Wesley President to Retire Next Year

By Kristen Griffith (Whetstone staff writer)

William N. Johnston announced he will retire as president of Wesley College after the 2014-2015 school year, having served seven years here and 42 years in education at five other colleges.

Johnston emailed faculty and staff on Aug. 25 with the news.

“Your next President will join you and help share Wesley’s ensuing chapters as an important educational leader in the region and beyond,” Johnston said in the email. “In the meantime I look forward to working with you throughout the upcoming academic year.”

The Board of Trustees going already have begun a search and said it will announce a new president by early next year.

“I think it would be safe to say that [The Board of Trustees] are in the extremely early stages of the replacement process,” said Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Mike Drass.

Drass said he is sad to see his friend go, but happy he and his wife Susan get to enjoy retirement.

“He has supported all of the athletes, whether it be seeing him and Susan at an athletics event, or just Dr. Johnston stopping by my office at 9 o’clock at night to say ‘Hello’ and wish us luck,” he said. “These things really have meant a lot to me personally and to all the coaches at Wesley.”

Junior Bryheim Muse said he was not very affected by Johnston leaving.

“I never really knew him personally, but I see him around campus and he gives me a handshake,” Muse said. “He always has a smile on his face.”

Muse also said Johnston once assumed something about him.

“He thought I was on the football team, but I am not.”

Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost Dr. Patricia Dwyer said Johnston motivated his employees.

“I completely appreciate the supporting role he has played in what I have been trying to do in academic affairs,” she said.

Dwyer has been working with Johnston since she started working at Wesley six years ago. Two years ago, Johnston promoted her to the provost position.

Senior Frederic Sottnick, president of the Student Government Association, said he liked working with Johnston.

“He has helped me out a lot,” he said. “I have worked with him throughout the entire summer.”

Dr. Jeffrey Mask, professor of Religion, Philosophy, and American Studies, said Johnston’s support helped him create the major, Philosophy and Religion.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I started working here,” he said.

Dwyer said Johnston developed a good relationship with the community by having gatherings at his home and participating in community fundraisers.

Drass said the Health Sciences Building and the plazas will be the first two things people think of when remembering Johnston.

But his greatest accomplishment, Drass said, is the development of giving.

“We still have a long way to go but alumni and gift giving has improved every year under his direction,” Drass said.

Mask said Johnston’s greatest accomplishment was bringing the college together after the previous president, Scott Miller, had to leave after he was accused of six instances of plagiarism.

“He got us through a kind of healing process,” Mask said. “He might point to those things [The Health Sciences Building and the plazas] as his biggest accomplishment, but I think the healing after Scott Miller was the bigger thing.”

Dwyer said it took a lot of work to get the plazas done.

“President Johnston worked tirelessly with the neighbors, the city council, and with anybody who was going to be affected by it,” Dwyer said.

Dwyer said Johnston showed a lot of persistence in obtaining the Health-Sciences Building.

“We got the building at no cost, because it was being vacated by the federal government but there were a lot of hoops to go through in order to be able to get that,” she said. “He needed a lot of support from the community and I think because of his outreach to the community he was able to get that for Wesley.”

Dwyer said she considers Johnston a friend.

“We have a very strong personal and professional relationship,’ she said.

Mask said he would like to consider Johnston a friend but does not know if it is mutual. But he feels they had a cordial relationship.

“Dr. Johnston is my third president here at Wesley, and I think all three of those men have felt that it was not appropriate to have friends among the faculty just because of the nature of the job,” he said.

Mask said out of the three presidents he has worked with, Johnston was the best. But, he said, that’s not a compliment.

“I think what all three of those presidents have lacked is a deep understanding of what is at the heart of a college,” Mask said. “None of those presidents have been about academics. None of those presidents have had teaching experience. And I think there has been a lot of pressure from various sources to treat college more and more as a business.”

Mask said he knows someone has to pay attention to the money, but thinks if the academic part is taken care of, then everything else will take care of itself.

“That would be my complaint to every president we had,” he said. “They don’t really understand sufficiently what it is we do.”

Mask thinks Johnston sometimes listened to the wrong people and was more cautions then he would have liked, but he would rather him be more cautious then reckless.

Dwyer said she has high hopes for the future.

“President Johnston really leveraged his strengths, but he also recognizes that whoever the next person is will bring new talent and new ideas for Wesley that maybe he had not thought of,” she said.

Mask said that no matter who comes, the College will remain healthy.

“Dr. Johnston was the 16th president of the college and I imagine Wesley will have 16 more.”