COA Beat DH: In the people who self-select to be here, starting with me, among the faculty and among the students, I think there’s a little bit of inherent suspicion of authority. BHT: Are you suspicious of yourself? DH: Absolutely. Always. For sixty years, I have never thought that trust forms the appropriate basis for a relationship between a citizen and their society. Trust doesn’t enter into it. Verify. Watch power like a hawk. BHT: According to a 2006 COA magazine profile, you told the then-board of trustees in your job interview that you weren’t sure if you wanted the job. Is that true? DH: Well, yeah. I guess it’s kind of interesting now, given that I’m leaving. I’ve never loved a place more. There’s just great joy in this job, most of the time, and it’s worthwhile all of the time. So yeah, I’m quite certain that for the time, it was the right thing for me to do. BHT: So, what’s next? DH: I don’t know… I hope I will have opportunities to contribute in a meaningful way to things that I care about in the future, but I’m not in any position at the moment to comment on what those might be. My focus right now is to wrap up this job with efficiency and dignity and consistency, and make sure that when the next president arrives, he or she will be very happy with what the institution is, and ready to take it to the next step. BHT: Any interest in returning to government? DH: I’m not really interested in any kind of a full-time job. I’ve got three grandchildren who are strangers. I’d like to get to know them. I want to spend more time at the YMCA, or out running, and regain a little bit of, just, personal health. So, no, in the sense of a full-time job, I’d be surprised if somebody enticed me to go on back to doing something for ten or twelve hours a day. I’ve been doing that for fifty years.
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dence Village was completed, Sea Urchin was renovated into the Deering Common Community Center, and the college’s land holdings have increased. As Hales said in an interview with the Bar Harbor Times (see sidebar), “This college is on a roll. It’s very strong right now, and it’s a good point to stop and think, particularly if you’re well into your seventh decade, ‘How long do I want to do this?’ and ‘Would … a new leader with a new set of energy and visions and ideas … take [the college] to the next stage?’ I’m really happy with many of the things we’ve done. I’m not satisfied, but I could stay here twenty years and still be unsatisfied at the end. I don’t think that satisfaction is part of my DNA code.” Reflecting on Hales’ decision, William G. Foulke, Jr., chairman of COA’s board of trustees, said, “David has been remarkable for his clear and focused vision of the college’s strength and potential. It has been a very successful tenure and it is with deep regret that the board anticipates his leaving at the end of this school year.” COA has recently won the New England Board of Higher Education’s Robert J. McKenna Award for the school’s educational innovations, and the Paul Simon Spotlight award from NAFSA: Association of International Educators for its International Environmental Diplomacy work, and moved into the top tier of rankings by US News & World Report. The college also launched two endowed programs, Sustainable Business and Sustainable Food Systems, and a summer program for high school students, Islands Through Time. Hales is COA’s fifth president, coming to the college from a long career seeking environmental change in the public sector, most recently as Counsel for Sustainability Policy to Worldwatch Institute. He directed environmental policy and sustainability programs at the United States Agency for International Development under the Clinton administration and served under President Jimmy Carter as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the US Department of the Interior. Hales has also moderated major international environmental conferences and represented the US in international negotiations. He followed founding faculty member Steven K. Katona, who served as president until June 2006. Plans for a presidential search are underway with the expectation of a new president coming in at the beginning of the 2011–2012 academic year.