By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The Northern Kentucky University Board of Regents unanimously approved Gerard “Gerry” St. Amand as interim president at its meeting Wednesday.
Gerard “Gerry” St. Amand was unanimously chosen as interim president by the Northern Kentucky University Board of Regents Wednesday. He will begin serving in that role in May (photo by Mark Hansel).
St. Amand will assume the position in early May.
He took a few minutes to talk about the opportunity to lead NKU in an interim role as the Board was in executive session, making his appointment official.
“I feel pretty deeply honored that the Board would ask me to assume this kind of a role,” St. Amand said. “It’s a role that has a lot of responsibility and to have the governing board of the university put its trust in me and believe that I could be a positive contribution during this interim period, you know it is an honor to be thought of in that light.”
St. Amand is no stranger to the NKU community. He has served as Dean of the Chase College of Law from 1999 to 2006 and as Vice President for University Advancement from 2006 to 2013.
“The first order of business is to make sure that I have a good grasp of all the key priorities that we have, going forward, in terms of business opportunities, in terms of academic program opportunities,” St. Amand said. “To ensure that everyone on this campus, all the leaders at various levels understand, we’re not stopping, we’re going to keep pushing all of those forward. As we think about how fast we move here, I’m looking forward to working with everyone here on campus.”
St. Amand, who was planning to retire in May, said the opportunity to lead the university in an interim role has reinvigorated him.
“I love the university, so the opportunity to help it was something that excited me,” he said. “Part of it, what made it exciting to me was, I know a lot of people on the leadership team in this university, at every level. We’ve got a strong leadership team at every level – dedicated, talented people – our staff and faculty. So stepping in, in that situation is something you’ve got to feel good about.”
St. Amand will take over for NKU President Geoffrey Mearns, who was named president of Ball State University in Indiana in January . Mearns will continue to serve as the president through Spring Commencement on May 7.
Having served in interim roles while also serving in a full-time position, St. Amand said trying to do two jobs and do them both well, is difficult.
“For the university to have an option to find somebody, at a particular point in time, that enables (him) to step in, without asking someone who’s already got a very responsible position, it helps minimize the disruption, if you will, to the entire organization,” he said. “You kind of limit the disruption to the office of the president. I feel good about the opportunity and getting a chance to work with all these guys.”
St. Amand said he feels fortunate to be stepping in at NKU at a time when there is a lot of positive energy on campus and showed he has a sense of humor about his new role
“I keep thinking back on the timing,” he said. “The announcement that (Board of Regents Chair) Rich Boehne has nominated me to be president came on a Monday, and the next two nights, NKU’s basketball team went on to win and qualify (for the NCAA Tournament). So, I’m thinking perhaps, that notice, that announcement, was the inspiration that kind of put them over the top.”
He added that he is also more than willing to take credit if the Norse upset Kentucky in the first round of the tournament.
Returning to a more serious topic, he spoke about the importance of NKU in the region and beyond.
“It provides a wonderful university where the people in this region can go to school, regardless of what their family or individual situation is, without having to leave their home area,” St. Amand said. “At the same time, this is a growing region that has a need for an awful lot of talent to support its workforce. Beyond the people from our own region that attend NKU, we are able to attract, because of the type of university that we are, people from all over.”
When students discover the region and the community, he says, to a large extent, they stay.
“So we are able to not only educate our own people, but we are able to bring talent from around the country, around the world, to settle here and are able to support the growth of our business community,” he said. “It’s a wonderful thing that this university does for the region.”
While he will have the title of interim president, St. Amand said he is not just a seat-filler.
He said one of the first things Boehne told him was the expectation of the board is that this interim period ought not be a period where we simply mark time waiting for a new president to take over.
“We have to continue moving aggressively with all of our priorities, our programs, our projects,” St. Amand said. “We have to keep doing that because this is a competitive business enterprise. Sometimes we don’t think of it like that, but it is, and the old adage is, if you are standing still, you’re falling behind, so we can’t fall behind.”
As a soon-to-be administrator, who is also a member of the law faculty at the moment, St. Amand said it is important to realize that the students come first.
“That’s our reason for being here and we can’t lose sight of that fact,” he said. “For me, the most important part of my job…was the teaching dimension and the opportunity to meet and sit with students. That’s the part that’s most rewarding.”
Desmarais
It is the students, he says, that energize the teachers and they are the next generation of leaders that benefit from the influence of educators.
“I’m near the end of my professional life, (but) the students are at the very beginning,” St. Amand said. “It’s exciting to be around those people and I’d like to spend as much time as possible with students, rather than hiding in my office.”
The target schedule outlined in the RFP to select the next president of NKU calls for naming a search firm in March; information-gathering in the late March and early April months; targeting and interviewing candidates over the summer; and concluding the process early in the fall semester.
NKU Regent Norm Desmarais heads the search committee that will identify candidates.
St. Amand acknowledged that it is always a challenge to replace the president of a university, but he is looking forward to a successful search process.
“I remember back when Jim Votruba left, he had done such a wonderful job for us and everyone thought, “’We’ll never replace Jim Votruba,’” St. Amand said. “Well we didn’t find another Jim Votruba, we found a Geoff Mearns and he stepped in and did a tremendous job for this university.”
It is important for people to realize, he says, that as NKU transitions again, it will not find, and is not looking, for the next Geoff Mearns.
“We are going to find somebody who will step in at this point in our history and lead us into that next step,” St. Amand said. “I’m optimistic that we are going to have a successful search and we’ll be able to recruit top talent to this university, because this university deserves, and will get, a top leader.”
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
