Q&A: President Davies prepares to move from one seat to another

In an interview with Central Michigan Life, Davies discussed priorities for this upcoming semester, his next move and the past six years at CMU. Questions have been edited for clarity and length.

CM Life: How would you describe your experience at CMU as president? Any monumental moments that you’d like to reflect on and provide advice for the next president?

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I could not define or explain or even attempt to encapsulize what it has meant to be here for me as a professional, for me as a person and then also just for our family. Central is an amazing, amazing university. Its faculty, staff ... students and alumni are just absolutely phenomenal. The commitment that they have to the institution, the commitment they have to each other within their respective categories, but also across (the board).  

This upcoming fall, the freshman class (is) larger than last year. …Transfers are up. Retention numbers are increasing. Total enrollment will be up. You know, these are all things that we put in place starting ... six years ago, and they're coming to fruition.

I reflect on the COVID years ... this campus navigated it. We still get phone calls from universities across the country talking about how we navigated that together. ... I'm not saying that every decision was perfect, far from it; but the decisions were made in a collective spirit with with a collective goal of supporting one another. 

"'Fire up" means taking on obstacles and overcoming, setting high goals and achieving them and above all, working together. I will say that one of my proudest moments was handing my daughter her diploma for her undergraduate and then her master’s. And so, again, as I think about the professional side, the personal side is also so very ... important.”

How has the process been going for the selection of the new president of the university?

I'm at a very arm's length from that process, as it needs to be. The chair of the board and the chair of the committee have talked to me previously about various things in regards to the search process ... things they're going through.

This is an enviable position. So I expect that there will be a very, very strong pool, just as you know, six years ago, when I was in that process. Central Michigan University, among the presidential colleagues I know and presidential aspirants that I work with, ... is a very enviable (institution). Great university, great community, lots of upside potential. It has a very strong foundation to jump from ... and I think there's going to be a strong pull.

I look forward to seeing who is named, and I will be there to help and support that person as much as he or she wants me to.

Do you think you will be staying on at the university as a faculty member?

Oh, absolutely. I'm looking forward to the next chapter. … I will be teaching primarily in two areas, but that can also shift around a little bit, given my experience and background and everything else.

I'll be … a university professor, but honing in on the College of Business and then the College of Education and Human Services -- specifically the higher education program. I look forward to teaching. I look forward to writing. I look forward to doing some research to continue the creative side ... along those areas.

When will your role as a university professor begin?

I have a year (when) I’ll be on leave, and then I will start my faculty position in the spring semester of 2026.

What are some priorities that you would like to conclude before the next president takes over?

Right now, a lot of focus is on the enrollment ... and recruitment of new students, but also the retention and progression of students. So not only am I focusing on the fall freshman class and transfer class, we're already looking at the 2025 freshman class, even though that will be beyond my tenure.

My goal is to make sure everything is still lockstep, so that they continue to move forward.

Also, (we have been) very aggressive with some fundraising and some advancement development goals, so meeting with donors and alumni and supporters to continue to provide private philanthropic support  for the institution.

One of the things I'm really proud of is our new strategic plan. … We'll have our first report out of the strategic plan in September, and (make) sure that we're on track to continue to move that forward. You know, those are the real big, specific (goals), but also just day-to-day, supporting our faculty, staff and our students.

There's a lot of decisions that need to be made throughout the next four and a half months … (I'll) continue to be the voice of Central Michigan University and the persona of the university; continue to represent the university throughout the communities in the state and (legislature); continue to make decisions that will remove barriers and support our faculty, staff and students; continue to thrive. And then the final one is prepare for the transition.

One of the things as a president (is) you're always making sure that the next one that follows you will be able to succeed. In this time frame, I make decisions knowing that I want to give as much flexibility to the next president, but at the same time provide a very smooth transition for him or her into the role and allow them to jump off and go far.

Over this past summer, what work been done to help with implement efforts within the DEIJB Strategic Plan?

(Vice President for Inclusive Excellence) Shawna Patterson-Stephens will be the best person to really get (into) depth in that, but she's putting a lot of work into some training programs and developing a systemic effort to do that. She will be working with faculty as soon as they come back to fine tune that ... and using their expertise to build on, as well as some student leaders.

That's going to roll out in the mid semester going forward. You know, one of the things too, is we were putting this in practice to the budgeting process: Providing some funds for specific programs that she wanted to initiate.

Stan Shingles, as you know, is our Interim Vice President for Student Affairs. One of the reasons why there was a change made is there was a lot of vacancies, and they just weren't getting hired. 

I know that he has done an amazing job of hiring a lot of individuals for those roles: ... Getting those positions that support students ... from various identities, to feel welcome on our campus. 

And I'm very pleased with the work that he's done and the organizational structure he's put forward, and the emphasis on getting the right people in the right positions is clearly being done there. So I'm very glad that that is that has been taking place too.

In previous work done by CM Life, many students, staff and faculty of color have discussed the struggle to retain BIPOC communities on campus. What efforts or conversations have been made for this semester regarding this?

We, both on the on the admission side as well as the the retention side, (are) really looking at "what are the barriers that people are facing that may not be widely known?" and discovering ways moving forward. 

A lot of mentorship-type programs (have) been put in place. We also worked last semester in identifying students that were in various classes, ... their quote, unquote, "gateway classes," and offered very intensive remedial work with small classes and those type of things. ... From my understanding that that has been very successful: 85% of the students who were identified, who went through the program, are being retained.

What are your thoughts on institutional knowledge as you come to a close in your presidency and we approach a transitional period?

I think that's part of the transition, whenever a new leader comes in, to be available to help be a source of institutional knowledge. ... During my transition, I relied heavily on the former President George Ross for background information, various things along those lines, but also just really coming in and ... knowing what you don't know.

You gotta say: "I don't know the history here. I don't know why a decision was made." And so, you know, I'm very, very slow to criticize the decisions of the past because I wasn't here. I don't know why they were made and, before just jumping in and reversing decisions, it's important to study and know the history, know why certain things were done.

In that first year, as I mentioned, I'll be serving on a leave. ... One of the key things (is that) I'll be accessible to the new president at all times, to answer questions, to provide insights, to you know, be there as a resource. Clearly, we'll be doing that in the background, because it's going to be his or her presidency; but to be there to provide thoughts and ideas. I would also assume, too, that the new president will rely on some (of the) key people that I did.

So that institutional knowledge, circumstances absolutely is essential, and any good president will ... lead with questions. It's really learning about what makes CMU unique, what are its core values and strengths. Sometimes those are not always really apparent. But you know, as they do their due diligence, I know that they will seek that history. 

And again, I know it's gonna be a deep pool. And so, I feel very comfortable the next president will do some amazing things.

Is there anything that wasn’t asked that you want to share with CM Life’s readers?

I want the CM Life readers to take pride in what they helped develop over the past six years or so, here at CMU, either as alumnus, a student, a faculty or staff (member), even a community member. It really is something special that they were part (of). 

I do want to say this: Thank you. Thank you for welcoming me into this CMU community, welcoming me and my family into the greater Mount Pleasant ... community. We are humbled and honored to be members of this amazing organization, to be members of this amazing community.

Over the past (years), I have received a lot of input and thoughts and ideas. Sometimes the ... input agreed with where I was headed and sometimes it didn’t. But regardless, ... all of it was valuable and it was important, and I appreciated it. I took it into consideration and to me, in the end, it made all made this community better and stronger because of everyone's involvement.

I've been fortunate to be in this seat at this time. I've honored it and I treasured it. ... And I look forward to remaining in this community, just in a different seat.