With his inauguration set for Oct. 18, former provost and current Lasell President Eric Turner spoke with 1851 Chronicle editor Elliot Pototsky, on Oct. 8. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Pototsky: What made you want to be president of Lasell?
Turner: I've been involved with Lasell for a number of years, and it really is sort of the same thing that got me involved. Initially, I was just so interested in what the institution could do. I had lunch with Tom de Witt, [the former] president (1988-2007). Then he had been on board, I think, about two or three years at the time, and he had me in about five minutes. I met with him and another board member, and he just started talking about his thoughts on higher [education] and his plans. And I said, “I got to be part of this and see what's going on there.” In particular, [Lasell] had one program that at the time took a couple of Victorian houses [which] had single moms there. And the single moms were in the college at the time, the junior college, so they were taking full-time classes and had children there. I said any school doing stuff like that, I want to find out a little more about it, the PACE program. The point is that, over time, we've done a lot of different things, a lot of innovative things, a lot of things that have brought us to the point we are today. So for me, I think the university has a bright future, and it's something I wanted to continue being a part of.
Pototsky: What do you think makes up that bright future you alluded to?
Turner: I think it's the fact that this is the institution that went from two years to four years. It went co-ed. It went college [to] university. It started a grad program. It started Lasell Village. All of that. And by the way, there are a lot of smaller, but in some respects no less, substantial and significant innovations and changes and evolution that this place has done. So I think we already have a history of doing that. I think we have a culture of doing that. And any operation or any entity that can evolve, at least on this planet, in this universe, you know, any entity that can evolve, can thrive. So I think as long as we continue to evolve, we'll be fine. That's the bright future that I'm talking about.
Pototsky: What things could use the most innovation right now?
Turner: There are a lot of headwinds in higher education at this point, particularly for small tuition-driven institutions. So [there’s] this idea that there's a demographic of declining high school graduates. We did a tuition reduction two years ago, and our new student enrollment was up about 4 percent last year. It's up about 8.5 percent this year. That's what I'm talking about. Things like that. Other challenges that we always have, it's not just today, but we always are trying to make sure that we are providing programs that are of interest to prospective students, which by definition, tend to be programs that will set them right and put them in a position to get jobs afterwards. So we're continuing to evolve with the market. I think when I first got involved with Lasell, physical therapy assistant was our biggest major. [It] doesn't even exist today. It's that kind of evolution. We have started and ended programs, meeting the needs of the students, both undergrad and grad. As long as we continue to do that, those are the kinds of things that we've got to do to meet the challenges of the future.
Pototsky: What is the vision of Lasell when it comes to bringing communities together?
Turner: I love the way you rested on that word because it is about community. We've been very successful in paying attention to various communities. I don't know so much that they have to come together to the extent that we're in person on campus–the undergrads, some of the grads, the village, and the young people in that instance. Yes, you have to build, certainly, and encourage [an] in-person community, but we're already at a point where we figured out how to bring the rest of that community together, be it folks in the online bachelor's completion program or the grad students. The thing is, we're talking about the Lasell umbrella. Delivering a quality educational experience [from] a wonderful faculty who help in the way that they teach. They help deliver the Lasell way if there is such a thing. So I think it's in a lot of things like that. It's in our support services. It's in our approach. It's in our culture. That's really how we're building community, whether you're on this campus or sitting in Dallas, Texas.
Pototsky: Do you see Lasell going against technological trends in the future or going toward them?
Turner: Our history and our success have always been going toward the trends. The fact that we have evolved the way I described earlier. I come from a business background, so a lot of this is about exploiting markets. A better way to say that is meeting market demands. If trends are [that] people need to know AI, or if they need to understand how fashion design is changing, or what the latest in communication is, that's what we have to provide.
Pototsky: Do you think that’s one of the bigger challenges you’ve had to face so far?
Turner: I think so. I think that's what we do, and we as a species, don't like change, right? I mean, we open the door and it's raining. We don't like it, right? We open the door. It's snowing. Open the door. It's too hot. We don't like change, and yet, we're bombarded with it as a species. So what we've got to do is continue to change, because the environment continues to change. So yeah, it is always a challenge to be a change agent, even though we're a species, however, many thousands of years old, but change is what got us to this point as a species, just like change is what's going to deliver us to the future.
Pototsky: What is different now, going from provost to being president?
Turner: What's different is the bigger portfolio. You know, as provost, I could focus primarily on academics and curriculum. To some extent, and it sounds strange, [but] I'm focused more on students now than I was as provost, and I think a lot of that has to do with the administrative burden and challenge that a provost has. The provost is supporting [the] students, and I don't want to pigeonhole any provost, including our current one, but not [all] provosts are deeply involved with students. The administrative burden or challenge of making sure that the faculty have what they need, that the students have what they need, that you're dealing with parents who you know–others can get in the way oftentimes of that. So this broader portfolio has actually freed me to spend a little more time with students, and to some extent, go a little deeper with students. The only exception to that is I did teach a class my second year as provost, and there's nothing like teaching.
Pototsky: What’s your favorite part about teaching?
Turner: Just the interaction with the students. I don't know if other faculty would say this, but I just find I learn as much from them as hopefully they learn from me. Yeah, I co-taught a class. It was actually SOC104 and I co-taught with Professor Denny Frey, who was a fabulous partner to teach with.
Pototsky: If you had a piece of advice that you could give to a first-year student, what would that be?
Turner: It probably would be a few things. I think first and foremost, it would be, “Be yourself.” A lot of people get into a new environment and feel like they may have to be this way and that way. I want you to be yourself. I say this at orientation: This is the beginning of a journey of exploration for new students–exploring Lasell, exploring the faculty and staff, exploring themselves. So I think the best thing that a new student can do is get involved with new things….Take courses in areas that you don't know a thing about [and] explore clubs or organizations that you might not have thought about in the past. It's all [about] exploration. Try things. That's what education is about, and that's what learning is about….The other thing I would tell students, not just new students, but all students, is don't be afraid to ask for help and don't wait. The best thing about a college or university is that [there] is so much help available. The problem is people find colleges and universities, at least the construct, intimidating, but it's really not. You’ve got a roommate problem, you don't understand the homework, didn't understand something said in class–the faculty is great for helping. The staff around here is great for helping.
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