President Lenzmeier's Inaugural Address

Wow, thank you for those remarks. It was humbling to hear each of you speak, especially when so many of you have done far more for me, than I have ever done for you.

Before I get to the heart of my remarks, I have a chapel full of people to thank.

I’ll start with my wife, Betsy. For having faith 18 years ago and moving to Storm Lake sight unseen. For all the sacrifices you made so I could succeed at BVU. For being a great thought partner. I would not be here without your love and support.

To my sons Owen and Matt. For your patience with me, especially over the past couple of years. You’ve seen less of me, and you lost your summers with Dad. Well, depending on how you look at it, maybe that was actually a win for you?!? Regardless, I’m so thankful you are here, and I am proud of the good young men you have become.

To my parents, Wayne and Louise, both public school teachers. You taught me about how the power of education can open doors for others. You taught me the importance of doing the right thing, even if it is not the popular thing. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for a lifetime of support.

To my brother, Paul. You have always been a role model for me. You are such a great dad, and your work ethic is remarkable! Thank you for being here tonight, and for being a great brother.

To the Board of Trustees, thank you for placing your faith in me, and for your ongoing commitment to BVU.

To BVU’s friends and benefactors, thank you for supporting the University through your gifts of time, talent and treasure. I am grateful for what you do to enrich our students’ lives.

To Governor Reynolds, when many people in rural America felt left behind, your commitment to strengthening rural Iowa means so much to me and to BVU. Thank you for being here.

To the Storm Lake community members, thank you for all you do for BVU, for your invaluable collaboration during the pandemic, and for making Storm Lake such a great place to live and raise a family.

To the alumni. Some of you are job creators. Some of you professionals. Some of you do amazing volunteer work. All of you are inspiring. Thank you for being here.

To the BVU faculty and staff. I’ve seen first-hand over 18 years what you do for students. Whether you are a faculty member, a custodian, an administrator, a residence hall director, a member of the grounds crew, or a coach. Whether you work directly with students, or behind the scenes. Every one of you is important and essential to BVU’s success.

Thank you also to the employees who worked so hard to make this day possible, and especially to Angie Dye and Joan Canty for planning this event.

Finally, to the BVU students, I have a very important question for you: Don’t you have anything better to do on a Friday afternoon? Seriously!?! Thank you for being here. Thank you for coming to BVU and for sharing your talents. Thank you for being the reason I come to work every morning. You made a great choice to be here because here cares about you.

I will now turn my focus to our theme: Celebrating, Evolving, and Transforming.

We have much to celebrate when we think about our outcomes. From our first graduate, Jennie Hutchinson, to World War II Medal of Honor recipients Ralph Neppel and Daryl Lindsey, to nationally acclaimed photographer Andre D. Wagner, who has been on campus as an Artist in Residence this month, our students do remarkable things.

It is also worth celebrating how much we have overcome through the years. In the early 20th century, we were often months, and sometimes years behind on making payroll. We overcame the Great Depression in the 1930s. We survived the loss of Old Main to a fire in 1956. BVU’s story is one of great resilience in the face of adversity.

While we have had challenging moments in our history, we also have remarkable events to celebrate. Harold Walter Siebens’ $18 million gift in 1980, while Keith Briscoe was President, changed the course of BVU history.

More recently, during Fred Moore’s presidency, the opening of the Lamberti Recreation Center and Dennis Young Track, along with the installation of Peterson Field, expanded opportunities for student athletes. The Estelle Siebens Science Center modernized our facilities and improved academic outcomes.

The renovations of Social Sciences and Art Hall, Pierce and White residence halls, and the Harold Walter Siebens Forum, as well as the creation of the Institute for Agriculture by Josh Merchant, have all allowed us to meet the evolving needs of our students.

Which brings us to our second theme, evolving.

I want to point out two examples in our history when BVU evolved in a manner that still impacts us today.

The first was 46 years ago, when President Briscoe’s team had the prescience to open the first BVU “center.” A partnership in Fort Dodge with Iowa Central Community College helped place-bound adults earn both an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree, without leaving their home town. BVU expanded these “centers” across Iowa to include many other rural communities whose teachers, counselors, and business owners are now community leaders because of BVU.

The second moment occurred 21 years ago, when President Moore and team made the decision to become the nation’s first wireless laptop campus. This decision created a culture that placed BVU at the forefront of online learning. During the pandemic, 19 months ago, we seamlessly transitioned to online delivery because every one of our faculty members was already using an online learning management system.

We successfully adapted in 2020, because BVU took an evolutionary leap in 2000.

We are celebrating today because BVU evolved 21 and 46 years ago.

Which brings me to the final theme of the inauguration, transforming. The first experiment I did in graduate school was called a transformation, which is done to change the DNA of an organism. As a scientist, when I see the word transformation, I think about actively changing the DNA to achieve an outcome.

When I think about how BVU evolved through the years, I consider the active role the people who came before us played in changing this institution’s DNA, in transforming the University so it could evolve to meet the needs of its stakeholders.

So, in the last part of my address, I want to share with you my three priorities as President, and to ask you to play an active role in transforming BVU.

My first priority involves quality outcomes and experiences. In the coming years, we will win more on the playing surfaces. We will achieve more in the classroom. We will perform and create better. We will have a more inclusive and supportive work environment. We will do more for our community.

Having these quality outcomes and experiences requires us to have excellent facilities in which to live and learn. This is why renovating Smith Hall for our education programs, renovating and expanding our athletics facilities, creating apartment-style housing for residential students, and continuing to evolve our online learning platform, will be so important.

It is also worth noting that quality outcomes and experiences can only happen if we hire, develop, and retain the best faculty and staff. The people working at BVU make this University special. They help transform the lives of our students and our communities.

Quality outcomes and experiences also require us to connect to our community. We must continue to support and expand the efforts in our Center for Diversity and Inclusion. We must continue to work with Storm Lake, Buena Vista County, and the State of Iowa to be a leader in rural education. With the help of the Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, we will transform our communities into bustling economic centers that thrive because of BVU and its diversity of thought and people.

To achieve the quality outcomes and experiences, we also need to focus on my second priority, financial strength.

For students, financial strength means an education that is affordable and accessible. Financial strength does not mean “free,” but it does mean lowering student loan debt while maintaining quality experiences. To get to this point of financial strength, increasing enrollment and raising money for scholarships are going to be priorities.

For faculty and staff, financial strength means BVU returns to the Chronicle’s list of “best places to work.” We need to have the financial strength to hire and retain the best people, and to provide them with quality facilities and good benefits.

For the institution and community, financial strength means BVU grows its endowment in ways that further support its operations. BVU is currently in a tenable financial position because of its solid endowment, but we cannot rest on our laurels. The time has come to change the long-term trajectory, to build an endowment that again is the envy of our peers.

My third priority is continuous improvement and innovation. This last priority is how we, everyone in this room, and those joining us via video, will take an active role in BVU’s evolution.

Having a culture of continuous improvement and innovation is hard.

One of the things I liked most about being a researcher was that every day was hard. Like hitting a baseball, scientists usually fail more often than they succeed. On top of that, everyone in the lab is constantly looking for ways to shoot down your ideas. This is not done with malevolence, it is done with the intent of making the research better, of ensuring you create a cohesive theory that more accurately approaches the truth.

Continuous improvement and innovation is hard, but it is essential to our success.

Over the next 12 months we are going to develop a five-year vision for where we want to be. We will build continuous improvement and innovation plans for every program, team, service, and office at BVU.

We will develop a collaborative strategic planning process that each year will tap into the immense talent of our faculty and staff, who will collaboratively identify the major initiatives--or transformations if you will, that will change the DNA, and successfully evolve this institution to meet the needs of our students and our community.

Our culture of continuous improvement and innovation will drive our success.

In conclusion , a good teacher always reviews the main points.

I want to thank you for taking the time to hear about my presidential priorities. Quality outcomes and experiences. Financial strength. Continuous improvement and innovation.

I want to mention how humbling it is to stand here right now. I love BVU. I love the people with whom I work. I love seeing what our students do while they are with us, and what they accomplish after they graduate.

I want more than anything to see BVU and its stakeholders thrive, but I can’t do this alone. I need the help of everybody in this room, and all of you following our video. This is our time to transform this institution, so that 21 and 46 years from now, generations of BVU students and employees are celebrating our contributions to BVU’s successful evolution.

Thank you all, and Godspeed!