First female president comes home to Evangel

Last edited 9:35 a.m., June 17, 2013

While Evangel University will welcome its highly anticipated president-elect in July, Carol Taylor already is making administrative moves from her office in California.

Taylor, the successor to nearly 40-year Evangel leader Robert Spence, last month appointed six officials to her executive committee. (See sidebar.) Her next move – officially stepping into Evangel’s president post upon Spence’s retirement in spring 2014 – will make history as the private Christian school’s first female president.

However, Evangel officials and area colleagues are downplaying the historical significance in favor of her role in turning around the finances at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Calif.

“We were looking for the best person we could find to move forward, and she happened to be that,” said Bud Greve, a member of Evangel’s presidential search committee and a 13-year faculty member. “What she has done and accomplished are far more important than her gender.”

The data indicate Taylor is among a growing number of women in collegiate leadership. According to the American Council on Education, 26.4 percent of college presidents in 2012 were women, up from 23 percent in 2006.

Taylor arrives alongside the recently approved consolidation of Evangel, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary and Central Bible College. Similar to her current employer, Vanguard University, the consolidated Assemblies of God institutions are in a financial bind.

According to a June 2011 report by a task force assembled to determine if consolidation was feasible, net combined assets of CBC, AGTS and Evangel dropped by $7.42 million between 2008 and 2010. The schools’ combined debt load, including lines of credit, amounted to $32 million in fiscal 2009–10, according to an audit by BKD LLP cited in the report. Evangel spokesman Paul Logsdon said school officials have reduced the debt load in the last fiscal year by more than $1 million to $30.9 million.

“The real issue is you want a leader who can get the job done,” said Southwest Baptist University President C. Pat Taylor, who is familiar with Vanguard’s Taylor because both schools belong to the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. “It doesn’t matter if they are male or female.”

With many colleges now enrolling a majority of female students – 56 percent were women in 2011, according to the U.S. Census Bureau – Taylor said he thinks it’s appropriate that leadership reflect the student body.

Vanguard’s Taylor said she wasn’t seeking a new position but was contacted by California-based search firm The Dingman Co., which was recruiting candidates on Evangel’s behalf. Aware that Spence was nearing retirement, and with the opportunity to lead her former alma mater serving as a strong pull, she decided to throw her name in the hat.

Taylor said she arrived in 2007 at Vanguard, an Assemblies of God school, never looking to become president. After spending seven years as Viola University’s vice provost for undergraduate education, Taylor thought she would settle in as Vanguard’s chief academic officer.

“Shortly after my arrival, we realized we had missed an enrollment target and needed to cut the budget. I think that was the beginning of understanding that there was a far deeper crisis the school was heading in to,” Taylor said.

In 2008, Taylor was heavily involved in decisions to cut $1.7 million from the school’s operating budget. That fall, the school’s president resigned as the school was heading into the reaccreditation process. With roughly $32 million in debt, she said it was clear the school’s finances were among issues that could impact reaccreditation.

In January 2009, Taylor was asked to become the university’s president, about a month before a key meeting with an accreditation commission. She put together a quick plan and asked the commission to delay a decision until June, when school officials could develop a more deeper plan of action.

While the school was placed on probation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the hard work to cut academic programs and improve cash flow began.

“We had a new board. We did the hard work to get the institution in the black – very painful work, as you might imagine,” she said. “We did cut another $3.5 million out of the operating budget, but in a very strategic way that we thought would strengthen the institution long-term. The reality is that I didn’t save Vanguard. The magnitude of change that is required to (turn) an institution around really requires an entire community to be willing to take that journey.

“I just happened to have a front-row seat for the journey we took.”

Today, the school operates in the black, it is off of probation, and its debt level – now $24 million – is declining, she said.

Greve said Vanguard’s financial turnaround was a key consideration in Taylor’s selection by the consolidated boards. “I think my comment at the time was, ‘If the prediction of future success is past performance, then that speaks for itself,’” Greve said.

“I think she was able to focus on what she called ‘the deep DNA’ of an organization rather than just surface issues,” Greve added. “It’s the difference between what’s urgent and what’s important. Even though some things may appear urgent, she was able to keep the institution focused on the deep issues of the organization. I believe she did that by involving all of the stakeholders at Vanguard, and I think that’s how she operates. It’s hard to be a lone ranger and be an effective leader.”

In calling for the three Springfield schools to come together, the task force said declining enrollment at CBC needed to be addressed. Enrollment at the Bible college had dropped to roughly 650 in 2011 from around 850 in 2000. While Evangel’s enrollment has grown steadily to roughly 2,000 in spring 2013, the school has only added about 400 students in the last 30 years. Combined, the schools reported spring enrollment of 2,800.

To move Evangel forward, Taylor said she plans to duplicate the cooperation and continuity she fostered at Vanguard. She said every area of operations was examined, and outdated programs and classes fell on the chopping block under her restructuring.

Her first semester at Evangel will be without Spence, who is planning a sabbatical through the fall.[[In-content Ad]]