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 Dr. Dennis Golden, president of Fontbonne University. |
DENNIS GOLDEN:
TAKING THE PATH LESS TRAVELED
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By Christine Imbs
EIWP-GP It looks like a typo, but to Dennis Golden it’s a philosophy of life.
“I used to have this on my license plate. People would ask me, ‘What does that mean? Expert in word processing?’” he says laughing. “Actually it stands for ‘Everything Is Working Perfectly–God’s Plan.’ And I really do believe that.”
Spend a little time with the 63-year old president of Fontbonne University and you know he’s sincere. You also get the feeling he knows what he’s talking about. How else do you explain turning down the chance to play professional football for the New York Giants to take a $7,200-a-year job as Assistant to the Dean of Men at Holy Cross College?
“I had a very successful try-out with the Giants, and Andy Robistelli wanted to sign me. I took the evening to think and pray hard about it, then came back and told him I was accepting the position at Holy Cross,” Golden explains. “And I’ve never looked back from that point on.”
Switching from the old pigskin to the sheepskin may seem an unlikely transition, but in Golden’s case it’s not surprising. He says the Brothers of the Holy Cross from Notre Dame who taught him during his high school years drilled into him the critical importance of academic pursuits and moral development.
“And of course the academic standards of the Jesuits who taught us at Holy Cross College are superior,” he adds. “So in my case, it wasn’t a hard transition at all. I’ve always had a love of learning, the same as I’ve had a love of sports.”
It was Golden’s love of learning that led him to a position at Framingham State College in Massachusetts. But despite his commitment to academia, it seems football was not quite ready to lose a favorite son. After three years steeped in the administrative life at Framingham, the students decided to call him out of retirement.
“They wanted to start a football program, but only on one condition–that I coach,” Golden says laughing. “I said, are you serious? That was back in 1972 and it’s still a functioning Division III program today. I think at the time I was the only vice president for student affairs and head football coach in the United States.”
Golden also worked at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and the University of Louisville in Kentucky, before becoming the first male president of Fontbonne. That was ten years ago. Today the once all-women’s college is coed, has an all-time high enrollment, is fully certified and accredited, and has achieved university status. It’s also increased its outreach, particularly in the African American communities.
“Diversity is very important to me,” says Golden. “I think it’s critical when you look at the national picture, the international picture and the local picture, that men and women of different races, creeds and colors have the opportunity to get an excellent education in a value-based environment.”
Golden says during the next four years he hopes to take Fontbonne up a level and raise public awareness about the quality that resides there. “Right now our academic quality, our richness, our combination of faith and reason, the strength of our alumni and our critical importance to the greater St. Louis community, is sort of a best kept secret,” he says.
What isn’t a best kept secret is Golden’s secret to success. He’ll gladly tell you it has to do with the concept of doing more with the gifts that God has given you.
“I try to analyze what my strengths are and to capitalize on them,” he says. Those areas where I’m not strong, I bring in others who are. Then I get out of their way and let them excel.”
Or to put it another way, everything is working perfectly—God’s plan.
TalkingPOINTS
BORN: Queens, N.Y.
FAMILY: wife, Monica; 3 grown kids–2 sons and a daughter; 8 grandkids
EDUCATION: BS from College of the Holy Cross; MA Guidance and Counseling from Assumption College; Ed.D. Higher Education Administration from Boston College. Also attended the Harvard University Institute for Educational Management.
ATHLETIC CAREER: Division I scholarship student-athlete at the College
of the Holy Cross; part of the U.S. Marine Corps National Football Champions in 1963; drafted by the NFL Dallas Cowboys and played a preseason for New England Patriots. Also coached college football on
the Division I and Division III levels for thirteen years.
LIFE AFTER FONTBONNE: Possibly consulting or teaching in higher education. Would also like to assist his son, the football coach at Bedford High School in Massachusetts.
HALLMARK OF HIS CAREER: His commitment to diversity. |
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