[G]oddard College’s next president will come to the Green Mountain State by way of Wisconsin.
The Plainfield school announced Tuesday that Bernard Bull, currently the vice provost for curriculum and innovation at Concordia University Wisconsin, will become Goddard’s newest leader on Nov. 1.
“We are thrilled Bernard Bull will be Goddard’s next President. He is uniquely positioned to lead the College into an exciting new era. He brings particular skills to this work including administrative experience and scholarship on educational alternatives and the future of learner-centered, learner-driven, adult education,” Jill Mattuck Tarule, the chair of the board of trustees, said in a statement.
Bull is a frequent speaker, consultant and blogger on the subject of education reform at the K-12 level and in higher education. He has also written several books, including the titles “Missional Moonshots: Insight & Inspiration in Educational Innovation,” and “What Really Matters: Ten Critical Issues in Contemporary Education.”
“Many in education talk about learner agency and there are certainly promising practices elsewhere, but what I love about Goddard College is that concepts like learner agency are woven in the fabric of the college, showing up in shared practices,” Bull said in a statement.
CUW is a private liberal arts college in Mequon, Wisconsin, and an affiliate of the nine-member Concordia University System operated by the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.
Bull takes the helm during a difficult moment in Goddard’s history. The small, non-traditional school has seen its enrollment nearly halve in the course of a decade. Its accreditors, the New England Commission of Higher Education, were set to visit the campus this fall to check in on whether the school was on solid financial ground.
He will take over for Acting President Steven James, who stepped in on a temporary basis when then-president Robert Kenny announced last year, after four-and-half years at the helm, that he would not seek to renew his contract. James is also currently serving as Goddard’s interim academic dean and chief academic officer, and will stay in that role after Nov. 1.
Goddard is known for its low-residency programing, and a statement from the college touted Bull’s experience expanding low-residency and online adult education initiatives while at CUW.
Bull has a Doctor of Education in Instructional Technology from Northern Illinois University, a Master of Liberal Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Master of Arts from Concordia University-River Forest and a Bachelor of Arts from Concordia University-Wisconsin.
