Ball State President Geoff Mearns: A First Day

Ball State University’s new president spent his first day on the job being shown around the Muncie campus.  As IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, he says he’ll spend his first months listening to everyone with a stake in the university’s future.

Almost any new job begins with a tour, and Ball State President Geoff Mearns’ first day was no exception.  He says 3-4 hours of his time on Monday was spent meeting people in classrooms and the school’s libraries.

“I believe before I can contribute in a meaningful way to a vision for the future of the institution, I have to know the people who have created this very solid foundation first.”

BSU’s president tweets from @PresidentMearns

Mearns says he’ll continue to do a lot of that in his first weeks – meeting with students, faculty, alumni, donors, and the Muncie and Delaware County community at large.  Mearns has spent time in the administration of two other universities and says these institutions have a “moral obligation” to support the community.

“This institution, as I learn more about it, it was built by the people here in Muncie and in Delaware County.  It was their dreams and their financial investments that created the foundation that we’ve inherited.  Now we know that Muncie and Delaware County are facing some challenges.  I’m not as familiar as others are, but it’s evident to me that there’s some challenges.  And I believe it’s now our turn.  It’s our turn to make investments, in terms of time and effort and ideas.”

One of the big plans Mearns has for his first year is to craft a new strategic plan for the university, which has seen much change over the last several years.  Its last plan, called “The Cardinal Commitment” was written in 2015 by then-president Paul Ferguson.  But he left office after a year-and-a-half under circumstances that still cannot be discussed because of a legal agreement between him and the Ball State Board of Trustees.

Ferguson’s strategic plan had 18 goals to accomplish by 2018 – the school’s centennial year.  Mearns says while he’s still learning about the school, he knows his strategic plan will be more focused.

“Now I don’t know what those three, four, or five goals are yet, but I think you’ll see when we develop the plan going forward, I think you’ll see a little bit more strategic focus.  I think most people, reasonable people, understand that not all of their ideas will necessarily be reflected in the plan.  But they have to be respected.  And so we’re going to begin the process – continue the process of communicating better by doing some listening.  I’m sure there will be time when I make decisions that some folks won’t agree with.  That’s the nature of the business.  That’s the nature of a diverse community, right?  My view is that what we aspire to do is simply communicate the rationale for those decision and people can understand.”

While the man with five children in their 20’s knows how to navigate social media, he says his favorite way to listen and engage is in person.  He wants Ball State students to say hello on campus or even visit him in his office.

“The people who work with me in the office will know they’re supposed to come in and get me so I can say hello.  Because I need to know who they are, why they came here, what they hope to achieve, what they want their university to be.”

And if, on a sunny week like this, you stop and say hello with ice cream, know this.  Geoff Mearns only eats chocolate chip ice cream.

“I don’t eat any other flavor of ice cream than chocolate chip.  [laughter]  Maybe a piece of… maybe vanilla ice cream on a piece of apple pie.”