Career Path: The Road Taken

By Susan Thurston Kern

I began my career at Illinois State University in 1974 as an assistant professor of home economics with a doctoral degree in housing, equipment, and environmental design. Over the next 25 years, I created Illinois State's wellness program, ran research and sponsored projects, managed the intercollegiate athletics program, advised presidents, coordinated governing board relations, and lobbied at both the state and federal levels. In 1998, I took over the university's advancement program.

At the time, I had 20 years' experience in central administration and was deeply committed to the university's mission and priorities. I long had been cultivating support on behalf of Illinois State, but with different audiences.

I retired in July, ending a 31-year tenure that exposed me to just about everything Illinois State has to offer. Although I only spent seven of those years working in advancement, I consider it my true calling. One thing I came to realize in that time is that every advancement leader defines success a bit differently. For me, success boils down to four words: learning, linking, leveraging, and loving.

In retrospect

When I became vice president for university advancement, my immediate charge was to lead the first comprehensive campaign in Illinois State's 140-year history. It was a bold step because at the time the university had no philanthropic culture to speak of. No one ever had given us a $1 million gift, and we never had come close to raising the $40 million campus leaders had set as our campaign goal.

It wasn't easy, but we managed to exceed our initial goal by more than $56 million. In addition to being challenging, thrilling, and even humbling, the experience of helping to build a legacy of giving at Illinois State taught me a few things about myself.

First, it helped me recognize that I like to be in charge. Even in my PTA days, I was committee chair. Setting a group's tone and vision always has proven irresistible to me.

Second, it taught me to think out loud. I couldn't act on every idea I had, of course, but having the freedom and support to discuss stimulating outside-the-box ideas in a risk-free environment is what makes working in higher education so wonderful.

Third, I realized that I didn't always play by the rules. I tended to do things my own way. Today they call this approach risk-taking, but early in my career it was described far less favorably. I've been lucky that time and circumstances have turned my personal foibles into career assets.

Recipe for success

I'm not saying advancement officers must make the choices I made or exhibit the traits I possess to build "successful" careers. But I do think successful advancement leaders tend to be passionate about their institutions, are focused on outcomes and performance, know how to deal with academe's silos, and appreciate education's many complexities. I also believe successful leaders have a vision they can articulate to corporations, foundations, the media, and other constituents. They can engage constituents' emotions and demonstrate in a compelling way how they can make a difference in an institution and the lives of those within it.

Among other things, advancement has allowed me to affect an institution about which I care deeply and to maximize my capacity to learn, link, leverage, and love.

Learn. I brought to advancement a wealth of community and campus knowledge. I knew how to negotiate campus politics, yet I didn't know a charitable lead trust from a remainder trust. I never had overseen the investment of other people's dollars.

Needless to say, I had to spend a lot of time listening and learning. I learned about the database, the different asset classes, and the challenges advancement staffers face. In exchange, they made an effort to understand and capitalize on the breadth and depth of my experience and my knowledge of the institution. They also helped me better understand the stamina, time, research, and methodology needed to be successful in advancement, showing me the ropes (and lending me a shoulder) on more than one occasion. Meanwhile, I tried to provide a global perspective and clear goals and to instill in them the confidence they'd need to be successful.

Link and leverage. Some advancement officers think they are done when they get the gift. I like to start where others stop—another strategy for success.

For instance, consider a project I lovingly call "Big Ed." Three years ago, Illinois State's College of Education received a federal grant to work with the Chicago public schools and city colleges to interest more graduates in teaching in Chicago. We received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on a related project and leveraged additional support from private grants, foundations, corporations, and a national reinvestment firm.

Since then, university officials have signed several contracts with the school districts, reviewed building construction plans, and defined curricula. Meanwhile, our community leaders are working actively to secure other long-term investors and to identify additional opportunities that might spring from this first step. "Big Ed" is proof that if the pieces are linked, one success can be leveraged with another.

Love. I love what Illinois State stands for and the opportunities it provides to students, volunteers, and especially donors, who know when advancement officers share a passion for what they value.

As vice president for university advancement, I was responsible for cultivating and stewarding good will for the university—loyalties that had been built by many generations. This lesson really hit home when I met Naomi, a 1928 graduate who worked for Ange. Milner, the university's librarian from 1890 to 1928 and the staff member for whom our library is named. A living link to more than half the university's history, Naomi told me wonderful stories of the attention she received from professors and the ways they had challenged her. Getting to know Naomi helped me recognize that Illinois State's values and traditions had remained constant over the years and that I had been trusted with advancing and nurturing its past, present, and future. I made it my mission not only to take good care of it, but also to make it better.

No regrets

I wrote this column when I had just 15 days left at Illinois State. I departed knowing that its outstanding staff can raise millions of dollars—96 million, to be exact. Dianne Ashby, the university's new vice president for advancement, won't face the same challenges I had to overcome, but she will face others. I'm confident my former staff will help her learn and adapt, just as they did with me. Likewise, I expect she will lead them to achieve things they never thought possible.

As for me, I plan to take bridge lessons, spend a month in Paris, and attend grandparent days at my grandchildren's elementary schools as I create this next phase of my life. Influenced by my career and especially by my experiences as vice president, I have adopted a quote from former Indiana University President Myles Brand's inaugural address as my retirement motto: "The future is not fixed. It does not unfold independently of us; we are a party to creating it."