go.
TDP: President Bottoms has stressed diversity on this campus. How do you plan to continue DePauw’s commitment to diversity?
BC: There are multiple ways in which you can do this, and they all require a lot of energy. The first thing a president can do is literally embody the institution’s commitment to this. ... But I think most importantly you have to create an environment where diverse faculty can believe that DePauw is a place where they can do their best work.
The DePauw: What are your first impressions of DePauw after your visit?
Brian Casey: I established impressions of the institution before I came to visit, because I’ve been engaged in this process actually for a couple of months, so I’ve certainly done my homework. And actually at one point earlier in the year I had come out and quietly visited campus, just because I wanted to take a look. But my impression this time was that this was an extremely engaged campus from students to the staff to the faculty, extremely interested in this process.
TDP: Did you know anything about DePauw going into the search process?
BC: Yes I did, for two reasons. One is rather personal. One is professional. I went to school in Indiana. I went to Notre Dame so I became first familiar with DePauw in the ‘80s. And then the other thing is I’ve been in higher education administration for 12, 13 years now. And I think every administrator keeps a running awareness of the 115 or so schools that are the leading research schools and the leading liberal arts colleges. DePauw has always been a part of that perpetual screening that you engage in being in this business.
TDP: Where does DePauw excel?
BC: Right now DePauw has certainly a very healthy endowment and a healthy financial situation. It has dramatically increased the size and reach of its faculty. ... It has invested quite significantly in building new facilities over the last 10 to 15 years, some absolutely gorgeous, world-class teaching and research and faculty spaces. It has a very engaged board of trustees.
TDP: Where do you see room for improvement at DePauw?
BC: There might need to be an increased effort to get the DePauw story out to a wider national and international audience. I think it’s the best potential story in American higher education and we need to say it. I think DePauw, much like its peer institutions, is entering a difficult phase where the public is going to scrutinize the use of tuition, discounting rates off of tuition, and the uses of endowment.
TDP: How do you specifically qualify to put through these improvements?
BC: I think the University will have to explore all the possibilities of new media. Your typical 17-year-old gets information on colleges in ways that are dramatically different than they were even 10 years ago: YouTube, Google, MySpace, Facebook. Students contemplating college get information from a myriad of sources. DePauw should be rather boastful of its strengths and should go out there and be quite proud of speaking of this.
TDP: Some people feel as though the DePauw president is not available to the common student. How do you envision your role in relation to the student body?
BC: I don’t know how Dr. Bottoms related to the student body, but I would hope that the president was first, visible, and second, available, whether through formal forums or other venues. ... A president must constantly balance external requirements and internal requirements, and you’re amiss if you let either side go.
TDP: President Bottoms has stressed diversity on this campus. How do you plan to continue DePauw’s commitment to diversity?
BC: There are multiple ways in which you can do this, and they all require a lot of energy. The first thing a president can do is literally embody the institution’s commitment to this. ... But I think most importantly you have to create an environment where diverse faculty can believe that DePauw is a place where they can do their best work.
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