David Manuel has spent his life immersed in the realm of education. As a professor, he’s had the opportunity to be intimately involved in helping students learn. As an administrator, he’s helped universities achieve their goals.
Drury University, he says, is a terrific fit for him.
“I think probably the most succinct thing I can say is my mentors described it as the next natural progression for me,” Manuel says of his selection as Drury’s next president. “Probably the greatest appeal is the blend of liberal arts and professional studies and how that fits so tightly into Drury’s mission.”
A battle of the David’s, Manuel beat out David Steele, the dean of the business school at San Jose State University in California, and David McInally, the executive vice president and treasurer at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, for the position. Currently the chancellor and an economics professor at Louisiana State University-Alexandria, Manuel says his background should make him a well-rounded leader at Drury and allow him to be able to navigate different constituencies to bring distinction to the school and prepare students to enter the business community.
Manuel says it’s a little early to define the goals for his first academic year as Drury’s president – he doesn’t officially start work until June 1, 2013. For now, he is focused on understanding the culture of Drury and the Springfield-area community.
“I have to become part of the culture and really understand the culture of the region. My opinion is, if you don’t both embrace it and become embedded in it, you’re not going to be successful in it in the years to come,” Manuel says.
He says his transition will begin with a series of visits before June. During those trips, Manuel plans to meet with university leaders and hopes to learn more about the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities the school faces.
“One of the things that I’ll be doing is asking folks for input to help me form my own learning networks — individuals and groups who I can meet with and talk about their impressions,” Manuel says.
He’s coming from a school that feeds roughly 2,400 students into the LSU System. Drury this year had roughly 1,500 traditional students enrolled and more than 5,000 students considering graduate and continuing studies.
The universities “that tend to be making the greatest strides have both feet firmly planted in what the liberal arts brings to professional studies. It’s a mixture of bringing a breadth of thinking to students and a breadth of professional studies to students,” he says.
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