Q&A: Interim President Richard Walker
Richard Walker, vice chancellor of student affairs and enrollment services for the UH System and vice president of student affairs and enrollment services at UH, stepped into the position of interim president of UHCL Oct. 11. The Signal conducted a Q&A with him to learn a bit more about his personal life, history and goals during his tenure as interim president.
Q: What are your primary goals and objectives as interim President of UHCL?
A: I have several. First and foremost is the strategic plan, Impact 2025 and Beyond. I have said since I arrived that I want to make sure we stay focused. We are just about ready to wrap up tier 2 and in the spring we will head into tier 3, so I want to make sure we keep that at the forefront and don’t let that lag behind. Another focus is student success. For me, in my career, Student success has always been the number one focus. It’s what drives me everyday. I am very committed to student success and holistically what that means both on the academic side and on the student engagement side. Getting new student enrollment and retention, making sure students stay on track to get the education that they have come to UHCL to receive and do it in a timely manner. If you stay focused you’re going to spend less time and less money working on a degree. I’m also working to support faculty and staff, we have a number of vacancies that we need to complete on the faculty and staff side. I’m working with the vice presidents, human resources and provost to make sure we’re moving forward and filling those vacancies. I am making sure I can be of support and assistance as we fill our vacant positions. The other thing I am going to focus on is our strategic partnerships. We are strategically at UHCL sitting in a very vibrant workforce development opportunity for this community in the bay area. I am working with community, industry, alumni and looking at workforce development needs focused on community partnerships that will provide academic opportunities with our faculty to engage in these opportunities. It will also provide some internship opportunities and connectivity to the workforce for students.
Q: How do you plan to address COVID-19 moving forward?
A: We’re constantly monitoring what the status is, how we are doing with COVID-19, how the community is doing with COVID. We have up-to-date statistics up on the dashboard. All signs show things moving in the right direction, so we will continue to monitor that operation. We went back to full class operations Oct. 25 and from the word that I’ve gotten it’s going smoothly. I think we need to continue to do our due diligence, the pandemic is not over. We will continue the safety protocols we are currently providing. Wearing a mask is a personal choice and we can’t require it, but we encourage people to wear a mask, to continue testing and encourage people to get vaccinated. I think we’ll continue to stay focused on the protocols and monitor COVID on campus. Right now we’re in good shape, all four institutions are trending in the right direction.
Q: What are some things you enjoy doing when you aren’t working?
A: This time of year, I am a big college football fan. On Saturdays you can usually find me sitting in front of the TV flipping channels through the various college football games that are going on. During the Fall, that is my go-to getaway. I also love the Houston food scene. I love going to different restaurants and trying different options with friends. It’s really relaxing and I enjoy that. My favorite steakhouse is B&B Butcher. They have an appetizer called the carpetbagger, it’s an oyster that is cooked and stacked on top is thick-sliced bacon, bleu cheese and hot sauce on a toothpick.
Q: What is about the UH System that has kept you involved?
A: With UH, I’ve been in it 10 years and what really attracted me and what keeps me loving my job is the students and the emphasis on student success. That comes from the chancellor, it’s very focused on all four institutions and all four institutional presidents, we have the same philosophy. That commitment of faculty and staff to students and to student success and with the work that they do really matters for students getting their education and that contribution is what I have enjoyed a lot about being part of the UH System. It keeps me coming to work everyday, I love what I do.
Q: What are some of your favorite movies?
A: I don’t watch a lot of movies, but I have recently gotten hooked on Netflix movies. I was not a big Netflix person when it came out originally, but now, because they’re doing current and original stuff. It’s not the old movies off the shelf that are 20 years old, so I’ve really gotten into watching Netflix movies. They have such a variety, so there’s not really one genre that I am most interested in, but they’ve really come out with some interesting movies. I’ll scroll through and watch the trailers and see what sounds the most interesting based on what I’m in the mood for. If I start one and it isn’t as much what I thought it would be I can stop it and move on to something else.
Q: What is some of your favorite music to listen to?
A: I like all kinds of music. A little bit of interesting background, I’m a singer. Not as much as I used to, earlier in my years when all my friends were getting married I was doing lots of weddings. I enjoy singing so I enjoy a variety of music. Just like movies, I don’t have a particular genre, I like all music. It’s been a while since I’ve done that kind of thing, but I do enjoy singing. I was one of these kids that my parents put in the church choir at age 4, and that’s how I grew up singing was in church choirs all the way through high school and into college. I never had a voice lesson, it was just kind of a naturally God-given talent. My parents don’t know where it came from, because neither of them could sing.
Q: What is one thing you wish you could do as president that is easier said than done?
A: Being able to increase financial support for students, whether it’s federal aid, state aid or institutional aid. I am very committed to making sure we can do all that we can do to financially support students’ educational endeavors and make it affordable…for me, it’s a bigger higher education issue but it’s very specific to the students here.
Q: How would you say things have been since you began as interim president?
A: I have been in the system for 10 years and I’ve had a good connection with UHCL in that time, initially through student affairs and enrollment management since I had both responsibilities over the system and lots of connectivity with folks here at UHCL in that area. I worked on a presidential search here previously. I have been very engaged with the folks here at UH-Clear Lake. I think it’s been advantageous for me being within the system, not coming from outside the system. Understanding Clear Lake and this community really has helped me hit the ground running. That might’ve been a little different had the chancellor picked somebody not in the system. It’s hard to believe I’m finishing my fourth week, I said it yesterday that time flies when you’re having fun, and I am enjoying every minute of it.
Q: Who inspires you as a leader?
A: There’s three people. I am going to focus this on folks within higher education. The first is Donna Shalala, she was president of the university of Miami, and I worked with her for 14 years. She was president of Hunter College, then became chancellor of the University of Wisconsin. Then left higher education to become the secretary of health and human services for 8 years during the Clinton administration. When that tenure ended she became president of the University of Miami, where I got the opportunity to work with her for 14 years. She retired from that position and got elected to the U.S. Congress. She’s someone I have admired because of her background and because of the way she led an institution of higher education. She provided me some great opportunities when I was at University of Miami.
The second one is Renu Khator. I will tell you that I was at Miami for 24 years. I did not have to leave necessarily, the reason I was looking to leave was that I wanted to be a vice president for student affairs, I had risen to associate vice president and the VP at Miami wasn’t going to leave anytime soon, so if I wanted to be a vice president I had to look elsewhere. So what really attracted me, the Houston job came open, I did my research and looked at what was happening in Houston and saw that the position reports to Dr. Khator and I was very impressed with what I was seeing with her leadership. That was right at the time UH had gotten tier 1 status. I really loved her focus on student success and student engagement. There are some presidents who understand the impact of student life and engagement on student success, and there’s others that don’t understand it. It was very clear in my interview with her that she got it and she understood the importance of it and was very specific about what she wanted me to do and where she wanted to take the student life experience. I watched her as a leader be very bold but very strategic. So that has been very impressive to me in terms of watching her as a leader. Within the institution and within the community and the legislative community, she’s built very strong relationships with legislators and the governor and that’s been an influence, to watch her in action.
The third person is Pat Whitely, she became a VP when I had been in the dean of students (DOS) office for 10 years when she became VP and approached me and said ‘I’d like you to take my job I’m vacating.’ So I switched gears and went and did something I had not done before and left the DOS. She and I have been very close, we had a great partnership, kind of a one-two punch at the university, so she’s been a big influence for me and a big supporter of my career.
Q: What are some of your favorite books?
A: When I have the time to read a book, my genre tends to be around higher education. I tend to look at new books coming out. I actually had an opportunity a couple years ago to co-author a chapter in a book that was being produced regarding urban-serving institutions. So I had an opportunity to co-author a chapter about being at an urban-serving institution with a faculty member from the College of Education at UH. When I’ve had time to do that I tend to want to make sure I’m reading what’s the current thing out coming from student affairs or higher education in general. Every morning I get an email from Inside Higher Education with a snapshot digest that I love reading every morning because it tells you what is happening around the US and the world of higher education in a quick snapshot.
Q: If you could say one thing to all UHCL students right now, what would it be?
A: It would be to stay focused and committed to your academic pursuits. I know we’ve had some challenging times, but I think our students are resilient. Stay focused and committed. I would also say to them, please utilize the support resources that are provided to you at UHCL. Our goal as faculty, staff and administration is to support your academic endeavor. If you’re having a challenge with something, talk to someone. Tell us about it. We can’t help solve a problem if we don’t know about it. I know sometimes there is hesitancy from students about who do I go to or who do I tell, tell somebody. We’re here to help you figure it out. Don’t not do something that you should do because you’re not sure exactly how to go about doing it. That’s part of staying focused and staying committed. Use the resources that we provide to help you stay connected to your educational endeavors.
Q: In your opinion, what would you say distinguishes a great university from a not-so-great university?
A: I think that really good universities have a pretty strong strategic plan and are dedicated to that strategic plan. They have a strong vision that they are able to articulate to all faculty, staff, students and the community. They stay focused on their strategic initiatives, and do it in a way that is manageable. Sometimes it’s hard to think you can be all things to all people so you have to think about what you’re good at. What do you want to be known for? What as an institution are your high points? Every institution is different. Even if you look at the institutions within the UH system, the focus and what people are good at at Clear Lake, we have to focus and communicate that this is what we’re good at. This is what stands out from other UH’s. These are our strengths. It’s about understanding where institutions fit within the community and what they’re providing their students.
Q: So what would you say are some of these strengths of UHCL?
A: Well we’re sitting next to NASA. Boeing as well so there’s the whole aerospace and space aspect. The other thing we have been talking about now is the biotechnology area. We are having many conversations about that. There’s great stand out programs overall. There’s the autism assistance program. There’s also the Health and Human Performance program. There is one at UH but this one [at UHCL] is very, very impressive. There is not just one sole program. All four colleges are in great positions and we have four very talented deans. I’ve met with each of them and I’ve been very impressed with them and their vision for where they want to take the programs. I’ve been very impressed by our interim provost. Even though we are both interim we are not acting like we are interim. We are moving forward as if we are the provost and the president because I think that’s what we need to do in terms of our leadership.
Q: I understand you’ve been involved in many student affairs related organizations. Do you have any plans for UHCL student affairs?
A: Not specifically, except that I really want to challenge Dr. Hart to continue working on the student engagement piece and making sure that now that students are coming back to campus we beef up the student life component. I met with Student Government Leadership and they’ve got some great things going on in that area. One thing I know Dr. Hart is doing is having meetings with his team to discuss where they go next and I’m looking forward to hearing back from him in terms of what they think is the area of focus they need to be working on. I’m a firm believer in the connectivity between student life, student experience and student retention. All the literature in higher education tells you that it is the connectivity. If students can get connected both inside and outside the classroom that’s how they stay bonded to the university and finish.
Q: During your time here, how would you like to be remembered by those who graduate during your time as interim?
A: My goal is for people to see that the institution continued to move forward even though it was an interim period of time, that I was focused on some specific initiatives, that I helped contribute to those initiatives and that the institution progressed. That’s how I’d want to be remembered.
Q: In your opinion, what makes a good leader?
A: There’s several things. One is the ability to actively listen. You have to be able to hear what people are saying about their experience, whether it’s the students, faculty, staff or the community. I think a good leader is someone who actively listens and is able to absorb all of that. I think another big piece is relationship building. I truly believe my success in higher education has been rooted in my ability to build strong relationships, cause I think that’s how you build trust and people build trust in you. Feeding into that is having a collaborative approach. It’s not just about what the president wants. It’s about the collaborative opportunity for the whole institution. You have got to have a collaborative attitude and approach to get all the things done. I also think it’s helpful to have strong strategic and analytical skills. I think that is very helpful to be able to think strategically and analytically. That means making data driven decisions. That’s the analytical part. You have to be able to understand the data. You can’t make a decision without knowing the data. It helps drive the strategic decisions and plan. You’re able to articulate if you are having an impact on something if you understand the data. It also allows you to shift gears if the data is telling you you’re missing the mark. A good leader will look at that and say we have to shift gears. Sometimes in the institution of higher education it is hard to do that because people will say ‘this is how they’ve always done that’ but if you let the data tell the story then it’s hard to ignore that. The last thing I will say is a good leader hires talented individuals to do outstanding work. I can’t do my work without a strong team. Strong staff. Strong faculty. Strong administrative team. You have got to hire really talented individuals and let them do the good work you know they can do. One person cannot do it all.
Q: What is your favorite time of the day?
A: Mornings. I know most people wouldn’t say that but I love mornings. I get up very early. That’s when I read my Inside Higher Ed with my cup of coffee. I think I’m very productive in the mornings.
Q: What are some of the goals you’ve had this year and have you accomplished them?
A: Well believe it or not, one of my personal goals was to drop some weight. Most people have said during COVID they gained weight but I’ve been the opposite. I’ve actually dropped some pounds. I actually had to go get new suits because none of them would fit. That was a personal goal. Many always start the year off with a health goal so I did that and am proud of that. Obviously there’s work related goals and those kind of things I had before I came here. At UH I was in charge of enrollment management and we have some goals. I’m glad to say we did pretty well. I’m glad to say we brought in the second largest freshman class ever. We had an increase in graduate student enrollment. I took over enrollment in 2013 and we’ve had record enrollment all but one year. So for me every year I have to look at my enrollment goals. We weren’t sure coming out of COVID. So as part of my job I also look at Clear Lake. UHCL was the only school in the system that was above headcount the fall of 2020. UH was flat. Victoria was down significantly. Downtown was slightly down by one percent.
Q: As UHCL’s interim President, what will your approach be in providing information to UHCL’s student publication The Signal?
A: I’m happy to meet with you all. Just work with Mr. Ramirez and Ms. Webster. One thing I’ve said is I want to have open communication and transparency so I’m happy to talk with you. Submit them through the proper channels and I’m happy to deal with you and talk with you about the different issues. Also I’m working on doing a series of different communications to keep the community up to date as we move forward.
Q: What are some of your favorite quotes?
A: My influence really comes from my father. He was in education and I watched him growing up. Always feel like you are making a decision that is in the best interest of the institution. That’s really how I try to approach things. There’s always politics involved since it’s a state institution. I always feel good that I can sleep at night if I feel I’ve made the best decision on behalf of the institution and the students and not get caught up in the politics or negative influence. And also understand that not everyone will agree with you. But if I approach it from the standpoint of “Is this in the best interest of the university?” and “Is this in the best interest of the students?” Even though there might be disagreements, that’s what I’ve always gone by. If it’s not, don’t make that decision. So that’s been kind of my mantra for when I lead and make decisions. The last piece I’d say is to take responsibility for the decisions you make.
