The Bruess Era Begins

This past weekend, new president Brian Bruess — the first joint president in CSB+SJU’s history — was lost. His meeting with alumni, which he originally thought was in upper Gorecki, was actually in the HAB or the HCC, and he wasn’t sure which.

After walking around for a bit, he ran into an alum attending the meeting and eventually found his way. The adventure reflected a new beginning for Bruess and the ongoing process of gaining familiarity with the schools.

“I’m a first-year, too,” Bruess laughed after recounting the story.

Bruess officially began his tenure on July 1, starting his time at CSB+SJU along with his wife, Carol Bruess. Carol is a well-known researcher of contemporary family issues, author of four books and professor of communication. For both, one goal in these first few months is to get to know as many people as possible in the CSB+SJU community.

“I’ve been a professor my entire career, so I was always focused on the flourishing of the whole experience,” Carol said. “I’m already seeing opportunities, and part of this early sort of time is to observe and listen.”

They have been actively pursuing this goal, attending as many events as possible and inviting different campus groups to their home, the Renner House, located by the CSB athletics facility.

Carol stopped by orientation activities with George, their 90-pound Bernedoodle, as Brian was dunked in a dunk tank. Brian visited multiple booths at the Involvement Fair and attended a Johnnie Development Institute event before the school year started.Both also participated in SJU Faith’s kickoff mass at Clemens Field.

“I hope [President Bruess] continues to show up at things and get to know people more and grow relationships with students, because I don’t think I would have met him otherwise,” said Courtney Huiras, a member of SJU Faith who helped put on the kickoff mass.

To Brian and Carol, attending student activities and meeting community members is essential for building relationships and talking about the schools to others. Brian compared the position of President to a mirror, reflecting the schools’ culture to donors and external stakeholders.

“We as humans all want the same thing – to feel valued,” Carol said. “One of my big mantras is a quote from Bill Milliken—‘programs don’t change people, relationships do.’”

Carol isn’t planning on teaching at CSB+SJU just yet, as she is in the process of writing two books and wants to spend time cultivating relationships with the community. However, she does plan to guest lecture in some courses on top of attending events.

“One of both of our goals is to take some time to really understand what this community needs, so I’m trying to experience as much as I can and get to know as many people as I can and not too quickly jump in,” Carol said.

Brian faces some challenges early. One of the most daunting is enrollment, which continues to decline, reflecting a nationwide downward trend for private liberal arts colleges.

According to Brian, CSB+SJU has employed a narrow, top of funnel approach to recruiting students in the past—focusing on a lower number of applications with a higher yield. This means the schools aimed to pull a high percentage of enrollees out of a smaller pool of applicants. Now, Brian hopes to employ a broader approach, aiming for more, still high quality, applicants.

“We’re investing tremendously right now in the marketing and communication of recruitment strategies, brand awareness, brand recognition and recruitment marketing strategies to get the word out to more students and create a more sophisticated top of funnel strategy,” Brian said.

Despite the decrease in enrollment, Brian found hope in the rising retention rates. CSB’s first-year retention rate went from 85% to 88.9% last year, and SJU’s went from 85.3% to 85.6%. Additionally, the schools are actively hiring for the Senior Diversity Officer and Chief Operating Officer positions. Brian expects to have both searches concluded by the end of this semester, with the people fulfilling the roles ready to start by second semester. The consolidation to one president has also helped the schools better work together and reduce the number of repetitive meetings for administrators.

“We’re starting to align our datasets so that we can either do a comparative analysis, or we can look at it together as a whole, not just to each other, but really to the greater market out there,” said Mary Geller, Associate Provost for Student Success.

Geller believes that one of Brian’s biggest challenges will be balancing the two unique institutions’ needs. She also said another challenge will be managing what was previously two people’s jobs. However, she is hopeful that he will succeed.

“I couldn’t think of anybody better suited for this first kind of inaugural president role than Brian,” Geller said.

Much of this will come with time, as the Bruess’s continue to grow more familiar with the community.

“We’re using this summer and fall as kind of a readiness phase—really listening to different constituents, students, faculty, staff, trustees and community members and really trying to discern what is the will and desire of these two places,” Brian said.