Dr. Henry Givens Jr. retires

Dr. Henry

Givens Jr. is the longest serving president of any university in

Missouri – leading Harris-Stowe State University for 32 years in

May. 

“font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>On Tuesday, Givens told a

room of longtime supporters – including elected officials, business

leaders and staff – that the time has come to retire. Givens will

stay on board until the university’s national search produces a new

president.

Under his

leadership, the university has nearly tripled its student

population. It has grown from one building with only one degree to

what will be eight facilities in the fall and 14

degrees. 

“font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>“He has overseen the

renaissance of this institution over the past 32 years,” said

Thelma V. Cook, chairperson of the Board of Regents. “His

unwavering dedication and passion for the students at Harris-Stowe,

as well as his commitment to providing them with affordable,

accessible higher education option is heroic.”

The list

of his achievements is exhausting, but Givens said every bit of it

has always been for the students.

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“Without

the students we serve, there is absolutely no reason for

Harris-Stowe State University to exists,” he told the

audience. 

What

students most love about Givens is his open-door mentality, said

Derek Collins, student representative of Board of Regents. In most

universities, it would be frowned upon for students to try to cut

around the staff and go directly to Givens, he

said. 

“And it

probably is here as well, but students catch him going to his car

or in the hall,” he said. “And no matter what the issue is that

they bring to him, he jumps right on it. He has his ultimate

interest in the success of his students and I’ve seen it time and

time again. No matter how large or small the issue is, they are

able to go to him directly.”

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Givens

keeps books in his office, just in case students can’t afford them

and need to get them on loan. He admits it’s a little selfish, but

he loves the students coming to the office.

“When they

come, I can hear them outside my door. I pick up the phone and ask,

‘Are there students out there? Let them in,’” he said. “That’s what

I love about Harris Stowe. It’s small enough that you can get your

arms around them. Rarely are there students that don’t know I’m the

president. I keep in touch with them.”

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Givens

would have never dreamed as a student at Lincoln University in the

1950s that he would become a university

president. 

“It wasn’t

my dream because I didn’t think that you could ever do that,” he

said. 

Yet the

impression of then-university president Dr. Sherman Scruggs stuck

with him. Givens said Scruggs was sharp, wore a nice hat and knew

all of his students. “I thought, ‘Boy I’d love to be just like

that,’” he said. “But it never dawned on me that I

would.” 

Once he

started taking education courses, he didn’t turn back – receiving

his master’s at University of Illinois, his Ph.D. from Saint Louis

University and his post-doctoral studies in higher education

administration at Harvard University.

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His career

started a teacher at Webster Groves School District, and then he

became a principal at the first prototype of a magnet school in the

nation. He became the first African-American assistant commissioner

of education in Missouri, where he served for five years. In 1979

he became president of what would become Harris-Stowe State College

some years later and a university in 2005.

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“He has

been a pioneer for our state’s work in education,” said Gov. Jay

Nixon. 

Selecting

education as his career path has been one of his proudest

achievement, he said. It comes second to “meeting the right young

lady to marry, to raise our family, and to educate our

children.” 

Belma

Evans Givens received two standing ovations at the Tuesday

conference. 

“I want

him to be happy,” Belma said in an interview after the conference.

“I hope there will be somebody who will have that commitment, who

will have that passion that he has had for Harris-Stowe because it

has been his life.”

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Belma said

one of the highlights of their career at Harris-Stowe was in 1987,

when their daughter graduated from Harris-Stowe. That same year,

the governor asked Givens to serve as the interim president at

Lincoln University during its financial crisis.

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“I told

him that it was okay, but I wanted him to go and get a complete

check-up before you go and try to take over two institutions,” she

said. “He came out okay, but it was really

tough.” 

Givens

read a long list – which encapsulated everyone in the room – and

thanked them for being the “village” that has raised the

university’s children.

“font-family: Verdana;”>U.S.

“Listening

to Dr. Givens remarks today, you can tell that his parents at an

early age stressed the importance of education, and Henry followed

through on their advice by first getting an education and then

providing an education for thousands of others,” he said. “This

community should be grateful for the service that he’s

given.” 

His

grandson Jarrett Woolfolk, a junior at Harris-Stowe, said he once

had a friend who was not sure college was for him, but he wanted to

give it a try.

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“My

grandfather gave him a full opportunity to come to school and get

the books,” he said. “And that’s one of those stories that’s pretty

meaningful to me – giving people chances who don’t have

it.” 

Givens has

a knack for reeling in students on the fringe. About 90 percent of

the student population are first-generation college

students. 

“So once

we get them, we work with them,” he said. One of the biggest ways

he does that is through scholarships. Last year he headed the most

successful fundraising campaign in the university’s 152-year

history, reaching $45 million.

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When the

Anheuser-Busch School of Business was established, Givens helped to

create the African-American Business Leadership Council for

business leaders interested in providing support for the school.

David Steward, founder of World Wide Technology, Inc, said Givens

urged him to chair the council.

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“I view

him as much as an entrepreneur as an educator can possibly be,”

Steward said. “I know what it takes as an entrepreneur myself. I

have such admiration for him.”

By

example, Givens inspires community leaders to push forward and

never give up on their visions, said Alderwoman Kacie Starr

Triplett, who represents the university’s Ward.

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“He has

created the vision and legacy to educate, empower and inspire new

brainpower for our region,” she said.

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In

January, Givens stepped down as the chairman of the Dr. Martin

Luther King, Jr. Statewide Celebration Commission, a position he

held since its inception in 1986. It’s now the second largest

statewide celebration in the nation.

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“That is

the cause of Dr. Givens’ commitment to the process,” said St. Louis

County Executive Charlie Dooley.

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Dooley

also applauds Givens for transforming what was once a one-building

teaching college on the verge of failing in the 1970s to a full

university campus with residence halls, a business school building

and early childhood development/parenting education

center. 

“It’s a

great place to be,” Dooley said. “It makes you feel that someone is

doing something right. It doesn’t get done by itself. He has been a

contributed to the quality of life in the St. Louis

area.” 

Givens

endured and overcame many challenges, particularly in keeping

higher education affordable. Historically, Harris Teachers College

prepared white elementary school teachers for the City’s public

schools and Stowe prepared the black public school teachers. The

two schools merged in 1954, and Givens took his position when the

college had become the newest member to the public higher education

system. 

It takes

someone with unique qualities to build such a great institution

from a modest base, said Donald M. Suggs, publisher of the

St. Louis American

newspaper. 

“His

leadership has been indispensable in bringing to fruition the

dreams he had for Harris Stowe three decades ago,” Suggs said. “He

has been tireless and totally focused.”

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Lea

Sutherlin, executive secretary to the president and secretary to

the board, remembers five years ago when Dr. John E. Moore, Jr.

retired as president of Drury University. Moore sent Givens a card

with a bear on it that said being a university president is

somewhat like dancing with a bear.

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“In the

beginning you have the exhilaration that you’re dancing with a

bear,” she said. “The problem is when you want to sit down; the

bear still wants to dance.”

Every

since he got that card five years ago, Givens would come into

Sutherlin’s office and say “the bear is doing the watusi today or

the bear is doing the twist and I don’t feel like twisting,” she

said. 

“So when

it was time for him to retire,” she said, “he looked at me and

said, “the dance is over.’”