The handshake and smile at the door of the president’s office are unchanged, the confidence and sartorial splendor of the man behind them undiminished. In his final interview as Linfield University president, however, it’s clear that Miles K. Davis is not the same man who first walked into Melrose Hall nearly six years before.
This version of President Davis listens more carefully and pauses longer before answering questions. Physically, he weighs less and is in better shape than when he first arrived in McMinnville, but something in his bearing suggests he carries the weight of presidential expectations and responsibility more acutely than he might have imagined would be the case.
“So many positive and wonderful experiences,” he says, his voice trailing off as he looks out the window at the Oak Grove where he oversaw Commencement. Then he laughs quietly. “Along with a few that were less positive and wonderful.”
The Miles K. Davis presidency will go down in Linfield history as being a time of near-constant change. Following seven consecutive years of declining enrollment, Davis arrived in 2018 knowing he wouldn’t have the luxury of guiding a ship through calm, steady waters. The college was facing a significant yearly budget deficit and the Linfield University Board of Trustees was asking questions about a change of direction.
Enrollment stabilized while Davis was president, stopping the decline if not regaining all that had been lost. And with the addition of a new Portland campus and master’s programs for the first time since the 1990s, avenues opened up to diversify Linfield’s revenue.
Linfield College also rebranded itself as Linfield University, drafted a new strategic plan, created a School of Business and College of Arts and Sciences, added the first new NCAA sports in 25 years and completed the largest fundraising campaign in its history. A $40 million science center opened last year on the McMinnville campus, adding more than 84,000 square feet of state-of-the-art laboratories and classroom space.
“We got things done,” Davis says. “We accomplished a lot.”
He also claims other “more subtle” accomplishments over the past five years. He cites, in particular, staff members feeling more heard and valued than in previous years, and giving faculty members in business and nursing more autonomy over their academic areas.
Davis, too, embraces the deep importance of being the first Black president in Linfield’s history. He takes special pride in the fact that the board of trustees voted to adopt Martin Luther King Jr. Day as an official holiday during his tenure.
“One of the things that has impacted me is how students, especially students of color, saw themselves represented in me,” he says. “What I symbolized for them was important. I understood the significance of that and took it seriously.”
But the long list of changes came at a price, with many feeling disruption, dislocation and turmoil. Throw in the world’s biggest health crisis in a century, which upended almost everything at a residential university like Linfield, and you have a formula for a surfeit of anxiety alongside the accomplishments.
Linfield’s public dispute with a former faculty member in 2021 generated a lot of negative publicity along with increasingly personal attacks against Davis and other university leaders on social media. Openly and overtly racist letters and calls to the university increased. Many in the Linfield community on all sides were left with emotional bruises that will take time to heal.
“I expected there would be some personal attacks; this is the era of that sort of thing,” Davis says during his final interview. “Perseverance is important. You can’t allow yourself to be sucked into the negative. You have to just keep showing up and doing the work for the right reasons.”
Evidence suggests that it’s increasingly difficult to be a college or university president these days. The average U.S. president lasts 5.9 years today, according to a 2023 survey from the American Council on Education. That tracks fairly closely with the amount of time Davis spent at Linfield. In 2006, when Tom Hellie began his term as Linfield’s previous president, the average tenure was 8.5 years.
“This is a hard, hard time in higher education generally,” Davis says, and acknowledges that a number of his counterparts at other institutions have faced similarly difficult presidencies.
He cites headwinds ranging from an anti-intellectual movement on the right to increasing worry about student debt to the Biden administration’s propensity for regulations that increase costs and “are hobbling universities.” Regardless, he says he’s proud of the staggering amount of change Linfield managed to implement in a relatively short amount of time.
“In the final analysis, did you leave it better than you found it? That’s all I ever wanted, and I tried to make decisions within that framework.”
Miles K. Davis
Davis has taken that decision-making framework to the task of building a new university from scratch. He announced in January that he has accepted a role as vice chancellor and CEO at Wigwe University in Isiokpo, Nigeria.
Founded in November 2023 with $500 million from the late Nigerian banker Herbert Wigwe, the new university intends to bring a Linfield-style comprehensive curriculum to Africa’s most populous country and largest economy. Davis said Wigwe will admit its first students in the fall of 2024. He will be responsible for oversight of academic programs, university operations and strategic direction.
“I’m excited,” Davis says. “My time at Linfield prepared me well to take on the challenges of launching a new university. I have had the benefit of seeing what works really well preparing students for a life of purpose, and also what can inhibit a university from reaching its fullest potential.”
From halfway across the world, though, Davis says he is sorry to not have regular opportunities to interact with Linfield students any longer. That was always his favorite part of the job.
“Linfield students are amazing,” he says. “They’re engaged, they’re bright, they’re articulate. Linfield is a place that changes lives, and I’ve enjoyed my interactions with students immensely. I’ve enjoyed talking with them in Starbucks, cheering with them on the sidelines at games and supporting them at other events on our campuses.
“I’ll miss a lot of things about Linfield, but that I’ll miss most of all. The students are always a reminder of why we do what we do.”
A time of change
July 2018 to December 2023 | Miles K. Davis’s tenure at Linfield
2018
• Davis inducted into The PhD Project Hall of Fame.
• Linfield acquired a new 20-acre Portland campus.
2019
• Weeklong presidential inauguration celebrated “global thinking, local engagement.”
• Linfield First Scholarship created for first-generation students.
• An updated Mack the Wildcat unveiled at Homecoming.
• Linfield became the first institution in Oregon to offer “pet-friendly” student housing.
2020
• COVID-19 restrictions closed campuses in March and classes moved online. Students returned to Portland in June and McMinnville in August.
• Linfield began offering a master’s degree for the first time in 20 years.
• A $10 million gift from the W.M. Keck Foundation announced as the largest single gift commitment in school history.
• Davis elected chair of the Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges and Universities.
• Linfield College changed to Linfield University on July 1.
2021
• Classes began on the new Portland campus.
• A socially distant Commencement ceremony – “Carmencement” – held in May.
• Groundbreaking held for the W.M. Keck Science Center.
• First Master of Science in Nursing graduates hooded.
• New master’s programs announced in business and sports science and analytics.
• Men’s and women’s wrestling added as Linfield’s first new sports in 25 years.
2022
• Portland Business Journal named Davis one of its executives of the year.
• A five-year strategic plan was approved by the board of trustees.
• First in-person Commencement as Linfield University held.
• Unveiled a plaque to Jane McIlroy, the first woman to govern a college athletics program.
2023
• Oregon Nobel Laureate Symposium returned after a 10-year hiatus.
• School of Nursing launched Oregon’s first Master’s Entry into Professional Nursing program.
• The Linfield University Science Complex opened, featuring the new W.M. Keck Science Center.
• Linfield became the first university in Oregon to include textbooks in the cost of tuition.
• Acorn to Oak Wine Experience, a student-led tasting room, opened on Third Street in McMinnville.
• Linfield announces a new partnership with Sias University in Zhengzhou, China.
• Spark Wonder, the largest comprehensive fundraising campaign in Linfield history, ended with more than $80 million raised.
2024
• Beth Garcia, director of conference and event planning, and Nina Tall, director of Portland campus operations, were named the first recipients of the Miles K. Davis Leadership Award. Created in November 2023, the award honors staff members who exemplify extraordinary leadership.
