Reflections

Sister M. Elise Kriss, OSF, has devoted 27 years of service as University of Saint Francis president and her devotion has made her a fixture in Fort Wayne. Her face and smile are instantly recognized by people throughout the community. As she prepares to transition to the next step of her life, she reflected on her journey, from humble beginnings to leading the biggest changes in USF history.

REFLECTIONS REFLECTIONS

Sister Elise’s 27 years of service as president have been filled with growth and change as USF strived to serve the changing needs of students.

Can you tell us a little bit about your childhood?

“I was the oldest of six and grew up in North Judson, and what I remember a lot about that is being only a couple of blocks from Saints Cyril and Methodius school. The Sisters taught where I went for eight years and I was quite connected with them. Even in the third and fourth grade, I remember helping the Sisters, cleaning up, putting things away. I got to know the Sisters on a friendly basis and it had a lot to do with my eventually joining our congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration.”

What were some memorable things you did as a child?

“My grandparents—my mom’s parents—lived on the south side of town and my grandfather ran Sramek Grocery Store, which was in the family for many years. I spent a lot of time at the grocery store as a kid, stocking shelves and eventually working as cashier. My grandparents passed away rather young and my dad (Joseph Kriss) managed the store. I learned to do almost everything related to the store, talking with sales people. It was a very good experience and business-related. I think that’s behind my organizational skills and my position I’ve had here.

“Also, my mom (Marcella Kriss) was very engaged and involved with us as kids, being part of the Brownies and Girl Scouts and members of 4-H. I learned to bake and sew and all those things you do in 4-H. We’d get weeding jobs and things like that in the summertime.”

Where did you go to high school?

“I went to high school at the Motherhouse in Mishawaka, and at that time it was a boarding school for girls, St. Francis High School. I became even closer to the Sisters. They taught all the classes. I got to know the Sisters personally and that was the best part of deciding whether I wanted to be one of the Sisters. I received a very, very good education there. I entered our congregation right out of high school and spent two years in the novitiate where you become more familiar with the life of Sisters and make your vows. All the while the postulants are also taking college coursework. The Sisters were teaching for Saint Francis at the Motherhouse.”

What were some of the ways you moved the then-Saint Francis College forward?

“We were challenged financially with 1,000 students or less. We needed more for the structure already in place. If we were going to grow as an institution, we needed a team. We had to put a team together and that took two or three years to get to the right point and have the right people. I needed leaders who were leaders, and that was one thing I put into place. Then some opportunities came our way.”

How did you decide to pursue education as a career? “My options at the time were teaching or nursing. I knew the Sisters as teachers at my grade school and not as nurses, so I decided I wanted to be like them and to teach. Before I was finished, I was doing some teaching in schools the Sisters sponsored. I did some student teaching and went on to teach for eight years while coming back and taking summer courses. I taught at Sacred Heart in Fowler, St. Joseph in LaPorte, St. George in Hermann, Mo., St. Therese in Waynedale and St. Agnes in Chicago Heights. I was principal at St. Mary School in Griffith, Ind., from 1977 to 1981. I studied at Saint Louis University from 1981 to 1983, finishing my doctorate.”

How did you end up returning to Saint Francis? “One of the Sisters asked me if I had interest in coming to work at the college. I saw no reason to say no, I had enjoyed my time at Saint Francis College. They asked if I’d be open to it. It meant I needed to get a doctoral degree (in higher education at Saint Louis University). I became undergraduate dean and after that became academic vice president.

“I did that for eight years and got to know the university. Then another Sister came and talked with me when it was determined Sister JoEllen (Scheetz) would be transitioning, retiring and moving on. For two years, I was interim vice president of administration, being on the business side, learning about the board, learning about the Fort Wayne community. I had a few other projects, working on bylaws and revisions before I became president. After two years, I became president in 1993.”

Did that length of preparation—10 years of working at the university before become president—put you in a position to succeed?

“I had a lot of time to get to know the university and how it’s run, and to have experience with the staff and faculty. It was ideal preparation for moving into being president. Not that you know everything the day you become president. That is kind of a strange day knowing, ‘Now it’s my job.’ It was my responsibility and it has been like that ever since. It took me a little while to figure out how to move things forward.”

Among those opportunities was the chance to acquire Lutheran College of Health Professions. What made that an important and necessary step for the university? “We had already developed a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in nursing, but I had my eye on developing more health sciences. This was something we wanted to do, and we had the opportunity to make the transition. Providentially, God was in all of this and we were able to make that happen. Overnight, we had 600 more students. We had to transition bringing in a whole new staff and faculty into our culture. It took a couple of years. After that transition period, it really set us up for continued growth in the health sciences.”

The decision to start football came shortly after the expansion of health sciences. “The idea about starting a football program first came from an admissions officer. Other schools of a similar size had football programs and found it to be a good way to increase enrollment and gain more recognition for the university. Eventually, I took a proposal to the board and to the faculty and staff. The board passed the proposal and the faculty and staff was largely in support of the idea. We went forward from there and brought in Coach Kevin Donley to be our coach. I was amazed at how many people showed up at the first football game. Adding football increased our enrollment, and it also brought the community to our campus.”

Acquiring health sciences, adding football and the third change—renaming from Saint Francis College to the University of Saint Francis—made for a pivotal 1998.

“It really changed the impression of the university from a small college on the west side of town to a larger player in the health sciences and athletics.”

Another area of ongoing growth was in the arts. What stands out in that area? “One of the highlights of the arts was the opening of the Mimi and Ian Rolland Art and Visual Communication Center. That has been the home base for our arts programs, and a regular source of community contact through student, faculty and outside artists' exhibitions. We also saw the growth of Music Technology, which is at our USF Downtown site and has produced a number of successful alumni as they’ve entered the profession, including many at Sweetwater Sound. Alumni of our animation program have had great success with various companies, including Disney. There is now a great diversity of programs offered within the Creative Arts department.”

What are some of the challenges that continue to face USF as it grows and advances?

“Challenges have included, and still include, enrollment. We’re a small university, very tuition-driven. We need tuition and enrollment. Whether it’s developing new programs to grow that enrollment or academic facilities to keep us competitive in the marketplace, that’s a challenge. The second challenge for small universities is finance. That goes along with tuition but also in raising funds. We’ve done a good job of that over the years, but it takes a lot of work and time.”

Over the last 20 years, USF has continued to grow with expansion and renovation of buildings, most recently Achatz Hall of Science and John and Toni Murray Research Center and the St. Francis Chapel. You must look back at some of those changes with much satisfaction.

“I’ll start with the first one, which was most gratifying, when we built the Doermer Family Center for Health Science Education, as part of the acquisition of Lutheran College. The growth of the health sciences was very gratifying. Recent ones, like putting the Chapel at the center of campus, we’d been wanting to do that for years and were able to raise the funds. The sciences are in my heart—I really like the sciences. In the new and renovated Achatz Hall of Science, students are enjoying special places to study. It’s very student-centered.”

What does the St. Francis Chapel mean to the campus?

“The Chapel is at the center of the university, located between academic buildings, and it brings together what is important to a Catholic university. Faith and reason are together; they’re not separated. It’s a visual symbol of faith and reason coming together.”

USF has also expanded to downtown Fort Wayne and Crown Point. With downtown, what are some of the opportunities for growth?

“Having facilities in downtown Fort Wayne is a great use of space for programs we’d like to continue to grow. There’s a need for Music Tech graduates at Sweetwater and other places, but we need to do some work to keep it growing. We have risk management and insurance, which is a big industry in the area, and there are many specialty insurance companies we’d like to partner with. We want to continue to stay involved with the Regional Partnership and their efforts to bring business and population to the area.”

As difficult as it is to be a university president, are there aspects you look back on with special fondness?

“I have found this to be a very gratifying period of my life. My background is in education. I earned a bachelor’s and master’s from Saint Francis as an educator and I had a chance to teach. My most vivid memories are the commencements over the years, the number of people who have marched across the stage and I’ve shaken their hands. That’s something I’ll miss. That’s always a special day for all of us. It’s why we’re here—for our students.”