MSU’s Susan Cole Helps Others Realize Their Potential

Before You Go

By Jim Pytell, Assistant Editor On Apr 13, 2019

Susan Cole became the eighth president of Montclair State University in 1998, guiding the university’s unprecedented transformation over the past two decades. The university has seen enrollment grow from 12,000 students to more than 21,000 students since Cole became president, making it the second largest institution in New Jersey.

In that time, Montclair has also seen the addition of hundreds of highly qualified faculty, the development of a wide range of new academic programs, the construction of state-of-the-art facilities, Carnegie R2: doctoral university – high research activity designation, the strengthening of its core colleges as well as the addition of entirely new colleges, schools and research centers all contributing to meeting the 21st century educational needs of its students.

“One of the things that a president has to do that no one else in the institution has to do is always be focused on the big picture and the long term,” Cole says. “If the president loses sight of the big picture and the long-term objectives and goals, there is no way the institution can succeed.”

Of course, there’s no success without the help of others either, and Cole says one of her biggest goals as a leader is to help people realize their own potential. “I cannot know everything that the bio-chemist or vice president for university facilities knows, but I can know them and help them use their knowledge better for the whole,” she says.

Montclair State’s transformation is impressive in its own right, but even more so when you consider it has happened during a period of steep decline in state support for higher education.

“A lot of other institutions said, ‘we are not going to grow until they give us the funding to grow,’” says Cole. “I said exactly the opposite. … We grew our enrollment base first and then grew our institution off of that. We grew on our growth.”

The impact of Cole’s leadership also extends beyond her own institution, evidenced by the important role she played in garnering legislative support for a law that enabled state colleges and universities to engage in public-private partnerships to build urgently needed facilities.

“It meant that [we] could build the largest residential project in New Jersey, allowing 2,000 more students to come live on our campus,” Cole says. “In today’s world, I deeply believe in collaboration and partnership. It’s very hard to get anything done on your own because of how expensive and complicated things can be. The public-private partnership is a vital model that will be increasingly used.”

Ultimately, being a leader means bringing the best out of others and Cole hopes that her university can help bring the best out of the next generation of students.

“When a student comes to Montclair State University, I want them to understand much more deeply what their own potential is as a human being and what knowledge will enable them to do in order to fulfill that potential,” Cole says. “I want them to understand the link between knowing, being and doing, so that they can take that to whatever life brings to them.”

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