16 minute read
THE FOLSE ERA BEGINS
Victoria N. Folse is Ripon’s 14th president
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The transformative power of education was revealed early to Victoria Noltkamper Folse, and it is that environment that she plans to foster and expand within the context of the liberal arts at Ripon College.
Folse is from the southern Illinois city of Belleville, a metro east suburb of St. Louis. Her parents divorced when she was an infant, and she was raised by her mother who worked a series of low-paying jobs and relied on the government to provide food and medical assistance for her family. Without a college education and without adequate resources, her options as a single mother were limited.
“I knew early on that education was my opportunity to advance — both in terms of social mobility and to realize my dreams of being an independent, strong, female leader,” she says.
She also knew early on that she had the natural mettle to excel in the field of nursing, especially in emergency situations. In grade school, she was racing to play tetherball and collided with another child. He and others on the playground stared in horror at the gash on her forehead “so I remained composed and recommended actions to school personnel.”
In the midst of the turmoil of her ambulance ride to the hospital, she felt a calm demeanor. “What was fascinating to me, with all the chaos around me, was that I was energized by the excitement and enthralled by the healthcare providers in the emergency department,” she says. “I asked for a mirror to watch the suturing which cemented my interest in healthcare as a career. I later learned the emergency department is the front door for many mental health crises.”
That led to her decision to go into the nursing profession and become an advanced practice registered nurse (clinical nurse specialist) in adult psychiatric nursing.
“Nursing was an attractive choice for me because I would have guaranteed employment, and it would provide me with the capacity to make an impact on people’s lives,” she says.
“I just really was hungry to learn,” she says. “I loved the idea of a liberal arts college experience coupled with the opportunity of being a nurse. I wanted to simultaneously study philosophy, religion and English. The choice of a small, residential liberal arts college was deliberate and one of my best early-life decisions.” She received her undergraduate degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, in 1986. “I devoured every philosophy, sociology and psychology course I could find,” she says. “It’s important that students who are pursuing a professional or pre-professional degree also be engaged in the study of the humanities while pursuing their passions for areas like music or athletics. That allows a graduate of the liberal arts to be fully immersed in the world and ignites a passion for lifelong learning and engagement. That’s central to the liberal arts.”
At Illinois Wesleyan, she also met her future husband, Dick Folse. Dick was a biology major as an undergraduate and later received a Master of Fine Arts. Folse says it was the liberal arts core that allowed him to pivot to his passion for studio art instead of pursuing the career in medicine he originally envisioned. He has worked as a university art instructor, managing director of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and director of grants and foundation relations.
“Our backgrounds are so diverse,” Folse says. “Dick’s family was well off and education was at the core of everything they did. I didn’t have that. I benefited from being around individuals who were quite successful professionally and who recognized the social and philanthropic responsibilities that come with privilege. Dick’s family represents a beautiful combination of science and art — working
Victoria N. and Dick Folse
at One Merriman Lane.
President Folse visits with Jodi Berens, mother of first-year student Jack Berens, in Willmore Center after Matriculation Convocation in August. in surgery, bonsai, music, painting, woodworking and pottery.
Together, the Folses have forged a strong, supportive partnership. Folse went on to earn a master’s degree in adult psychiatric/ mental health nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Ph.D. in nursing with a concentration in research methodology from Saint Louis University.
Folse is an advanced practice registered nurse and also a licensed clinical professional counselor. She is an active scholar, researcher and national and international lecturer and consultant, with expertise in areas such as eating disorders, suicide risk, self-concept and sexuality, and abuse of drugs and alcohol.
Through early leadership roles in her sorority and early career opportunities, she discovered that “leadership was a good match for my skill set,” she says. “It’s a pretty natural fit and one in which I could make an impact.”
She completed her master’s degree in 1989 while working full time. She continued to practice, did some adjunct teaching and started on her Ph.D. about the same time she and Dick decided to start their family after 10 years of marriage. Folse continued to work full time during her doctoral studies.
Their first daughter, Mason, was born in 1995 and now lives in southern California. She has earned two degrees from Pepperdine University — an undergraduate degree in marketing and communication and an MBA with a concentration in entrepreneurship — and is now a secondyear law student with a vision to help startup companies and underserved
— VICTORIA N. FOLSE
AT A GLANCE
Select Leadership Experiences and Awards at Illinois Wesleyan University:
• Director of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences
• Caroline F. Rupert Endowed Chair of Nursing
• Executive Director of Counseling and Heatlh Services
• Interim Director of the School of Music
• Kemp Foundation Award for Teaching
Excellence Professional Experience:
• Clinical Nurse Specialist in Adult
Psychiatric Nursing
• Advanced Practice Registered Nurse
• Licensed Clinical Professional
Counselor
• Active scholar, researcher, national and international lecturer and consultant with expertise in areas such as eating disorders, suicide risk, selfconcept, sexuality, drugs and alcohol, interprofessional communication, leadership, and quality and safety in healthcare. Educational Background:
• Ph.D. from Saint Louis University,
School of Nursing, concentration in research methodology • M.S. from University of Illinois at
Chicago, College of Nursing, adult psychiatric/mental health nursing • B.S.N. from Illinois Wesleyan University
Select Honors:
• Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society • Sigma Theta Tau International Honor
Society • American Association of Colleges of
Nursing Leadership for Academic
Nursing Program Fellow • Wharton Executive Leadership Fellow
populations be successful in business. Folse notes that Mason’s vision keeps evolving as she is introduced to new areas of law.
Their second daughter, Kennedy, was born in 1998 and owns a home with her husband, Oleg, in Burke, Virginia. She is a graduate of Georgetown University with a nursing major and a public health minor. She works as a NICU nurse and is in the process of applying to graduate school. Oleg, originally from Ukraine, is a staff sergeant in the United States Air Force.
Folse loves to run, starting with 5k runs on the weekends early in her marriage. She ran her first Chicago Marathon in 1994. One of her favorite marathons was Memphis which benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She and Mason trained together for the Marine Corps Marathon, and Kennedy has asked about running a marathon with her, too.
“I used to run for time goals, but now I’ve replaced running with a specific outcome in mind for running for pleasure — and without earbuds. What I love about running is the ability to think and be in the present,” she says. “The ability to run and not talk brings great tranquility and mental clarity.”
Another passion her family shares is traveling. Both of her daughters studied abroad as undergraduates: Mason for a year in Florence, Italy, and Kennedy for a semester in Dublin, Ireland. Folse’s favorite places outside the U.S. are Barcelona and the Amalfi Coast; she has been to most Western European countries with other memorable trips outside North America including Russia, Chile, Argentina, Morocco and South Africa. The family is widely traveled and have spent holidays in Spain and the south of France. They love spending time together — including time they have spent in Ripon.
“We’re excited about learning new things and being immersed in different cultures,” Folse says. “Travel is life-transforming. I will revisit study abroad at Ripon College and
— VICTORIA N. FOLSE
President Folse talks with alumnae during Alumni Weekend.
consider its role as a signature experiential program in the post COVID-19 world.”
She also wants to strengthen Ripon’s sense of community. “The privilege of higher education is bringing people together for a shared sense of purpose,” she says. “My transformative undergraduate experience is something I want to replicate at Ripon to create that sense of place, that sense of community.
She says she gets so caught up in her plans for moving Ripon forward that she sometimes gets late texts from Dick at the President’s House asking if she’s going to come home. But, they both understand the weight of the role.
JAYE ALDERSON COLLEGE EDITOR
President Folse addresses members of the Class of 2026 and their families at Matriculation Convocation in August.
SUPPORTING THE PRESIDENT
Dick Folse, husband of President Victoria N. Folse, is relishing his new home in Ripon.
“I’m newly retired,” he says. “I’ve been a landscape painter for 35-40 years. My passions include horticulture, bonsai, fishing, music, reading and, of course, art.
He’s also comfortable with his new role. “I’m the spouse of the president,” he says. “I support her. I’m very proud of her.”
Folse has a deep appreciation for higher education and the advantages it provides. He grew up in Springfield, Illinois, in a family deeply grounded in higher education. His father was a physician educated at Johns Hopkins who helped found the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield. His mother has a master’s degree from Peabody Conservatory and taught voice at the university level. Folse and all of his siblings received advanced degrees.
“I developed a love of lifelong education,” he says. “It helps us understand other people’s perspectives in a global society. It helps us understand history and what we might learn from history. You can do anything if you have an education like the one schools like Ripon College are providing. The skills you learn are universal for success in life.”
Folse has had a variety of jobs in academia and private industry and has been an active member of several notfor-profit organizations. “The culminating piece is that, as a servant leader, I’m interested in relationships with others and how to promote their success,” he says.
In Ripon, he and President Folse plan to be active in campus and community events. “I want to get to know the College community to see how I might best support it,” he says. “I want to be heavily involved in engaging students, faculty, staff and alumni, making sure they feel involved and are welcomed and valued.”
Ripon College’s previous presidents
William E. Merriman
FIRST PRESIDENT, 1863-1876
On April 23, 1863, the Rev. Dr. William E. Merriman, a graduate of Williams College and Union Theological Seminary, was elected the first president of Brockway College, at a salary of $1,000 a year. He immediately relinquished his salary (except for living expenses) to bring the College out of debt. There were two unfinished buildings and a debt of $20,000. The faculty included himself and one other professor for a mere half-dozen students. Within a year, he brought East and Middle colleges to completion, liquidated the debt and obtained a new charter with the institution’s name as Ripon College.
Richard Cecil Hughes
FOURTH PRESIDENT, 1901-1909
He was a Presbyterian clergyman and teacher of psychology and was instrumental in designing and implementing a college curriculum for the 20th century at Ripon. Preparatory classes were greatly reduced and the educational program expanded to include most subjects comprising a modern liberal arts curriculum. In 1906, Hughes obtained a $20,000 matching gift from Andrew Carnegie which resulted in a total gain to the College of $40,000. Edward H. Merrell
SECOND PRESIDENT, 1876-1891
He was a graduate of Oberlin College and Oberlin Theological Seminary. He was appointed principal of the preparatory department and professor of languages in 1862, then president in 1876. During his 16-year tenure as president, a new chemistry laboratory made it possible to discard the obsolete method of exclusive textbook-lecture instruction; East Hall was expanded to twice its original size; the College acquired its first athletic field, Ingalls Field, in 1888; and the original $50,000 endowment was multiplied several times. He retired as president in 1892 but remained on the faculty until his death in 1910. His seven children all attended Ripon College.
Silas Evans
FIFTH PRESIDENT, 1910-1917 & 1921-1943
Silas Evans, a graduate of the Ripon College Class of 1898, Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, resigned as teacher of Greek and Hebrew at the University of Wisconsin to accept the presidency of his alma mater. He led Ripon College for the next 32 years — except for a stint as president of Occidental College in California from 1917 to 1921. Ripon grew to full maturity; preparatory classes were dropped for good in 1913. In spite of the Great Depression, he continued to build the College’s physical capacities by adding Lane Library, Tri-Dorms and Harwood Memorial Union. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters upon his retirement in 1943. Three of his children attended Ripon. Rufus Cushman Flagg
THIRD PRESIDENT, 1892-1901
He was a widely respected biblical scholar and Congregational minister with a flair for financial management. Within one year of assuming office, he raised $50,000 in pledges, thereby qualifying the College for an $80,000 gift. He also launched a program for modernization by adding men like O.H. Ingram and Albert G. Farr to the Board of Trustees and by gently bringing about the retirement of several of the more conservative board members. Ingram Hall (now no longer standing) was built in the last year of his administration.
Henry Coe Culbertson
SIXTH PRESIDENT, 1918-1920
He had been a student of law and divinity and president of Emporia College in Kansas before serving briefly as Ripon’s president between the two terms of Dr. Silas Evans. His skill in public speaking made a strikingly favorable impression, but health and personal problems often interfered with his duties. He returned to the ministry in 1921 and went on to an outstanding career as a pastor and preacher in California and Ohio.
Clark G. Kuebler
SEVENTH PRESIDENT, 1943-1954
Clark G. Kuebler was a scholar, lecturer and teacher of classics. He was Ripon’s first president without a ministerial background. He helped establish a national reputation for the College by conducting lecture tours across the United States and abroad, seeking students from diverse backgrounds, expanding and improving the faculty, and establishing local chapters of national organizations at Ripon – most notably, Phi Beta Kappa. The College’s centennial was observed during his administration with a Second Century Program which expanded the physical plant and added to the endowment. Fred O. Pinkham
EIGHTH PRESIDENT, 1955-1965
A graduate of Kalamazoo College and Stanford University, Pinkham previously was assistant to the president of George Washington University and executive director of the National Commission on Accrediting. He also was a teacher and lecturer. He helped expand the student body, faculty, administration and physical plant, and administrative procedures were modernized. His Long-Range Development Program added the John Storzer Physical Education Center (now Willmore Center), a clinic and infirmary, and new campus heating facilities. He also was instrumental in forming the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, of which Ripon is a member.
Bernard S. Adams
NINTH PRESIDENT, 1966-1985
Bernard S. Adams was a graduate of Princeton University, Yale University and the University of Pittsburgh. He taught English literature and had a wide range of administrative responsibilities at Princeton, Pittsburgh and Oberlin College. At Ripon, he continued the expansion of the physical plant and continued modernization of the administration and the curriculum, overseeing the addition of off-campus, independent study, self-designed and interdisciplinary programs. The Wehr Learning Resources Center addition to Lane Library was completed in September 1974. William R. Stott Jr.
10th PRESIDENT, 1985-1995
Under Stott, the College’s endowment nearly tripled. He was responsible for several major renovation projects including TriDorms, Bartlett, Scott Hall and Farr Hall. Stott taught an English class each semester and led popular classes and tours for the general public on topics such as Shakespeare, the Globe Theatre and bird-watching. His wildlife art, photography and poetry were published and exhibited at Caestecker Gallery in 1995, and he led tours to the Antarctic, Costa Rica and other exotic locations. Paul B. Ranslow had been executive vice president for admission at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. He had more than 22 years of higher education administration experience, including interim president at Pitzer in 1991-1992. Ranslow participated in campus activities and lent a sunny, positive approach to the task of leading a small liberal arts college to a better understanding of its strengths and of potential areas for growth and exploration.
Paul B. Ranslow
11th PRESIDENT, 1996-2002
David C. Joyce
12th PRESIDENT, 2003-2011
He previously was vice president for institutional advancement at Otterbein College in Ohio and president of Union College in Barbourville, Kentucky. He received degrees from Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, North Carolina, Yale University Divinity School and North Carolina State University, as well as a doctorate in human resource development from Vanderbilt University. At Ripon, renovations were made across campus, Hughes House became Evans Admission Center, the student apartment building was constructed and the Ethical
Leadership Institute was inaugurated. Enrollment topped 1,000 and there were expansions in the curriculum, investments in technology, service learning efforts, and added green space and walkways to the campus. Zach P. Messitte
13th PRESIDENT, 2013-2021
He worked for the U.S. Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence, United Nations and Cable News Network (CNN) before academic appointments at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and the University of Oklahoma. He was widely published and hosted “World View,” an award-winning program on National Public Radio, from 20092012. During his Ripon tenure, the Imagine Tomorrow campaign raised $67 million, the endowment nearly doubled and Willmore Center was built. He also oversaw numerous renovations and upgrades to facilities and the establishment of the Franzen Center for Academic Success, Catalyst curriculum, Center for Politics and the People, Career Discovery tour and growth in diversity and inclusion.
