乐播传媒

On a Sunday afternoon in December, the Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building had become a bustling event venue, as 乐播传媒 leaders sat onstage before hundreds of students, faculty and staff who had put aside studies, holiday errands and football games to meet their next president. Clayton Spencer was backstage, listening for her name 鈥� her cue to come forward.

Interim President Nancy Cable welcomed the throng, followed by Presidential Search Committee co-chair Michael Chu 鈥�80.

And when trustee chair Mike Bonney 鈥�80 wound up his introduction with the simple words, 鈥淲elcome, Clayton Spencer,鈥� she stepped from behind the curtain, smiling, grasping the pages of her speech and ready to greet a crowd eager to know more. A little choked up, she began a new relationship with her new college.

She surveyed the gathering and spoke her first word as president-elect of 乐播传媒 College. 鈥淲ow!鈥�

From her formative upbringing as the daughter of a college president to her innovative policy work at Harvard, Clayton Spencer鈥檚 rise as a U.S. higher education leader culminates in her wow debut as president-elect of 乐播传媒 鈥� and her avowed commitment to leading 乐播传媒 toward a stronger marriage of excellence and opportunity.

Made for the job

Ava Clayton Spencer was born in December 1954 to Samuel and Ava Spencer in Concord, N.C.

鈥淚 grew up as the daughter of a college president. I used to sneak across campus to watch commencements as a kid,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淒inner conversation was about the issues facing the college.鈥�

Previously president of Mary Baldwin College, Sam Spencer began his 15-year tenure as president of Davidson College in 1968. By then, those dinnertime topics included the Vietnam War, civil rights, coeducation (Davidson was still all male) and fraternities.

That wasn鈥檛 all: in the city of Charlotte and surrounding Mecklenburg County, the landmark busing case Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education was heading to the Supreme Court.

鈥淏ecause we were in a small town in North Carolina, guests of the college would stay with us or have a meal. I was a teenager by then, and I鈥檇 gone from listening to the adults from a window seat in the living room, to wanting a seat at the table and attending the various talks and lectures at the college. I soaked up everything.鈥�

Fatherly advice

鈥淲hat I learned from my father,鈥� Clayton Spencer says, 鈥渁nd what I鈥檝e learned and relearned throughout life, is that whatever you鈥檙e doing, you have to be authentically you.鈥� Samuel Reid Spencer Jr. served as president of Davidson College, his alma mater, from 1968 to 1983.

The road to the presidency

Spencer studied history and German at Williams College, making her the second 乐播传媒 president to have a bachelor鈥檚 from there, after T. Hedley Reynolds, Williams 鈥�42. She then read theology at Oxford University and earned a master鈥檚 in the study of religion at Harvard.

She is the first to have a law degree, from Yale.

Of her decision to not seek a doctorate in religion, she says that she 鈥渨anted a life that combined ideas and action, and therefore landed at Yale for law school. I was able to do the kind of conceptual thinking I love, while staying engaged in the facts on the ground. That dialectic, between ideas and facts on the ground, has informed my life ever since.鈥�

Power from dialectical poles

鈥淭he field of religion fundamentally deals intellectually and morally with contradictions. How do you stay optimistic when you know that you鈥檙e going to die, when you know that bad things are going to happen to good people?

鈥淩eligion takes on these contradictions, placing you between the poles of the contradiction and making you think dynamically about finding a way forward. Dialectical thinking is how I move through practical problems. It鈥檚 the furniture of my mind.鈥�

A lesson from Ted Kennedy

Speaking of 鈥減oles of contradiction,鈥� Spencer tells a story about working on Capitol Hill for the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, as chief education counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, which Kennedy chaired.

鈥淚 first met the senator when we were trying to pass direct lending for student loans, moving from a guarantee-agency system to funding directly from the federal government to colleges. I wrote a memo about how we were going to move 100 percent to direct lending in one fell swoop.

鈥淚 was called in to meet with the senator. He sat in his well-worn leather armchair. And he said, 鈥楥layton, I鈥檝e read your memo. It鈥檚 a really smart memo. Why don鈥檛 you take a walk with me down the hall?鈥�

鈥淗e took me to the office of Jim Jeffords, then a Republican senator from Vermont before he went independent. Jeffords was the swing vote on the committee. He said, 鈥楯im, my new education staffer here thinks this direct-lending thing is going to go through, no problem, at the markup next week. Can you tell her how many votes you have on the Republican side?鈥�

鈥淛effords said, 鈥榃ell, Ted, I鈥檝e got one or two on my side, but you ought to be more worried about your side. You don鈥檛 have a majority of the Democrats yet.鈥�

鈥淭he senator walked me back, and he said, 鈥榃e鈥檒l give it several weeks, we鈥檒l work it and then we鈥檒l get this done.鈥� That was how I was introduced to getting things done on Capitol Hill: It takes more than smart memos to win the day.鈥�

The ideal persuader

鈥淭he Senate is a culture of persuasion, as is a college campus,鈥� Spencer says.

鈥淪en. Kennedy cared passionately about ideals, but he knew that ideals were sterile unless you could somehow put them into action. He was one of the most productive legislators in U.S. history because he knew when to hold 鈥檈m and when to fold 鈥檈m.鈥�

Given Kennedy鈥檚 stature and power, Spencer, in effect, was chief education counsel for not just the committee but 鈥渢he entire Senate and the country,鈥� says Nick Littlefield, former Kennedy chief of staff.

鈥淐layton was a leader. She could master the substance of any issue; she could build the bipartisan alliances to get the initiative passed; and she could communicate the objective and details of the initiative in a charismatically persuasive way.

鈥淪he was one of the most respected staff directors I鈥檝e ever known.鈥�

Getting things done

Spencer joined Harvard in February 1997 as a consultant for federal policy issues. The following year, she was appointed associate vice president for higher education policy reporting to the President, and in 2005 she rose to the new position of vice president for policy.

Working directly with four different Harvard presidents, Spencer became known for her collaborative approach, effectiveness in getting things done and passionate commitment to access and affordability.

Of her involvement in various university-wide initiatives, from a task force on the advancement and support of women in academic life to the role of the arts and international strategy, Spencer is especially proud of her part in three projects at Harvard:

鈥� The merger of Harvard and Radcliffe College and the subsequent transformation of Radcliffe into an institute for advanced study;

鈥� The redesign and dramatic expansion of Harvard鈥檚 financial aid program;

鈥� The creation of the Crimson Summer Academy for academically talented high school students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.

鈥淚 learned a great deal by observing a variety of leadership styles,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he most basic lesson is this: Effective leadership is based on persuasion, not on hierarchy or on one鈥檚 position on an organizational chart. Leadership is most effective when you bring cooperative work to bear on solving hard problems.

鈥淚 believe this is one of the most fun things to do in life. You take on a hard problem, get the best thinkers around the table, invite the great ideas and then move toward actual, concrete outcomes. In my experience, achieving a unity of ideas and action will motivate the entire community and propel an institution forward.鈥�

Turning crimson

Her highly effective yet low-key style caught the attention of The Harvard Crimson, which in 2008 published a profile headlined 鈥淩ight-Hand Woman.鈥�

鈥�…[C]olleagues say she studiously avoids imperiousness,鈥� wrote Clifford Marks, now a reporter for the National Journal. 鈥淔ellow trustees of Williams College, on whose board she has served for five years, say that Spencer is an exceedingly modest 鈥榗oalition-builder,鈥� experienced in organizing support in the ego-dominated halls of both Washington and Cambridge. 鈥業t鈥檚 not Clayton鈥檚 style to hold herself out as 鈥淚 know more than you do,鈥濃�� said Williams trustee Michael Keating. 鈥楽he鈥檚 very careful to say, 鈥淏ased on what I know, I have this point of view.鈥濃�欌��

The Gomes connection

Spencer says she was 鈥渧ery privileged鈥� to work at Harvard with the late Rev. Peter Gomes 鈥�65 in his role as the Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church.

鈥淧eter had such rich and contradictory gifts, and you saw them all in a dynamic blend that was enormously powerful.

鈥淚 was introduced to 乐播传媒 in part through Peter鈥檚 love for the college. Peter wrote in one of his later books, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, that Jesus 鈥榳ants us to live in the full implications of our human gifts.鈥� That鈥檚 a pretty interesting way to encapsulate the essence of the liberal arts, and the 乐播传媒 experience as well.

鈥淐learly that鈥檚 a lesson he took very seriously and deeply.鈥�

Coming to the party

鈥淚n the course catalog, you describe yourselves as a community of people who love 鈥榠deas, artistic expression, good talk and great books.鈥� Who wouldn鈥檛 want to be at that party?

鈥淲hen I read the presidential prospectus, I was blown away by 乐播传媒. It was love at first sight. Any college that leads its mission statement with an affirmation of the 鈥榚mancipating potential of the liberal arts鈥� is a place I want to be.

鈥淭hen there鈥檚 the fact that from your earliest beginnings, 乐播传媒 welcomed women and African Americans into the full standing of the scholarly community, at a time when that simply wasn鈥檛 done. I love a place that does what is right, rather than what is expected.

鈥淎nother quality that comes through loud and clear is the lack of pretension, that sense of being down to earth, having an authentic way of moving through the world. And that suits me to a T.鈥�

Adding to the allure is the college鈥檚 place in the state of Maine and the city of Lewiston. 鈥淚 find this state fascinating and I respect its reserve 鈥� the fact that it鈥檚 hard to crack.鈥�

What鈥檚 fun?

鈥淢ovies 鈥� all kinds. Solving hard problems with smart people. Basketball. Arugula salads. Being a mom [daughter Ava Carter is a Harvard junior; son Will Carter is working on Wall Street with a degree from NYU]. Good friends. Catching up with James Reese, a 10th-grade classmate!鈥�

Not what we have, but what we do

鈥淥ne of the legacies of the 2008 financial crisis is that we can no longer, in our society, equate wealth with excellence in higher education. But 乐播传媒 knew that long ago: 乐播传媒 was founded on the idea that it鈥檚 less about what we have and much more about what we do. That is tremendously appealing to me.

鈥淭he important thing for us now is to make sure that 乐播传媒 is delivering on the liberal arts model as much as we say we are, and to make sure that the value added in this experience is worth the price.鈥�

Win, at some cost

鈥淚 am simple-minded. My view is that in athletics, as in everything else, it鈥檚 not worth doing unless you do it with the same commitment to rigor and excellence that you apply in other fields.鈥�

Take cake, forget humble pie

鈥淚 know 乐播传媒 is famous for being humble, but I hope now that the college can step up and claim its excellence and rigor. 乐播传媒 is doing important work in shaping a direction for the liberal arts in this new century. You see it in the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, in the general education curriculum, and in the ongoing commitment both to individual and collaborative work for theses and capstone projects.

鈥淭o my mind, 乐播传媒 is poised to be a leader in transforming the liberal arts for today鈥檚 world.鈥�

Knowledge and wisdom

鈥淕iven the welter of information and stimuli that confront people today, it is important to give students a framework of values and knowledge that can lead to wisdom that will guide them in life.鈥�

Obligation to democracy

鈥淓ducation is the key to the American dream. Ideally, it provides individual opportunity to talented students, whatever their backgrounds, and creates the educated citizenry that is essential to a healthy democracy and civil society. Unless higher education marries excellence and opportunity, it is not doing its job. It鈥檚 an old-fashioned idea, but it鈥檚 never been more important than it is today.鈥�

Passion and tools

鈥淚 think we need the courage of our convictions about the liberal arts experience. It鈥檚 not the right option for everyone, but at its best, it teaches young people to harmonize their passions with rigorous intellectual training and to take a sense of creativity and possibility out into the world to serve purposes larger than themselves.鈥�