Listen Here
By Pulse Staff
On Wednesday, April 1, the third candidate for University of Findlay president, Dr. David King shared his vision for the future of The University of Findlay.
His presentation entitled “The Future of the University of Findlay: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities in the next decade,” emphasized innovation, adaptability, and decisive leadership amid new challenges in higher education.
King has served as president of Ursuline College since July 2024, making history as its first non-Catholic male president. He has been leading the college through a merger with Gannon University which will be completed in June of this year. At that point, “the college’s presidency will be ‘laid down’,” according to his C.V.
Before Ursuline, he served as president of Malone University for more than a decade, overseeing difficult program cuts and significant institutional changes, including dropping the football program in 2019.
Dean Cullison, offensive line football coach at UF was at Malone when that decision was made and asked him about it during the question-and-answer session.
“I’m picturing as if it was yesterday, a room that you and I probably shared at about six o’clock in the morning. On February 6 or so,” King said. “You should know that was the most difficult decision I have ever made. The reason it was so difficult wasn’t the data. The data was clear. Every decision has implications. The implications for that decision were the 75 young men that I spoke with after I spoke with you and your colleagues in that room. Every decision has implications.”
At Eastern University, he held several leadership positions during his 20-year tenure, including provost, executive dean, and vice president. King has contributed nationally to higher education through leadership roles in the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio and the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
Throughout his presentation King focused on three characteristics: market, institutional, and individual.
To describe the market he included, “the demographic cliff, the increasing cost of delivering our programs and services, and the public’s perception of our value proposition.”
He went on to describe the opportunities those issues present.
“They include diversification of program offerings and revenue streams, leveraging technology to develop new program delivery modalities, engage new student profiles, and achieve operational efficiencies,” King said. “And thirdly, exploration of a map strategy. That is as you know merger acquisition and partnerships as a strategy for growth.”
“There will undoubtedly be challenges and opportunities that we cannot predict or in some cases even imagine in the next decade,” King said. “For example, what challenges and opportunities will AI present in the next 18 months, let alone the next 10 years? And what will the next decade’s pandemic be that the last decade gave us?”
King emphasized that adaptive change is different from making small, incremental adjustments. He explained that while incremental changes can solve short-term problems, bold structural decisions are needed for long-term success.
“As each of you is aware, the marketplace that we inhabit is, and I believe will remain, what one author calls flux and transformation,” King said. “We cannot leave it to the collective wisdom of our sector, independent higher education, to respond. The University of Findlay must respond with vigor and with scale while also preserving the integrity and unique character of her mission, core values, and Christian formation.”
King suggested that institutional characteristics follow individual characteristics. He said those characteristics are innovation, creativity, imagination, collaboration, respect, civility, communication, grace, and empathy.
“One of the things that Winnie (his wife) and I have talked about in these last six or eight months is that we knew that Ursuline was going to be two years.” King said. “So as a person of faith, it’s been very, very simple. ‘Okay Lord, you’ve taught us a ton. You have privileged us with experiences, a reservoir of experiences. What do you want to do with us? And so that’s a question of alignment, right? Where does our sense of our own giftedness and experience align with where an institutional moment and what that institution may be dealing with in the coming years?”
