For  many,  there's  that one  or  two  teachers  who come  along  and  leave  an  indelible  mark, a  vivid  memory,  an  impression  of  how  things were  or  perhaps  how  they  should  be  in  high  school, AP,  World  History,  to  be  exact. Toward  the  end  of  the  year, each  class  would  gift  our  teacher, Mr.  Garrett,  a  poster  emblematic  of the  characters  and  personalities  occupying  his  classroom. The  great  ahead  of  mine  presented  a  board  with  flying pigs  as  homage  to  Mr. Garrett's  predictions  of  Jesse  Ventura, Pro  wrestler  come  actor  come  suburban  mayor, becoming  governor  of  Minnesota  for  the  class  before  them. It  was  a  portrait  of  a  stoic  Dick  Nixon, a  common  Garrett's  Bet  Noir, emblazoned  with  the  words  love  American  style. For  my  class,  we  went  with  something  a  bit  more  highbrow, Raphael's  School  of  Athens. You  know  the  picture,  a  large  congregation  of  mostly  toga clad  men  vacillating  between rubic  locks  and  male  pattern  baldness, all  while  under  arched  marble, pontificating  to their  little  heart's  content  in  real  life. The  School  of  Athens  was commissioned  by  Pope  Julius  Second, constructed  between  the  years  1,509.15  11, and  to  this  day  sits  within the  walls  of  the  Vatican  City's  Apostolic  Palace. Raphael's  masterpiece  has  come  to symbolize  the  marriage  between art,  philosophy,  and  science. I,  the  very  essence  of  scholarship. As  for  our  rendering  at  the  center, was  Plato  adorned  by a  small  cutout  of  Mr.  Garrett's  head,  pearly  beard. And  all  around  him  were other  August  luminaries  from  antiquity, Renaissance,  each  with  their  own  little  cutout  of some  googly  eyed  high  school waning  days  of  the  second  millennium. A  D  for  me  I  got plum  real  estate  right  down  in  front  as  Hercules, an  ancient  Greek  philosopher  who's  just happily  doodling  away  on  his  piece  of  parchment. Raphael  would  use  this  particular  gradation  as  a  stand in  for  his  contemporary and  fellow  master,  Michael  Angelo. You  see  the  academy  is  old,  real  old. From  the  groves  of  Academe to  the  Stone  halls  of  Oxbridge, onto  pastoral  New  England  Colleges. Educating  America's  earliest  ministers, theologians  and  men  of  arts  and  letters. The  institution  known  as higher  education  has  had  centuries, nay  millennia  to  build  walls,  construct  tradition, and  cement  long  held  customs outside  of  organized  government. Few  systems  are  as  labyrinthian, hierarchical,  and  a  bureaucratic  as  a  large  university. Inside  like  ogres  and  on  ions  there  are  layers, fiefdoms,  closely  guarded  turf  for  the  academy. Change  and  innovation  often compete  against  the  weight  of  history. An  anvil  comprised  of  young  an  collectives, familial  rites  of  passage, aspirations,  dreams  and  defeats. But  what  if  like  shaking  an  actor  sketch, all  of  that  baggage  dissolved  into  a  crisp,  clean  canvas from  the  University  of  Minnesota,  Rochester. I'm  Amber  Klein,  and  this  is  Beyond  the  nest. Today  we  look  at  Dr.  Stephen  Lemcol, Omar's  inaugural  Chancellor,  serving from  2007  until  his  retirement  in  2017. Dr.  Lempel  had  one  of  academia's  rarest  of opportunities  starting a  public  four  year  university  from  scratch. Our  story  is  told  in  three  acts. Act  one.  Visions  or tales  from  the  research  bench.  Act  two. Ghosts  of  university  past confronting  the  specter  of  history, tradition  and  the  way  things  have  always  been. Act  three,  Tabla  Rosa. When  presented  with  a  blank  slate, where  to  begin  and  how  to  define  purpose. Stay  with  us,  won't  you act  one? Visions.  In  neuroscience, the  visual  pathway  is  the  route  by  which light  flows  from  the  eyes  to  the  brain, Resulting  in  image  and  sight, thus  facilitating  skills  such  as  reading. The  process  begins  when  visual  sensations  strike  the  eye. Once  through  to  the  lens, The  retina  transforms  light  energy  into electrical  signals  from  there  at  the  optic  chasm. Data  captured  in  one  eye  crosses  with  data captured  in  another  now  along  the  optic  track. This  combined  visual  information  is  sent  to the  lateral  G  eniculatebodies  before  making its  way  via  optic  radiations  to  the  visual  cortex. While  all  of  that  takes  a  mere  13  milliseconds, disruptions  along  the  way  can have  profound  and  lasting  effects. In  1993,  Dr.  Stephen  Lem, Cool,  along  with  colleagues from  the  University  of  Missouri, St.  Louis  School  of  Optometry, published  an  article  in the  New  England  Journal  of  Medicine. They  had  an  opportunity  to  go back  to  the  Midwest  and  that's  where  we  had, it  grew  up  in  a  school  of  optometry. It's  actually  there  where I  began  to  develop  a  more  health  focus. Because  now  all  of  a  sudden  I  was  in  the  clinic measuring  both  brain  potentials of  infants  and  doing  colors  of  kids. So  on  things  that  I  lecture  about, talk  about  the, that's  one  of  my  articles  that  I  was  most  proud  of. It  is  in  the  New  England  Journal  of  Medicine. That  was  about  the  visual  visual  processing  issues with  children  with  dyslexia. It  was  the  first  ever published  by  an  optometry  faculty  member of  the  rule  of  Journal  of  Medicine. Prior  to  these  findings, it  was  thought  that  deficiencies  in  visual  pathways were  not  responsible  for  reading  challenges  in  children. Dr.  Lemkel  and  his  colleagues  would  prove these  long  held  assumptions  outdated  for  Dr.  Lemke. This  work  was  an  interesting  turn  to  his  career. Prior  to  arriving  at  the  vast  and expansive  University  of  Missouri  System, Dr.  Lemke  had  studied and  worked  in  a  variety  of  environments, each  dedicated  to  the  pursuit  of  academic  scholarship. I  started  out  at  Miami  University  in  Oxford, Ohio  for  my  first  year.  Ran  out  of  money. Went  to  back  home  where  I could  get  a  job  and  go  to school  at  Wright  State  University. And  I  got  my  undergraduate  degree  there. It  was  a  psychology  major, and  I  wanted  to  go  to  graduate  school. And  I  was  fortunate  to  get a  fellowship  at  the  Vandervelt  University, and  that's  where  I  got  my  Phd. After  that,  I  did a  post  doctoral  fellowship  at  the  University  of  Virginia. And  in  my  background, if  I  back  then  it  was  called  physiological  psychology, but  today  you  would  call  it  neural  science. And  in  my  field, the  specialization  is  vision. In  pursuing  a  doctorate, Dr.  Lempel,  like  many  a  brogue  scholar  before  him, had  a  choice  to  make  as  graduation approached  academic  or  industry. During  my  travels,  my  journey, it  was  about  research. And  during  my  time  period, which  this  is  back  in  the  '70s, there  was  a  lot  of  doors  open for  research  faculty  members. Now  I  have  to  tell  you  that  those  doors  closed, because  I  do  remember  applying  for  100  jobs. At  the  end  of  my  post, I  got  99  rejection  letters. And  I  had  one  letter  of  acceptance or  one  job  offer  that  was  from  Brown  University. And  that's  where  I  was  there  for  six  years. Back  then,  I  don't  think  eggs  in  that  academic  basket. Dr.  Lem  Cool  would  spend six  years  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island, before  being  lured  to  the  University  of  Missouri, St.  Louis  School  of  Optometry. In  this  change,  Dr.  Lem  Cool  would  move from  the  lectern  and  the  research  bench  to  the  clinic, where  he  would  have  the  opportunity  to  sink his  hands  further  into  the  health  sciences. He  was  also  at  the  University  of  Missouri where  Dr.  Laco  would  get a  front  row  seat  to the  minutia  of  Higher  Education  Administration. I  served  as  a  chair  of the  Faculty  Senate  for two  years  at  the  University  of  Missouri  St. Bust.  End  of  that  term, the  Vice  President  for  Academic  Affairs  for the  University  of  Missouri  System invited  me  to  do  a  faculty  fellowship. Which  in  essence  was  a  way  of, it  was  like  an  administrative  internship. And  I  went  up  there and  I  was  supposed  to  be  up  there  like  23  days  a  week. So  this  was  in  Columbia,  Missouri. So  I  was  commuting  from  St.  Louis  to  Columbia. And  six  months  into  the  job, the  Vice  President  for  Academic  Affairs  is  named  the Chancellor  of  the  Columbia  Campus.  And  so. I  remember  the  current  president of  the  University  of  Missouri coming  into  my  office  and  says, I  don't  know  what  the  heck  to  call  you, but  just  keep  showing  up  for  work. And  that's  what  I  did.  And  then I  became  an  acting  Vice  President, which  I've  always  thought  was  a  funny  term  because  I  go around  Tbody  trying  to  act  like  a  Vice  President. Then  then  I  did  become  the  Vice  President. I  was  in  that  role  for  about  for  11  years. At  the  end  of  that,  there  was about  a  year  period  where  I  served as  a  interim  Chancellor at  the  University  of  Missouri,  Kansas  City. So  I'm  on  the  other  side  of  the  state. It's  there.  I  really  felt  that, I  really  like  that  administrative  role because  I  was  I  could  have a  more  direct  impact  and I  felt  I  was  flying  a  little  too  high. And  it  was  after  that  experience, that  89  month  interim  chancellor  experience, that  I  started  to  apply  for  jobs. And  that's  when  happened. Over  those  11  years,  hovering  around the  top  of  the  academic  pyramid, Dr.  Lem  would  learn  a  great  deal. He  would  also  encounter  layers,  fiefdoms, closely guarded turf act  two, ghost  of  University  Pass  at  the  University  of  Missouri. As  Dr.  Lemke  found  himself  in roles  of  ever  increasing  responsibility, he  took  note  of  those  who  he  encountered. Fellow  administrators  and  system  leaders, not  only  his  contemporaries, but  folks  who  had  come  before  him  as  well. He  observed  their  approach  to  work, how  they  navigated  challenges  and  disruptions, Paying  particular  attention  to the  manner  in  which  they  led. Looking  back,  Dr.  Leko  writes  in  his  2020  book, Campus  With  Purpose,  I  found myself  sorting  leaders  into  two  broad  categories. The  first  group,  I  referred  to  as custodial  leaders  who  wanted  to  maintain  status  quo. They  focused  their  efforts  on operating  cleanly  and  efficiently. They  believed  that the  current  challenges  were  transitory. The  custodial  leaders  tended  to  tactically  tinker  around institutional  margins  while  waiting  for more  favorable  and  better  fiscal  times  to  return. My  second  category  was  change  leaders, who  believed  that  institutional  transformation was  necessary  to  adapt  to  the  changing  future. They  focused  their  efforts  on  change  management. I  also  observed  that  the  life  of  a  change  leader  was  more difficult  after  more  than  a  decade in  various  leadership  roles at  the  University  of  Missouri, including  system  Senior  Vice  President for  Academic  Affairs. Dr.  Lem  Cool  took  a  flyer on  a  Corky  Little  school  up  north. From  what  he  knew,  this  newly  minted  campus  of the  University  of  Minnesota  was looking  for  its  inaugural  chancellor. Following  successful  and  decades  long  push  to fully  incorporate  the  UO  M  in  the  community  of  Rochester, the  next  step  was  building  a  campus  from  scratch. This  highly  unique  set  of  circumstances  presented, Dr.  Lem  Cool  then  looking  for an  opportunity  to  enact a  meaningful  change  within  higher  education. A  testing  ground  for a  new  and  innovative  approach  in  campus  with  purpose. Dr.  Lemuel  writes  of  his  colleagues reaction  to  the  possibility  of  him  becoming  chancellor. They  believe  that  launching  a  new  campus enabled  the  leader  to  create  change  without all  the  emotional  and  operational transaction  costs  associated  with undoing  things  and  starting  new  things  that  they experienced  at  their  established  institutions. In  accepting  the  role  with  UMR, Dr.  Lemuel  would  not  only  have a  chance  to  demonstrate  his  brand  of  leadership, but  confront  various  specters and  apparitions  lurking  across the  hallowed  halls  of  Academe  Remnants left  over  from  decades, centuries  and  millennia  dedicated to  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  and  scholarship. Traditions  are  built  up  over  time. Long  established  customs,  schools  of  thought, and  of  course,  departmental  policy. Dr.  Lem  Cool  writes, managing  change  even  for a  nascent  campus  is a  battle  with  the  ghost  of  university  past. I  did  not  want  to  instinctively  deploy existing  organizational  structures  or  common  practices, but  be  open  to  examine the  best  ways  to  execute  the  campus  purpose. The  best  approach  may  or  may  not  be  the  prevailing  habit, common  practice,  or an  existing  structure  of  higher  education. My  fear  was  that  if  I  wasn't  diligent, the  ghost  of  university  past  would  push the  campus  toward  being  a  franchise and  divert  it  from  its  purpose. For  Dr.  Lem  Pool  becoming the  inaugural  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Minnesota, Rochester  would  cap  a  long  and  dedicated  career in  academia  and  afford  him  the  opportunity  to  explore new  paradigms  while  pushing  back old  phantasmsI fully  appreciate  it. I  no  longer  had  to  manage  change  because I  was  always  doing  that  and  I  would  always  be  doing  that. If  I  want  to  establish  institution  here, I  thought  I  could  create  change. I  would  have  more  of  a  blank  slate and  at  the  end  of  the  day. That's  what  really  attracted  me  to come  to  University  of  Minnesota, Rochester  in  today's  final  act,  Tabora. Straddling  philosophy  and  epistemology. Tabora,  or  the  concept  of  a  blank  slate, dates  back  to  Aristotle, who  wrote  of  the  mind  as  an  unscribed  tablet, piggybacking  on  the  old  edition. The  Stoics  viewed  the  soul  as a  sheet  of  paper  awaiting  the  pen. And  a  few  years  after  that, Englishman  John  Locke  would  add  to the  discourse  with  the  idea  that  at  birth, the  mind  is  an  empty  sheet,  eager  for  experience. For  Dr.  Lemke,  his  experience, mixed  with  a  quirky  opportunity, met  the  perfect  canvas. They  wanted  it  to  be  distinctive,  something  special. The  second  one  was  they  wanted  it  to  be  world  class. Gosh,  I  used  to  ask, what  did  it  mean  by  rural  class? We  had  in  the  community  has  mail  plank  and  IBM. These  are  Or  class  institutions. I  know  that's  an  aspiration, but  the  point  is  that  they wanted  that  canvas  to  be  distinctive  and recognized  widely  and  favorably  for  what  It then  the  third  one  that  you  need  to  add  value. You  need  to  add  value  to  the  community. You  need  to  add  value  to the  city  you  need  to  add  value  to. There  were  other  high  and  providers  in  Rochester. And  how  do  we  both  be  distinctive  and  how  to  add  value? Being  distinctive,  class  and  how  to  add  value? Then  you  answer  the  question, how  do  you  add  value  to  whom? I  said  it  was  University  of  Minnesota was  making  a  commitment. And  what  did  University  of  Minnesota? Well,  they  have  a  lot,  I  mean, as  a  large  France  campus, but  what  we  could  add  was real  value  in  student  learning  research. And  commit  as  a  campus  to  do  student  learning  research. Then  the  second  was,  of  course, the  City  of  Rochester  needed  a  healthcare  workforce. We  decided  to  be  real  focused  and  distinctive. And  that  the  distinctiveness is  that  we  were  undergraduate  health  camp, we  built  everything  around  that. The  cornerstone  to  Mars  distinct  foundation is  its  approach  to  academics  from  the  get  go. Now  Chancellor  Lemool  envisioned something  much  different  than  what  he  had encountered  along  his  journey  with the  creation  of  the  Center  for  Learning  Innovation. I  just  didn't  think  you  could  serve students  well  by  proliferating  degree  programs. Because  as  soon  as  you  create  one, by  the  time  they  get  finished  with  it, there's  another  degree  that's  really more  relevant  then  what  I  saw. I  was  a  big  believer  in printing  networks  around  a  valued  proposition. And  I  didn't  want  there  to  be  competition for  resources  and  I  wanted  to  debate, but  I  wanted  around  the  right  conversation. If  we  could  not  have  departments  per  se  like an  English  department  or  biology  department  and  so  on, we  could  have  one  unit  that  was  truly  interdisciplinary. Who  could  bring  these  diverse  viewpoints  around  that. One  value  proposition,  how  do  we  best  promote  student learning  development  and  prepare  them for  life  and  health  related  careers? Then  let's  build  a  structure  that  supports  that. So  that's  what  started the  Center  for  Learning  Innovation. I  know  it  was  hard  on  the  faculty. A  biologist  and  philosopher is  trained  to  think  differently. They  have  different  cultural  backgrounds more  and  they're  going  to  interact  with. I'm  so  proud  of, at  the  time  I  was  there,  the  UMR  faculty, how  they  navigated  through  all  that, and  the  richness  of  that  teamwork,  that  diverse  debate. I  really  created  the  rich  model that  the  learning  model  that  we  have a  UMR  with  the  Center  for  Learning  Innovation, or  a  CLI,  as  the  focal  point  of a  UMR  student's  academic  experience. The  next  stroke  of  the  brush  was creating  a  guide  who  could  shepherd  their  growth, scholastic  discovery,  and  professional  aspirations. This  is  something  where  UMR  was  very  intentional. We  talked  earlier  about  the  three  R's, and  I've  always  said  the  most critical  are  the  rigor,  relevance. And  the  third  R  is  the  most critical  of  the  relationships, but  you  have  to  be  very  intentional  about  that. How  about  a  pushback  in  the  early  days  in  terms  of putting  together  the  students  success  coach  model? Because  what  other  institutions do  is  they  really  have  what  I  call  academic  advisors, whose  goal  really  is  to  help  students sort  courses  and  pick  the  course  for  next  year. The  kind  of  stuff  that  I  think  is  so  critical, and  I  used  to  call  it  becoming  of our  students  for  those  relationships. And  I  call  them  becoming  relationship  between the  student  success  coach  and  that  student  so  they can  grow  That  conversation  that  they  have their  first  year  is  going  to  be  different from  the  conversation  that  they  have  their  fourth  year. But  it's  important  that  that  relationship  is established  over  all  those  four  years  and the  student  success  coaches  have  to  have the  time  to  have  those  interactions  with  students. You  can't  do  this  if  you  have 300  students  to  one  student  success  coach. So  we  were  intentional  about  that. We  had  a  lot  of  pushback  that remember,  we  were  inefficient. I  remember  them  saying  that  I  said,  no, this  is  an  investment  in student  success  and  I  just  think  that's  important  to  us. Pushback  notwithstanding, alongside  this  new  approach  to student  advisement  was  a  novel  twist  on the  long  dreaded  faculty  office  hours  just asked  was  around  this  principle  of relationships  and  how  do  we  create  whose  relationship? Faculty  remove  the  barriers. As  I  read  about  the  book, I've  noticed  this  in  other  places  too. That  students  think  that  if  you  have  to  go  to  a  just  ask, they  thought  of  it  as  a  tutoring  center and  you  don't  go  there  unless  you're  struggling. Didn't  want  to  tell  everybody  they're  struggling. Smart  students,  I'm  a  smart  student. We  tried  to  break  through  all  of  that  by just  creating  a  space  that  was  just  easy. It  was  just  a  place  to  hang  out. Faculty  and  students  are  just  hanging  out  together, talking  about  stuff  that's  going  on  in  the  class. Tying  it  all  together  like  a  well  worn  rug  was a  senior  year  project  aimed  at  not just  measuring  a  student's  acquired  skills  and  knowledge, but  how  they  evolved  over  the  course  of  their  time  at UMR  and  reflections  on  what they  learned  about  themselves  along  the  way. My  strong  belief  is that  learning  is  about  knowing  and  becoming. And  we've  got  to  do  both a  and  we've  got  to  support  it  throughout the  curriculum  in  terms  of knowledge  base  and  understanding  about  health  sciences, biology  and  Chemistry  and  physics  and  math  and  all  that. But  it's  also  about  Tom  becoming is  where  some  of  those  foundational  skills  is  where  we talked  about  intercultural  competency is  where  we  talked  about  tolerance  of  ambiguity. We  talked  about  those  things  are  going  to be  as  important  as  any  other  knowledge. So  we've  got  to  support  folks. We  wanted  a  structure  in  the  capstone that  would  help  promote  the  development  of  all. For  instance,  having  the  students have  to  even  write  a  proposal  and  put their  own  learning  experience  together for  the  capstone  and  have  it  reviewed  and  criticized. And  then  they  have  to  be  edit  it. They're  having  to  take  ownership  of  the  learning. That's  one  of  the  most  important  foundational  skills that  will  support  them  as  they  go  forward. Right,  The  other  reason  that  we put  the  capstone  together  is  because  I  didn't, the  world  is  changing  so rapidly  and  I  used  the  expression  of  the  book, exponential  times  that  there's  no  way  we can  predict  is  difficult  to predict  that  this  is  specific  knowledge  that  you need  today  because  tomorrow  it's  going  to  be  different. So  you  have  to  have  the  flexibility, adaptability,  curriculum. The  students  then  could  customize their  own  learning  exchange over  a  ten  year  period  of  time. Chancellor  Lemke  would  initiate many  of  what  are  referred  to  as high  impact  practices  aimed  at  delivering a  more  equitable  and holistic  approach  to  higher  education. These  innovative  endeavors  would  lay the  groundwork  for  MRs  continued  growth  and  expansion. However,  in  2017, Chancellor  Lemke  announced  his  retirement. I  thought  good  about  reading  the  campus. I've  stated  this  in  other  venues. It  was  critical  that  we  had the  right  leadership  leadership  transition. Chancellor  Carroll  has  done  that. I  was  a  big,  big  supporter  of  her  getting that  leadership  role  and  I  did  everything I  possibly  could  to  see  that  happen. I  know  Chancellor  embodied this  purpose  as  well  as  anyone. I  feel  really  good  about  that  in  retirement. Chancellor  Emeritus  Lem  Cool  has  written  about his  experiences  leading the  University  of  Minnesota  Rochester  in  his  book, Campus  with  Purpose  Hits  the  links  and spend  quality  time  with  friends  and  family. I  visited  this  past  summer  and  it's  spot  like  home. I  do  miss  the  faculty  staff  students, but  the  golf  course  is  nice  too. Yeah,  obviously  it's  this  great  vicinity  and I  spent  a  lot  of  time together  and  chase  grandkids  and  so  on. And  there  was  that  time  in  my  life  to  do that  in  between  swings  and puts  Chancellor  emerges  limo  has  had  quite  a  bit  of  time to  do  some  reflecting  of  his own  and  here's  what  he  has  to  say. I  tell  others  if  I  knew  then what  I  know  now  I  was  sounded  really  smart  Back  then, it  was  a  learning  experience  for  all  of  us. What  I  have  learned, and  I  mentioned  this  earlier, is  that,  yeah,  ideas  are  easy. I  knew  how  to  do  this  stuff  or  know  how  to  do  it, what  should  be  done, We  shouldn't  be  doing  this  on  the  student  here,  whatever. But  to  implement  those  ideas  was  really  hard. I  put  the  faculty  staff  in  some  really  tough  situations. Here  it  is,  go  do  it. And  then  they  all,  how  do  we  do  it? Because  they're  the  ones  that  had  to  figure  it out  is  where  it  is  today, because  of  the  faculty  and  because  of  the  students. Thank  you  for  listening  to  be  on the  Nest  Mars  Alumni  Podcast. Join  us  teeth  as  we pry  open  the  books  and  take  a  peek  at  what makes  UMR  such  a  unique and  innovative  academic  experience. Beyond  the  nest  is  produced  by  UMR  Alumni  Relations, written  and  narrated  by Marco  Lance  and  edited  by  Dante  Fumo. Until  next  time,  I'm  Amber  Klein.