Letter to the Editor: The hunt for a new Rollins president

Rollins College is about to undergo a national search for a new president who will, no doubt, be expected to have the Ivy League-type pedigree of past presidents Lewis Duncan and Thaddeus Seymour, the unmatched fundraising ability and executive credentials of former president Rita Bornstein, and the C.E.O. skill-set and infrastructure expertise of former president Jack Critchfield.

Of course, all of these Rollins presidents had to allocate resources, fundraise, build or improve infrastructure, and promote and support academic rigor. But only one of these past Rollins presidents turned down the presidency of Dartmouth College, which took note of its former dean's widely heralded success on multiple fronts during his Rollins presidency. Thaddeus Seymour is arguably the gold standard for what Rollins should be looking for roughly a year from now. If interim Rollins President Craig McAllaster is given an honest shot in a comparison with the Rollins presidential search finalists, Rollins might be quite taken aback when they realize who may well be leading the horse race.

On his first morning on the job as interim Rollins president, I couldn't help but notice President McAllaster "managing-by-walking-around" at the Strong Hall construction site. He didn't know I saw him, but he does now. As dean of Rollins' Crummer Graduate School of Business, Dean McAllaster surprised me with an unusual response that belied his Ivy League pedigree (Columbia University). I offered to make the arrangements to place Rollins' Crummer School on the list to be chosen to attend a class in Omaha taught personally by Warren Buffett. Most people would have jumped at the opportunity. While Crummer Dean McAllaster was certainly very appreciative for my offer, he insisted on knowing the names of the other colleges that had attended in the past. He acquiesced immediately upon hearing the prestigious university names. Always protecting and promoting his brand; that's Craig.

While Crummer Dean McAllaster built upon the successful foundation laid by former Crummer Graduate School of Business deans, no one believes it was an accident that Forbes ranked Crummer 36th nationally and The Financial Times ranked Crummer 59th internationally on his watch.

At Dean McAllaster's recent retirement celebration, I congratulated him on being the next Rollins president.

Turns out I was right.

— Will Graves

Small Business Management Instructor

Columbia College - Orlando