Q&A with outgoing IU South Bend Chancellor Susan Elrod
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Indiana University South Bend (IUSB) Chancellor Susan Elrod is retiring after five years in the role. During her tenure, Elrod led the development of a new strategic plan for the university and launched the school’s Civil Rights Heritage Center and the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The regional campus reported increased enrollment, greater community engagement, new partnerships and secured several regional and national awards under her leadership.
Elrod spoke with Inside INdiana Business on her career, time in the region and post-retirement plans.
This article has been edited for clarity and brevity.
How are you feeling about retirement?
It’s bittersweet. I am so proud of what I was able to do with everyone at IU South Bend and in the communities of South Bend and Elkhart. But family calls out west; I’m just too far away from aging parents. I think after the pandemic, we all maybe took a little closer look at our lives. And I know I’m not the only person that’s made a decision to move closer to family. If only Reno and the university were a little closer together, it might have worked out for longer.
As you look at the past five years in your role as chancellor at IUSB, what are some of your proudest achievements that you hope will continue to speak for decades to come?
When I joined the university, I was struck that it had been in the community for 100 years but it seemed kind of invisible. It seemed like people didn’t understand what really happened at the university. So I mounted a campaign to get the university more visibility and more partnerships in the community, so that people could really see who we were, understand the value and the opportunity that the university provides. We ramped up our marketing and brand awareness activities in the community. I’m still really proud of the banner that we have hanging in the airport.
One of the very first things that I did was to orchestrate the purchase of the site that houses our Civil Rights Heritage Center. That site was a former segregated natatorium, and we were leasing it with an option to buy for $1. I was able to get all the details of that purchase worked out within my first six months. That sent a message that I was a person who was interested in the community, making visible statements and taking visible actions to demonstrate our commitment. So that was one of the very first things that I’m so proud of.
More recently, we just opened up a state-of-the-art nursing and radiography simulation center which is going to improve health care talent in the region, led by a $5 million gift from the Dwyer Trust. We are also undergoing renovation for a new Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, thanks to a $2 million philanthropic gift. So building those relationships so that we can have visible, not only programs but spaces that are state-of-the-art and inviting to students, not only to study but to start their own business and contribute to the economy in the region.
Elrod speaks about some of the achievements she’s most proud of.
What are some of your most memorable moments in the community over the last five years?
This is a really engaged community. I have told people over and over how impressed I am with how collaborative, how forward thinking, how inclusive and organized the community is. They’ve been able to get all kinds of READI funding from the state to advance projects in the community and it’s impressive. There’s a lot of people here; either they grew up here and stayed here, or they grew up, went away and came back, or they came here because it’s a compelling place to be. One of my other fondest achievements is creating an alumni celebration event that we call Night of the Titans. We do that in the community, with alumni, community partners, sponsors and it’s just such a fun night to bring IU alumni from South Bend or other campuses that live here. I’ll really miss the community. It’s been such a gift, really, to be able to have spent some time here, getting to know everyone, making friends and doing good work together.
In terms of your work with the Coalition For Reform in Undergraduate STEM Education (CRUSE), what was the need you saw? And how has the Coalition been able to address that?
CRUSE is a group that I co-founded when I was working in Washington D.C. I took a little hiatus from campus work and worked in Washington for the Association of American Colleges and Universities on bringing campuses together to focus on the specific issues in undergraduate STEM education. That was such a fabulous experience. I worked with all kinds of associations, the National Science Foundation, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, various other scientific societies and it was clear that everybody was interested in doing the work around STEM education, but they were all in silos.
My colleague, Linda Slakey, and I decided to form a coalition to bring people together and leverage all their activities to amplify their work. The coalition has been meeting monthly for over 10 years without any pay or incentive. We’re doing it because we see the value in coming together, sharing, leveraging and communicating what is going on. Something that happened, maybe indirectly because of the coalition, is that the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine formed a roundtable on undergraduate STEM education. That’s a spin off group. It might have happened anyway but it certainly happened more quickly and maybe more inclusively because of CRUSE.
How did you get into educational leadership?
After I finished my undergraduate degree in biology, I knew that I wanted to get a PhD but I wasn’t sure in what field. I eventually got a PhD in genetics, for which I received a forgivable loan from the California State University system. They were trying to promote the development of faculty members. So people can get PhDs and then become faculty members. I went on to do postdoctoral work in the biotechnology industry, then got my first job at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in the Biological Science Department. So I was able to pay off that loan by becoming a faculty member.
I was always one of those people who was on the committees, chairing the committees. I was involved in the Academic Senate. After I had gotten tenure, I thought, “You know, I’m always doing this leadership stuff. Why don’t I just do that? I really enjoy it. I think I’m good at it.” So that’s when I switched from faculty life to leadership life. It was just a culmination over many years and one day an epiphany.
When you’re considering a job offer, what are some of the most important factors that you consider?
For me, it has always been about the kind of university. I’ve basically spent my career at regional comprehensive universities, universities that serve communities and public universities. I was always passionate about the public mission of higher education to provide access to postsecondary opportunity to anybody who wants it. I think that’s the core of America. Anybody who wants to get a degree should be able to and public universities are big providers of that opportunity. So the first criteria for me was always, “Is it the kind of institution that I’m passionate about?”
Then the second set of questions is, “What is the leadership opportunity? And do my skills and passions as a leader fit? Can I bring something to the position in the university that’s going to add value or make a positive impact?” I’m always interested in making a bigger difference. Those are the two main factors that I considered as I was looking at various job opportunities.
What are some of your fondest childhood memories?
My fondest childhood memories? My dad is an engineer and I became a scientist. Growing up, I would follow him around and ask a billion questions. “Why this? Dad, how does that work? Dad, what about this?” And he would very patiently answer my questions. So I’ve been a questioner for my whole life, I just had a good time exploring. He would fix everything in the house. And I’m pretty handy but I can’t install a dishwasher like he used to do. So my fondest memories were times when I was able to be curious, ask questions and learn new things. And I’m still a learner today.
Was there a specific moment when you knew you were going to spend the rest of your life pursuing science?
Absolutely. I had an amazing high school biology teacher. So many of us are touched by teachers. He just really made it come alive and he had a very inquiry-driven classroom. We were always asking questions, figuring things out and I was really drawn to the beauty and the complexity of biological systems. I was one of those students that never changed my major. I was just on track from day one, which is kind of unusual. But I just had a passion and I took every biology class I could take.
While I was in college, I got involved in student government and became student body president. So I’ve always lived a dual life of leadership and something else. Early on, it was science. Now it’s being an administrative leader and doing research on leadership. That’s something else I’m going to continue to do in my retirement.
Outside of work, what did you do for fun in the region?
I like to go to natural places, so my husband and I are fond of Potato Creek State Park. We ride our bikes on the great bike trail there and go hiking or snowshoeing in the winter. We also love going up to southwest Michigan and other parts of Michigan. The Lakeshore, the dunes, going up north to Traverse City and the Leelanau region. I’m originally from California and I grew up in wine country. So I’ve really enjoyed wine tasting up in the northern part of Michigan. It’s just so beautiful and such a great place.
Any post-retirement plans?
Absolutely! I have been working with my good colleague Adrianna Kezar for over 15 years now on various aspects of institutional change. It started out very focused on undergraduate STEM programs when I worked in Washington D.C., then it evolved to institutional change in general. Last year, we published a Change Leadership toolkit, a resource for higher education leaders to really dive into the details of their transformation initiatives or their systemic change projects and create a more strategic path forward. It helps them analyze their context, identify levers and then figure out from that contextual analysis, what the most strategic actions are.
We have funding from the Gates Foundation to continue to do work on that toolkit. I will also do consulting on campuses and even change leader coaching to help those leaders one to one with some tricky change situations that they might find themselves in. So I’m excited to have an even greater impact on higher education. Change is the word. Everybody is having to change because they have a budget deficit or they’re struggling with enrollment, which, of course, IU South Bend is not anymore. We’re growing again, which is wonderful. So really happy and excited to be able to level up what I can do for campuses across the country.
Since we’re talking about leadership, what’s your favorite book on leadership?
I have several but one book that I recommend more than others is called “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership.” It takes the approach that change is inevitable and so you have to be adaptive. It’s a pretty biological approach and I’m a biologist, so maybe that’s another reason why I like it a lot. From a biological perspective, if you’re not changing, you’re probably dead. So organizations must change. That book lays out a set of principles that are really helpful for leaders in tackling change on their campuses. So that’s one of my favorite books.
I would be remiss not to call out my own book. I co-authored “Shared Leadership in Higher Education.” It describes how we can create collaborative leadership structures so that there are more people involved in leadership and coming up with solutions to create the change we need.
Any final words?
I’m just grateful for the support I received, for the engagement and collaboration that everybody showed me. Every time we picked up the phone to call someone to invite them or ask them, they said, “Yes.” I don’t think we’ve gotten a “No” ever from anyone and so I’m grateful for that. What it tells me is that this community loves IU South Bend and wants to see it succeed. I know that will be true for the next chancellor that comes on board as well. So I just want to say thank you to everybody. I’m very grateful.