Eighteen months after a handful of Roman Catholic school presidents in Iowa gathered to speak about potential higher collaboration, two of these establishments—St. Ambrose College and Mount Mercy College—introduced as we speak that they’ll merge.
Below the association, which was accepted by the 2 universities’ boards final week however nonetheless requires regulatory approvals, St. Ambrose will function Mount Mercy as an unbiased establishment by means of 2026, when St. Ambrose will develop into Mount Mercy’s father or mother group and function it because the Mount Mercy Campus of St. Ambrose College.
In a collection of interviews in current months, the presidents of the 2 establishments, Amy Novak of St. Ambrose and Todd A. Olson of Mount Mercy, took nice pains to keep away from calling the alliance a merger; their most well-liked time period is “strategic mixture.”
“Now we have no intention of this sounding like some type of hostile takeover,” Novak mentioned. “This isn’t about two faculties that had been prone to shut. Whereas certainly one of us [St. Ambrose] is barely stronger, neither of us is stability sheets that look horrible. This can be a proactive effort by two sturdy establishments to see if we are able to function extra effectively, reply with extra agility and reap the benefits of our respective strengths.”
Federal tax varieties present St. Ambrose’s revenues outpacing expenditures within the 2022–23 fiscal yr ($121 million versus $113 million), with Mount Mercy working at a slight deficit ($3 million on a funds of about $55 million).
However whereas neither establishment could have been going through rapid existential risk, few school leaders can afford to not be on the lookout for methods to make sure long-term sustainability, the 2 presidents acknowledged.
“Right here at St. Ambrose, if we run the course as is, the 10-year projection will get type of dire pretty shortly,” mentioned Novak. “Now we have to be pondering creatively about its future—can we be higher, can we do one thing that will get us to stability for the lengthy haul? Most locations attempt to do little niche-y issues that don’t actually tackle the critiques of upper training—small transactional wins that transfer the needle for 30 college students. We thought, what does it appear like if we expect radically in a different way about what Catholic larger training seems like sooner or later?”
‘Not a Nice Narrative’
Together with the Northeast, Iowa and its neighbors within the Midwest are an epicenter of economic, demographic and enrollment challenges in larger training. Whereas just one different Iowa unbiased school has closed just lately—Iowa Wesleyan College final yr—Drake College is among the many quite a few Midwestern establishments which have imposed important funds cuts to attempt to avert monetary peril.
“In the event you’re dwelling in our territory, it’s not a fantastic narrative proper now,” Novak mentioned.
Novak and Olson had been amongst a barely bigger group of Iowa Catholic school presidents who met in January 2023 to discover whether or not the establishments might “flip from a aggressive to a collaborative mindset.” Whereas the gathered leaders shared concepts, most of them had been “small fixes that wouldn’t actually have sustainable long-term influence on the establishments or scholar studying,” Novak mentioned.
However she and Olson sensed a mutual “affinity” between themselves and their establishments, based mostly on similarities of their Catholic orientations (St. Ambrose is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese in Davenport, whereas Mount Mercy was based by the Sisters of Mercy in Cedar Rapids) and within the leaders’ curiosity in exploring one thing “bolder.” The 2 broke bread once more quickly after, they usually shortly folded their respective boards and management groups into the conversations.
Over the months that adopted, the 2 establishments created a set of “integration planning groups,” centered on what Olson referred to as “early adopters” who had been desirous about pondering creatively about how the 2 universities would possibly discover a new, higher manner ahead.
“We weren’t going to vary the tradition by fiat,” mentioned Olson, who famous that he did his graduate work in counseling. When folks had been invited to take part, some, he mentioned, “backed away and scowled.”
“These responses are pure; the human nature is to guard,” he mentioned. “Our strategy has been to acknowledge tentativeness, that we’re navigating new territory collectively, simply hold exploring plenty of other ways of doing this.”
The 2 establishments introduced an preliminary partnership in Could centered on creating 18 graduate pathways between the 2 of their respective cities 80 miles aside. The leaders hinted strongly that they favored a deeper collaboration however acknowledged that regulatory hurdles—together with current Biden administration tips that make the method for merging schools extra attenuated and infrequently harder—might get in the best way.
However now that their respective boards have signed off, Novak and Olson are centered on how they and their groups can capitalize on the probabilities of partnership.
“There’s undoubtedly artistic stress right here,” mentioned Olson. “Between sustaining the person histories and traditions [of the two universities] and coming collectively to create one thing new. Watching school leaders from each campuses design a brand new widespread shared governance mannequin.”
“Sure, that is as a lot about integration as about creation,” Novak interjected on a Zoom name. “The chair of the biology division could also be at one establishment, whereas the chair of enterprise could also be on the different. It’s a journey of fascinated with how we co-create.”
Optimistic Campuses
Many schools that undergo mergers have a tendency to depart their staff and college students rattled, actually because a lot has occurred behind the scenes that constituents are distrustful.
Richard Barrett, an affiliate professor of political science who represented Mount Mercy on a joint school group exploring the potential partnership, praised leaders of the 2 establishments for his or her transparency all through the method. “If there’s one clear advantage that President Olson has had for the reason that starting, it’s been honesty,” Barrett mentioned. “If he can’t rule out the unfavorable reply—that factor you’re most nervous about—he’ll say so.”
Barrett, who simply completed a stint in school governance, was amongst these introduced into the inside circle early on across the potential partnership between the 2 establishments. “We had been instructed two years in the past that our establishment was on the lookout for methods to collaborate with different small personal establishments, particularly Catholic ones.”
The upper ed headlines are full of tales of “faculties ready till it’s too late,” Barrett mentioned. “It’s nice to be a part of an establishment that’s wanting 10, 15 years forward, as an alternative of only one. That’s what I’m most thrilled about: that we’ve got leaders who would do that far sufficient prematurely.”
