10 March 4, 2020 | Campus Voices | Media | News | Activities | News | A Day in the Life| News | Locker Room Talk | Sports
A DAY IN THE LIFE: PRESIDENT “When I was coming up there weren’t many females that had access to the higher forms of leadership”
KHIRSTIA SHEFFIELD power into representation. I felt more emREPORTER powered to develop my own persona with t’s 6 a.m. and as the sun slowly inches power that a lot of women didn’t have acacross the sky, her eyes gently open. cess to.” The faint noises from her dogs crack Since growing up in Lubbock, Texas, through the morning silence as they hear she said the South has always had a spetheir food clang against the metal bowls. cial place in her heart. Shipley said she had always kept her eye open for Texas President Suzanne Shipley’s day has just positions knowing that her mother’s menbegun. After she spends time with her tal and physical health was deteriorating. dogs, she challenges her body with weight “I already knew all about this univertraining at the Wellness Center then ensity, so when this position opened up I joys the most important meal of the day. said that’s the one place I’m going to apply SUZANNE SHIPLEY At 9 a.m., once she enters her spacious ofUNIVERSITY PRESIDENT for. I never thought [being president] to a fice, the real work begins. Texas public liberal arts university would “[Being president] means that I’m the most responsible for the most things so that when a cri- happen. I was going to keep flying back from West Virginsis happens, I’m in charge of making sure we respond ad- ia every couple of months, but I knew someone would need to begin to look after [my mother],” Shipley said. equately,” Shipley said. “I’m the landing point of anything Shipley described that since becoming president of serious, but I’m also a symbol of the university. It can be Midwestern State her attitude toward life has changed. a very sobering life when you’re navigating a lot of high“It’s made me happier,” Shipley said. “This is a very level sadness, as in people’s lives or difficult situations.” happy place and not all universities are. It’s a place where After spending years as a professor, Shipley said she people are willing to change and grow. It’s fueled by pride, decided early on that she was more talented in administra- and it’s a place where people seem to delight in their work tion. and education. Of course, we have challenges and difficul“When I was coming up there weren’t many females ties, but I just think it’s a very optimistic place to be, and that had access to the higher forms of leadership, and that’s made me more optimistic and hopeful about the fuearly on I decided that’s what I wanted to do,” Shipley said. ture.” “I was lucky that out of the four presidents I worked with Although the presidency position requires her attenon my different jobs, two were female. This allowed me to tion at most times of the day, Shipley said she works hard see not just what a president did, but what a female presi- to maintain a balance between her work and personal life. dent did. I saw how a woman translated the halls of male “I attended a preparation for presidents with my husband and we learned about how to set goals together,” Shipley said. “We communicated pretty well on what type of presidency we would both like to be in and what he needed from me to feel like we had a balanced family PHOTO BY COLIN STEVENSON life despite the 24/7 naPresident Suzanne Shipley sits down to talk. Feb. 28. ture of the job.” Through that open communication, Shipley said she has rePHOTO COURTESY SUZANNE ceived immense supSHIPLEY’S INSTAGRAM PAGE : port from her family. @ SHIPLEYSUZANNE1 In spite of the support University President from her family and Suzanne Shipley poses the positive nature of with her mom in a post this university, Shipley
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she made on her Instagram page.
