O.P. Kretzmann and Alan Harre were also Lutheran pastors. I seem to recall they were pretty good VU presidents.
Paul
Actually the first four Valpo Presidents, while under Lutheran ownership, were clergy. Huegli and Schnabel were not but as Paul has correctly pointed out, Alan Harre was a member of the clergy. As a Catholic, it took Padilla way to long to get his theological bearings and as a result seemed a bit lost. Not his fault.
O.P. Kretzmann and Alan Harre were also Lutheran pastors. I seem to recall they were pretty good VU presidents.
Paul
Harre and his wife were also big basketball fans. I sat beside them and watched as Diane always kept score. In fact, I was the first to congratulate Alan with a hand shake at the final buzzer of the Lutheran Miracle when VU upset top-20 ranked Notre Dame. I am hoping Konkol will regularly attend basketball games as well.
I am pleased with our new president and optimistic on where we can go.
Maybe the LBAA National Tournament can return to Valpo soon.
@cautioushorse1 Oh, I don't see running a chapel as a bad or lesser-than sort of thing at all. To grow a successful chapel program means lots of experience with people, finances, HR type stuff, vocational idealism/humaneness expectations of employees and publics served, advertising/draw dynamics, fundraising, dealing with people from all walks of life and professions who walk in the door, short and long-term relationships, PR/news/scandal considerations, legal protocols around service done with adults/minors in settings on and off-site, delivering quality intellectual/spiritual messages in a coherent way for the intended audience, etc.
Obviously, a university is going to be bigger and far more complicated, so with bigger challenges too. So he'll have to level up. But surely that skill set is a wayyyyy better fit for the activities of running a university than the weird factory corporation logic that dominates a lot of CEO type uni presidents who bark up the entirely wrong tree thinking they are overseeing some kind of factory producing widgets to sell for the good of some investor elsewhere, entirely unaccountable to the community they're supposed to be fostering. And besides, it's not like he's 'just' coming from a chapel, but it sounds like it's a pretty lively operation embedded within Syracuse U. So he does have upper admin university experience, as a VP of Syracuse U - which is not some kind of sleepy small churchy place at all, but outsizes and outstrips Valpo on most research and public service considerations. If he were coming as a chaplain from a smaller college or something, maybe I would worry -- but he's coming from what is a larger and probably more complicated and functionally secular place than Valpo is, which means he is not 'just' a pastor clueless about the 'world' but has already been sitting at the junctures of higher ed, church, and society.
So I'm not troubled that he as a pastoral background, and I think this guy might do well. Time will tell, but I see nothing too bad at first glance, and I'm usually a cynical voice here. I'm up for hope!
I am pleased with our new president and optimistic on where we can go.
Seems as if there is a lot to be optimistic about. I wish him the best!
The video introduction posted earlier gave me reason for hope as well. There's a sincerity and sense of purpose about him.
My biggest fear was that VU would get one of these conventionally qualified people with certain check-the-box credentials on their c.v., but who isn't the kind of special fit that this school needs. I get none of that vibe about him.
I also like where he's coming from. You don't leave a VP position at Syracuse to take on the very real challenges facing Valparaiso, unless you care about what this institution has to offer the world. That's a really good sign to me.
O.P. Kretzmann and Alan Harre were also Lutheran pastors. I seem to recall they were pretty good VU presidents.
Paul
Actually the first four Valpo Presidents, while under Lutheran ownership, were clergy. Huegli and Schnabel were not but as Paul has correctly pointed out, Alan Harre was a member of the clergy. As a Catholic, it took Padilla way to long to get his theological bearings and as a result seemed a bit lost. Not his fault.
For those of you who know your Valpo history, it seems that many on here don't, every president of Valparaiso University during the Lutheran era, up until Mark Heckler, was an LCMS ordained clergy member or had studied at one of the LCMS seminaries. Only Schnabel did not have a degree from an LCMS seminary, but was president of one of the LCMS Concordia colleges.
I will certainly support Rev. Konkel, but I'm disappointed that the board failed to realize the decline of Valpo corresponded with its distancing itself from the LCMS. When over 90% of Lutheran high schools in the United States are LCMS-affiliated, I find it puzzling that the board fails to see any correlation between this and the decline in enrollment.
Wish him and the University the best. How can we get a few thousand extra applications in the next few months
Excellent news. Looks like a strong hire, and I am very happy to see that he's a Lutheran. I do think that's important. I look forward to seeing what he's able to accomplish!
@fwalum I would have been happy to see a LCMS Lutheran too; but this Krok guy seems like clearly a committed Christian and that counts for something. (In a fact, he was a former missionary and with interesting/nuanced thoughts about that, before he went into pastoring and then into higher ed.) So I'm guessing he's not just a glib Lutheran who is functionally secular. I think that was a problem with Padilla who, though he was initially touted as a Catholic, was actually not Catholic or religious at all in his worldview or really rooted in any value system at all. And it's not like LCMS guarantees that people are solid faith-wise either. While most the LCMSers I've met are deeply pious and genuinely value-led people, I've met a couple who were really pretty shallow and disconnected from values. Dean Kilpinen (long time dean of A&S who drove it into the ground) was such a dull, mechanical, utilitarian, short-term, extractive thinker and leader, that I was actually quite surprised when I realized he was apparently a LCMS Lutheran, since I never would have guessed from his words or actions he had a spark of religious anything in him and had long thought he was some kind of secular drone implant from the Borg or something).
So I think that's what matters more than the particular denominational commitment is the fact that he's operating with some kind of generative religious/Christian outlook. This VP seems like 'the real deal' in terms of a living Christian faith life, while also being quite cosmopolitan in his outlook and experience at the intersections between higher ed, faith, professionalism, etc.
I get the same vibe as David81. And David81 makes the great point that he is giving up the Syracuse VP; a huge sacrifice in trading it for Valpo's dangerous financial situation.
In terms of his ELCA background vs. an LCMS pastor history, I think that the LCMS horse has left the barn for Valpo. It was chased away by Mark Heckler who had a distaste for the LCMS and started a rapid 17-year enrollment decline in that cohort. Sadly, he ruined the Lutheran high schools ties to not only LCMS member families, but also lost the pipeline to the non-Lutheran friends of the families at the high schools, and in turn lost their friend networks.
Maybe Rev. Konkol is a uniquely gifted man who can re-connect with that network. He will need to shine a light on the broader Christian protestant beliefs on key issues and demonstrate the value of critical thinking. But the faculty hopefully allows him to be a critical thinker, allowing him to balance perspectives in a polarized political time. Athens and Jerusalem is the unique genius of Valpo.
In terms of his ELCA background vs. an LCMS pastor history, I think that the LCMS horse has left the barn for Valpo. It was chased away by Mark Heckler who had a distaste for the LCMS and started a rapid 17-year enrollment decline in that cohort. Sadly, he ruined the Lutheran high schools ties to not only LCMS member families, but also lost the pipeline to the non-Lutheran friends of the families at the high schools, and in turn lost their friend networks.
While Valpo has had many unforced errors when it comes to recruiting Lutheran students, we can’t overlook the changes to the LCMS in that same time period. Matthew Harrison was elected in 2010 and ushered in more conservative positions and moved the synod to the right. Valpo always occupied a precarious position within the LCMS, so those changes altered the relationship.
I’m hopeful that Rev. Konkol can begin to reestablish a Lutheran pipeline to Valpo. Both synods need to understand how a strong Valpo also benefits them.
When looking through some of Brian Konkol's writings, I found the following passage to be interesting:
"The human community consumes at a rate that far exceeds the speed with which resources can be renewed. While many reasons are given for such an alarming ecological situation, a significant level of research has shown that the current economic model-a neoliberal capitalism driven by the world's most powerful nations-of mass production, an excess of consumption, and the pursuit of unrestrained economic growth are key contributors that drive the earth toward such massive levels of damage. On top of such disturbing environmental issues, neoliberal capitalism also creates massive levels of economic discrimination and extreme improverishment, with billions of people forced to ensure the painful aftermath and carry the burden while others receive the profits."
(page 17, from "Mission as Accompaniment: A Response to Mechanistic Dehumanization" by Brian Konkol. Published in 2017)
He goes on to argue that these economic behaviors lead to massive indifference, lack of empathy, and devaluing of individuals around the world...and that ELCA needs to more effectively respond to neoliberal capitalism and objectifying human attributes.
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One could debate the merits and issues within this philosophy for a long time, but that is not my point here. My points (based on the points from this book) are:
-It is likely he is not politically conservative (I don't view that as good or bad).
-He may have difficulties with some groups, such as wealthy donors and faculty in the College of Business. While those people may well see the need to address issues valued by Dr. Konkol, they are not likely to take kindly to being seen as the villain because they support capitalism and were successful in that system.
-Thinking he would build/reestablish relationships with groups (like LCMS) that have moved in more conservative directions may be unlikely.
