Q+A with CHANCELLOR KELLY Photo by Brandon Pack | <strong>The</strong> <strong>Carolinian</strong> staff met with Chancellor Brendan Kelly, Ph.D. on <strong>Aug</strong>. 17 at the Humanities and Performing Arts Center. Zandra Shafer, Stephanie Sawaked, Lucy McElroy, and Asia Suber conducted an exclusive interview, asking about his goals for the future of the University. Chancellor Brendan Kelly, Ph.D. joined the University in March and is focused on establishing and nurturing relationships with alumni, students, faculty, staff, and the Spartanburg community. He is driven by Upstate’s ongoing potential for growth after 50 years of existence. Chancellor Kelly met with <strong>The</strong> <strong>Carolinian</strong> staff to discuss his motivation for success and his vision for Upstate in the next 50 years. 8 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Carolinian</strong> Orientation <strong>Issue</strong>
Q: What piqued your interest and brought you to USC Upstate? A: That’s a good question. You don’t move three children – and one of which is a junior in high school – because your interest has piqued. That’s why you go whitewater rafting. We were at a place where we were ready to transition. I started being recruited for this position last June. Long before any of you were introduced to me, I was introduced to the University. <strong>The</strong>re were three primary elements that drove that decision for our family, and I’ll tell you – it was a collective decision. One, the geography is incredible. And it’s not just that we’re in one of the most beautiful areas of the country. We’re also in one of the most economically hot areas of the country. When you’re a public university, that’s a really important attribute – because the product is you. And if you were graduating today at a regional comprehensive university in a state, or in an area of a state where the economy was not growing, or it was not robust, there’s not a lot of choice. We have a large contingent of alumni who stay here in the state. In fact, the largest percentage of any university in the state. We also have most of those staying here in the Upstate. That’s a really attractive quality to me, because it tells us that we’ve got an economy where we’ve got the opportunity to grow as a university, and that the region is dependent on us for its success. We have to be a great partner that creates a lot of opportunity. <strong>The</strong> second piece was the structure of the institution – a regional comprehensive university. <strong>The</strong> types of programs that we host, the types of students that we focus on – that’s my interest and passion. I have been offered positions at many different universities, many very large, and this is where I’d love to be a part of the community. And the third was once I got to come here – meet the faculty, meet the staff, and understand better where the students are and where the institution was – and it seemed like we were ready for what comes next as an institution. I’d been part of that a previous institution and it is a very exciting time in the life cycle of a university when you’re a part of “what comes next,” as opposed to “this is what we’re doing right now.” When I saw that that was probably the opportunity that was here, I got excited to lead us there. Q: What would you like to accomplish most while you’re here? A: I appreciate you already talking about me leaving. (Laughs) I would say there are three areas where it’s not about what I want – it’s about what we need and what we’re supposed to be doing for the state of South Carolina and for the Upstate. I say that because where I come from in Michigan, I’ve watched economies fall apart because we didn’t support them the right way. And we’ve had some really great opportunities here. We have to be a great partner. So, stationing us to be that is going to require three things. Many people have heard me talk about those three things because I really do believe that those are the three we have to be focusing on for the next few years in order to be that great partner and to provide every student who graduates from this institution a maximized opportunity to go out and have the most successful life that they possibly can. First, we have to enhance the resources of the university. That comes in a wide variety of different ways, but making certain we’re focused on enhanced fundraising, auxiliary income, trying to operate more efficiently. <strong>The</strong> more efficient we are – that’s one way of lowering the cost of operations, which either allows to make new investments in quality and new opportunity, or to lower operational costs altogether. Enhanced resources are a key piece, because we’ve got to pay for the future. Second is, we have to grow. We have not awarded enough bachelor’s and master’s degrees to supply the Upstate with the white-collar talent that it needs. And we have to make a change there. I would also suggest that if I’m a student at Upstate and I earn a bachelor’s degree, and a couple years later, or a few years later, I want to enhance my prospects, and I need to go and earn a graduate credential – we should be positioned to provide you that graduate credential as well in key disciplines in our areas of strength. We have a number of graduate programs right now, we need to expand that. That would allow us to provide more opportunities to people in this region to earn higher education credentials the way they need to, and to be part of a really extraordinary university community at the same time. That growth is essential. That ambition comes from, “We have to do that for our state and for our region, for all of the people who live here to enhance the quality of life.” When I get free time, if I go to Target, I am wearing a USC Upstate shirt. I went to Target last Sunday to buy school supplies for my kids – I’ve got a 17-yearold, a 14-year-old, and an 11-year-old – I ran into three people in the store who did not know me, who were all wearing USC Upstate shirts. I stopped every single one of them and told them, “I’m a fan of your shirt.” I just wanted to know what their connection was and get them excited about the university. I did that on one of the first Saturdays I was here, I had three hours before I had to be back on campus. I got my oil changed and went to the grocery store and I wore a USC Upstate softball shirt. And I knew when I wore it that everyone would ask me about the university, that’s why I wore it. But they didn’t ask me just about the university, they asked me if I was the head coach. So, I was like... “yeah.” And I told Chris Hawkins. And yeah, you’ve got to understand – Chris Hawkins is one of the top 25 coaches in the United States in softball. We have one of the finest softball programs in America. And I had to break it to him that his profile wasn’t nearly as big as he thought it was, because people thought I was him. But that type of storytelling – when we walk down the streets of Spartanburg or Greenville, we need to see more of our marks. We have a lot to brag about and we don’t do nearly enough bragging and I’m going to make it my mission to change that. Q: What are your plans for fundraising at Upstate? A: We have a lot of work to do on that front. We have a lot of relationship building to do. We have hired Dr. Meredith Brunen as well. She is absolutely fantastic, your new Vice Chancellor for University Advancement. She’s a very skilled leader in development, alumni engagement, as well as overseeing university marketing and communications. She’s a skilled higher education leader. She is trying to put together our organization and our foundation in a way that people can have faith in it. If you want to make a gift to the University, you want to make a gift knowing it’s being stewarded and one, in the way you intended and two, in the most careful hands possible. People who treat your treasure like it’s your treasure. We’re setting up that environment first at the same time we’re building relationships with people, our hope is that their faith in this institution and also the way in which we’ll treat their treasure will help enliven our outcomes on that front. I will participate in that on a daily basis and have been, Dr. Brunen will as well. We just brought in our new Athletic Director – Julio Freire. He is absolutely fantastic. Julio is another one who is attempting to build relationships now on behalf of the athletics, but also on behalf of the University at large. <strong>The</strong>re’s one thing we know to be true – it doesn’t really matter where we win in the institution. If we have the best nurses in the state, then the whole University wins. If we win a basketball game, the whole University wins. If we put out a great newspaper, the whole University wins. It’s all of those things connected together to lift up the institution and we need all of those things to be elevated – every single element of the institution. That’s really challenging. That’s why you need a lot of enthusiastic people who are faculty, staff, students, executive administrations, who are all working for that one goal. If we do that, I think our fundraising profile changes dramatically. We are essential as an institution to the success of this region and I believe strongly that people are going to invest in that. Q: What was your reaction to the events in Charlottesville? A: I don’t know if you can have another reaction than just being disgusted and sad. Scared, frustrated... very frustrated. But, there is no place for hatred and violence and racism and bigotry in public discourse. <strong>The</strong>re is no utility. It accomplishes absolutely nothing. It just destroys the great work of so many people trying to enliven the human community. I don’t know what else to tell you on that front, except that we have a duty to ensure that we play a role in making a better human community. Communications is critical, absolutely critical. And the type of communication is even more critical. READ THE FULL INTERVIEW ON OUR WEBSITE WWW.UPSTATECAROLINIAN.ORG 9
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