When she takes office in July, Robin Holmes-Sullivan will be the first Black woman to serve as president of Lewis & Clark College in its 155-year history.
It’s a rarity for women of color to reach the presidency, but it’s even more unusual for them to take a nontraditional path, as Holmes-Sullivan has done. With multiple degrees in clinical psychology, she began her career as a clinical coordinator at the University of Oregon’s counseling center and went on to become vice president for student life. She then was vice president for student affairs at the University of California, before becoming vice president for student life and dean of students at Lewis & Clark, in Oregon. (Only 7 percent of women presidents got to their positions through a path other than rising through the faculty ranks, according to a recent report by the Eos Foundation.)
It wasn’t Holmes-Sullivan’s goal to lead an institution of higher education until she started working on a college campus as a counselor. It was during that time that she realized that she had a propensity for leadership and administration.
She attended a yearlong American Council on Education fellowship for administrators with an interest in the presidency before assuming her first vice presidency.
The Chronicle spoke with Holmes-Sullivan about her path to the presidency, the pressures of being the first, and what she hopes to achieve during her tenure.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Very few college presidents are women of color. Why do you think you were one of the few to reach the presidency?
You know, it’s absolutely true. There’s a dearth of women leaders, and then when you add in additional identity pieces such as sexual orientation, or race and ethnicity, those numbers get even smaller. I think it’s really important, especially in this day and age, for there to be really good representation in all aspects of higher education, especially because we all talk about it, you see it on all of our websites, you see it in our mission statements — the importance of equity and inclusion, the importance of making higher education available to as many people as possible, recruiting students of color and students from various backgrounds. That’s an important thing that higher education is committed to on the student side.
There’s been lots of conversations about making sure that the faculty is very diversified, and that also holds true for administration as well. It is not, apparently, an easy thing for higher education to achieve. But I hope that that’s going to change, and I hope that even me having this opportunity is another stat point to kind of move that needle and to show others who have similar identities that this is something that they can do as well.
You took an unconventional path to the presidency. Have you faced any pushback from faculty members who want a president that rose up through the faculty ranks? How will you assure them that you can empathize with the challenges they face?
The path to the presidency more often than not has been through the academic side of the house. It’s an academic institution, and so it would make sense that people who were providing that education would eventually become leaders. But universities and colleges have changed a lot over the last 20 years, and although the faculty and the academic experience will always be paramount, there are other aspects of higher education that are important as well, and there are other individuals who have certain skill sets that lend themselves very well to the times we find ourselves in and the challenges that institutions are facing — working on complex issues, working closely with students and the student experience, responding to emergencies, responding to the public demand or political issues. Those are things that are very similar to what a president would do as well. I was able to talk about that with the various faculties at Lewis & Clark and lay out the case as to why someone with with my experiences would be a good choice. I’ve received really good support from the faculty and all three of our schools, and I feel very grateful for that.
There’s often a lot of pressure associated with being the first. Do you feel that? How do you cope with it?
I don’t know if I would describe it as, “I feel pressure.” In 155 years and 25 presidents, this is the first time that the president has been “name all of the things that I identify as.” And so it does feel very historic. But because I’m in higher education, and because I’ve been at predominantly white institutions, I’ve always been the first something, right? And when I was growing up in Southern California, in Orange County, which was predominantly white, I went to a school of about 2,500 students, and there were like four Black people in the whole school. So it’s not unusual to be “the only” to me, and it’s not unusual to be the first. I don’t say that because I loved it. I actually didn’t. But it’s something that I’m used to, and I think I know how to handle it and how to manage my own feelings and thoughts about it.
I think that the school should be commended for making that choice, and it’s getting a lot of attention; I think that that’s also good for the school, and it’s good for others who may see themselves and start to think about how they could have an opportunity like this in their future.
Do you think of yourself as a role model? Did you have any role models or mentors along the way?
Absolutely, and I see it as a way of giving back. I’ve had role models and mentors myself that have been really helpful for me, and I feel a huge responsibility to make sure that I’m offering myself as not only that role model but that mentor. I’ve been doing that for decades, mentoring young people of color or queer people — anyone, really, that sought me out. I always say yes to those asks. I’m still in contact with lots of those students. One came in today, and he’s been out of school for 15 years. I think it’s really important to be that role model and that mentor, because I would hate for a student to think “I can’t do this” because I don’t see anyone else doing it, or someone has told me I can’t do that, which happened so many times to me when I was growing up. I was so lucky that I had the parents that I had, because my mom or my dad or my siblings would talk to me about how that’s just not true. I benefited from having a strong family and such strong support. Not everyone has that.
How do you feel about being president of a predominantly white institution? And what challenges do you think you’ll face, if any?
My own experience has been that it is just as important for young people, faculty, staff, and others of color to have and see representation as it is for those who are in the majority to see people of color in these roles. And I would say I’ve had just as many, if not more, people who are white come up to me or write me an email or text and say how important it was to them that I was selected, not only because they knew that I was the best person for the job, but because of what my identities represent and how important it is for us to have that representation at Lewis & Clark.
What do you hope to achieve during your presidency?
It might be a little too soon for me to know and to answer that. I do know that I feel like Lewis & Clark is on a really good trajectory, and I want to keep the positive momentum going and build upon that momentum. But I do think we have some some opportunities that I’m just starting now to talk with others about that I hope will be the hallmark of my presidency. One of those would be our community really being known as one that grapples with and goes head on into hard issues, that can have good conversations and dialogue, learn from those issues, grow from them and stay a community, even when those issues are some of the most difficult ones. Because to me, those are the ones that are worth discussing. And heaven knows that in our country we’re not doing a very good job with that at all.
One of the things that I’ve really been thinking about is how I can draw upon some of my previous experiences to have these kind of conversations, to bridge community, to make positive relationships and maintain those relationships even in the face of difficult things. I don’t know how that’s going to go or when, but that is definitely something that I’m very interested in, and it would feel really good for our institution if we became known as a place that was courageous enough and willing to do that.
