Text: Dr. Bryan Coker’s Installation Address
Dr. Bryan Coker was officially installed as Maryville College’s 12th president on Oct. 16, 2020, during a virtual ceremony. Here is the full text of his installation address, titled “The Invitation.”
Good evening.
On February 13, 2020, I stood before this campus community and officially accepted your invitation to become the 12th President of Maryville College.
I accepted your invitation to become the temporary steward of a most-sacred trust.
I accepted your invitation to become part of a remarkable history and legacy, spanning over 200 years.
I accepted your invitation to be a slightly-different President for Maryville College – a president with a background focused on student development and the student experience … a president who utilizes social media and has decent selfie skills … a president with a young (and yes, big) family … a president who really likes to wear blue jeans (but to clear, I always tend to dress up those jeans with a nice sportscoat).
Unbeknownst to any of us, I was also accepting your invitation to lead the College in the midst of a global pandemic – what the College’s 10th President, Dr. Gerald Gibson, described in a letter to me, as a challenge which “eclipses anything the College has had to overcome since it confronted the Great Depression.” But Dr. Gibson went on to say, “something tells me you are up to the task, and I wish you Godspeed as you take it on.”
I accepted that invitation with much excitement, pride, and gratitude – and today, I remain so glad that I did. I’m hoping you all feel the same.
As the MC community is beginning to learn, I often like to begin my speeches with expressions of gratitude. And on that note, I want to again thank the College’s Presidential Search Committee and the Board of Directors for this invitation to serve.
I also want to offer tremendous gratitude to the people who mean the most in my life.
To my family:
- To my wife, Sara, for being my partner on this journey that has now taken us to five colleges and four states. Thank you for keeping me humble, grounded, and focused on what is really important in this life. Thank you for asking me the hard questions that make me a better person. Thank you for being the glue that keeps our family together.
- Thank you to my children, Caroline, William, Chris, and Andrew for supporting me – I recognize how hard it is to move – to leave your home, change schools, say goodbye to friends, and be “the new kids.” I am so incredibly proud of how you have handled this transition – you are each so much stronger than you even know.
- I am thankful to other family members, my dad and stepmom, who supported me over so many years, as well as to Sara’s mom, who is always there for our family.
- And, I want to acknowledge those who should be – and I wish were – here with us today. While our family knows much joy, we have also known heartbreak and tragedy. Sara’s father, Chris Barnette, was a nationally-known healthcare executive who took great interest in my career, and much pride in my accomplishments. Sadly, we lost Sara’s dad tragically in 2008. Then, there is my mother – who was certainly my biggest fan, defender, and cheerleader – who we unexpectedly lost as well, in 2016.
- To all of them – here with us tonight or simply with us only in spirit – I am so grateful.
And thank you to the entire Maryville College community of students, staff, faculty, alumni, and friends – thank you for the wonderful welcome you have provided to my family and me. Thank you to the President’s Cabinet for “onboarding” me, and to Suzette and Pam in the President’s Office for all of your efforts and support.
As I’ve said before, I see this event not as the installation or inauguration of a President, but instead as the beginning of the College’s 12th Presidency. The time during which I serve as President cannot and will not be about me – it must be about us. As I stated when I was first introduced, I am the President, but not the Presidency. The Presidency is about all of us, working together collaboratively and collectively, to advance this incredible college.
I accepted your invitation to serve, and now it’s my turn to extend an invitation to all of you. I invite you to join me in reaffirming Maryville College’s commitment to making a difference in the world, by using all that differentiates us, as a college. I invite you to join me in reaffirming our commitment to, as founder Isaac Anderson urged, “do good on the largest possible scale.” I invite you to join me, in equipping our students to navigate both the every day and the unexpected.
Over the past few months, I have studied our strategic plan and the recent branding work, and of course, I have engaged in many conversations with College stakeholders. The “formula for success” that I felt the College possessed, as I first considered this Presidency has been validated for me, many times over. The Maryville College of today is a story of abundant potential still waiting to be realized, and of wonderful news that must be shared even more widely. With all of that in mind, we have identified strategic and broad areas of focus for the College, as we move into the foreseeable future. Those areas are:
- “Future-Proofing” the College (which is our overall/umbrella area of focus);
- Embracing Our Opportune Location;
- Becoming a More Diverse Equitable, and Inclusive Community; and
- Capitalizing upon The Liberal Arts
Since my first interview with the presidential search committee, I have shared the goal of “Future-Proofing the College” – in other words, working to advance the College amidst the many challenges and opportunities facing higher education. To effectively advance the College, we must be flexible, creative, adaptable, and resilient – just as we teach our students to be.
We must operate in professional, efficient, responsible, and ethically-sound ways. We must leverage technology to better serve students and others in our community. We must endeavor to see and experience the college as students see and experience the college, and not simply as we think things should be. We must be open to new ideas, new approaches, and new ways of achieving our objectives.
We will operate in ways that are fiscally sound, which is consistent with our history, and for me, is a moral and ethical imperative. Every dollar the college possesses is one that has been paid – or gifted – to the college, and it is incumbent upon us to use each dollar in responsible ways.
It is important that for our culture to be one in which employees want to work, and enjoy working – because, the greatest beneficiaries of such a culture will ultimately be our students. We will build a culture which acknowledges and rewards good and hard work, one which promotes personal and professional balance, and which values new ideas and innovation.
The collegiality which has long characterized this college culture must be reembraced and reinforced. Dr. Gerald Gibson stated in his memoir, The Tenth Watch, “One quality I encountered unexpectedly all across the Maryville campus … was collegiality … I was repeatedly impressed by the signs of mutual respect and civility across departmental and administrative lines … it was a precious quality, one that we wanted to hold onto even as we pursued necessary changes.” (32)
As for other ways we will future-proof the College, we will look to pull new levers which enhance our enrollment, while being aware of the demographic shifts that lay ahead for higher education. We will widely spread the news of the affordability and value of a Maryville College education.
We will be mindful of potential new revenue streams for the College which are consistent with our mission.
We must be constantly aware of the importance of our online presence and identity, including social media – in this day and age, our relationship with so many others is primarily online – we must act and invest accordingly.
The next area of focus is Embracing Our Opportune Location.
If you have heard me speak at all about Maryville College over the past six months, you have heard me speak of our incredibly opportune location. I believe this location provides us with immense advantages, and we must embrace those advantages more than ever before. This isn’t to say that we’ve failed to acknowledge our locational advantages in the past – as we all know, the alma mater reads, “Where Chilhowee’s lofty mountains, Pierce the southern blue, Proudly stands our Alma Mater, Noble, grand, and true…” Our sixth President, Ralph Waldo Lloyd stated, “Throughout its whole life, Maryville College has been markedly influenced in character and development by its geographical region – at Maryville, East Tennessee, in the Upper Tennessee Valley of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.”
We are at the doorstep of the one of the world’s greatest natural laboratories for student learning – one of the world’s most diverse ecosystems, ripe with opportunities for all of us to make a difference, to play a role in preserving this amazing environment for generations to come. My hope and goal are that we will be the college of – and for – the Great Smoky Mountains – That we will be the college of and for this region.
This is not a new idea for many of you, especially our faculty who are already engaged in research and experiential learning opportunities in this region with students. I am so impressed with the work already being done across disciplines to study and serve this region. I have long been a fan of Mountain Challenge, and our stewardship of The College Woods is significant and meaningful, as well. And the most recent strategic plan links the curriculum to our community and location in ways that serve, analyze, enrich, and recognize our region.
I’ve heard a rumor that there’s a need for new and improved science facilities here at MC. I believe – and I’ve learned many others also believe – that embracing our location and the environment presents our best opportunity for bringing a new science facility to fruition, which could also include other programs which connect with – and serve – this region. Personally, I think – as do a number of others – that “The Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Maryville College” has a nice ring to it. Stay tuned on that front …
I often say that I cannot imagine Maryville College without Blount County, Alcoa, and the City of Maryville. I have quickly learned that Blount County, Alcoa, and the City of Maryville cannot imagine themselves without Maryville College. Our histories are deeply intertwined – we will work to improve, grow, and thrive together. I believe partnerships are key to the future of higher education, and we are in an area ripe for partnerships which enrich students’ educational experiences and provide service to this region.
For all of these reasons, I believe our location is the College’s greatest differentiator within the landscape of higher education, and embracing it more is imperative for our future.
The next area of focus is Becoming a More Diverse Equitable, and Inclusive Community. All members of the Maryville College community should feel and be affirmed, valued, and supported in expression of their unique identities. But, we must acknowledge that the playing field has so often not been equal, and in so many ways, remains unequal today. We must acknowledge that very few, if any, colleges were built for the diverse student populations we seek to serve today. Valuing diversity, equity and inclusivity is undoubtedly consistent with our identity as a college of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and now is the time for us to move forward, and to truly do better.
Rev. Isaac Anderson believed it was important to minister to and educate people of all races; and he did just that. While no history is perfect, MC has long stood as a college that provides opportunities to all. In the 1800s, we were educating women, Persons of Color, and international students – that’s notable for a college of that era, located in the American South. But we cannot rest on our history and legacy alone — we can and we must do better. The #BlackLivesMatter movement has highlighted the serious inequities which remain in our society today, and we must work tirelessly, every day, toward a more just and equitable future for all. And we will do all of this recognizing the full range of diversity within our college community.
So, how we will do this…? As you’ve heard me say before, I am the President, not the Presidency. Thus, we will do this together. In the coming weeks, we will be convening a President’s Advisory Board on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. That Advisory Board will consist of representatives who represent the areas we seek to address, as a college. Those areas will include: 1. Examining Our College History; 2. Student Recruitment and Support; 3. Faculty/Staff Recruitment and Support; 4. Academic and Non-Academic Program Offerings; and last, 5. College Policies and Procedures.
I look forward to us engaging in these efforts, and to becoming the equitable and just community that our history and legacy call us to be.
The last – but certainly not least – area of focus is Capitalizing Upon the Liberal Arts. In case you haven’t heard, I am passionate about the liberal arts and believe strongly that when you study everything, you are prepared for anything.
Many of you have indeed heard me speak already about what the “liberal” in liberal arts really means. When you consider the history of that term, “liberal arts,” and momentarily divorce yourself from politics, the liberal in liberal arts is about freedom and liberation. The late Father Theodore Hesburgh of Notre Dame spoke so eloquently on this topic – he articulated the “liberating” power, and the “freedoms” gained from the liberal arts as:
- The freedom to think clearly and logically
- The freedom to communicate one’s thoughts
- The freedom to humanize all you touch in life
- The liberation from valuelessness
- The liberation from inhumanity and meaninglessness
- The liberation from irrationality
Father Hesburgh went on to state, “It is mainly through liberal education that one learns appreciate where humankind has been and is going.” That, my friends, is what the liberal arts are truly all about.
At Maryville College, we have a unique loyalty to the liberal arts – we have stayed true to that foundation, and I believe that has served us well. We have resisted that common temptation to be all things to all people. We have resisted the urge to chase the markets – and frankly, I think that’s a big part of why we’ve been around for over 200 years.
But, what do the liberal arts mean for our next 200 years? How do we ensure their continued relevance to our students and the world beyond our campus, while staying true to who we are? We have definitely evolved in our academic offerings and instructional modalities since 1819 – so, how will we continue to strategically and carefully evolve? These are the questions we must ask and explore in the coming months.
At a time of so much uncertainty, I believe the liberal arts hold the keys to addressing many of the most critical issues facing our nation and our world. Now, more than ever, our nation and world need graduates who can think differently, can deal with ambiguity, and are prepared for the unexpected. We will continue to integrate career preparation with such an education, and also provide opportunities for students to engage in self-exploration and to find their voices.
Those are our areas of focus, through which we can reaffirm the College’s commitment to making a difference in the world – and to doing good on the largest possible scale.
I believe in Maryville College – I believe in the future of this storied and notable institution. I believe in those who have come before us, those of us here now, and those who will ultimately follow us. To be clear, I believe in all of you.
I accepted your invitation to lead – I now ask all of you to hear and receive my invitation to all of you – an invitation to be part of the 12th Presidency of Maryville College, which officially begins now. I hope you will accept this most sincere invitation – I hope you will join me in creating the bright future which lies ahead for Maryville College.
Thank you so much, and May God Bless Maryville College.