Not much has changed in the president’s office in Little Hartland since Dr. Stephen Waers took over Dr. Bill Greer’s position as president of Milligan University almost three months ago. Besides a new collection of books and family photos scattered throughout the office, the room looks just as it did – regal and important, like a president’s office should. The one semi-prominent addition to the room, however, is a painting that hangs over a couch near Waers’ desk. Though pleasant to look at, the piece’s placement in the space is more out of sentimentality than necessity.
“That painting was done by a woman I grew up in the church with, and it reminds me of her,” Waers said. “A couple of weeks after I spoke at a Youth Sunday in high school, she came up to me and whispered into my ear, ‘Stephen, you’re going to make a great preacher one day.”’
Despite his pursuit of athletics and computer engineering throughout his high school and college years, Waers couldn’t get her voice out of his head.
“After that conversation, I made it a habit of listening to people I knew talked to God,” Waers said.
When Waers saw Greer’s retirement announcement and the subsequent job posting go up, he thought that his age (38, at the time) and where he was at in life probably didn’t align with what was required of a university president.
“‘Wow, that’s cool. I love Milligan,’” he said, “but I knew that I was young, and figured it was silly to apply. I started getting texts and emails about the job posting shortly after his announcement asking me to apply, though, and since I’m not in the habit of ignoring my mentors, I did.”
After an extensive nationwide search, Milligan’s Board of Trustees officially named Waers as Milligan’s next president on Jan. 9, and he took over on Aug. 1. Waers, his wife Katie, and their two daughters Vivian (10) and Ellie (8) moved from outside of Atlanta, where he served as the chief academic and information officers at Point University for three years. Waers earned his undergraduate degree in biblical studies and humanities at Point, his masters in divinity (M.Div.) at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, and his Ph.D. at Marquette University.
Earlier this month, The Stampede sat down with Milligan’s new president for a conversation about his background, how he ended up at Milligan, and the beauty of heirloom tomatoes. This interview has been condensed and edited, and is the first of two with Waers.
Let’s start with some background. Can you tell me a little about your upbringing and how it has shaped you?
I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. My dad was a campus minister at Florida State University. As a younger kid, I was kind of an oddity because I was both an athlete and a nerd. I played soccer and baseball, but I was also a huge nerd and did competitive gaming back when it wasn’t cool and was hard to do. That sort of dual focus stayed with me most of my life. I had planned to go to FSU for engineering before discerning my calling. That has been the third thing, a sense of God’s calling on my life. I went to college to study youth ministry, played soccer all throughout, and did IT work on the side. Ultimately, I switched to church history, where all of my nerdiness went dormant for about 15 years until I started overseeing IT at Point a few years back.
I saw that you did a program portfolio overhaul back at Point. What was that about? Just by looking over your resumé, it looks like you’re a big tech guy. Are you wanting to incorporate more analytics and data into the presidential position?
We’re being forced off of our main ERP (enterprise resource planning) system, which is a process that helps organizations automate core business procedures. The vendor is sunsetting that system. We do basically everything in that system; students register in it, we get grades, financial aid. That’ll be coming whether we want it or not within the next two years. Replacing a system like this is kind of like ripping open the walls in your house and replacing all of your wiring and plumbing. There’s going to be some work in that area. We don’t use technology for the sake of technology, rather as an enabler for things that humans can do better. It’s a tool, not a goal.
You are clearly good experience in tech (as well as in the church). How will that background affect the way you want to lead at Milligan?
I’m interested in finding and solving root causes, rather than perpetually treating symptoms. If there’s a problem somewhere at Milligan, I’ll keep digging until I hopefully find the source so that we can make real progress. That kind of system-level thinking was hammered into me, and I can easily see that playing out here.
You used to teach; you’ve been an administrator; now you’re a chief administrator. Do you miss teaching, and how do you think you will apply that past experience to your new administrative role?
I really loved the chance to relate to students personally, and the challenge of translation. If I tried to just speak to undergraduates when I taught like I did during my doctoral studies and writing, it would be relatively unintelligible. I really enjoyed the challenge of finding out how to connect my subject (church history) with things that students cared about. I actually think that challenge carries over regardless of where you are in life. It’s the challenge that any person with technical knowledge has—to find ways to translate it to others.
What are your views of higher education, especially at a Christian liberal arts institution like Milligan?
I’ll use an analogy I used when I talked to the faculty at the beginning of the semester. It’s pretty clear to me that what we do here is grow heirloom tomatoes, not mass-produced, hot-house commodity tomatoes. If you’ve ever had an heirloom tomato, they’re not uniform in shape and are kind of awkwardly sized, but they taste really good. They’re labor intensive and they require much more direct investment.
There is a prominence within the higher education system of mass commodity users. These schools produce volume and are focused on speed and affordability. I think the place of Christian liberal arts is on the other side of that bifurcation. Where they are quick and impersonal, we’re intensive and slow and attentive to students, because we know that their formation is just as important as the resolution. We (Milligan) shape students with “Christ-likeness” in mind, and that’s about as important as it gets.
The second part of this interview will cover Waers’ first few weeks back in East Tennessee, what he has already started and hopes to accomplish at Milligan, and how he plans to lead the school into the future.
feature image by mu ministry, image 1 by Sam Kyker
About The Author
Sam Kyker is a senior from Travelers Rest, South Carolina. He is a Graphic Design major, with minors in Professional Writing, Humanities, and Bible, and is a part of the Cross Country and Track and Field teams. He loves to be outdoors, watching Newcastle United, and being active in the Milligan community, but is most comfortable with an espresso and a good book in hand and a vinyl spinning in the background.