Cantwell: a goal oriented leader
Utah State University President, Elizabeth Cantwell, talks with people at the meet and greet held for her on Tuesday afternoon.
The Utah State University Staff Employee Association, or SEA, held a meet-and-greet reception to celebrate the university’s new president, Elizabeth R. Cantwell, on Aug. 29. The reception was held at the David B. Haight Alumni House and was open to staff and student employees from all around campus.
Those in attendance could meet and speak with Cantwell, as well as ask her questions in a Q&A session.
Cantwell greeted people as they entered the venue, asking them their names and their position at the university.
Partway through the event, Alison Fabricius, the SEA president, introduced Cantwell to the crowd.
“I look forward to welcoming her at Utah State as I’ve watched her in various meetings and interacting with students at the Luminary and in different groups these last few weeks. I’m so excited about her enthusiasm, her passion and her excitement to be here,” Fabricius said.
Before taking questions, Cantwell spoke to the crowd and shared three questions that she asks of those she meets at USU in order to receive feedback on what she can do as the president.
“What do you think our greatest opportunities are?” Cantwell said. “What do you think are the things that have the highest likelihood of causing us real harm? And what do you think I need to hear about that you don’t think anyone else has the courage to tell me?”
One thing Cantwell continued to emphasize as she spoke was that universities are a unique type of organization that operate in ways different from other organizations. Because of this, university leaders have to think differently and do things differently than other organizations in order to make changes and improve.
During the Q&A, question topics included stipends for student leaders, housing for students and retaining qualified staff despite a depression in wages.
USU sustainability program manager Caitlin McLennan asked Cantwell about her thoughts on sustainability on campus.
“Sustainability is a huge concept,” McLennan said. “Everyone has their own definition, and I’m wondering if you’d like to share yours with us and talk to us a little bit about how you see sustainability fitting into your presidential priorities.”
In response, Cantwell said as a university, it is important to be very complex and thoughtful on what actions will be taken because not every problem can be solved immediately.
“We have to have a policy that comes along with technical understanding that comes along with social and behavioral understanding,” Cantwell said. “And we’re just not there. That doesn’t mean we put our head down and disappear. But I do encourage at least one thing is that we think about where we’re going to partner so that our students get to participate in the act of partnering around the sustainability problem in the world, because that is huge.”
One student who asked a question during this session was Regan Tracy, the current Miss USU and a mechanical engineering student with an emphasis in aerospace. She asked Cantwell about a problem with the retention of female and minority students in STEM programs at USU and wanted to know if the president had any active plans or ideas for increasing retention of these students.
“I really liked her idea of trying new things and then seeing how it works,” Tracy said. “Particularly what she said about if it doesn’t work, it wasn’t a failure. We just decided, ‘OK, we just narrowed it down to what we can do to solve the problem,’ and so I’m very satisfied with her answer of looking to the future with hope.”
Tracy said she sees Cantwell as a powerhouse of a person and someone who has great leadership skills. She also loves that Cantwell is not afraid to tell it how it is and doesn’t sugarcoat anything.
“I will tell you, the role of the president is: You tell me, and I figure out whether or not I can actually do it, and then I do it,” Cantwell said.