ERIC A. TURNER, ED.D., PRESIDENT
Eric Turner was named president-elect on July 20, 2018, by the Southwest Baptist University
Board of Trustees. He began his service as president-elect on Aug. 6, 2018, and assumed
the presidency on Sept. 1, 2018.
He comes from Black River Technical College (BRTC), where he served four years as
president. Prior to this, he served 17 years in various administrative capacities
at Williams Baptist University.
Under his leadership at BRTC, the college developed new community educational partnerships
and collaborative efforts, launched three new academic programs and constructed the
39,000-square-foot Health Science Complex and Fire Drill Tower. Additionally, Turner
rectified long-standing issues related to finance, accreditation and academics.
During his time at Williams, Turner's work focused primarily on fundraising and accreditation.
He and his team secured the largest planned gift in institutional history, along with
numerous gifts earmarked for scholarships, capital construction, and renovations.
He and his wife, Barbara, have a 16-year-old daughter, Emma.
President's Update
Oftentimes, I am asked what my summer looks like. I invariably respond, “Busy, but
a different kind of busy.” This summer proves to be no exception. Like many of you
during the school year, I hang on for dear life, trying to keep up with the pace,
and bemoan having only 24 hours.
Several years ago, former USC president Steven Sample provided his 70/30 Formula for
Leadership in his book, “The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership.” The Formula postulated
under ideal conditions, a 30 percent of a president’s time could be spent on a contemplative
thought and moving the University forward, while the other 70 percent of time should
be spent on the ephemeral. Time and again, his observation resonates. While I aim
for the 30 percent, there have been times when I have considered 1 percent to be a
victory for the day. In my time serving as a president for the past five years, summertime
has typically been a time devoted to the sometimes elusive 30 percent.
This summer, substantive conversations are occurring related to implementing our strategic
goals shared last spring. Much of the dialogue I am having focuses on developing and
leveraging new and existing resources dedicated to the spiritual health and vitality
of the University. I am excited about how things are developing and look forward to
sharing more with you once the school year commences in August.
Shaping our story together,
Eric
For me, commencement has always been bittersweet. While we celebrate the accomplishments
of graduating students, the campuses become extremely quiet following commencement
exercise. Summer is great time to tie up loose ends on projects and initiatives along
with some time away, but once July 4 rolls around, I am ready for the school year
to get under way.
In reflecting on the completion of all the “firsts” as your president of Southwest
Baptist University, I cannot help but consider my first presentation of the “Life
Beautiful” Awards. Established by career missionary Rosalee Mills Appleby, the recipients,
who exemplify a “life beautiful” through their character and scholarship, are chosen
by the faculty. The 2019 recipients of SBU’s Life Beautiful Awards are Sylvia Ofori-Yeboah
and Tyler Dickenson.
In reading about the impact Sylvia and Tyler have had on the SBU community and beyond,
these two outstanding young people exemplify our endeavors to provide a transformative
educational experience within a vibrant faith community.
In seeking to forge the next chapter of SBU, let us be mindful of the eternal investment
we make in the lives of students. This is why we do what we do.
Shaping our story together,
Eric
From my perspective, this has been a very busy year for Southwest Baptist University. We have accomplished a great deal together already—thank you for welcoming our family into the SBU family with open arms. We are indeed grateful for the Lord bringing us to this special place.
In reaching the midpoint of the current planning process, there are some strategic
initiatives necessary to begin developing now. I shared a couple of these with you
last week during my inaugural address:
- Development of the initial SBU globalization team
- Facilities master planning
Dr. Allison Langford will develop the globalization team initially. This team development
will begin after the spring semester is completed. The charge of this team is to begin
preparing SBU-Bolivar for receiving international students in the most-effective manner
possible. In short, we want to ensure our support systems and infrastructure are at
the necessary levels to accomplish this strategic goal.
As I shared with you on Friday, we have also employed a new architectural firm, N-Form
Architecture from Springfield, for the primary purpose of developing a facilities
master plan. Their work will begin next week with in-depth campus tours. We are excited
about having this firm join the SBU team as we seek to ensure our facilities reflect
the transformational and holistic work accomplished at SBU.
Shaping our story together,
Eric
Earlier this month, the University recognized Dr. Ed Clark for establishing the Ed and Theo Clark Endowed Chair of Accounting Excellence. At the reception, I could not help but notice the many lives influenced by the godly influence of Dr. Clark during his long tenure at SBU. Accounting and non-accounting majors alike shared stories of how he influenced lives both in and out of the classroom. We are grateful for the example set by Dr. Clark.
SBU is a special place because of so many individuals like Dr. Clark who have an eternal perspective.
Thank you for what you do.
Shaping our story together,
Eric
Earlier this week, the University hosted a programmatic accreditation site visitor for the Bachelor of Social Work program. Typically, visits begin and end with an interview with the president, provost, and dean of the respective academic area. This visit was no exception. In our initial interview, we three answered questions related to the program and its complement to the University mission. As I listened to Dean Schriver, I was heartened to hear that our faculty equip our students to do kingdom work throughout the region. As the initial interview wrapped up, we were hopeful the site visit would go well.
Then the exit interview came …
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) organized the reviewer’s comments. To say he was complimentary of Southwest Baptist University and its faculty, staff, and students would be an understatement. Regarding the comments, perhaps one of the most gratifying, but not surprising, items mentioned was the clear observation that our students and faculty exude and exemplify the University mission by their words and deeds. As I have said on many occasions, we live like we believe. As your president, I have not had a prouder moment since being at SBU than when I heard this observation.
Thank you to our faculty, staff, and students for a job well done.
Shaping our story together,
Eric
The start of a new semester brings exciting news with it — earlier this month we were approved by the Missouri State Board of Nursing to begin offering the pre-licensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing on the Bolivar campus. I am grateful for the countless hours our faculty, staff, and administration have invested into this project.
This is an important milestone for the University as we endeavor to be the shining example of a Christian university to a hurting world — the hands and feet of our Lord.
SBU now has nursing programs on three of our four campuses. Each program is unique to the community it serves. This is significant because it shows that we are being market sensitive when considering new academic offerings. This approach is crucial as we strategically focus our efforts towards the future of SBU.
Shaping our story together,
Eric
For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving has been one of my favorite holidays. This Thanksgiving is particular meaningful to me. Throughout our first semester at SBU, several things have been underway:
Strategic Planning Launch
Thank you to everyone who has already participated in a Strategic Planning Listening Session. If you have not yet had a Listening Session for your area, I encourage you to attend when the time comes.
Fall Tour Events
In addition to the Missouri Baptist Convention, Homecoming, and the multiple games and concerts we have attended this fall, we continue to host Fall Tour Events throughout Missouri. I am continually encouraged by the stories I hear from hundreds of Bearcat alumni and friends, and I am grateful to be a Bearcat.
Turner Family
I am most excited that my wife, Barbara, and daughter, Emma, will be moving to Bolivar within in the next few days. Emma will begin school at Bolivar High School the week after Thanksgiving.
I look forward to spending much more time with my family, sitting in “my” chair once again, and enjoying life together. I am excited for the “girls” to love and appreciate the SBU I have grown to love in a very short time.
Thank you for your continued prayers for SBU and for my family as we complete our transition to Bolivar and SBU.
Shaping our story together,
Eric
Greetings, Bearcats! Since the last update, the Executive Team has been quite busy in organizing the strategic planning effort. The initial organizational meeting occurred in September, and we are beginning a year-long effort to focus on mapping out a strong future for SBU.
Strategic planning team
First, we needed to expand the planning team beyond the Executive Team to include representation from a cross-section of SBU constituencies. We have assembled an 11-member planning team that includes representation from faculty, staff, students, trustees, alumni and multiple campuses.
Listening sessions
We are already working on developing venues for listening sessions from all University constituents, with the intention of asking two primary questions: "What should never change about SBU?" and "What should we change about SBU?"
Next steps
Now that the planning team has been recruited, an initial kick-off meeting will occur very soon. Initial task assignments will be made, and a definitive timeline will be established to include the following:
- Data collection/analysis timeline
- Review sessions — listening sessions with the same constituents to review the emergent themes resulting from the initial data collection
- A mid-term report for the board of trustees (April Board meeting)
- Finalized plan submitted to the board of trustees in October 2019
We have much to do, but we are excited to be working toward the next chapter of SBU's history. To echo the words of our founders, "By God's grace, we will succeed."
Shaping our story together,
Eric
Wow! The last six weeks have been a whirlwind. We have crisscrossed our campuses in Bolivar, Springfield, Mountain View and Salem, and traveled beyond to listen to the SBU story and to tell the SBU story. My wife, Barbara, and I consistently walk away impressed with the fierce loyalty to the University. I am humbled to lead an institution with such a stellar history of impacting students’ lives for the kingdom of Christ.
A question continually posed to me as I interact with Bearcats across the country is, “Where are we headed as a University?” For several weeks now, I have stated that it is my desire for SBU to be the Christian university of choice throughout the Midwest and beyond. For us to achieve this, however, we must do this together. We must define what being the University of choice means for SBU. We also must chart our course by developing strategies and tactics to achieve this vision.
As we look toward celebrating the SBU sesquicentennial in 2028, we already have begun our planning effort by asking two simple questions of our SBU family:
- "What are things that should never change about SBU?" and
- "What should we change about SBU?"
In moving forward, these President’s Updates will keep you up-to-date on information of particular interest to you in the life of the University, as well as the progress of our strategic planning effort.
Shaping our story together,
Eric A. Turner
President