1. Walk me through the application and interview process of applying to be the next university president.
After Dr. Burks announced his retirement plans at Homecoming last year, the Board began organizing this process. The centerpiece of it all was the Presidential Selection Process tab on the Harding website. The Board asked everyone who wanted to have input on the selection of the next president tosubmit their recommendations through this site. EveryBoard member had access to everything that was submitted, and the Board members read thousands of pages of input.
The end of June 2012 was the first deadline, and that was the deadline for submitting your letter of interest. Sometime around April, I received aletter from Dr.John Simmons, the chairman of the Board of Trustees, informing me that a number of people had submitted my name for consideration. The letter informedme that if I were interested in pursuing this, I would need to meet the June deadline. So I submitted my letter of interest, my CV, and I answered the first five questions that the Board was asking all applicants to answer. These questions related to how we viewed the mission and the practices of Harding University. I think I spent two Saturdays working on those five questions. When I felt that my answers clearly expressed what I wanted to say, I pressed the submit button. At that point, my information went to the Board for their consideration.
In late July,the Board of Trustees met for a couple of days in Branson, Mo., to discuss the applicants and to make the first cut. At no time in the process (not even to this day) were the applicants told who the other applicants were or even how many people remained under consideration. Sometime after the July meeting, I was informed that I was still being considered and invited to submit written answers to 11 more questions, some of which had four and five parts. These questions dealt more with day-to-day operations of a university and many of the controversial aspects of presidential decision making. In addition to these questions, we were asked to take a couple of personality tests and an executive leadership style test. The results of all this were presented to the Board. The applicants were then invited to come to a hotel meeting room in Little Rock on either Sept. 28 or 29 for a two-hour face-to-face meeting with the Board. My interview was at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29. Each candidate was asked the same 18 questions. We sat at a round table in the middle of the room with four Board members asking us the questions. The remainder of the Board members sat at tables around the room and watched on as the interview took place.
The final piece of the process took place when the Board met for their standard Homecoming weekend meeting. This year, they spent most of their time in Executive Session (Board members only) to discuss the candidates. All along, they had indicated that they would have the decision made by early Feb. 2013. When Dr. Simmons told the people at the Black-and-Gold banquet on Friday night of Homecoming weekend that the Board was well ahead of schedule, I suspected that they had reached their decision. The next day, I attended the dedication ceremony for Legacy Park. Afterward, Dr. Simmons asked if we could get together to talk. He came to our home at 6 p.m.that evening and informed Ann and I that the Board was inviting me to become Harding University’s fifth president. We said yes, and he prayed for both of us before he left.
2. Why did you want to be the president of the university?
This was one of the first five questions that the Board asked the applicants to answer. It is a great question, and one that I spent a lot of time considering. Whenever people have asked me in recent years if I was going to apply to be the next president, my standard answer was that I wanted to be ready if called. I haven’t viewed the presidency as my “dream job” or as something that I needed to achieve. Instead,applying was more of an expression of my love for Harding. I have been incredibly blessed byHarding since I first came here as a freshman in 1975. Harding changed my life for the better, and I still believestrongly in the mission of thisuniversity.While we are far from perfect, I believe that Harding is the finest placein the world. If I could serve the students, faculty, staff and alumni, then I would be delighted to leadHarding into the future. The Board determined that I was a good fit for the mission and the needs of the university, so I am thrilled to have the opportunity to serve in this way.
A major focus of my doctoral work was the examination of how faith-founded colleges typically, given enough time, drift from their founding faith. Many even become enemies of the faith that founded them. Some historians have written that the loss of faith is the primary story of American higher education. On the dedication page of my dissertation I wrote, “To Eli McCumpsey, my grandson (age two at the time), who I hope will someday come to Harding University and receive an outstanding Christian education.” It is a passion of mine that Harding University not go the way of most faith-founded colleges and disconnect from the faith on which Harding was founded. Getting to have a hand in keeping Harding focused on our Christian mission is something that inspires me deeply to want to be the next president.
3. How did you feel when you found out you had been selected?
I am still working through those feelings. When Dr. Simmons told me of the Board’s decision, I was humbled, happy, excited and immediately felt the heavy weight of responsibility. Those are a lot of things to feel all at the same time.
4. How did your family and close friends react?
The reactions that I’ve laughed about the most this week came from my sisters. They both live in Ohio with their families, and when I called to tell them that I had been invited to become the president of Harding, each exclaimed, “You are kidding.”
My wife has been very supportive throughout the process and, as weighty as the reality of the decision is, I think she was relieved that at least some of the uncertainty about our future is over.
Our daughters were very happy and said something like “Way to go, Dad.”
My parents were traveling in New England with some friends when the news came, and it was a lot of fun to call them and to share what was going on here in Searcy. They have always been very affirming of me, and I think my selection has brought them a special joy. Of course, Mom said (and I wonder if they teach this in “Mom school”), “We would have been just as proud of you whichever way this had gone, but we are so happy for you.”
5. What is the next step in preparing to replace Dr. Burks? What do the months leading up to June hold?
I will continue serving as the Vice President for Spiritual Life, but I will start looking over Dr. Burks’ shoulder immediately to learn what he does as president. The timing of the annoucement, for me, is perfect. The budget process takes place January-through-March, so I will get to see how that is handled this year. Also, we are in the middle of the university’s five-year strategic plan, so I will get to have a hand in setting the goals and establishing the priorities for this plan.
6. What do you expect out of the presidency? What challenges and rewards will there be?
I have learned so much by watching Dr. Burks and Chancellor Ganus. Both men have found a great joy in leading Harding. They have gotten to see thousands of people come through Harding and go on to bless the world. What job could possibly be better than that? Yet both men will tell you that there have been very difficult times and that they both faced many lonely decisions. Personnel decisions, the things that determine the jobs and livelihoods of people, are the most difficult and sometimesheartbreaking part of the job.
Chancellor Ganus has a favorite quip about the presidency. He said, “When I was president, I slept like a baby; I would wake up every two hours and cry.” He laughs when he says it, but I suspect that there is a kernel of truth in it.
7. Have you started brainstorming about your missions and goals for the presidency in the coming years?
I have done lots of brainstorming about things I would like to see us do or at least attempt. Some of those will be unveiled next fall. My overarching goals are for Harding to continue to deliver a university education that is thoroughly Christian, academically excellent and financially accessible to all.
8. How will you benefit Harding?
With God as my help and strength, I pray that I can have the same No. 1 accomplishment as Harding’s first four presidents – to be a faithful steward of Harding’s Christian identity. My administration will have unique strengths, emphases and accomplishments, but those are all secondary to being a faithful steward of our Christian identity.
9. As with any big decision, there is always controversy. What might you say to those who are wary about President McLarty?
I don’t ask that my detractors trust me; I only ask that they be open to the possibility that I can earn their trust. I am confident that through the strength of the Lord I can successfully lead Harding into the future.
I’ve been in a similar position before. When we returned from Africa, I ended up becoming the preacher fora 450-member church in Cookeville, Tenn., at the age of 28. I later heard that there were some members who said at that time that I was simply too young for the job. There was an older member of the search committee who told them, “Don’t worry; he’ll get over it.” I am definitely inexperienced at this point in being the president of Harding, but if people will give me a little bit of time, I’ll get over it.
10. What do you love about Harding?
Almost everything. I love the students, the faculty, the staff, the administration, the alumni, the campus, our mission, our history, our heritage of world evangelism and just about everything I know about Harding. A couple of months ago, I spoke to came up to me after our panel presentation and said that they wanted to tell me something. They said that they had never sent a student to Harding who had not had a great experience. The other thing they wanted to tell me was that every time they were on campus they picked up on a deep sense of joy that seems to permeate the Harding family. They said, “Harding is such a happy place.” I think sometimes we need people from the outside to point out things we can easily overlook from the inside. Harding, indeed, is a very happy place. That’s why the late Dr. Jimmy Carr famously stated, “It’s great to be at Harding.”
