PROFILES IN INSPIRATION: “To Relate to the Communities, and To Dream and Grow”: A Meeting with Dr. C

March 10, 2014

by Abhisha John This Interview with Tunxis President Cathryn Addy is the first in what will be a regular HiA series that highlights what specifically inspires the faculty, staff, administration, and other community leaders in our midst. . .and moves them to “pay it forward.” We hope you enjoy it! —Staff

When I was asked to interview the president of the college, I think that I resembled a deer caught in headlights, as I was rather nervous to say the least. I wanted to say no, and get out of it, but something in me said to do it. I hesitantly walked over to the office to see if there was an opening in President Addy’s schedule.

I was preparing myself to walk into a formal office and be stopped by an intimidating secretary, who would tell me that the President was busy for the month, and that they would get back to me on a date and time convenient for her. You may understand my shock then, when I was greeted by a friendly woman who asked me what time I was available, and scheduled me for a meeting the following week. I had seen President Addy in the halls, and knew who she was, but was always too shy to go up to her and actually have a conversation. I decided to use this opportunity to do just that: find out what her vision is, what inspires her, where she was before Tunxis, and what her priorities are as president. I had a week to prepare the interview, and like a responsible journalist, I conducted some research, read articles, and compiled my questions.

The day of the interview I was all jitters. I mentioned this to the professor of my last class of the day, Dr. Coan, and he offered to walk me to the President’s office and introduce us. I gratefully accepted his offer, hoping that it would make the interview a little less awkward and help my nerves. He reassured me the whole way there that President Addy is a lovely person and that the interview would be fine. Sure enough, we walked into the office and were greeted by smiles from everyone there, with the usual jokes of how “they don’t bite.” An office door opened, and a shorter woman with white hair styled in a short pixie cut and a lovely smile walked out. Then, Dr. Coan introduced me to President Addy, and she shook my hand warmly. Her voice was very gentle and friendly, dissipating my nerves almost immediately. She ushered me cheerfully into her office, which is full of books: books on her desk in the corner, books filling the shelves, books on the meeting desk where we sat, and even some books stacked in piles on the floor. For me, anyway, this was a rather comforting sight, and I relaxed even more as we sat down to begin the interview. How long have you been the president of Tunxis Community College? This will be my 21st year; I can’t even believe it myself.

Congratulations. It’s gone by very quickly, it’s a wonderful place, or I wouldn’t have stayed.

Is there a story behind you getting the position? I was a president of a college in Massachusetts, and the person I followed up had come to Connecticut already, and was president of Manchester Community College at the time, and he called me to let me know that there was this opening. Which I wouldn’t have happened, except for kind of a tragic accident, not really an accident, but an event. The community college system and the technical college system used to be separate, but had recently merged into one, and the man who was president of the technical college in Waterbury was asked to be the president of Tunxis; he unfortunately died of a heart attack. They had to do a search, so I found out about the position, and decided to apply. I liked it and it all worked out just fine.

And 21 years later… Yes, 21 years later and here I am. Oh, my goodness.

What type of college were you the president of before? I was at a community college.

You liked that aspect of community college versus state college? I do. That’s what I went to graduate school for. I started off teaching English, did that for quite a while, and held a variety of other positions. I was a counselor, and then a dean of students, and an academic dean, and I started a branch campus for another college. This is all at different places.

But you’ve been through the system and worked through the ranks. Yes, and my doctorate degree is particularly in community college leadership. So, I have no desire to work at any different level. I tried high school; I spent some time at the University of Arizona . . . that was not great. So, it worked out pretty well.

I saw that you had written a book (The President’s Journey: Issues & Ideals in the Community College). Yes, I did.

I have looked through it. It was written in 1995? It was, and it is kind of old now, and as I go back and look at it I think, “Oh gee, whoever wrote this was kinda smart, ya know?” I don’t connect the words with me. Of course, I remember writing it, but one of my goals for a long time has been to update it and revise it. There were some things that I didn’t talk about, that were not issues then, which have become issues for us to think about in community college education. We have to think about emergencies – weather emergencies, and other kinds of emergencies – we have to concentrate on crisis intervention. There are a lot of things that we just never used to have to think about. So, there are [new] things that I would write, and maybe when I retire, I’ll take the time to rework it a little bit.

What was your inspiration to write that book? It was a collaboration of different people? Well, the inspiration was that I had a phone call one day from a publisher from Anchor Publishing, and they wanted me to read a manuscript that had been submitted. I said, “Sure I’ll read it,” and I read it, and it was horrible and I told him, “This is terrible.” And he said, “Well, why don’t you write one?” So, since I had opened my big mouth, I decide to take him on. I did, and in the process of putting it together, it occurred to me that it might be interesting to feature the voices of other presidents. So, I asked people I knew, and friends of mine, if they would be willing to write a short essay that I could include. That’s how it all came together; I did the editing and pulled it all together.

In the book you mentioned wanting to become a president was because you wanted to make a difference? Yes, that was the consistent remark that I received from everybody, “I just wanted to make a difference, and I just wanted to contribute to the well-being of someone else.” That’s the way I see it. We are all missionaries at heart. You kind of have to be, in a community college level. For us [at a community college level] it’s the teaching, the interaction with students, the whole picture, and the whole milieu of what we are trying to do. And that is making that difference and making people’s lives better.

What differences have you been able to make at Tunxis? What changes were you able to implement into the college system? It [Tunxis] was a very insular, inward-looking group of people, and I felt that there was so much that could be done here to relate to the communities, and to look outward again, and to dream and grow. And not concentrate on just surviving day-to-day. . .but let’s thrive. So one of the first things I remember doing was talking with people about applying for a Title III grant. Now at the federal level, Title III is a funding program for developing institutions. I thought, “This is perfect; Tunxis is a developing institution”. We hired a consultant to help write the grant, we received it, and things took off from there. We were one of the first colleges to then develop a website, and start to offer online education, and this was in ‘95 or ‘96. We were very early in the technological explosion that began to happen around us. In ‘98 we started a master plan for the campus, because we were very crowded. It took almost ten years for our newer building to be built, but that was another major step, I think, in opening up this college to a wider world. So, I felt very fortunate to be a part of that. Another smart thing I have done is hire the right people. I’ve had the opportunity to hire the most wonderful faculty, and some staff, and everybody . . . I’ve been here long enough; I’ve hired most of them (laughs), or had a hand in hiring. So, whom you choose to work around you is the priority, and sharing the ideas and the vision becomes reality.

What are some of the challenges and responsibilities of being president? The Hartford Current had featured an article June 30th of this year interviewing you. You had mentioned the 4% budget increase not sustaining what’s going on in the college. Do you think that has impacted this semester? Yes, most definitely. But, thankfully, the people who work here work very, very hard. But what I see, from my perspective, are positions left vacant; the library has to be closed early; we aren’t able to provide as many tutors as we’d like to; we can’t hire as many counselors as I think we need; the computer lab we can’t keep open; we are closed on weekends. That’s just not how we should have to run an institution of higher education. But, particularly at the same time, the President, to the Governor, to everybody else, is saying how important education is in America and how important community colleges are in helping in a variety in ways. In being a stepping stone for a lot of people who can’t afford to immediately go into a Baccalaureate institution, and providing a workforce that comes in ready and trained to go, there are many roles that we play, and we need the resources to do that. And it has been very, very frustrating to have to cut back instead of expand.

It ties your hands in a way. Yes, yes, it does. It has been a challenge, to say the least.

I’ve heard that you’re also involved in the college by actually teaching classes on campus as well as tutoring students [in the Reading-Writing Lab]? Since I started teaching English, that’s my first identity, I guess.

So what classes do you teach here? One semester I took over an Intro to Lit. class for a faculty member who fell ill. I took over her day classes for the rest of the semester. That was wonderful, I loved it. And then I didn’t teach for a while, but several years ago I was doing some team teaching with Dr. Terry Cassidy in the English department, and we were teaching Perspectives in the Humanities. So, we did that for three or four semesters. Then, last year I worked in the Academic Support Center, and I’m doing that again this year as a tutor [for English], and I’m trying to help out in the [Reading-]Writing Lab. So, I go over there a couple of hours a week; I wish I had more time because that is a lot of fun.

But with your busy schedule here, what inspires you to take that time out and meet with students and tutor them? On the practical side, we need tutors, and we can’t afford to hire them. So, I can do it: I’m here; I can pitch in. But, more selfish, I like interacting with the students, and meeting them, and I get to see things from a different perspective. I don’t want to be isolated. One of the clichés I learned in school is very simple: where you stand on an issue depends on where you sit in the organization. I want to make sure that I am familiar with the issues that are faced in the Academic Support Center, and what’s going on in classrooms, what are the faculty facing and dealing with. And the best way to know that is to go do it.

I have seen you around when there is a special speaker giving a lecture, and it is nice to see you involved. Oh, I love it! That’s the fun part of the job! That’s the best part! I think it’s important to show that support. A lot of what this job— being a leader in this institution—is about is getting the right people in the right spot, and giving them the support they need to be their best. I am happy to do that. I try to get to most things. I just went to the poetry reading at one o’clock. But, of course that was play. . . it was wonderful!

Because this is for our Humanities blog. . .in a world that is so focused on Math and Science, and pushing for even more of those subjects, what do you feel about the Humanities? Why are literature and the arts necessary for students? Funny you should ask! One of the things that some of us have been trying to do is make sure that the humanities do not get lost in all of this grand push towards manufacturing technology and all those sort of things. I believe very strongly that what we are trying to do is educate the whole student, so to speak. We want to provide training so that people have skills, but we also want to provide an education. I don’t think you can do that when it’s just one-sided. UConn has received a lot of press lately because of their emphasis on STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Manufacturing. There is a new initiative out there, which I’m pretty excited about, and it’s being called “STEAM” instead of STEM; Adding that ‘A’ in there, standing for the Arts, is an important component of the whole development of future generations. In addition, I just had a long conversation with one of our faculty, who is the principle investigator of a national science foundation grant, and it was about getting women into manufacturing. But, here is where I get excited: it’s not manufacturing as in going in a building, jet engines parts, or whatever— she has this idea; she has six 3D printers: they make objects, depending on the materials you use, and the designs you come up with. . .you can make all kinds of wonderful objects. From the useful, to the component parts, to the art jewelry. . .you know, whatever! We both got very excited yesterday about the possibilities of getting these machines on the Tunxis campus. There are so many components that are related to the science and math piece—but don’t ignore the creative, artistic, affective side of the human spirit! We can’t stamp out creativity, or not nurture creativity, and expect to survive in this global world. We just can’t create a generation of automatons, if you will.

You don’t want to replicate what’s already out there, but create something new. Yes, exactly! So I think the arts are the creative impulse in all humans, and we need to nurture that, not kill it or ignore it.

We have the Liberal Arts and Sciences program and the Arts program, which Tunxis really pushes and encourages. And that’s a conscious decision that we have made, and I hope we will continue to make. I think there are enough strong voices like Dr. Coan, and others, that will make sure that it will never get lost. Our faculty is not shy; I love it! They are very adamant about their beliefs and that’s why I love them.

How did the Humanities—such as arts, literature, writing— impact your life and your education growing up? How did they mold you personally? Well, you know, all of it did very deeply early on. My mother was a musician; she played piano and organ. So, I think there was an expectation that I would become a musician. I could have on the one hand—but then on the other hand, I don’t have the right personality for it, because I wasn’t willing to devote eight hours of my day to practicing one instrument. That’s not me. But anyway, music had always been a major part of my life, but I always loved to read as well. So, when I got to college, I wanted to be a Forest Ranger.

Really? Yes, I had been spending my summers as a camp counselor, and out in the woods, and I was pretty good in biology and science. I wanted to be a forest ranger, but women were not allowed in the forest service in that point in time. So, I thought, “Well, I like to read,” so I ended up majoring in English. It was teaching or nursing, those were the basic professions that I had easy access to. So, I majored in English, because I like to read, and I minored in History. The two just go hand in hand. I ended up teaching high school English for a couple of years, but then I don’t know what happened, I kind of got on another track, and that’s fine, because I’ve gotten to where I think I was supposed to be. I couldn’t do what I do now without a solid reading, writing, and arts background, I think. I’ve always, in my heart, wanted to write the great American novel, but since that didn’t happen, I got the opportunity to write another book; that gave me a little outlet for my own creative skills.

But there is still time. Yeah, it is still on my to-do list. I just think that side of life is very important; being able to understand people, and understanding human behavior is critically important. Being able to communicate ideas, and communicate a vision, even if it’s to have people say, “Gee, Addy—you’re nuts!” But, not being able to talk about it in the first place—because you don’t have the skills to think things through—is detrimental. I couldn’t do this job without a strong humanities background. Ninety percent of my job is working with people, talking with people, dealing with, mediating, solving problems; it’s all about people. Very little of it is about the budget, really. I hated math, so it’s really ironic to me how I have had to spend time on math and budgets. But, you know, it’s okay. It’s a relatively small part of what this job entails. It’s mostly about people. And you can’t deal with people if you don’t have that Humanities foundation. You have to be able to present your ideas, defend your ideas, promote your ideas and be able to listen and adapt to what others are thinking. And sometimes compromise.

President Addy and I continued to talk for a while longer. She explained to me her plan of building an auditorium for the college; her dream is that we will have a place to perform the arts, and a place for the community to meet. Her excitement was palpable, as she described where it would go and all its uses. She asked me about my studies, my background, and what I want to do. I found myself talking to her comfortably, and explaining my plans as well. We talked for a good while before I had to leave. She shook my hand warmly again and told me to come say hi again.

I left her office feeling rather inspired by her. Just listening to her story—where she started and all that she had accomplished so far. . .and all she wants to do—was amazing to hear. Her belief in how the Arts and Humanities can shape a person, and help him or her function better in society, doesn’t just end at a belief; she makes it a reality for her students by making sure all the classes are offered and working with faculty who share her view. And for all that’s she done, she still enjoys being with students: working wherever she is needed, and standing in the back of the classrooms, listening to guest lectures. As she said, she’s a sort of missionary at heart, and she and all the faculty and staff do so much that we students might never know. We put the foundation of our future into their hands, and they take their role very seriously.

As a student at Tunxis, I get to enjoy and build my future from all the hard work of President Addy, along with the entire faculty who put their time into Tunxis and all who make up our community.

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Photo of Cathryn Addy, PhD, by Ian Jones.