It weighs a mere 8 ounces. But when the presidential medallion was placed around the shoulders of Miles K. Davis during his inauguration ceremony March 8, its heft felt like so much more.
“I felt the full weight of the office I hold,” recalls Davis, who was installed as Linfield’s 20th president.
But, he continues, “I also felt the uplift from all those who wore the medallion before me and the symbolism of what it means to wear the presidential medallion.”
Ten months into his tenure, Davis has a definite vision for Linfield’s future, built around a theme he calls “One Linfield.” The vision involves becoming a forward-thinking institution that serves 2,000 traditional undergraduate students in McMinnville and another 2,000 students online, in graduate programs or at the expanding Portland campus. It’s an ambitious and complicated plan that will take years to develop.
In the meantime, Davis has worked since his arrival last summer to break down old silos and unite the Linfield community, both on campus and off, as it charts a new path. Davis insists that staying on that path requires three immediate things – sustainable financial footing, higher visibility and a period of enrollment growth after three years of decreases.
It’s not a one-person job. Davis regularly encourages everyone he meets with to talk about Linfield, attend college events, contribute financially and help recruit prospective students.
“We all need to work together to make these things happen,” he adds, inviting alumni, friends, employees and others to the task. “The college needs you. We need your perspective and students need to hear how Linfield shaped you. The value of a Linfield degree increases as Linfield becomes stronger.”
Part of Davis’ vision is to continue to offer a “big school experience” in an intimate setting. That includes access to personalized opportunities often unavailable at larger universities – undergraduate student-faculty research, top-tier internships and deep relationships with faculty and staff.
“I want Linfield to be an institution recognized for thinking, reasoning and problem solving,” he says.
His vision also includes Linfield as an institution that respects and honors diversity across multiple dimensions, and welcomes all ideas.
Collectively, Davis says, the Linfield community must “think anew and act anew.”
The internationalist
Miles Davis brought the world along with him when he came to Linfield.
Davis, a self-described internationalist, has visited more than 165 countries.
“There are countries that have influenced my perspective in different and profound ways,” he says of countries such as Ghana, Spain and Jordan. “It’s important to take those international experiences and act on them in a local context.”
For example, his perspective on the immigrant experience was shaped in part by an eight-month sabbatical in Spain while he was on the business faculty at Shenandoah University. “I dealt with all the things immigrants deal with,” he says.
He also spent time in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The food and taste of Thailand. The fashion and style of France. The beauty of Italy. The welcome of Peru.
“Every country I’ve been in has touched me in some way,” he says. “It all becomes a part of you.”
– Laura Davis
