Q&A with incoming President Bruess

Brian Bruess was announced as the first joint president of CSB/SJU on March 14. He has served as the president of his alma mater, St. Norbert College, in De Pere, Wis., since 2017. Before that, he worked for 22 years in a variety of roles including executive vice president and chief operating officer at St. Catherine University, a women’s college in St. Paul.

*Editor’s Note: This transcript is from The Record’s interview with Bruess on March 15. His responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.*

**Tell me about yourself.**

I grew up in southern Wisconsin. I’m the proud, proud, proud brother of three sisters, and we were all within five years of each other, so [we’re] a really close family. Both my parents are educators, so that’s kind of how I got my love of education.

I then came to St. Norbert, where I am right now, as a student, and this is where my wife, Carol, and I met each other. I spent over 20 years [at St. Catherine University] in various roles from dean of students all the way to executive vice president and chief operating officer. That was a really formative time for me professionally, because the Sisters of St. Joseph and the women’s college environment really taught me a lot.

Then, in 2017 I got the great blessing to come to my alma mater to be the president, and it’s been a real joy to come back to the place that shaped you so much and to help lead it.

**Why CSB/SJU? How did you hear about the position?**

I’ve known about St. Ben’s and St. John’s for 30 years, and I’ve been studying them with admiration for 25-27 of those 30 years. The reputation of the two institutions is the first thing. I just know so much about them and hold them in such high regard.

The wisdom and values of the Benedictines is also a really big deal to me. It’s a 1500-year-old tradition, but it’s so poignant and relevant and contemporary when you think about the needs of the world today, so that would be a big, big piece.

I would say the single biggest reason that I applied was because of my deep respect…for women’s education and men’s education, and it cannot be overstated how significant that was in my decision to apply. St. Ben’s and St. John’s represent one of the most compelling, unique contributions to American education, period.

The final thing that I’d say is it’s inspiring what the Benedictine monks and sisters have passed off to the two institutions. They want the two to remain distinctive, in their own right. They want to strengthen the integration.

The task is exciting, because it’s a tremendous organizational challenge to be more unified in integration, while at the same time investing incredible amounts of time and resources into the quality of the student experience. That, to me, is probably, at the heart of it, the most important part of the agenda going forward.

**What are some of your specific goals coming in? What are your goals looking forward to the future of the stronger integration of the two schools?**

Let me just offer a couple thoughts, and then I’ll try and get the specifics. One is that when we look out into the world, there’s a lot of struggle and a lot of suffering.

Then, I think of what we have here at St. Ben’s and St. John’s, two remarkable institutions asking a lot of itself by strong integration, but so poised in the response.

When we think about the specific things we’re going to do in the coming years at St. Ben’s and St. John’s, it must begin with the why. What we’re going to do is drive through the mission of the two places-which is Benedictine Catholic liberal arts, residential women and men’s education.

So when I think about the curriculum and cocurricular activities, what are those things that we call high impact practices that really give students a rich, differentiated experience? Study abroad. Collaborative research. Peer-based programs. Experiential learning. Academic service learning. Really good leadership development. Programs and active clubs. Organizations that are well-serviced and fun.

Finally, I want the community to understand that I [have] lots of ideas, but what’s more important is: what does the community think positions itself for its future?

The fact is the staff and students of St. Ben’s and St. John’s know best what these institutions need to be doing, so a better part of my first few months will be listening and finding out what’s important to the faculty and staff, what’s important to students.

From what I’m hearing and learning so far, the two institutions are ready to move boldly and to not be apologetic about our mission, but to be unapologetic and to find our best ideas.

Those are probably the main buckets, and then the big one I think is the question of integration. I think there’s an appropriate amount of focus and questions being asked because there’s a lot of change involved in it, but we have to remember that stronger integration is not for its own sake.

The purpose of stronger integration is to allow the two institutions to be more nimble, adaptive and responsive so that we can enhance and improve the student experience.

**St. Ben’s has only had one male president until now. How do you plan to represent and encourage women who are used to having a female president?**

That’s a great question; it’s a question worthy of asking ourselves. What I would say is that unless you’ve worked for two decades at a women’s college or you sponsor a women’s college or a graduate that’s been out for years, you probably don’t really fully appreciate the importance and the power of women’s education.

Having worked at a women’s college for 22 years, I understand the primary significance of a women’s college [and] women’s education. Until women have equal access to career mobility, to equal pay, until violence against women is eradicated, the importance of and the power of women’s education will be essential.

Those are daunting tasks, societal tasks for us to tackle, and a women’s college is a critical way to do that. Our approach needs to be expansive, systemic and comprehensive.

I recognize that I’m the [second] male president of this great women’s institution, and I take that reality very seriously and look forward to being in regular dialogue about what that means.

**CSB/SJU are working on hiring a Chief Diversity Officer. I know you’ve worked with this process at St. Norbert. Can you talk about your plan for that here?**

My plan for St. Ben’s and St. John’s will begin with what we are doing at St. Ben’s and St. John’s right now. I’ve seen some of the work that’s been happening in recent years, and I’m impressed by it. I love the fact that St. Ben’s and St. John’s has chosen DEIJ, which is diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.

One of the things that I’ve done here [at St. Norbert] that has helped us cascade our more systemic approach to DEIJ work is coming out with a really strong statement a couple years ago following the murder of George Floyd telling the institution that we were committing ourselves to be an institution that was antiracist. That pushed us into the more active justice-branded stance and really has pushed forth several main priorities.

The first one was redoubling our efforts to recruit, retain and graduate diverse students and to retain and develop diverse faculty and staff.

The second one, which is actually the most important one, is making sure that DEIJ work is integrated into the curriculum. If students do not have these constructs built into the courses and their cocurricular experience, why would we expect [them] to have systemic change in their understanding?

The third one is [centered] around our climate and always paying a particular awareness to the experience of our students, faculty and staff.

We know when someone feels welcomed, they feel valued, and when a person feels genuinely and authentically valued, their opportunity for flourishing goes up tremendously.

The fourth priority is to think not just about our own ecosystem at St. Ben’s and St. John’s, but think about Collegeville, think about St. Joseph, think about the surrounding area. If our students experience a sense of belonging on campus, but when they go off campus, they don’t, it’s a detriment to their growth and development.

A final note is that, while having a diversity officer hired is important, I refuse to let that responsibility of that role be the responsibility of that person. Systemic change requires everybody helping with diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging. One person can’t do that. We need faculty development doing that. We need student government doing this. We need everybody. I have so much passion for this work, and I think it’s one of the two or three most important agendas for us to really make sure that we’re successful with.

**Enrollment at both St. Ben’s and St. John’s is down. You’ve helped raise the enrollment at St. Norbert. Do you have plans for being able to do that at St. Ben’s and St. John’s?**

St. Ben’s and St. John’s is in a larger context of American education that’s facing a lot of headwinds. What this environment is creating is an expectation and a need for institutions to be increasingly more sophisticated in how they grow their strategy for enrollment.

It begins with creating relationships in the community, raising up the recognition of the value of St. Ben’s and St. John’s. Relationship cultivation [starts] way sooner than it used to be. We used to be able to market to seniors or juniors and do pretty well. Now we need to get into middle schools, and we have to be able to welcome students as sophomores in high school.

Students today are looking at institutions with a much more complex set of questions as they make their choice than ever before. It challenges institutions to be comprehensively excellent, and it challenges institutions to be more strategic and innovative around their financial aid.

What’s going to really matter these next few months is how well can we deliver on the more intimate interpersonal engagement and support families as they’re making these final decisions.

I will tell you that one way to really be successful in this environment is to also look for ways to diversify your strategy, diversify the enrollment. We can draw from populations of racial differences that are growing in certain parts of the country.

Then of course we have the ongoing pressures of international recruitment. Even though the Biden administration has already rolled back some of the Trump administration’s policies, it’ll take several years for the world to receive the idea of going to the United States for international education.

**What can students expect from you? What are you looking forward to most?**

[Carol and I] have had a wonderful relationship with students over my entire career. I really believe that if the president isn’t really understanding what the student experience is on the ground day-to-day, she or he can’t really represent them to the world, to donors and to businesses.

We’re going to recitals and vocal and musical performances and plays. We’re going to athletic events. We’re going to presentations of senior projects. We’re eating with them in the dining hall. We’re doing midnight breakfast around finals. We’re inviting groups of students to the house.

Carol and I have two kayaks, so we’ll be on the lakes. My favorite hobby is walleye fishing, so if there’s any students that pursue the walleye anything like I do, maybe they could teach me a couple honey holes and show me where the secret fishing spots are.

The job itself will have me traveling a lot or out raising money, but when I’m there, I’ll be very present and so will Carol. It will be a really engaging, fun experience.