Rev. Brian Konkol, Valparaiso University’s incoming president, said Friday that growing up in the tiny town of Amherst Junction, Wisconsin, Valpo was always on his radar.
“This is a dream opportunity for me,” said Konkol, whose bow tie and spectacles give him a glancing resemblance to Orville Redenbacher, the city’s revered popcorn entrepreneur. “This is the dream job.”
During a meeting with local media after a meet and greet in the community room of the Christopher Center Library that drew more than 100 people, Konkol, who starts in his new role Jan. 1, said he sees the opportunity as the university’s 20th president to be “both rooted and reaching.”
Rooted in the Lutheran tradition, he explained, and reaching to educate young people not for a career, but a calling. “And Valpo provides that,” Konkol added.
The challenges faced by the university over the past few years, including faculty and staff cuts, national attention over the selling of cornerstone artwork from the campus museum, and enrollment struggles, can be overcome with the power of momentum.
“Momentum is real and sometimes it starts with relatively small moments, and it’s about recognizing those moments and moving forward,” he said.
“To me, adversity doesn’t necessarily build character. It reveals character, and the character of this place is strong.”
Carter Hanson, an English professor at the university for 26 years who met with Konkol during the meet and greet, said his hopes for Konkol’s tenure include a new leadership vision.
“I think everyone at the university is looking for stability and an embrace of our core values as an institution,” he said. “We’re a Lutheran institution of higher education, and I think President Konkol is going to bring a very strong engagement with our Lutheran heritage.
“We have a lot of alumni who are looking for a clear expression of our Lutheran values, and I think our students are looking for that as well.”
From his experience in the classroom, Hanson said a lot of the university’s students come to Valpo to serve others.
“President Konkol comes here with a strong ethos to serve others,” Hanson said. “I think that people are excited.”
Alex Pawlowski, an English major from Logansport who also met briefly with Konkol, said he thinks Konkol will do a lot to focus on the university in its entirety.
As someone involved in the arts, Pawlowski said, it seems as though that’s gotten the short stick the past couple of years, particularly with the sale of cornerstone pieces of artwork from the Brauer Museum to fund dorm renovations for first-year students.
“It really felt like art was being treated as a commodity and not something for our students to appreciate,” he said.
Konkol comes to Valparaiso University by way of Syracuse University, where he was a vice president, dean and professor, and is a member of the Chancellor’s Executive Team. During his tenure, he led a transformational strategic plan and oversaw a 933% increase in student participation at Hendricks Chapel, expansion of more than 2,000 annual programs, and the development of a nationally recognized model for spiritual, ethical, and interfaith engagement in higher education, according to a statement from the university’s board of directors.
Before his tenure at Syracuse, Konkol served in Lutheran-based institutions around the world, including as chaplain of Gustavus Adolphus College, co-pastor at Lake Edge Lutheran Church, and pastor and country coordinator for the ELCA in Guyana and South Africa, deepening both his global perspective and his commitment to Lutheran higher learning and service.
President José Padilla in January announced his retirement at the end of this calendar year per his five-year contract.
Valpo’s national presidential search, launched in March, was led by a nine-member committee representing trustees, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader campus community, with support from the firm Academic Search, the board said in its announcement about Konkol.
“What I would be willing to bet is, there were many other people they could have chosen, which gives me pause. Why is it me?” Konkol said. “I have to believe it’s about deepening our roots.”
Konkol said that’s why the search committee selected a reverend, and “a small-town kid who’s lived around the world.”
Being from a small town provides strong community connections, and traveling the world reveals the power and possibility of education and the treasure of American education, Konkol said.
Within three minutes of the board’s announcement that Konkol was the university’s president-elect, he began receiving emails from people with suggestions. He wants to hear from people, he said, and harness their energy, passion and optimism.
“I’m aware of the challenge facing higher education. I’m aware of the challenges specific to Valparaiso University, but we do have something special,” he said. “There’s no place like Valparaiso University. It’s a blessing, and I’m excited to invite students into it.”
alavalley@chicagotribune.com