TLU welcomes new interim president

    There is no doubt that as the fall semester begins TLU is in a unique position this year. There are many new faces at TLU that will lead the movement towards achieving the goals set in 2009 in the strategic plan. One of these new faces is that of Dr. Robert Vogel. Vogel arrived in Seguin on July 26 to begin his position as Texas Lutheran University's interim president. He arrives at TLU with an impressive and extensive history beginning his fourth interim president position with TLU. Vogel will be assisting in the search for TLU's next president but will also be a strong contributing force in guiding the direction of the university's future while he calls TLU home.

Q: How familiar were you with TLU prior to taking the position of interim president?
A: Oh, I am very familiar with the university. I definitely have had ties to the university before arriving here. It was my great uncle, Dr. William Kraushaar, that was president of TLU from the late 20's into the 50's. One of the men's dorm halls is named after him and TLU was also one of the colleges of our church from my childhood.

Q: What experience do you bring with you as your serve as interim president?
A: I was president of my alma mater, Wartburg University in Iowa for 18 years, 1980 through 1998. I have also served as president of three universities, two in Iowa and one in Kansas. Now we're in Texas!

Q: What's your impression of TLU in the short time that you've been here?
A: I love the people. They've been warm, kind, and very helpful. It's a little strange to try to get acquainted with the university because we haven't had students or faculty on campus for very long so I've been talking to all the people who work here. They love it here and it seems to show how much they really love the place and take care of it. There's a great sense of community and it's a very good school.

Q: What are some of the plans that you have for the University at this time?
A: The university has a strategic plan, so we've been trying to plan what can be done or should be done during the interim year and I, along with the president's cabinet, have developed an action plan. I've introduced it now to the faculty and administration. I also had a session with SGA, introducing it to them and asking them for feedback. Soon I will have a chance to talk with the staff. So we want everyone to have a chance to talk about this coming year, and in ways, the year after in the years of the new president. The focus is
to move the university ahead and knowing how to position ourselves to receive a new president and move into the future.

Q: Where do you see this university in the next five years?
A: I haven't been here long enough to have a definite opinion of it yet. There's a lot of challenge today to residential learning communities. The growth of the community colleges, the growth of the state universities, and then online education, and so I think all of us that take seriously being a residential learning community, like Texas Lutheran is, and especially to those of us special ones that believe that you can be a community of faith and a community of learning, have a challenge to continue to attract the students that we want and the students that do well here. So I feel good about where Texas Lutheran is today, but I think we have some issues we need to discuss concerning how to continue to be strong. The vision and the plan is to get larger and so ‘how do we do that?' is the question.

Q: How have you been filling your time in Seguin?
A: For the first 10 days or so I lived out on Lake Placid, I learned a lot about the water culture of Seguin, and of Texas. I'm originally from Kansas but we have retired to Colorado and the mountains. People from Colorado retire to the mountains and I believe people in
Texas escape to the water. We have been spending our time exploring Seguin and eating in restaurants, shopping in the stores and getting acquainted with what's here. My wife and I have been walking our cocker spaniel Bailey in the mornings. I know she will enjoy
saying hello to the students.

Q: Is there a motto you adopt that helps fuel your work?
A: I feel a calling to be available to our church school. There was a motto that I believed I had created but I've started to hear it now "They don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." It seems to me the challenge is not to be an outsider here but to be a bulldog and to care about the place. While I'm here, I'm a Texan and a citizen of Seguin and I'm a bulldog.

Q: Do you have any advice to our new students as we begin the new semester?
A: This is one of the few chances in life where the slate is clean. You decide who you're going to be here. It's a chance, with a clean slate, to start fresh and you don't get a chance to do that often and take advantage of that. I think seniors would tell first year students to push themselves our of their comfort zone. Some of your best experiences will be when you've decided to try something that initially you may not have been comfortable with. Those experiences got to be when you discovered things about yourself and your potential and maybe even your passion in life through that. Take some chances, try some things, and risk a little failure. Make some new discoveries. Seniors, finish with a flourish.