9-29-21
Friday afternoon I received a Twitter post saying in part “When I look back at my time at Emporia State University, I am incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished.”
Yikes! That sounds like President Garrett is leaving Emporia State. A quick phone call confirmed my fear. Allison Garrett was heading to Oklahoma for a tremendous opportunity and Emporia State who had benefited from her solid leadership would soon be looking for a new President.
While we are thrilled about Allison’s new opportunity the timing for ESU is not good. With a new Provost having just started the selection of a strong Interim President is essential. The Kansas Board of Regents is looking for new leaders at K-State and Pittsburg too, so they are already busy.
When asked about our new ESU President over the past five-plus years my answer was she is very “strategic.” I found President Garrett to always be knowledgeable, prepared, and with a plan of action at the ready. Her varied background in business and education made her a unique leader.
Her list of accomplishments is longer than the time I have allotted, but you would have had to be asleep to not know things are good on the ESU campus.
Garrett followed Michael Shonrock, an optimist beyond description who left ESU alive with new vigor and enrollment on the rise.
Allison Garrett’s tenure has been good, but not without many challenges including a stubborn legislature, lawsuits not of her making, and of course Covid 19. Her steady leadership was exactly what Emporia State needed. She will be difficult to replace.
Her new job is a doozy! She will be the Chancellor and CEO of the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education. She and Chip will be back home with family much closer.
As mentioned earlier the interim selected will need to be ready to lead as the challenges are great with the budget, enrollment challenges, and of course, Covid 19, which is still a player, at the top of the list.
Several names I’ve heard are Jackie Vietti, who was here in this role earlier, recently retired Dean of the Teacher’s College Ken Weaver; or maybe one of the current ESU Deans like Brent Thomas, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences or Ed Bashaw, Dean of the Business School.
This is going to be a challenging time for our university and a time ESU will need all our support.
To Allison Garrett, we say good luck and thank you for a job well done.
I’m Steve Sauder
