No Endings, Just New Beginnings:
Au Revoir to a President

Au Revoir

By Vickie S. Kirby

Amidst the pride, happiness, and well wishes for graduates of Austin College during Commencement 2017, a bittersweet thread also ran through the weekend for alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends of the College. The end of the spring term signaled the upcoming departure of President Marjorie Hass, who would leave Austin College to take on the presidency at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, as of July 1.

In her eight years as the 15th president of Austin College, Dr. Hass led the College to numerous momentous milestones, with campus advances in environmental sustainability, creation or expansion of several academic and co-curricular programs, and increases in applications and enrollment, as well as sustained and significant fundraising achievements. She led the College to new levels of diversity and access and guided the community through highs and lows. The philosopher in her could be relied upon for words of wisdom in times of uncertainty and expressions of confidence in embarking on new endeavors.

The presidency of Dr. Hass also included a number of campus renovations and upgrades, as well as the addition of The Flats at Brockett Court–modern housing for junior-level students, and the state-of-the-art IDEA Center, with offices, labs, and classrooms for departments in the Sciences Division.

Another construction project of the Hass era not only provided new and appealing housing for Austin College seniors but also transformed the northern edge of campus along Grand Avenue. The 24 colorful cottages of The Village on Grand provide neighborhood-style housing—in single, duplex, and triplex units—and each unit contains a living area, full kitchen, washer and dryer, four bedrooms, and four bathrooms.

At the May Board of Trustees meeting during Commencement, trustees passed a resolution that gives the Grand Avenue cottages a new name: The Dr. Marjorie Hass Village on Grand. The resolution stated that her name should “remain an enduring element of the campus landscape” in appreciation of the “leadership and community spirit of President Hass and her lasting mark upon the College’s history and future.” Board chair David Corrigan ’81 announced the naming at an evening event designed as a farewell to President Hass from the Board of Trustees and special guests.

Though Dr. Hass acknowledged she was completely shocked by the announcement, she is seldom one to be caught speechless, and her usual eloquence returned quickly. “This gift of the board to commemorate the work we did in creating The Village absolutely overwhelms me,” Dr. Hass said. “I am so touched, and I am so moved. I had already been overwhelmed tonight by this event and your willingness to spend a few hours thinking with me about what this place has meant to me and what we have accomplished together. To know that this legacy will be here makes me happy beyond belief.”

Commenting that she had been 30 years old before she lived in an apartment as nice as those in The Village, Dr. Hass joked that perhaps she could reserve one for her retirement or return visits to campus. Her words quickly became more thoughtful:

“Serving as president of Austin College has truly been the honor of a lifetime. As you know, I will go on to serve in other leadership capacities, and they will be meaningful and moving but there will be nothing as important to me as our work here. You took a tremendous risk in hiring me. I had never been a president; I had never lived in Texas. You looked at us, and we looked at you, and we said, ‘let’s make a match.’ In our tradition there’s a saying that God spent the first six days of creation building the world; on the seventh day He rested; and on the eighth day, God made matches, marriages. I absolutely believe God had a hand in making this match between me and Austin College. You are in my thoughts and prayers eternally … as I’ve said, I am always a ’Roo.”

Though she said she could not thank all of those gathered, she did offer her thanks to the “three best board chairs a president could ever have” (Robert Johnson ’53, Todd Williams ’82, and Corrigan) and the current and past members of the Senior Leadership Team. “Almost nothing that we achieve is the work of any one hand,” she said. “We do it together and collectively. I see so many of you who have devoted your life to Austin College, who made this the place where you work, the place where you have chosen to have that place, as they say, where your talents meet the world’s hunger. The world is blessed because you have blessed Austin College. Thank you all for sharing this special evening with me.”

Dr. Larry Hass, husband of the president, also was on hand with sincere thanks. “My heart is so full tonight,” he said. “These past months, I have been so thoughtful of our time here and our work together. … I will never forget the day Marjorie and I came to Austin College and to North Texas for her interview. We are adventurers, but we had never been to Texas. At the end of that day, we were totally smitten. We were completely taken, and I want to thank you for saying ‘yes’ to us and helping us make this match. It has been a tremendous honor to serve the College in the capacity that I have.”

Much of the evening was about celebrating the milestones and accomplishments under the leadership of President Hass. She also looked to the future: “I’m thinking of what we have done over the past eight years,” she said. “And, now, we are all going to take a deep breath, and we will turn to the next eight years, the next 18 years … the next 108 years of Austin College. I’ve been the 15th president [of Austin College]; we’re blessed to have the 14th president (Dr. Oscar Page) in the room. I cannot wait to meet the 16th president of Austin College. We are going to celebrate that new presidency, and we are going to look forward to an incredibly bright future for Austin College. You can count on Larry and me to be a part of that. We will be here to celebrate all the accomplishments and all the dreams that the College has before it. Thank you all.”

The weekend’s activities included other honors and recognitions for the president, including Alumni Board resolutions that named Larry and Marjorie Hass as Honorary Alumni of Austin College’s Class of 2017. “Always a ’Roo.”

Under the Leadership of President Marjorie Hass

Campus Footprint Expansion and Transformation

IDEA Center, a state-of-the art science center for learning and research
The Village and The Flats—new, innovative student housing
Abell Library upgrades including the Learning Commons and Geographic Information System laboratory
Hopkins Center renovation and digital upgrade
Forster Art Complex landscaping

Diversity, Safety, and Inclusion

Interfaith relationship focus among students, campus, and community
Task Force on Inclusion and Diversity
16% minority faculty; up from 8% in 2010
48% minority student body; 53% of the class of 2020 is non-white
Responsible Education Advocacy Coordination and Training (REACT) program

Experiential Programming and Co-Curricular Opportunities

STEM Teaching and Research Leadership (STAR) program
Center for Community and Regional Development
Kenneth W. Street Courtroom for pre-law advocacy and mock trial
Retail Executive-in-Residence program
Heightened alumni engagement and alumni programming
Growth from 12 to 18 intercollegiate athletics programs

Academic Programming

10 new majors and 10 new minors
Gateways Clear Path to Graduate School
Digital Humanities and Pedagogy
Austin College Scholarship Conference (ACSC)
The Center for Research, Experience, Artistic, and Transformative Education (CREATE)
Scarbrough Center for Writing