THE INTERVIEW A Chat With Mark Reddy

Just two weeks into his assignment as the newly appointed vice president for enrollment management, Mark Reddy ’95/’18 M.O.L. sat down with Olivet The Magazine’s George Wolff ’93 to chat about his work at the University.

Mark, thanks for doing this with us today. The interview

is a feature of Olivet The Magazine and our readers have

come to really enjoy it. The first one was with Dr. Gregg Chenoweth, and you are now the second installment of the interview. So share with us a little bit about your story. You’re an Olivet alumnus. Tell us a little bit about that.

I grew up in the Nazarene Church, and one of the most important things to me was athletics — playing football — and Olivet had a football team. I had some family that were alumni, and it just seemed like a great fit. So I came with the idea of being a football player, and everything else that Olivet offered me just enhanced the experience. I met my wife here; some of my best friends to this day are people that I met when I was a student. I just had an amazing experience. I was a history education major, and I did the typical football player thing: Go to school to be a coach and teach history. And I did that for a number of years. I was having a lot of success with that experience, and my path started to change a little bit. I found myself as a head football coach and a dean of students at a school in Indiana. At that time, the head football coach at Olivet, Brian Fish, called me and said, “Hey, would you think about coming back and coaching?”

My wife and I had always said that we’d love to get back to Olivet. We didn’t know how that would happen. So I accepted the position, came back as a football coach and coached for three seasons here, and then made a transition into the admissions office. At that time, I was working financial aid, and it was kind of a crazy path. But it was a God thing.

Speaking of family, two of your four daughters are at Olivet, right?

Yes! My oldest daughter, Madison, will be a senior. She’s majoring in ministry. And my second daughter, Tatum, will be a sophomore majoring in child development.

Tell me a little bit about being on the enrollment side when your daughters were looking at Olivet. What was that experience like for you?

It was a great experience. When I started in enrollment, they were young and I was learning the importance of Olivet. I had a knowledge of it in my mind, and I understood how to articulate that to people. But when I started thinking about my own children coming here, it kind of went to my heart, and I was able to understand it even greater as a parent. I remember that transition taking place and being able to say to other parents, “Listen, I want to tell you about all the great things that Olivet can offer you. But I also want to tell you what it feels like as a parent to send your children to Olivet.” It changed the way that I approached recruiting because I wanted to make sure that what I was telling people was 100% accurate and that the experience their child would have is the actual experience. I knew that I wanted Olivet to be a great university for my own kids. And if it met that standard, which it certainly did, then I could easily talk to other families about that.

What are your dreams for your daughters at Olivet?

My dream for both my daughters is just that they would let God unlock the passions of their heart and that they would do His will in their lives. That can look a bunch of different ways. My oldest daughter has changed her major three or four times, and each time she’s had a great rationale and she’s talked about the path that God would lead her down. I think she’s landed on ministry, and she feels real strongly about that. My younger daughter, she just recently landed on child development. And I love that they are finding what they love to do, but they’re also filtering it through how they can do something they love and impact God’s Kingdom. That is my

biggest desire for them: that while they’re at Olivet, they unlock those passions and they find the path — at least the beginning, because the path could change. I was a football coach. Now I’m a vice president. My path I got on was ultimately to do God’s will. And then He led me down this crazy, fun journey. I just want that same thing for them.

Talk about the importance of visiting colleges, but specifically talk about what an Olivet visit looks like during a senior year for a parent.

We feel like one of the most important things you can do in the admissions process is visit the school, get on the campus, see the people and see what it is that you’re going to be involved in. We encourage our students to come to visit. The visit day allows them to connect with a lot of different people on campus — with counselors, with financial aid people, with professors, coaches, other students — and they get a feel for the campus and what it’s like. What we find is families and students come away saying, “The people here are special.” As students come and interact, they say, “Wow! This person was really nice!” [or] “I met this professor, and they talked to me about an area that I didn’t even know I loved. But now that’s what I want to study.” [or] “This is the place I want to continue my athletic career.”

Students then can say, “Oh, I see myself connecting to that university. Now it’s not just a place. Now it’s not just a major I’m thinking about. It’s me on that campus with those people connecting at Olivet.” It’s so important to get on a campus. We love when people come to visit because, again, it gives us a chance to tell the story.

Talk to us a little bit about the Pacific Rim Initiative.

To stay competitive in the market of higher education, you have to start looking for areas that might be underrepresented or under-recruited, and that was an area that we identified: the Pacific Rim, which includes Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa.

We’ve had a lot of success recruiting there. The thing that we have found is that the Pacific Rim area is an area that values a Christian experience. When we said, hey, we’ve got a university that can offer you that and all of these academic offerings, all of these extracurricular offerings, it just resonated. We had 23 Pacific Rim students on our campus last fall. We will have upwards of 60 joining us this fall. We have created a great support system at Olivet so that when students are coming from that far away, they have people to connect — people that can answer questions for them. They have a go-to person.

Help them get acclimated to life here. This isn’t Alaska.

Totally! You know, the weather in February in Hawaii is a little different than it is at Olivet — so just things like acclimating them to the environment but also just the environment of a university, which is a difficult transition for anyone.

We’re seeing some demographic groups not choose college. You have an entire team committed to helping resource first-generation college students. For example, the Hispanic community is really rising up and choosing college, and Olivet seems to be a great fit. Tell us about the team committed to helping these students adjust on campus.

We have a plan to reach the Spanish-speaking community called Aspira, and we have an entire team committed to their recruitment. But also, and this is probably the key piece, we offer a support system when students come. It’s one thing to say we have all of this to offer to you and then bring students to campus, and they look around and they’re like, “OK, how do I fit here?” We also have built a support system so that when there are needs that are specific to a demographic, we can provide answers. We can come alongside these students and help them identify obstacles that they can get over.

You’ve got three words that you think about all the time, that you mentioned quite a bit. What are the three words and why do they drive you?

The words are hungry, humble and smart, and, actually, this goes back to my coaching background. There is a book called The Ideal Team Player, and it recognizes that to be a great team player, you need to have equal elements of being hungry, humble and smart. I love that because I think if I’m trying to be the best me for the team, then the team is going to grow. So we’ve tried to create this culture where I work as hard as I can; that’s the hunger aspect. I’m understanding how my actions will impact those around me, whether it’s words or actions. That’s the smart part. The humble side of it is there is no job that I’m going to do during the course of the workday that is beneath me. One of the things that we talked about at the beginning of the recruitment cycle is what we do is hard. It’s a grind. It is difficult. We decided that if we were going to do this, we’re going to make sure that God was in it. The verse that we were hanging our hats on is “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain” [Psalm 127:1].

Tell me: Why Olivet?

I think Olivet is a great place for people to unlock passions, to have a transforming experience. So often when I talk to families and they’re trying to figure out where to go to school, they love Olivet. It resonates with them: the Christian environment, filtering things through Christ. But often they’ll say they think they need to go to a bigger school for their goals down the road. My response to that is you don’t have to sacrifice a Christian education to have some form of education. You can come here and be influenced by Godly people, challenged by Godly people, get an education that’s going to propel you into any arena that you want. We have a very impressive long list of alumni that have done amazing things by any standard. When you talk to them, they talk about the people and the transformational time they had at Olivet through relationships and building a knowledge of Christ. I think that’s what you get at Olivet. You don’t have to sacrifice; you get the whole package. Olivet remains relevant now because it’s training students to fulfill what they love to do — but do that for a bigger purpose. What we’re trying to do is equip students to find something that they’re passionate about and then go out and give back to others. It’s almost countercultural to what we’re hearing. So they’re not just looking to go into a job that’s going to make them successful. They’re going into jobs that they love, and they’re making a difference pouring back into communities and into other people.

This interview has been edited and condensed for print. To watch the full interview, including some insider information about Mark, scan this code:

finding their path

THREE TRANSFER STUDENTS MAKE THEIR WAY TO OLIVET

Each year, more than 110 students transfer to Olivet to complete their college education. Last fall, the diverse group of incoming transfer students represented 19 states and four countries. The Office of Admissions has a dedicated team of professionals who work exclusively with prospective transfer students to provide a smooth transition from one college experience to the next. Olivet offers competitive transfer scholarships and, on average, 92% of students’ credits transfer to the University. For more information, visit Olivet.edu/transfer.

Madison Overly

Hometown: Huntley, Illinois Major: English Education Minor: English as a Second Language (ESL)

“Before transferring to Olivet, I attended Illinois State University. I thought that a big state school was a good fit, but, truthfully, I was forcing myself to fit in the mold. My sophomore year, I heard God calling me to transfer. I kept hearing the words ‘lean into Me’ and ‘go.’ “One day while driving on the highway, I asked God if I should stay at ISU or go, and right after I asked, I was cut off by a green van with the word ‘go’ written on the trunk. It was the biggest God moment I have ever experienced, and it led to many more. I applied to two smaller Christian universities and was in the process of transferring to one when the door suddenly closed. I became confused, wondering if maybe I wasn’t supposed to transfer. Through some family friends (and my mom) who are alumni, I was encouraged to visit Olivet. Once on campus, I immediately felt at home and, less than a month before classes started, I applied.

“I immediately connected with the head of the English department, Dr. Beth Schurman, who not only helped me feel comfortable in my ability to be successful at Olivet; she showed genuine interest in getting to know me as an individual. After just one week at Olivet, I made friends in my class, connected with other girls on the transfer floor, and got involved on campus as a fitness instructor and in various music ensembles.

“To someone considering transferring schools, I would say, ‘You are so brave!’ Transferring can often be a very daunting thing to do because it requires you to look at your own needs and goals while simultaneously preparing to adjust to a new environment. Although the process requires a bit of work and not everything may work out perfectly, once you have found the program and community that you best fit into, the rest won’t matter.”

Brooklen Lewis

Hometown: Olathe, Kansas Major: Criminal Justice Minor: Business

“I first went to a local community college because I wanted to get my general education courses out of the way before transferring and finishing at a four-year university. I always knew I wanted to be in federal law enforcement, and going to a community college first helped me establish connections that will benefit me in the future.

“The transfer process to Olivet was very easy. Everyone in the Office of Admissions worked hard to make sure I had everything I needed in order to transfer smoothly and successfully. I knew Olivet would be a great fit when I took a campus tour. I loved how beautiful the campus was and, just walking around, people were so kind. The JumpStart program at the beginning of the year was a great way to get connected and acquainted with people who are in the same stage of life. It helped me to be more comfortable in the first couple weeks by getting to know people and finding my way around campus. “One highlight from my time at Olivet has been playing intramural sports. It is a super-easy way to get involved, and being on a team with your friends is so much fun. My team was even the intramural kickball champions one season! Also, Ollies Follies at the beginning of the year is so much fun and an awesome way to get connected with people from every grade. “My suggestion for prospective college students is to explore all of your options and make sure that what you are choosing is the best fit for you. Think beyond academics. Consider career connections for your major, the type of people that attend, the area in which you are living and if you feel comfortable on campus. College is more than an education; it’s an experience. So if you aren’t comfortable with where you are at, find the best fit for you.”

Jan Lomahan

Hometown: Hagerstown, Maryland Major: Criminal Justice Minor: Sociology

“I attended Clarks Summit University in Pennsylvania before transferring to Olivet. I considered transferring colleges in search of a strong criminal justice program where I felt I could be equipped with the appropriate tools while maintaining a spiritual component throughout my time at a university.

“Transferring to Olivet was one of the easiest choices I have made. As soon as I stepped on campus, I felt the peace of God and knew that this is where He wanted me to take my next steps. Everyone in the Office of Admissions was so friendly and hospitable. All my classes transferred in smoothly, and my transfer counselor helped me out immensely with which classes I had to take when I got there. “Today, I have connected at Olivet as a student ambassador in the admissions office. My passion is to help every student I come into contact with to have the same experience I did when I first came here! In past semesters, I served on the Associated Student Council as a class representative [and as] a resident assistant for the Olde Oak Apartments and have participated in intramurals.

“For anyone who is interested in transferring colleges, I would highly recommend visiting the campus in person and feeling it out. Talk to some professors in your area of study and gauge their passion for what they do. Talk to the students and how they like their school. You will be attending this college to attain a degree in a field in which you will spend more than 60% of your life! Make sure that the education the institution provides is equipping you not only for an occupation but how to live a life glorifying Christ and excelling in your field.”