Goddard College is once again looking for a new leader.
The Plainfield school’s current president, Bernard Bull, will take over at Concordia University Nebraska in August.
“While we are saddened that President Bull will be leaving Goddard, we are grateful for his service across the past two years. Under his leadership, this college has demonstrated its ability to not only survive but also thrive during these turbulent times in higher education,” Gloria Willingham-Touré, the chair of Goddard’s board of trustees, wrote in a letter to the college community this week.
The board anticipates selecting a new president by June, Willingham-Touré said.
Bull came to Goddard two years ago from the Concordia University system, which includes seven private colleges and universities and one satellite campus in the U.S. operated by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. He held a series of administrative and teaching posts at Concordia University Wisconsin from 2006 to 2018, and worked at Lutheran middle and high schools before that in the Midwest.
He said in an interview Thursday that he had not sought the Concordia post, but was recruited to apply. Bull, who is also a graduate of the Concordia system, said a Lutheran education has been a part of his life since childhood.
“It’s the family, the community that’s been there for me through the most difficult challenges in my life. And as much as I care deeply about Goddard and the Goddard community, this other system I have, it’s really a second home for me, and I have just immense gratitude and a sense of calling to give back to that system,” he said.
“Dr. Bull had the unanimous support of the Board of Regents,” Stuart Bartruff, the chair of the Concordia University Nebraska Board of Regents, said in a statement posted to the school’s website. “He expressed a strong desire to return to serving in a Christ-centered Lutheran institution of higher learning. He has a strong commitment to Lutheran theology, and he looks forward to faithfully fulfilling the Concordia University Promises of a Lutheran Education.”
While short, Bull’s tenure at Goddard has been impactful. The college just announced it was once again in good standing with the regional college and university accreditation agency for the region, the New England Commission of Higher Education. Bull took over the school shortly after the accrediting body announced it had placed Goddard on probation, largely over its shaky finances, which are tied to declining enrollment.
The last few years have been disastrous for Vermont’s higher education sector, with a spate of small schools closing as headcounts dwindled.
But Goddard appears to have made it back from the brink, even as it navigated the pandemic.
Though the school will be subject to special monitoring, the New England Commission has granted Goddard a 10-year accreditation. And while total enrollment still remains about half what it was a decade ago, the school this fall matriculated its largest class since 2016.
Fundraising, too, is up, according to Bull. The school collected nearly $1 million in donations last year.
“I care so much about Goddard; I’m so proud of the work that we’ve done. And I believe that its best days are ahead of itself, because of the work we’ve accomplished in the last couple of years together,” he said.
