During the two-day campus visit to Texas Lutheran last January it became apparent to her – this place was special. And she would soon call it home.

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nn M. Svennungsen had read the file of background documents the TLU Presidential Search Committee sent her as one of its finalists. She had met with members of the committee off-campus and was drawn to the mission of the university. She said once she was on campus and met with the various constituents, she knew that this was a calling she had been preparing for her entire life.

Svennungsen says her journey to TLU really began when she was a student at a sister institution, Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.

“I think those college years were among the most transformative of my life,” she explained. “At Concordia, people kept drawing me into greater responsibility and a bigger imagination about what my gifts meant and how they could be used to serve God. And that sense of vocation came not just from the classes and the teachers but from the coaches and the conductors and the mentors in the faculty and administration, the whole community shaping young people’s lives.”

Svennungsen graduated summa cum laude with a math major and business minor – atypical of young women her age – and went directly to Luther Seminary in St. Paul where she earned a master of divinity degree, one of just a handful of women in her class.

After serving pastorates in Iowa City, Iowa and Minneapolis, Svennungsen’s leadership skills were tapped in a special way. She was called as senior pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, a 3,700-member congregation in Moorhead and, at that time, the largest congregation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to be led by a woman. She then served four years as president of The Fund for Theological Education in Atlanta, a leading ecumenical organization committed to raising up a new generation of leaders for the church.

“My experience as a minister, especially the experience of being senior pastor of a large church, is significant in forming my sense of leadership. I was challenged and fulfilled in that ministry and that vocation. It was a model of what servant leadership looks like. I see the presidency of a church-related college as having strong similarities to that calling,” she explained.

Photo by Melissa Johnson, Seguin Gazette-Enterprise

Sense of community

When Svennungsen stepped onto TLU’s campus for that two-day visit last January, she said she felt a sense of community – a place where professors knew their students by name, and where they cared deeply about each student.

“They are truly invested in the whole community. And that is essential,” she said. TLU was equally taken with Svennungsen, and she was soon named the 14th president of Texas Lutheran University.

“I’m convinced that the community can help make the college years of young adults be the most transformative, that their lives can be full and meaningful… leading them to engage the world in ways that make a difference,” she said. “I love being part of a place that has growth and energy and diversity, and I enjoy engaging in conversation with the community’s various constituencies. That’s what is so energizing about this work.”

Svennungsen said she was also drawn to TLU because it has nurtured a healthy connection with the church. The healthy, and while it is centered in the Lutheran faith, there is an openness to all students.

“This setting and our core values offer extraordinary preparation for the ‘real’ world. While we are rooted in a Lutheran tradition, we are still respectful of and engage in conversation with people from diverse traditions,” she explained. “And given the climate in our world today, we need more people who are prepared to do that. A church-related college like TLU offers an enormous gift to the world - young leaders who care and who are prepared to serve with intelligence, compassion and respect.”

Began July 1

Svennungsen began her tenure on July 1. The charismatic new president hit the ground running with enthusiasm and energy. Her first few weeks were filled with meetings with faculty, staff, regents, alumni, donors and students. She attended a week-long seminar at Harvard for new college presidents, preached at the ELCA Worship Jubilee in Chicago, and moved her family to TLU from Atlanta.

Svennungsen is married to Dr. Bill Russell, a professor of church history who will be teaching Introduction to Theology at TLU in the spring. They have two daughters and a son. Sarah is a lawyer in Minneapolis, and Mary is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania where she plays on the volleyball team. Their son John, who has Down Syndrome, quickly became a part of the TLU community helping the TLU football team.

Svennungsen and her family settled into the renovated 40-year old President’s Home on campus just in time for the beginning of the academic year – a year filled with promise, enthusiasm and hard work for the new chief executive.

“I have a sense of excitement and passion about advancing TLU by building on its existing strengths. And in the first weeks and months, I have a deep commitment to listening, to asking good questions, to learning from colleagues and friends, and to soaking up all that is here, all of TLU’s assets and opportunities.”

Priorities identified

Svennungsen says that as she begins her tenure, she is focused on four primary areas identified as priorities by the executive committee of the Board of Regents: transition and building of the community, strategic planning, fundraising, and student enrollment and retention.

“The first area is not so much about a presidential transition – it is about how our community can build and achieve its vision with a new leader. That focus changes the whole chemistry in an exciting way,” she said. “We really will be doing this together.”

TLU’s mission statement has always included the idea of being a community of faith and a community of learning.

“I think that, along with faith and learning, the word ‘community’ is a vibrant third part of that triangle. You want the young student who comes here to have a one-on-one relationship with at least one faculty member – the transforming experience of mentoring. But you also want them to sense they are part of a whole – part of a community – of people committed to a common mission. I think that’s how we become our very best – when we are known by name, but, also when we are connected and participating in a greater mission for a greater good.”

Svennungsen said that community building must be intentional. That is why she is meeting with small groups of constituents, listening and engaging, understanding that what she learns will enrich her ability to serve.

“I think that one of the very life-giving parts of being in a college community is that it is not a monolithic entity,” she explained. “It is really an ecology of many different constituencies – faculty, staff, students, donors, alumni, government and business and civic leaders – all kinds of partners. Part of building community is attentiveness to all of our constituencies.”

A second priority will be assessing the strategic planning process. Again, Svennungsen said this will involve asking questions and doing a lot of listening.

“I want to know what people think TLU is best suited to do in the next 15 or 20 years, what its passions and strengths are, and part of that includes asking what God envisions for TLU. What is our ‘institutional calling’ ?”

Svennungsen pointed out that TLU’s Board of Regents is deeply engaged in the strategic planning process and is committed to working with the administration and faculty to support a shared vision.

“The board is doing some exciting work – it is shaping a proactive agenda, and leading a generative, strategic conversation,” she said. “We’re blessed to have regents who are so connected to TLU’s core values.”

Another priority, given the funding needed to provide quality higher education, is fundraising. Svennungsen understands that fundraising is one of the most important aspects of a college president's duties and that major gifts and a larger endowment will both address significant university needs and spark innovation in many new areas. "Gaining support from many sectors is a central part of my work," she explained.

The fourth focus – enrollment and retention of students – is another ongoing issue, part of the broad spectrum of responsibilities that Svennungsen must balance as she seeks to help spark and lead the university to its next phase of growth and to the next level of achievement and reputation.

A musician and recreational athlete herself, she believes the gift of TLU is not only its academic excellence, but also the richness of its other activities outside the classroom. While she was in college, her choir director was one of her most influential mentors. Although she did not formally participate in collegiate athletics, her brothers played collegiate football and her daughters played collegiate volleyball. She has seen the unifying and positive influence athletics can bring to individuals and to a community.

“I recognize the goodness of differing communities of influence in shaping people to be their very best. It entails lifting up and strengthening the whole person, cultivating a well-rounded, well-prepared person, who loves learning in all its varied forms and is open to different ways of experiencing and contributing to the world. Academics, music, sports, residential life – invite a sense of teamwork, in which we all have a vital role.”

In the coming months as the new president engages in conversation with more and more of her constituents, the Svennungsen era unfolds.

“I love leading a lively community,” she smiled. “More importantly, TLU’s is an extraordinarily important mission – for the church and for the world. The interventions we can make in the lives of young adults at this very formative moment can do tremendous good for them and for the world they will serve. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be part of TLU’s exciting next chapter.” ♦