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June 2008
Editor’s
Note:
In
celebration
of
Oscar
C.
Page’s
10th
anniversary
as
president
of
Austin
College,
the
November
2004
President’s
Report
profiled
him.
Writer
Brian
Builta
captured
the
essence
of
the
man,
telling
the
story
of
a
boy
weaned
on
hard
work
and
pride
in
the
labor
of
one’s
own
hands.
Readers
learned
of
a
young
man
overcoming
his
teacher’s
doubts
and
discouragement
to
become
a
firstlegacy
generation
college
graduate,
eventually
earn
a
Ph.D.,
and
begin
a
career
in
higher
education.
That
article
chronicled
a
man
coming
into
his
own
as
a
leader, guided
by
faith
and
a
commitment
to
serve
others. Some elements of this article
are based on that profile.
A Decade of
Leadership
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Architect of Change, Builder of
Character
by Dara McCoy
When Oscar Page steps down as Austin College
president in June 2009, the College community also will say goodbye
to Anna Laura Page. In the September issue of Austin College
Magazine expect a closer look at the first lady of Austin College.
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Oscar
Page, Austin College’s 14th president, has been building
since his father took him, as a toddler, along on
construction jobs in Kentucky. He considered a career in
architecture before building a successful academic career
into his first college presidency at Austin Peay State
University in Tennessee at age 48. A selfmade man, Page has
applied the same formula of personal growth and achievement
to the 14 years he has served as president of Austin
College.
Those around Page say his ‘rollupyoursleeves’ approach is
bolstered by an enduring optimism. “He’s tireless,” said
Mike Imhoff, vice president for Academic Affairs. “He
doesn’t give in to personal things like tiredness or
frustration.” Such energy and outlook allow Page to set
goals and create a vision that is difficult, lofty even, but
never impossible. “When there’s a vision to follow, he
doesn’t waiver,” said Robert M. Johnson ’53, chair of the
College’s Board of Trustees. “When there’s a goal to be
reached, it is never unattainable.”
To find a segment of the campus community — students, staff,
faculty, parents, alumni, friends, or trustees — that
doesn’t respect or admire what Page has done in his years on
campus is difficult. “I don’t think it’s possible to find
anyone who is more persistent or works harder than Oscar
Page,” Imhoff said. “He has committed himself body and soul
to the College. He lives and breathes Austin College.”
Page’s dedication to Austin College and his commitment to
leadership through service and example have been the main
drivers of his success. “Dr. Page is the first in line for a
day’s work for Great Day of Service,” Johnson said. “He is a
perfect example of servant leadership.”
That leadership was evident when Page joined a group of
Austin College students in New Orleans in 2006 to help with
Katrina cleanup, and has been seen each fall as he carried
boxes for freshmen moving into campus residence halls.
“Austin College has had a tradition of service as a core
value,” Page said. “I saw this connection between a
philosophy that was embedded in me and the concept of service that had been prominent for
many years before I ever heard of Austin College.”
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More than Numbers
Like any good builder, Page realized the need to collect the boards and hammer before the first nail could be driven. Johnson said one of the most important aspects of the legacy Page will leave is his leadership in fundraising.
The
success of the $120 million Campaign for the New Era, the
largest fundraising effort in Austin College history, is a
milestone in Page’s tenure. “The success of the New Era
campaign was clear validation that we were making excellent
progress and that people were really committed to investing
in Austin College,” Page said. “The campaign was a benchmark
event that gave us great confidence in the future of the
College.” Page went on to increase the endowment 78 percent,
from $83 million to $148 million, and to raise the number of
$1 million donors from 11 to 46, with several donors above
the $5 million mark.
The numbers are impressive, but to Page the work has never
been about just the numbers. He used dollar signs and
percentages as a means to an end, and the end has always
been education. “Although Dr. Page dramatically increased
the endowment, he didn’t focus on financial needs only,”
said Susan DeLee Cuellar ’69, a senior trustee who served on
the Board of Trustees from 1992 to 2006 and served on the
search committee that selected Page as president. “Dr. Page
has encouraged students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends of
the College, and trustees to focus on the learning
experience and what is needed to support those efforts,” she
said. “In every situation, he challenges the College
community to place the highest value on the education of
students.”
Page’s focus on students is a trademark of his tenure. He is
on firstname basis with a large number of students and
stops to speak with them as he makes his way across campus,
in the dining hall, or at the many student events he makes
time to attend. “Beyond my tenure here, the thing I’ll carry
with me as much as anything will be reflecting on the
success of students and the contributions they’re making to
society,” Page said. “That is what gives me a sense of
accomplishment.”
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The House that Page Built
By 2009, assuming success in fundraising for the proposed
science building, Page will have orchestrated more than $100
million in capital improvement projects on campus, creating
better facilities and a beautiful campus environment in
which students, alumni, and the entire College community can
take pride.
Those projects include construction of Jordan Family
Language House, Jerry E. Apple Stadium, the Robert J. and
Mary Wright Campus Center, the Robert M. and Joyce A.
Johnson ’Roo Suites, and the Betsy Dennis Forster Art Studio
Complex. Page also has overseen renovation of the David E.
and Cassie L. Temple Center for Teaching and Learning at
Thompson House and of Wortham Center, as well as creation of
the John A. and Katherine G. Jackson Technology Center; the
Margaret Binkley Collins and William W. Collins, Jr., Alumni
Center; and the College Green in honor of John D. and Sara
Bernice Moseley and Distinguished Faculty. In establishing
the Robert T.
Mason AthleticRecreation Complex, all the athletic
facilities within were renovated and the Verde Dickey
Fitness Pavilion added. Since then, baseball’s Baker Field
and stadium have been refurbished and Russell Tennis Stadium
has been relocated and updated. Plus, landscaping and other
projects have significantly enhanced the entire campus,
particularly the addition of the Margaret Binkley Collins
Fountain, the Clyde L. Hall Graduation Court, and the Sandra
J. Williams Founders Plaza.
Page said he hopes that the programmatic changes implemented
during his tenure to enrich the curriculum, like adding four
majors and eight minors to the academic program, will be
remembered as just as important as new buildings and
beautiful landscaping projects.
Page has led the effort to make some 300 new scholarships
available to students, add 20 new tenuretrack faculty
positions, and increase enrollment while maintaining a
climbing SAT average. The College now shelters a Phi Beta
Kappa chapter, has an increasingly diverse student body, and
continues to see a large number of students
— seven out of 10 — study internationally.
Under
Page’s direction, the College created four new academic
centers, including the Posey Leadership Institute, which has
done much to garner national exposure for the College by
bringing wellknown figures to campus as speakers, such as
Madeleine Albright,
Colin Powell, Oscar Arias, and George H. W. Bush. “Through
the Posey Leadership Institute, the Austin College
Leadership Award, and other notable efforts, Austin College
has gained visibility on the national and international
stage,” Johnson said.
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—Robert C. Wright,
chair of the Austin College Board of Trustees
from 1997 to June 2007 |
Search for the Successor
Oscar C. Page announced in March his intention to step down
as president of Austin College in June 2009. The
Presidential Search Committee tasked with finding the 15th
president in Austin College history met formally for the
first time in early April. “Dr. Page has brought Austin
College to an enviable position given the many and
significant accomplishment of his 15 years,” said Robert M.
Johnson ’53, chair of the College’s Board of Trustees. “We
are well positioned to attract a pool of top candidates for
this position.
Page
announced his decision more than a year in
advance to give the College ample time to find his
successor. Page will focus his remaining time at the
College in fundraising for the new $40 million science
building, supporting the College reaccreditation
process, and assuring that the College runs smoothly
until his departure in 2009.
As always, he is looking to the future and he wants to leave
his house in order as a strong foundation for success for a
new president. “Now is the time for excitement to build
about new leadership and what that new leadership can bring
to the College,” Page said. “There will be some reflection
on what I’ve done here, but the more important thing is the
level of anticipation and excitement that can be connected
to a change in leadership.”
The search committee will be assisted by Academic Search of
Washington, D.C., a consulting firm that has worked
exclusively in searches for presidents and senior higher
education administrators for more than 30 years. Thomas B.
Courtice is the firm’s senior consultant to Austin College
and will provide counsel for the committee’s work throughout
the search process.
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A Lasting Legacy
Page’s 10th anniversary profile included the reflection,
“Perhaps, Oscar Page became an architect after all — his
legacy not a house, but a campus that many students,
faculty, staff, and alumni call home.” As Page completes his
final blueprint for Austin College and steps away from the
drawing board, “perhaps” no longer is applicable. “Oscar not
only made a difference at Austin College, he made the
difference between being average and being excellent,” said
Richard Agnich, Board of Trustees member for 12 years and
chair of the current Presidential Search Committee. “Austin
College is on the verge of becoming one of the very best
liberal arts colleges in the United States.”
Page has drawn up many plans and seen those concepts through
to completion. By evidence of his many accomplishments, he
has been the architect of a strong future for Austin
College. Equally, through his philosophy of servant
leadership and daily example of integrity, he has been a
builder of character in the lives of countless students and
other members of the Austin College community. 
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June 2008
Feedback? |
Presidential Search Committee
Richard J. Agnich, Chair
Linus D. Wright ’49, Vice Chair
Robert M. Johnson ’53, Board Chair
Robert J. Wright, Past
Board Chair
Lee Dean Ardell ’74, Trustee
Jacqueline R.
Cooper ’73, Trustee
Jesse R. Thomas ’74, Trustee
Linda
Plummer Ward ’78, Trustee
Todd A. Williams ’82, Trustee
Monica F. Martinez ’09, Student Body President
Michael T. Nurre ’67, Alumni Association President
John Williams ’84,
Chaplain and Director of Church Relations
Lisa M. Brown,
Associate Professor of Psychology
George M. Diggs, Professor
of Biology
Todd C. Penner, Associate Professor of Religion
Alternate trustee members:
Davis B. Price ’67
Steven M.
Mobley
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