Chowan
A newsmagazine for alumni, pamnts and friends
Fall 1995
Volume 40
Number 2
Today
The Presidents Report
Establishing new identity
as a four-year institution
AS the 1995-96 academic year begins, 1 am grateful for
the opportunity to serve in the Office of the President
for this one year interim while the search for the
continuing President is carried out. It is a privilege to join an
able and committed faculty and a dedicated, competent adminis
trative team. An interim presidency role can range from dealing
with a major crisis to simply “staying the course.” Fortunately,
neither extreme is the case with Chowan and thus my commit
ment is to serve as an active leader, advocating those changes
needed to continue the process of becoming a four-year bacca
laureate institution and to prepare for the new administration,
Chowan has a long and distinctive heritage and a historical
record as an outstanding two-year, associate degree institution.
As a four-year, baccalaureate institution, we are entering a new
and challenging arena which requires us to change and to
confront the realities that face such colleges. To be successful in
achieving our place in this arena, it is essential that we address
such fundamentals as “knowing who we are” and to specify, as
clearly as possible, “what we want to become.” It is out of such
self awareness and determination, and the planning it entails,
that Chowan will define and establish its identity as a four-year
baccalaureate college. Fortunately, planning has become a way
of life within the institution thus the current documentation of
that plan will provide the basis upon which we will move to this
next level of planning and forecasting.
Concurrently, and as the main focus of this interim period,
will be enrollment planning, its management and aggressive
implementation of particular suategies to enlist new students
and to assure the continuance of those already here. So the rally
calls are “recruitment” and “re-recruitment” (retention)! To
achieve our goals will continue to require a well trained, hard
working and competent admissions staff — nothing short of
exceptional people. I believe we have such persons and our
presence in the marketplace of prospective college students will
be competitive. Though there are many and various efforts and
programs already in action by faculty and the administrative
staff to assure the return of freshmen as they move on to their
sophomore year and sophomores to their junior year, etc., it is
imperative that we improve the percentage of continuing
students in all classes, and thus we will be initiating a broader,
even more intense program of re-recuitment. A key factor in
every aspect of enrollment management—^be it the recruiting of
new students or the re-recruitment of continuing students—is
making Chowan affordable. Thus, we must stay in the forefront
of financial aid administration so as to achieve the enrollment
goals needed while sustaining a sound fiscal operation; This is
no small order and herein lies perhaps the greatest threat to the
survival of small, independent colleges like Chowan.
Inherently imbedded in realizing our enrollment goals, rests
the need to provide more options for academic study. It is here
in the area of academic programs were we have much to do
including the strengthening of existing programs as well as the
addition of new ones. The requirements are obvious—qualified,
properly degreed faculty, program resources, including those in
the Library, career counseling and planning which embraces
expected job opportunities and assistance for those wanting to
go to professional and graduate schools. The presence and ready
access of state-of-the-art technology is as fundamental to
Continued on Page 6
Has served several institutions
Dr. Herman Collier^ Jr.,
named interim president
Dr. Herman E. Collier, Jr., a former college
professor and president, has been named Interim
President at Chowan College and assumed his
position on August 1.
A native of Missouri, Dr. Collier will fill the
office vacated by Dr. Jerry F. Jackson, who has
resigned to become Vice President for Univer
sity Relations at Samford University, Birming
ham, Alabama.
Mrs. Elaine E. Myers, chair of Chowan’s
Board of Trustees, said “Dr. Collier has agreed
to serve as our interim president during the time
the Presidential Search Committee is engaged
with the task of finding and recommending to
the Board of Trustees a candidate for the
Presidency on a permanent basis.” The process
is expected to take six to twelve months.
“We have been very impressed with Dr.
Collier’s ability to quickly perceive our major
needs,” Mrs. Myers stated, “as well as his
willingness and desire to continue to move the
institution forward.”
Dr. Collier said that his “view of an interim
presidency should provide a focus on the
immediate needs of the institution whereby the
college might optimize efforts to reach estab
lished goals and objectives.”
“Chowan has a unique opportunity,” he
continued, “to build upon a long history as a
two-year college and to continue her progress,
programs and mission in higher education as a
senior institution.”
Collier received his undergraduate degree in
chemistry from Randolph-Macon College and
was awarded the M. S. in Inorganic Chemistry
and the Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry by
Lehigh University. He has completed additional
studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and Rensselear Polytechnic Institute.
He has served as a professor and departmen
tal chairman on the college level as well as a
research chemist in private industry.
Collier served as president of Moravian
College for 17 years and was the interim
Dr.
Herman
Collier
president of Salem Academy and College of
Winston-Salem during the spring of 1991.
In July 1994 he was appointed interim
president of North Carolina Wesleyan College
in Rocky Mount and completed his responsibili
ties there in the spring.
The recipient of five honorary degrees.
Collier has received numerous recognitions to
include the Medallion of Merit by the Moravian
College Alumni Association. The trustees of
Moravian College named the Herman E. Collier,
Jr., Hall of Science in his honor and also the
faculty development endowment.
Listed in “Who’s Who in America” and
“American Men and Women of Science,”
Collier has been active in the independent
colleges’ organizations of Pennsylvania. He was
also a member of Task Force IV, Higher
Education Master Plan for Pennsylvania and is a
veteran of military service with the U. S. Navy.
Collier is married to the former Jerline L.
Weston of Hopewell, VA, and they are the
parents of three sons.
A member of Kitty Hawk United Methodist
Church, the Colliers currently live in their
retirement home at Point Harbor, but will live in
the Ella Cobb Camp President’s Home during
the interim presidency.
O/f inside...
■ Annual Reports of Vice Presidents Page 3-6
■ Honor Roll of Donors Page?
■ Major gift donors listed Page 22
■ Homecoming to be fun-packed weekend Page 24
■ Special tribute to JimGarrison Page 25
■ New faculty and staff members Page 27
■ Long-time employees recognized for service Page 29