Sections Supplements

At Home with the Concept

From Dining Hall to Dorm, WSC’s Evan Dobelle Leads by Immersion
Evan Dobelle

Evan Dobelle

Evan Dobelle has worked in some intriguing places, from Hawaii to the White House. It may seem unlikely, then, that the latest president of Westfield State College has found himself bunking down with the students in the residence halls at WSC. But he says it’s the best way to understand the college’s culture, and to set a course for the future.

Evan Dobelle, president of Westfield State College, calls his current living situation the “ultimate management by living.”

He took up residence in one of the college’s dorms when he assumed his post at WSC in January, so his neighbors are the students, and his trappings are much the same as theirs.

“As the largest residential state college in Massachusetts, this is essentially an ‘academic hotel,’” said Dobelle, using one of many descriptive turns of a phrase that characterize his speech and how he talks about the institution he leads. “I have to see how the hotel operates, and living here allows me to observe everything from the food service to the transportation to the general attitude and culture.

“I don’t interfere, and I don’t intrude,” he added. “But I do get to see things that can be fixed or underlined, and, most importantly, I get to be part of this campus life.”

Dobelle, a Pittsfield native, has served as a college president in various locations across the country, including Trinity College in Hartford, City College of San Francisco, and the University of Hawaii. But he’s no stranger to community planning and political leadership, either. He was elected to two terms as Pittsfield’s mayor in the early 1970s, and served as the U.S. chief of Protocol for the White House during the Carter administration, among other posts.

Most recently, he served as president of the New England Board of Higher Education, a sort of “chamber of commerce,” as he described it, for more than 200 institutions in six states. During that time, he championed the ‘college-ready’ model for high school students, investments in creative economies, and public-private partnership between various institutions.

When asked why he chose to accept the president’s position (he’s the college’s 19th following the departure of Vicky Carwein), his answer was quick and succinct.

“This is home,” he said. “In a profession like mine, you tend to have to leave home to assume more responsibilities. I have worked in several different places, and I can only say being offered the opportunity to work in Western Mass. is just one of those serendipitous things that happens.”

Class Notes

As for his primary goals moving forward, Dobelle said he’s focused on honing and elevating the WSC brand.

“We have a high admissions ceiling, and historically, we’ve been relatively passive in our admissions practices,” he said. “But we still need to diversify and promote the college — particularly our graduate programs. We’re a teacher’s college, but many people don’t realize what strong professional programs we have.”

He added that some of the existing strengths of the college — an accessible campus and strong academic record among them — are helping to advance certain initiatives that fall under that branding umbrella.

“There’s already an idyllic feel on the campus,” he said. “It’s a friendly college with have high retention rates and a committed faculty. The downside is that resources can be complicated to manage.”

Dobelle explained that a lofty admissions cap coupled with solid retention rates are good problems to have, especially in a national academic climate that is nearing some lean years in terms of new recruits. However, they also call attention to a need for more residential housing and academic buildings to accommodate students, and Dobelle said improvements to the physical plant are part of the overall attention to WSC’s identity.

“We have 400 people on the waiting list for the dorms,” he offered as an example. “And while there’s been a drop-off in applicants nationwide, Westfield State is still the college of choice for many students in Massachusetts, particularly from the southeast part of the state. Our strategy has become identifying exactly who these kids are, and actively recruiting them.

“To do that,” he continued, “We must celebrate our unsung programs.”

Dobelle said there are plenty examples of strong programs on the WSC campus from which to draw. He cited Criminal Justice, Psychology, Music, and History among them, and added that, just this year, the college was honored on the athletic side with the Smith Cup, presented by the Mass. State College Athletic Conference to the college that amasses the most wins in all sports, through both men’s and women’s teams.

He added that WSC’s current mission is not to reinvent itself, but to build on existing strengths such as these, and that includes work on the administrative end.

“I wasn’t brought here to change the college. I was brought here to bring it to the next level,” he said, noting that he’ll present his management plan to the college’s board of directors in June. “I’d say we’re working to create administrative efficiency, not a blanket restructuring. I’m looking for the right structure first and then the right people, but I’m certainly not looking to grow the bureaucracy.”

Destination College Town

Another initiative he’s pursuing is further ingratiating the college into Westfield’s downtown, a move he said could benefit both the city and the institution.

“Anything that helps Westfield helps me,” he said of the endeavor. “This is a solid city at the entrance to the Berkshires, and as such with access to one of the most successful creative economies in the country. I’m looking to locate a new performing-arts venue in the center of town, that could include up to 800 seats and be used by the college and the community.”

There is a potential site for the venue already: the former home of the college, a 30,000-square-foot brick building that could be refurbished and expanded to up to 130,000 square feet.

“It could be paid for through revenue generated at the site once it’s completed, and not through taxes,” Dobelle explained, “and it would also allow us to locate some faculty downtown and perhaps facilitate the construction of new dorm rooms for upperclassmen. The overall idea is that, in revitalizing urban areas, creating a ‘destination college town’ and access to different activities is very effective.”

When asked about the timeline for the project, Dobelle said plans are being mulled now with hopes of securing a revenue bond by 2010 and completing the performance venue by fall 2012.

“It’s an exciting option to consider, but I don’t want to consider it for long,” he said of the aggressive proposed schedule. “I’m not a ‘2020’ guy. I’m a Tuesday guy. I say if it’s a good idea, let’s not talk about it. Let’s get it done.”

Small-town Charm

All of the plans being set in motion now are geared toward augmenting the entire collegiate experience at WSC, and Dobelle said that underscoring the campus’s manageable size is part of this. With the Commonwealth’s most popular public institution just a few towns over in Amherst, he noted that competing with the sprawling, city-like size of UMass isn’t feasible, nor is it desirable.

“We’d like to increase faculty to create smaller class sizes and maintain that iconic, traditional collegiate feel we already possess,” he said. “By doing that, I think we’re giving people a fabulous option. Some students want to go to a big school, and some want to go to a small school. Before they make the decision, though, we want them to visit and see what we have to offer. It may be that Westfield feels more like home than UMass Amherst for some.”

As a graduate of UMass himself and a current resident at WSC, Dobelle couldn’t be more well-suited to make that claim. He’s quick to note that, when he says he’s living in the dorms, it’s not in a bunk bed with three roommates; his job title earned him a private, apartment-style room that he and his wife, Kit, have dubbed their ‘pied-a-terre.’

But he’s still very much ingrained in the college life at WSC. Like the students, he’s learned that nearby Stanley Park is called ‘Stanley Beach’ on a warm, sunny day, and that there’s a dance hall in addition to a basketball court at the athletic center. He has, however, left the late nights studying (or not) to his charges.

“The students and I operate on different cycles,” he said. “When I go to bed, they’re just going out. When I get up, they’re still snoozing. Right now, it’s a perfect situation.”

And right now, it’s home.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]