Ex-president enjoys return to classroom

Dr. Sam Rankin was the president of Chadron State from September 1986 until July 1998 during a period of tremendous change and growth for the college. He was known as a savvy leader, one who was definitely “in charge” and feels that he was “lucky,” in his words, to have had several situations turn out as they did.

Since returning to teaching, he’s established the reputation of being an outstanding scholar and is popular with students because he challenges them to think and to make comparisons to what’s happening in the world today with what they have learned through their study of history.

He primarily teaches American history, stretching from the Colonial period and the Revolutionary War, to the 20th century and World War II. He said one of his most enjoyable duties is traveling in his personal Toyota Echo to supervise student teachers stretching from Gillette to Grant.

“I like to drive my own car because it’s got a great radio and I don’t have to worry about embarrassing the college if I’m caught speeding,” he said with a grin.

Last spring, he was tapped by his successor in the presidency, Dr. Tom Krepel, to head the college’s re-accreditation process through the Higher Learning Commission. That assignment has reduced his teaching load by 50 percent, but has given him an additional responsibility that he seems to enjoy.

“We’re picking up steam,” he said with regard to the re-accreditation efforts. “We’re currently conducting a thorough self-study of the college to help ensure that we’re in a position to be re-accredited. It’s an important matter. A college can’t operate without accreditation.”

Rankin has represented the HLC on numerous visitation teams that reviewed the accreditation status of colleges and universities across the country, so he knows the expectations well. He noted that the guidelines have changed dramatically in recent years, putting new pressure on the institution being scrutinized.

“It used to be that the emphasis was on teaching. Was the college doing a good job of that? Now, it’s gone a step further and looks at whether the students are learning as they should. We have to collect a different type of evidence. We have to demonstrate that we have a culture that is dedicated to continuous improvement of student learning.”

Rankin said this will be accomplished by testing seniors and surveying those who have been graduated three to five years. He noted that they must show that they’ve achieved a set of skills that will serve them and their country well regardless of their major.

“We must be able to demonstrate that our students have accomplished more than just natural maturation while they’re here. We hope they can display the skills needed in a free market, democratic society. It’s a big responsibility for any higher education institution to place its stamp of approval on those who walk across the stage to get a degree. It’s scary when we ask the question, ‘Are they ready to help lead the country and the world?’”

Rankin was just 32 when he was chosen vice president of academic affairs at Valley City State University in North Dakota in 1974. Earlier that year he’d been selected as the institution’s outstanding faculty member.

He remained at Valley City nine years before he took a similar position at Eastern Montana College, now Montana State University-Billings. He was in his third year there when he was selected as Chadron State’s eighth president in 1986.

The same week as Rankin was offered the CSC post, he could have accepted the job to lead a branch campus for the University of Miami at Middletown, Ohio, which, of course, was much closer to Dayton, Ohio, where both he and his wife Sharon were born and raised.

“I am very glad that I came here,” said Rankin. “What I saw here was an institution that was on the verge of making a big step toward becoming a darned good little university. That’s what it is now. It isn’t that in name, but it is that in reality. This is a good institution that has had outstanding leadership, faculty and students for a long, long time.”

Rankin said he had an excellent relationship with his predecessor, the late Dr. Edwin C. Nelson.

“It would have been difficult for anyone not to have had a good relationship with Ed Nelson. He was one of the most genuinely compassionate, friendly and approachable people I have ever met. Obviously, he was a skilled administrator and a good manager of people or he wouldn’t have been president of Chadron State for 18 years.”

Many good things happened while Rankin was president of Chadron State.

The enrollment grew by more than 45 percent, scholarship support doubled, there was a huge increase in classroom and distance learning technology, numerous physical plant improvements were made and the Eagles joined the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, to name a few.

He said good fortune was involved in several of the improvements.

He points, in particular, to the launching of the Rural Health Opportunities Program in conjunction with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He tells the story:

“I had just gotten to the office when my secretary, Emily Klein, told me that the chancellor of the medical center was on the line. It was Charlie Andrews. He explained that they weren’t getting enough students from rural colleges at the med center and thus not many of the doctors and other health professionals they had trained were willing to practice in the rural communities. He wondered if we’d be interested in forming a partnership in which some of our top students would be guaranteed a spot at the med center if they would agree to return to rural Nebraska after they had completed their training.

“Of course, I was pleased and proud that he had called us. He asked when I could meet with him to talk about it some more. I was checking my calendar about when I could get to Omaha when he said he could fly to Chadron that day. He did that, we ironed out the details, got the approval of our boards and had an agreement that we were ready to sign within a month.

“I’ve always wondered what would have happened if I had been gone that day and missed that call. Although Chadron State is the most rural of all the colleges in the state, would he have called another school to make that agreement?”

RHOP has definitely been a boon to Chadron State. It has brought many top scholars to the campus. More than 100 health professionals who began their collegiate training at CSC are now practicing in Nebraska, 74 students at CSC are currently enrolled in the program and nearly 40 high school seniors have been selected to join RHOP this fall.

In addition, the added emphasis that the college has placed on the sciences to make certain RHOP students are well-trained when they reach Omaha has helped many other CSC students who wish to enter health care fields gain acceptance at UNMC and other medical schools.

Good timing also was involved in getting the Eagles into the RMAC, Rankin recalled. He said when he arrived on campus he never anticipated athletics would be a high priority, despite his life-long interest in the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Browns.

“Academics are definitely the central core of what happens on a college campus. But there’s much more involved. A college is only as strong as its weakest link, and that link needs to be addressed, particularly when it’s one that is as exposed as athletics. It was evident that Chadron State needed to be in a conference. The coaches were spending so much time trying to arrange schedules that it was taking away from their recruiting and the time they could spend working with their athletes.

“We initially turned to South Dakota in hopes of getting into that conference. We were pretty well assured by a couple of presidents that we would be accepted, but the schools in the eastern end of the state turned us down. Just 36 hours after that, I got a call from Bill Fulkerson, the president of Adams State and an old friend from my days in North Dakota, inviting us to join the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Brad Smith, who had just been appointed athletic director, and I went to a meeting right away. We accepted the invitation on the spot. I didn’t know how we were going to make it work, but I knew it was the right choice.”

Rankin also remembers another bit of good fortune that strengthened the college. It also occurred in the early 1990s, when CSC received a $1 million grant to build its wood-fired boiler plant. The funds were available because the Exxon Corp. had been assessed an energy overcharge penalty.

Rankin was fearful that the Legislature would notice how much money the new system would save in natural gas costs and cut the college’s state appropriation. But it didn’t happen.

“The money we saved was ours to reassign. A lot of it went into technology. I always felt that a couple of the computer labs that we developed should have been named after wood chips. One of them could have been Ponderosa Pine, or something similar. We were also able to use some of the funds to increase faculty salaries.”

Rankin said that while there is still “a place for a good lecture,” technology greatly enhances the learning process. He urges his students to send him their questions via their computers and the college’s blackboard system as soon as the thought develops. Each morning when he arrives at his office, he immediately opens his e-mail to respond to those inquiries.

Despite the successes that occurred during his presidency, Rankin said that after 24 years in administration, he was ready to return to the classroom as the 1990s drew to a close.

“I enjoyed being a college president and vice president, but those jobs wear you out. If teaching is approached properly and one involves himself in both the subject matter and the lives of the students, it’s hard work. It’s intense work because you are working with human minds and attempt to build knowledge and skills and values, but it’s not as stressful as administration. I was glad to return to teaching. I think I’m more effective as a teacher than I was as a president.”

Rankin has nothing but praise for his successor in the presidency, Dr. Tom Krepel, and is sorry to see him preparing to leave CSC after resigning last spring.

“I think Tom Krepel has done well. He was here during some very difficult budget times, the most difficult in terms of state support in the history of the institution. But I can’t think of any way by any objective measurement that this institution isn’t as strong or stronger under President Krepel than it was when I left the office. Not many could beat him to the punch on knowing what’s going on in the state and in higher education. I don’t think there were any reasons locally for him to be leaving.”

Rankin called the college’s new strategic plan, Vision 2011, that was developed last year under the leadership of Krepel and Dr. George Watson, “The best I have ever seen. It’s a Crackerjack good plan. It should receive national recognition. It will help the new president, whomever that might be, get his or her tenure off to a good start.”

Now 62, Rankin said he has no immediate plans to retire. Despite having heart bypass surgery twice, his health appears to be good. He recently purchased a new treadmill and uses it and an “exercycle” to keep fit while also staying on rather strict diet that Sharon helps him manage.

It’s evident that Rankin loves working with students as well as renewing acquaintances with CSC graduates as he makes his rounds supervising student teachers in regional school systems. Heading the re-accreditation process has given him a new challenge, something his Scotch-Irish heritage helps him enjoy.

“No human being likes to be evaluated, but we have a chance to show to both ourselves and the visitation team from the Higher Learning Commission that we’re dedicated to the improvement of student learning and that we’re doing a better job of it every year.”