First 100 Days: President Friedrich

The first 100 days for anyone in a new leadership role are critical for setting the tone. The last time we talked After diligently documenting these interviews, Friedrich put all of the responses into four main categories: 1. Mission; 2. Strategic to President Brian Friedrich, BA '79, he and his wife Laurie Plan; 3. Lutheran Christian Identity; and 4. Marketing/Awareness. (Wogsland), BA '80, were planning for their move to He has documented 38 primary takeaways that have driven his Concordia St. Paul (CSP) in early 2020. President Friedrich conversations and connections over his short time at CSP. had ideas on how he would spend his first 100 days. He laid out his plan to connect with many people, wanting to learn about CSP and shape a vision of the future, not just from his own ideas, but from the collective wisdom of those who have varying experiences throughout the University. Of “One of the things that surprised me is how well understood the institution's strategic plan is. That's unusual and shows a deep commitment to the big picture. It also speaks to the great job the leadership has done in clearly articulating the plan.” course, when Friedrich laid out this plan, he didn’t yet know Friedrich also shared his awe at how the faculty and of the events that would shape his first few months and the administration understand their role in the big picture. future of CSP. after-week, how to help students succeed through extraordinary

CONNECTIONS

Over the course of his first 100 days, Friedrich set out to talk to every single faculty and administrative department, every single member of the Board of Regents and President's Advisory Council, and presidents from the seven surrounding LCMS districts. While there have been a handful that he has not been able to connect with yet, nearly all of these goals have been met. During these visits, Friedrich has asked three primary questions. First, what is the most inspiring moment you've experienced related to Concordia St. Paul? Second, what do you believe are some of the root causes of those inspiring moments? Finally, looking ahead ten years, what does CSP look like? “The mission of CSP revolves around its students,” he continued, On February 10, just six weeks into his presidency, Concordia “I would say 90 percent of the inspiring stories people told were University–Portland (CUP), a fellow member of the Concordia of a time that they were able to connect with a student and saw University System, announced it was closing that student succeed. It was phenomenal.” closing at the end of the 2019–20 academic year. CUP had struggled with declining enrollment and mounting debt and made the decision to close its doors after faithfully exploring all options. The faculty, the staff, and the students are resilient people and the face of this once-in-a-lifetime, unprecedented challenge, Friedrich said that what illustrated this success most often were commencement stories. “When they shared story after story of Then, on March 12, because of COVID-19, they have continued to commencement, I started to understand CSP announced it would be shutting down focus on the success of what they were talking about was not on-campus classes and moving 100% to students in their education. just as the event itself, but all that it took virtual learning for the remainder of the –Rev. Dr. Brian Friedrich to work with and support students to spring 2020 semester. help them achieve what many of them “The faculty and staff are resilient people and when confronted really profound,” Friedrich noted. “Some of the students who have with this once-in-a-lifetime, unprecedented challenge, they have accomplished this monumental success come from really difficult continued to focus on the success of students in their education," circumstances and getting their degree was a dream they dared Friedrich shared. "They have demonstrated, day-after-day, weekto have when the way forward wasn’t clear or even possible.” relationships, high-quality education, and loving support.” As the faculty, staff, donors, and alumni of CSP reflected on President Friedrich’s reflections are more than just answers to deep conviction that we're here to serve these students. "We're questions or summaries of CSP’s responses to very unusual here to recruit them and once we recruit them, we're going to circumstances, they are examples of how he approaches most do everything we can to retain and help them graduate with a topics – putting others first. Christian education.”

thought was absolutely impossible. It is these stories with Friedrich, it became clear that they hold a

CHALLENGES The more you work out, the “Donors, faculty, staff and even other students have contributed to this fund so A global pandemic wasn’t in the plan for Friedrich’s first 100 days, but as with most things, he has responded with an active stronger your endurance is and the more your muscles grow; Concordia St. Paul is a generously,” said Friedrich. “I am so moved and inspired by this community’s support of one another.” concern for those Concordia St. Paul serves. very agile, nimble, innovative To date, these donors have given more “COVID-19 and the economic downturn institution, and it really than $26,000, providing grants to 50 are impacting many of our students. They has given us yet one more students. and their family members have lost jobs and simply don’t have the funds they were counting on to pay their tuition.” opportunity to exercise those muscles. –Rev. Dr. Brian Friedrich In addition to action taken to support students as well as moving to a virtual learning model for the Spring semester, “As soon as we realized the impact that this Friedrich sees this crisis as an opportunity would have on our students, our entire to come together in stronger ways. community leapt in to help,” Friedrich said. The Barnabas Fund was established a number of years ago by the Presidential Advisory Council to help students who had great need. Now, the fund has been reactivated and is providing support to students with need in the form of $500 increments. “It's kind of like when you work out,” Friedrich began. “The more you work out, the stronger your endurance is and the more your muscles grow; Concordia St. Paul is a very agile, nimble, innovative institution, and it really has given us yet one more opportunity to exercise those muscles.”

2020 Virtual Commencement Celebration

Concordia St. Paul was fortunate to only have lost a single day of instruction for traditional face-to-face students. Many institutions were off for a week or longer.

“It’s just remarkable. One of the blessings of all of this is that our faculty and staff demonstrated what they do best in making this happen. I think the other blessing is that because our board, faculty, and staff so deeply understand the mission and strategic plan of CSP, they very quickly saw the new opportunities before us and responded with ease. They jumped in to support students; and the many, many members of our community that we employ.”

President Friedrich wrapped up his first semester at CSP with a first for the institution – a virtual commencement event. During this incredible service, the names of 1,140 graduates from traditional undergraduate, adult undergraduate, masters and doctoral programs were read.

Friedrich also shared how grateful CSP is to be in a position where not a single employee has been furloughed or laid off.

“We have made it possible for them to do their work remotely so that they can maintain their employment. Again, the agile, nimble, and innovative muscles have grown.” Friedrich continued, “What we see in these successes speaks to the strong leadership this institution has had for a long time. President Emeritus Ries, the board, Provost Dr. Eric LaMott – all have done incredible work in laying a foundation of trust and faithfulness for this community.” Like all institutes of higher education, CSP is working hard to adapt to the changing needs of students and trying to anticipate future trends. “The challenge is that we just don’t know what this will mean in the months and years moving forward,” says Friedrich. “We anticipate that, for a while at least, students will be more likely to stay close to home and affordability will become even more important,” said Friedrich.“We also know that online instruction has to be very high quality.”

In addition to the challenges and opportunities that have arisen as a result of COVID-19, Friedrich was eager to highlight the work of CSP’s Ministry team.

“Through the remainder of the spring semester our campus ministry team led a virtual devotion time. It was very cool, and we averaged nearly 1,300 viewers a day! Pastor Tom Gundermann and Ministry Associate Shelly Schwalm really knocked it out of the park.”

OPPORTUNITIES

“One of the things that surprises me here is how advanced this institution is on using analytics as it makes decisions,” Friedrich shared. “We are measuring and testing all the time on almost every area of the institution, so we get a lot of quantifiable data that is helping us determine the direction we need to go at this point in time. It has been a really fun surprise and so very helpful."

The Service of Installation for Concordia St. Paul’s 10th president, the Rev. Dr. Brian L. Friedrich, was held in the Buetow Auditorium on Jan. 24, 2020.

When the opportunity to help a group of students in an area of need presented itself, CSP stepped in. The closure of Concordia University-Portland prompted CSP to seek the transfer of ownership of Portland's accelerated bachelor of science in nursing (ABSN) program.

“Taking over this program in an area that we were already working in is a natural fit for us, especially since they are coming from an institution that so closely aligns with ours.” Friedich said.

Once the transfer was approved by the Oregon State Board of Nursing, 518 former Portland students were able to continue their education through Concordia St. Paul. While these students and this program will now be a part of CSP, this specific program will maintain two sites in Portland, where the clinical portion of the nursing program will be delivered. In addition to the students that will join CSP, more than a dozen nursing faculty and administrative staff will also join the CSP family. This new partnership will allow CSP to provide education to nursing students in both St. Paul and Portland.

“When we looked at our demographic of students from this program in Portland and the demographic of students being served through Concordia St. Paul, and looked at our goals, it all lined up,” Friedrich explained. “This is an incredible opportunity to help even more students succeed and we are thrilled to be in a place where we could act quickly to respond to a big need.” The impact of the closure of a fellow Concordia University System school was not lost on President Friedrich though as he expressed his support and concern with everyone at the CUPortland campus.

“Our prayers are with all of the students, faculty, and staff affected by the closure,” Friedrich wrote. “I know that there are many, many people who are continuing to work to make sure they are all cared for and hopefully all will be able to transition to other institutions.”

Additionally, numerous other developments have advanced CSP forward. Some have been in the works for a while, and some have been new opportunities in Friedrich’s first 100 days.

On the academic side, after lots of work by many faculty and staff, CSP announced the addition of a new program for a doctorate in education (Ed.D.) in Kinesiology, further expanding the University’s growing health care offerings. The program will be offered fully online, making it the first of its kind in the state of Minnesota, allowing greater reach to students all across the country.

CSP’s athletic department continues to offer opportunities for students in growing and emerging sports, as the newly launched esports program experienced a successful inaugural season in 2019-20, and will welcome an entirely new program for the second consecutive year with the addition of women’s swimming and diving in 2020-21.

“Golden Bear athletics is on an upward curve, and the positives LOOKING FORWARD and successes around that are just starting to show up. In addition to some great wins, we have incredible student-athlete The first 100 days of Friedrich's tenure at CSP couldn't have been success in the classroom, and through service in our community,” predicted, and neither can the next 100. “God has done such a Friedrich added. good job with filling the bucket during these first few months, I Another observation Friedrich shared he’s proud to have the ride,” Friedrich jokes. witnessed during his first few months relates to how new employees fit Concordia’s mission. Friedrich is already deep into planning “These people are amazing. While they may be attracted to CSP because of our diverse student population and use of online technology, we are thrilled to welcome I am so proud to be a part of this incredible institution and look forward to what God has in store for all of us. what’s next. Based on what he has learned and the incredible work of his fellow leaders, the next big task is navigating the 2020–21 academic year. them because of their deep commitment –Rev. Dr. Brian Friedrich “With the addition of our Concordia to education and serving students.” He Portland students and continuing need to continued, “In their first eight weeks with work through our response to COVID-19, CSP, each new faculty member is asked to participate in a weekly this next academic year is going to be one of excitement, seminar where a different member of faculty or staff comes and newness, and fresh energy.” talks about some piece of what it means to be Concordia St. Paul, as a Lutheran University. These are really, really rich conversations. Plus, our deans are just terrific in how they mentor and equip As CSP looks forward, Friedrich is reminded of the renewal promised in scripture. faculty. All of this adds up to an extraordinary faculty and staff “It is amazing to me how powerful God's Word is. Over these last that I’m proud to be a part of.” few months, I have been reminded consistently of the verse from All of these advancements, whether planned or a surprise, add to the depth and breadth of quality education that Concordia St. Paul delivers. While Friedrich now holds the position of President, he is quick to give the credit first to God, then to all those who 2 Corinthians 5:17, ‘THEREFORE, IF ANYONE IS IN CHRIST, THE NEW CREATION HAS COME: THE OLD HAS GONE, THE NEW IS HERE.' I am so proud to be a part of this incredible institution and look forward to what God has in store for all of us.” came before him and the team of leaders that remain. think I'm just going to let him keep going and I’ll just go along for