Q: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
A: I like people and getting to be with people, especially with students in this time in their life and all is just fun. … To an old geezer sitting on this side of things, it’s thrilling. I can’t believe the possibilities that are out there. I do remember well enough that that is terrifying, but it is thrilling too. … It’s all out in front of y’all and I get to be a part of that. People actually care what I have to say about some of those things as they are working their way through those challenges.
Q: What’s your main goal for this year as well as your main goal for the presidency?
A: To be thoroughly Christian as a school, to be academically excellent and to be affordable to everybody. … When I look down the road, there is not a program in the horizon that is going to define me. It is much more a continued mission that will define me. Now, are there new and exciting ways to engage that mission? Yes, there are, but at the core of my presidency is what I call the core mission, which is that we are, at our core, a Christian university.
QUICK Q’s
embarassing moment?
A: Mispronouncing Dr. Burks’ father’s name Basil at Dr. Burks’ mother’s funeral.
Q: What is your proudest moment?
A: Family blessing dinners for each of our daughters.
