Leadership in Adventist Higher Education Series:

Calvin B. Rock, DMin, PhD, is a retired pastor, educational leader, and church administrator. He is also a prolific writer who has authored several articles and books, the most recent being Protest and Progress: Black Seventh-day Adventist Leadership and the Push for Parity (Andrews University Press, 2018), a consequential commentary on and history of race relations and leadership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America. Before his retirement in 2002, Rock served as a general vice president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, a position to which he was elected in 1985. During his tenure, he served as liaison with and advisor to the General Conference Department of Education, among other departments. He also served on several Adventist college and university boards, most notably, as chair of the Loma Linda University and Loma Linda University Medical Center boards. From 1971 to 1985, Rock served as president of Oakwood College (now Oakwood University) in Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.A. Other pastoral and administrative roles included serving as pastor for the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in New York City and associate secretary of the ministerial association of the Southern Union Conference.

During his presidency at Oakwood, he was credited as the driving force behind the expansion of the institution’s physical plant as the following buildings were added to the campus: the Eva B. Dykes Library, the Bessie Carter Hall Addition, the J. T. Stafford Building, the W. R. Beach Natatorium, the Oakwood College church, and the Science Complex. Calvin Rock has been a voice for change and an advocate for Adventist education for decades. He is the founder and chair of Operation Reach Back, Inc, the association for Black Seventh-day Adventist Professionals, and on March 20, 2022, he was awarded the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Washington, D.C., the nation’s highest civil award for volunteer service.

Bordes Henry Saturné (BHS): How did you become president of Oakwood College? What do you think prepared you to be a college president? Do you feel that you were prepared for that role?

Calvin Rock (CB): I was called from the pulpit at Ephesus Adventist church in Harlem, New York [U.S.A.], a large congregation that belongs to the Northeastern Conference, to the college presidency without any teaching experience, and with no preparation, as I think people would regard preparation. The school had experienced a sharp decline in enrollment, and they needed somebody who they thought understood the psyche of the black pastorate around the country and yet had enough academic preparation. I was finishing my PhD in sociology at Saint John’s University then. So they knew I had some academic interests and preparation since I also held a Master’s degree in sociology and a BA from Oakwood in religion and theology. So the board felt that that was the combination they wanted—someone who could influence the pastors to be a booster for enrollment. At the same time, I didn’t have any academic administration background that would qualify me to come in and bring things back up regarding enrollment.

All the while I was at Oakwood, I functioned with a pastor’s mentality. It was always my prayer, “Lord, whenever this job ends, let me pastor again.” Working at Oakwood, my administrative philosophy was that of a pastor. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t have any other training, and it was how I treated students—like a pastor. And they sensed, felt, and related to me that way.

My predecessor [Frank Hale] had done a great job. He was an academician, a brilliant academic leader. Nevertheless, for whatever reasons, the enrollment had dropped precipitously from about 700 students to around 500 over the two years before he left. They [the board] wanted somebody to give it a jumpstart.

So, they called me. I was studying and pastoring in New York, and financially strapped. All my girls went to school in New Jersey. My members lived all over the borough, and I attended school once or twice a night at Saint John’s in Long Island. I was eating breakfast in cafeterias and lunch or dinner at fast-food places. It just wasn’t good for me physically.

However, I enjoyed pastoring the church because I was born in New York. Ephesus is where I cut my teeth in religion. My mother was a church clerk there, and I felt honored to be called back at age 39 to pastor that church. From 1941 through 1969, I’d visited once or twice. So, it was exhilarating to be back, and when the call to Oakwood came, I hated to leave. But given my circumstances with the family and my studies, and the need for money to help pay for my educational expenses, I told the board, “If you pay for my doctoral studies so that I can finish up, I’ll come.” It was ideal to bring the entire family to one location; my wife could get a job, and I could finish my studies while I worked at Oakwood.

So that’s how I became president at Oakwood. I did increase the enrollment. And when I say “I did,” it was not really “I,” it was always “we.” If you reduce it to what I was able to contribute, it was increasing enrollment to 1,400. I didn’t do it alone, but that’s what they wanted me to do, and that’s what they got, mainly.

BHS: Did you complete your doctoral degree?

CR: Yes. The truth is, I was very naive. I said to myself, “I’ll go to Oakwood, and in two or three years, I’ll be out of there.” I knew I would lose some credits with the studies that I had done at Michigan State and Saint John’s, but I said, “I’ll make it up.” But that didn’t happen. I enrolled at Vanderbilt, and they told me they did not have a PhD course consistent with the Master’s foundation that I had gotten at the University of Detroit or the prior studies I had done at Saint John’s. For their program, I needed to have a firm knowledge of statistics and probability, which I had never studied. My background was more in the humanities.

The Graduate School of Religion director encouraged me to pursue a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree; however, I told them that as president of a college, I needed a PhD. It took me several years of driving drive back and forth from Huntsville to Nashville, but I completed the DMin at Vanderbilt. However, I still needed a PhD, so I persevered and eventually enrolled in Vanderbilt’s PhD in Religious Ethics program.

There were many ups and downs; I could have gotten discouraged, but I was enjoying my studies. It was like pouring water on dry ground as I studied Augustine, Plato, Aristotle, and Bonhoeffer. I just loved it. In many respects, sitting in an academic classroom learning was a respite from the problems on campus. I earned from the Vanderbilt University School of Religion a DMin, and from the Graduate School, a PhD in Religious Ethics.

BHS: You made it because of your perseverance and resilience. It is remarkable for you to have gotten that done despite your heavy load as college president. My next question: How do Adventist colleges and universities contribute to the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church? And how can they do that more effectively?

CR: Let me preface everything by saying I left Oakwood College as president in 1985. So, a lot has changed since then, even though I did chair the Loma Linda University Medical Center board from 1991 through 2002 and served on the Andrews University board from 2002 to 2006. I had an association and a familiarity with the academic scene through 2006. But even so, that was a long time ago.

Anything I say must be received with the understanding that I’m not as up to date as I was, but I’ll try to answer your questions as best I know and remember. The answer to your first question is that Adventist colleges and universities contribute to the church’s mission by preparing leaders, which is why they were established. From Bible days, spiritual education has been geared toward preparing leaders, as in the schools of the prophets. Along with that, and maybe even more so, its goal is to prepare people to support the church and be disciples. This education prepares individuals to work in harmony with the organization—as good, strong members and, hopefully, as leaders in their congregations and supporters of Christian education where they live, and to engage in other efforts to promote the gospel. And finally, as time passes, members who have experienced Christian education pass on to their children, grandchildren, and others the ethos and the good of Christian education as they experienced it.

BHS: What are the most critical challenges facing higher education in North America and worldwide? And what can leaders do to mitigate them?

CR: Here I must remind the reader that I speak as one who has long been removed from leadership. However, I am a board member emeritus and have been on the board of Oakwood University for the past 10 or 15 years. I don’t get too involved in my position as an emeritus honorary member. I don’t propose to speak with any great definition here, but as I hear it and see it, one of the critical challenges is remaining relevant regarding curriculum. We know what the staples are, religion courses, and the other things we do most and best: education, health care, etc.—but [also important is] seeing to it that we expand and offer a curriculum that meets our young people’s needs as far as possible. Doing that more effectively, I suppose, is simply a matter of strategizing short-range and long-range planning with people who know and are up to date on such challenges. They would recommend curriculum changes, new ways of thinking as we get into Artificial Intelligence and robotics, and all the other things that will be guiding study and industry, and the leadership of all of the institutions of society in years to come, should time last.

BHS: What do you think the church could do to better prepare future presidents?

CR: You know, when I saw that question, it puzzled me because I don’t think we prepare future presidents. We look around and find somebody and hope they can do it—unless we get somebody who is already a president or in academia in a post where he or she can be elevated to the presidency. But then again, many significant presidents in society are not academicians; they are generals from the army and business leaders.¹

So, it’s a little misnomer, a little misdirection here because when I functioned as a president, my primary role was to keep the vice presidents happy. That was my main job. I didn’t try to be a vice president for academic affairs. Why would I do that? I didn’t try to be a vice president for student affairs (although my background was better suited for that than anything else). Boards need to remember that they want somebody who can keep the vice presidents (I am kidding). But honestly, sometimes, I had to keep them from killing each other, all the vice presidents. What I mean is I tried to keep them happy, and I wanted to nurture them. They told me what they did and were good, informed, and experienced. I would listen to them and make decisions using the best possible value systems. I had to figure things out, and we moved together, but I coordinated and chaired the [administrative] committee as the first among equals.

And my job in that little circle was to do what they couldn’t do. They could never get students like I could, they could never appeal to pastors like I did, they could never establish programs and go into churches and preach, and they couldn’t do what I could. I couldn’t do what they could. [The exception is] I had the board’s and General Conference’s authority. We were a General Conference school while I was there. I had that authority. So, I functioned with authority— and the best brains I could apply—to what they advised me through prayer, fasting, and working together as a coordinator. I let them feed me the information. We studied it together. We nurtured it, put it in the batter, whipped it up, baked that cake, got it out of the oven, and fed it to the public.

I’m not saying that’s how every school should do it or how it should be, but if you had a school to train university presidents and college presidents, you’d have a lot of disappointed people. A lot of unhappy people. I think we’re doing all right in this regard. We do need academic geniuses as presidents who are well-oiled and alert people. However, I think there are enough deans and teachers who can be promoted from where they are and will go to seminars and other programming to assist them in learning more and doing better.

BHS: Did you have time to care for your health during your presidency? To go to your medical and dental appointments?

CR: I didn’t have any difficulty in that regard. I did have appointments with physicians. I never sensed that my duties prevented me from taking care of that.

BHS: What about your vacation? Did you take your vacations regularly?

CR: Rarely, and I regret it in a way. But even before I went to Oakwood, I’d been in ministry for 17 years. I have been an addicted golfer. So, I take many vacations—any morning when the sun shines. People would ask me, “How often do you play golf?” And I tell them, “Every day that ends in ‘y’ except one.”

Of course, I couldn’t do that at Oakwood because I was on planes and in meetings. But I had one or two people around, teachers or retirees, whom I could count on. I remember one of them, John Beal, in particular. Pastor Beal would call me and say, “Prez, you got an hour; let’s go.” And we would go out to the golf course nearby, and I would have a two-hour or four-hour vacation. I had scores of mini-vacations and a few times when the family and I went on true, out-of-town vacations. However, I wish I had done better about that. I think I could have probably had more extensive vacations, but I did not.

BHS: What was be the role of personal devotion or spirituality in your presidency?

CR: That was essential. I wonder how anybody could be a college or a university president without God on their side, without being very sure of one’s relationship. It is paramount to keep your nerves calm, give you a clear mind, and assure you that God is on your side. You have so many echelons to please. You’ve got staff, faculty, students, parents, alums, accrediting associations for the whole school, and accrediting associations for each department. You’ve got the private funding organizations and the government. You’ve got the “town and gown” community among the people in the city where you live, and you’ve got pastors and churches. You’ve got the conference president, about 14 different echelons that you must try to keep happy, and all of these balls are in the air simultaneously. If you are looked upon as incompetent by any one of those, you’ve got a problem. So, you have to be Houdini; you have to be a magician. It’s the most challenging task in the Adventist Church.

BHS: According to the work by Selingo et al.,² a president is an academic, intellectual leader, storyteller, strategist, and communicator. Could that be a fair description of your presidency?

CR: I think the president can be something other than an academic leader. You can go from Dwight Eisenhower to many other important public figures who chaired higher institutions without academic preparation, but you’ve got to be able to be a strategist. Eisenhower was a strategist, and every college or university president must be a strategist who can bring the deans together, nurture them, encourage them, lead them, listen to them, and then let them do their work. I would say intellectual, and definitely, the leader should be intelligent. No head of a college or university should appear to be uneducated or even only slightly educated. The more degrees you have behind your name, the better it is—unless you are an Eisenhower or someone highly respected in another area. When it comes to being a communicator, the president must be a capable communicator.

BHS: If have two pieces of advice to share with a new college president, what would you say?

CR: Number one, remember to lean upon your deans and your vice presidents. Get excellent people. Don’t take any chances. When given the opportunity to fill positions, take time to vet and evaluate potential candidates before recommending their names to the board. They are the ones who make things work. In many instances, the president is a figurehead, the voice and the face of the institution.

Next, I would advise the university president to be likable, get around, and let the students know that you love them. Don’t hide yourself, don’t withdraw. You have to get out there, shake hands, smile, pick up babies, and be a real force for peace and interaction with your churches and the other places where you have pools of student interest and financial support. You might succeed without likability, but it’s sure more accessible if you have it. When people like you, and you come across as being approachable, kind, fair, and transparent, these are the things that you need more than a PhD in school administration. The president who has these likability factors and some competence in strategizing is prepared to be successful.

BHS: What would you consider your secrets to your remarkable success in enrollment growth?

CR: Number one, I made connections with the pastors. I did my best to keep them informed. I communicated with black pastors all over the country. We did our best to inform them about what was happening at the school. I was at camp meetings, annual workers’ meetings, and conferences. I have traveled a lot, and as a preacher and an evangelist, I was invited to many churches. On almost every Sabbath, I was somewhere, and because the school paid for my transportation to these places, these pastors were glad to invite me. That’s one thing.

Number two, we had a program early on where we offered a little financial remuneration to every pastor’s wife for every student the church sent to Oakwood. It was a gesture to show appreciation. It wasn’t much; it didn’t make any difference in their budget, but it recognized the pastor’s wife and said, “We see you, and would you please help us?” And they were happy to be recognized.

Number three, my recruitment strategy involved dividing the country into sections. David Taylor, who became the first black president of the Atlantic Union Conference, had one half. Wintley Phipps, whom everybody knows and was one of my prime students when I was there, was not pastoring at the time. He was the enrollment representative for the eastern part of the country. All they did was go to churches. We gave them a salary and covered all their expenses. Eventually, the alumni association thought that it could do this. There was a little rub there. So, we dropped that, but for the time that we used the strategy, it worked.

Then we had the singing Aeolians, led by Dr. Eva B. Dykes, the first black woman in America to be conferred a PhD, back in the 40s. She started the Aeolians. They traveled as our recruitment vehicle and did a lot of good work. In addition, we had a quartet or two around the campus, and we’d send them out. Further, I was gone just about every Sabbath somewhere and would take a trio or a quartet with me. Other than that, the students themselves were the best recruiters.

The board was happy, and by the grace of God, the enrollment kept growing, and the first time we crossed 1,000 FTE student enrollment was in 1974 or 75. I’d been there about four years when we first enrolled over 1,000 students. So, there was excitement and this energy around the country, and people began to pour in.

BHS: How did you work with the board of trustees? Can something be done to help board trustees more effectively fulfill their responsibilities?

CR: I had three chairpersons in my 14 years at Oakwood. All of them were good, but the most effective one was a man who had been president of Newbold College in the United Kingdom. He knew what questions to ask. He knew when to say, “You better hold up.” He knew when to say, “This is a good one. You better move forward quickly.” He knew how to treat faculty. He knew how to answer disillusioned faculty. He was just a fantastic, excellent chairman. The primary success element for every president is a knowledgeable chairperson.

If I had anything to urge, it would be to make sure your chairperson is not just somebody with a significant job in the structure. They are there because they have to be here. We assume that just because someone was elected as a church leader, he’s going to make a good chairman. Chairpersons, however, should be knowledgeable. The chairman’s knowledge of the academic functions of the school is more important than the president’s. Presidents have people all around them advising them. If the president is wise, all these people around him will be feeding him, but none of them are feeding the chairman.

Presidents have a way of feeding the chairman what they want him to hear. I chaired the Loma Linda University board for 11 years, and God blessed us. We had an excellent president, Dr. Lyn Behrens. My experience of 14 years at Oakwood gave me beautiful advantages to support her. A crucial thing with presidents: You have to keep them from killing themselves. They can get so wrapped up in what people are telling them, all the parties advising them, they can make disastrous decisions. The chairperson is critical; he can see the trees and the forest—the chairperson can see the whole thing.

I, as the chairman, have to say to the president that the agenda at the board meeting is the chairman’s agenda. It’s not the president’s agenda. The president prepares it for you, and you go over it, look at it, put what you want in, and take what you want out. The chairman has got to be able to say No. My dear uncle, Charles Bradford, used to tell me, “Calvin, when you’re chairing, you have to be able to inflict pain.” If the president does this, he or she has enemies all over the place, but chairpersons can do it, demand that something is done, and go back to Washington or wherever they came from. They don’t have to live there.

The chairperson has a role in the care and feeding of the president and must help the president to wake. Sometimes, presidents are in a trance. They’ve been bombarded from everywhere. There are so many ways they’re looking to find out what to do and so many suggestions, and they all sound good. The chairman has to be able to look and help the president be realistic and transparent with the board so the board can make good decisions.

If there’s anything the denomination could do to improve academics in higher education, it would be to have schools for chairpersons. In collaboration with divisions or through the General Conference, there needs to be a week or two for chairpersons in the woods somewhere where they are getting educated about what a chair is supposed to do. There needs to be some training—and there can be, if a board makes it happen. There should be an occasional refresher once every two or three years, telling the chairpersons what they need to do to help hardworking, assaulted, and often bashed and overworked presidents.

Presidents can get themselves in trouble very quickly unless they have somebody jarring them to their senses from time to time and not letting them go too far in buying, selling, or adding, even in enrollment. You need to be careful that you don’t enroll yourself beyond your financial capacity to care for what you have. You have to have a good balance there.

Another way that a chairperson can be wise to directions and protection of the president (which many times may mean protecting the president from himself or herself and the hostile environment), is to have a little kitchen cabinet of maybe three people who have been in administration and who the chairman can take aside and counsel with. If the chairman is the president of a union or any other structure and has not had an academic background, he could get three people who have been through the war and who can read the tea leaves and interpret body language and facial expressions and be able therefore to counsel this preacher chairman who never taught and doesn’t know what in the world is going on.

BHS: In your years as president, is there one regret—something you would like to have accomplished or a decision that you made that you say, “Oh, I should, or I shouldn’t have done that”? Is there anything like that?

CR: I regret that we didn’t buy more properties. We could have owned lots of acreage on down to Jordan Avenue [in Huntsville]. There’s more property down there, so we could have added 20 acres for $41,000. But we didn’t buy it. Not because I didn’t want to, but because my business heads told me we didn’t have the money, and I guess we didn’t, but I regret that we didn’t try hard enough to do it. The school [Oakwood University] needs it more right now, but it sure would have been nice to have had it, and it might also be needed in the future if time lasts.

I probably dared more than I should have in terms of enrollment. We grew so fast that keeping up with it all was a struggle. Even that was good for the students and their parents, and my successor, Dr. Benjamin Reeves, was able to pull back the reins, slow things down a little, and let everybody catch their breath, and I’m glad he did that. That was his talent. He did an excellent job with that. I probably should have slowed down myself, but that’s not my personality. But if I had done that, I could have left the school with more money and a better financial footing.

I wish I could have found ways to get more money for the school. Dr. Delbert Baker followed my successor[s]. He came in and was a fierce fundraiser. I didn’t have the nerve he had to get the money he raised. I could wish I’d been a better fundraiser. Nobody has it all.

Otherwise, I have nothing but thanks to God for sparing my life over millions of miles of travel. I can think of many extraordinary occurrences. In some cases, I feel regret because I could have done better. I know I wasn’t perfect. But I did what I did and thanked God for it. I left it with no regrets—only gratitude.

BHS: If a young person comes to you now, a young woman or a young man, and says, “Well, I’m thinking of maybe one day I might be a college or university president.” What would you tell such a person? Or would you encourage him or her to think twice about it? CR: I would encourage them to have other alternatives and to put only some of their hopes on that one position. I would say, “OK, but what other things would you like to be? Keep your options open because that’s a very rare appointment.” There are only so many schools in and out of the country; no track will get you there. You can’t say that “I’ll be a university president if I do this or that.” God doesn’t work like that. So, I would say, let’s ask God that His will be done. I would advise them to pray about it and wish for it, but I wouldn’t plan on it, and I wouldn’t suggest they get any special preparation unless they want to take a chance because it happens unexpectedly and suddenly—and very, very rarely.

BHS: My last question is, “How did you know it was time to move on from your position as president?”

CR: I’ve been told repeatedly that five or six years was the average life of a college president in the United States,³ and I was also told that nine years was the end. You better get out. By my 14th year, I could tell that people were restless. It’s almost like a baseball game. You throw your fastball, and you throw your curve, and you throw your sinker and your slider. You get them out the first time around, you get them out the second time, [but] they start catching on, and by the third time they see you around the sixth or seventh, eighth, or ninth inning, they start hitting your fastball.

People start to criticize. And as I said before, nobody has it all. They see your weaknesses. As I freely admit, I could have been a better fundraiser. By the 14th year, I felt that it was time to go, that I had done what I could, and that somebody needed to come in and raise some money to help expand this property further.

BHS: Thank you for your time, transparency, and insight, Dr. Rock. Listening to your reflections was inspiring and rewarding. I still feel the passion. You have inspired so many people, and I know that this interview will help others reflect, especially about the role of the board chair. May the Lord continue to bless you.

This interview has been condensed. Minor editing has been done, but the verbal style has been retained.

Bordes Henry Saturné

Bordes Henry Saturné, PhD, serves as Vice President for Strategic Enrollment, Marketing, and Communication and Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. At the time of coordinating this issue, he served as Chair of the Andrews University School of Leadership. An ordained minister, he served in New York as a church pastor, school principal, and conference superintendent of schools. He was Vice President of Atlantic Union College in Massachusetts, U.S.A., and Vice President of Asia-Pacific International University in Thailand. He is a New York State-certified School District Administrator. His research interests focus on leadership development and the challenges and opportunities unique to faith-based educational institutions. He may be reached at [email protected].

Calvin B. Rock

Calvin B. Rock, DMin, PhD, is retired and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.. He holds a BA in Theology from Oakwood College [now University] in Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.A., an MA in Sociology from the University of Detroit in Detroit, Michigan, and a DMin and PhD in Religion Ethics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. He also holds several honorary doctorates. Dr. Rock is the author and editor of 10 books and numerous studies and articles.