News

Mahony Talks with SIUE Chancellor James T. Minor and SIUC Chancellor Austin Lane

A doctor? A lawyer? A university chancellor? Though the third option is not one that most young people readily think of as a profession, Southern Illinois University (SIU) System President Dan Mahony, PhD, delved into the experiences and explored roads that led two successful men to their careers as administrators in higher education. 

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) Chancellor James T. Minor, PhD, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) Chancellor Austin Lane, PhD, were the first guests on Mahony’s inaugural podcast, “Office Hours with SIU System President Dan Mahony.” The webcast, “Lessons Learned on Career Paths in Higher Education,” was recorded and produced at SIUE’s WSIE 88.7 The Sound by SIUE graduate student Solomon Omondi, WSIE General Manager Jason Church and SIU System Marketing Executive Director Catie Sheehan. In addition to WSIE, the podcasts will be broadcast from SIUC and the School of Medicine in Springfield. 

“I appreciate your listening to the first episode of our new podcast,” said Mahony. “This platform will provide us a chance to explore what is going on in the world of higher education, including some of the major issues and challenges. Each episode, I will invite experts to be guests on this podcast and discuss higher education issues and their experiences in addressing them.” 

“Today, we’re in Edwardsville for episode number one,” continued Mahony, “and we’re going to explore some of the lessons learned that could benefit students, faculty, staff and aspiring higher education leaders.” 

Part of the educators’ discussion is recounted below. 

Question (Mahony): “Did you always know you wanted to be a university president?”   

Lane: “I grew up in a first-generational household, and we had a lot of hope of doing something beyond what we were doing at the time. When I got to high school, I was focused on athletics and not on academics. My counselors tried to push me towards a technical or vocational track, and my mother said, ‘No way.’ Not that there was anything wrong with that, but she said, ‘You’re going to college.’” 

“I got to Langston University and met Dr. Earnest Holloway, who was my president,” continued Lane. “I’ll never forget. He pulled me aside and said, ‘There is something you can do after you graduate. You can work with students.’ So, I got into student affairs because I wanted to serve. I never aspired to be a president or a chancellor, but it just turned out that way, and we are still here today, serving students.” 

Minor: “I didn’t have any aspirations to be a university president or chancellor. I thought I was going to be a professor. My intellectual heroes were all at colleges and universities. I thought if I got a chance to teach at the university level, that would be my career. I started out as an assistant professor

at Michigan State and was later awarded tenure. I thought, ‘This is great! I want to be a faculty member for the next 30 years, and I’m going to retire as a professor.’ But it didn’t quite work out that way.” 

“I feel very fortunate and privileged today to lead an institution of higher learning,” added Minor, “but it is not something that was on my list early on.” 

Question (Mahony): “What did you experience as an undergraduate that you would advise other students to do? 

Minor: “I was very focused on doing the things that were required for me to be successful academically. It is interesting to me that when university students arrive to campus for the first time, they are coming from many different high schools from across the state, region and country, and they are coming with varying levels of preparation. In some of my classes, I was the smartest student and in others I was not. What I did very well was to connect with people who were excelling in those classes. I suggest to students today to figure out who those people are in those courses and don’t be afraid to connect with them to find support in the classroom. That helped me out tremendously.” 

Lane: “When I went to college, my mother always said, ‘Birds of a feather, flock together.’ When I got to college, I was hanging with the wrong people. I was hanging with people who were partying a lot and not really focused on what their future was going to be. It wasn’t until I got with a different set of friends that I formed at the university and with our fraternity that Chancellor Minor and I are part of – Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity – that I started seeing what excellence looked like. Folks were really striving to do well academically and were thinking about their careers. College is not a four-year decision. It’s a 40-year decision.” 

Question (Mahony): What do you enjoy most about the position? 

Lane: “What drives me is the ‘underdog’ student. The student who has the grit. They may not have had all the confidence at first but were able to develop along the way. Then it’s even better to see them with their families at commencement. It’s beautiful that here we can give students an opportunity to shine. I love the way our institution attracts those students. It’s refreshing when you can see them succeed, cross the stage and do well in life.” 

Minor: “One thing is the power of the institution to transform people’s lives. To see that up close, gives me all the faith and confidence in institutions of higher learning. I enjoy that. When you get to serve in these roles, you are here long enough to see students arrive on campus. And if you’re lucky, you get to see them graduate. The life cycle of a student represents the power of the university. The other thing for me is the intellectual diversity of a university community that I find very beautiful. I am equally interested in what our faculty are doing in their research in the classroom. When you put these two things together, for me, that is the joy of being a university leader.” 

Listen here for the full podcast. “Office Hours with SIU System President Dan Mahony” can also be found on Spotify and on Apple. 

Photos:
SIU System President Dan Mahony, PhD, far right, interviews SIUC Chancellor Austin Lane, PhD, left, and SIUE Chancellor James T. Minor, PhD, center.