A Message From the Presidents

CSB Transitional President Laurie Hamen and SJU Transitional President Jim Mullen

us to find synergies while preserving our traditions,” Mullen said. “The word I keep using is to be something ‘distinctive’ in a very competitive world. And I think they’ve created the model that can get us there. “I’m so positive and optimistic about this endeavor. If I was younger; what a great opportunity it would be to come in here and be the first president to inherit two places that did it this smoothly, this thoughtfully, with two strong institutions.” Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s are coming together not with a merger – which often is perceived as a situation where there’s a winner and a loser – but with something better. “There have been plenty of people, inside and outside our community, that think we should just merge. But we didn’t believe that. Our board and our monastic communities didn’t believe that was the best answer for keeping our missions. We felt that collaborating and strongly integrating in ways would help us go into the future,” Hamen said. “It was a conscious decision to not merge it. It wasn’t just sort of, ‘We accidentally backed into it.’ We considered it and said ‘No’.”

Instead, Hamen and Mullen embraced their mission and their working relationship as counterparts. “It’s great to have a partner who understands and treasures the mission of their own institution, but recognizes you have a special mission too and wants that to be preserved at all costs,” Hamen said.

“To do this kind of relationship, you’ve got to at once be comfortable with who you are and your experiences, but you’ve got to check your ego at the door,” Mullen said. “You’ve got to still be open to learning and listening and recognizing that.”

What Mullen and Hamen set out to build is not only an exciting development at CSB and SJU, but also a nationwide educational model for others.

“I think it enhances both of us. Again, it’s a national model,” Mullen said. “This is going to be in the conversation in the higher education world for the next several years. “What that creates is a sense of distinctiveness because of how we’ve come to this position. Distinctiveness wins in higher education – distinctiveness of brand, distinctiveness of experience, all of that wins in the competitive world of higher education.” “The future of higher education in my estimation is pretty tough,” Hamen said. “There’s need for innovation. There’s need to make sure you provide access and a great student experience. And as demographics shrink and change across the country, you have to continue to innovate – be better and better and better at what you do.” That’s the essence of Strong Integration, and the foundation of what Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s are joining to inspire and refine.

“We think that’s really unique, and we think that our trustees are wellpositioned to make a great decision for both institutions, knowing the separate missions that we have but yet the ways that we’re connected,” Hamen said. “That to me is really beneficial, the governance structure of two boards.” “I think the way we’re trying to make this work is to allow a president to hit the ground running and be focused on driving clear strategy and vision, building national reputation and profile, and obviously leading the institutions in what will probably be for each of them large campaigns to support that mission,” Mullen said.

“It’ll be a presidency that is in many ways externally focused. When the president is on the campuses, he will be able to focus on time with students and building student experience. “It’s really an amazing story.”