INTERNATIONAL ISSUE 2012
Leadership LETTERS A publication of The Ronald W. Reagan Leadership Program
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VISION & VOICE > Dr. J. David Arnold
PRESIDENT MIKHAIL GORBACHEV CONVOCATION SPEECH > With a student Q&A follow up
PROFILES IN LEADERSHIP: Former & Current Reagan Fellows > Sarah Lunt Ewart & Aaron Case
POLICY POINTS: On Great Leadership > Henry R. Nau
PRACTICE POINTS: Developing Tomorrow’s Global Leaders > Dr. Michael Thurwanger
THE MARK R. SHENKMAN REAGAN RESEARCH CENTER
Managing Editor J. David Arnold Writers Brittnay Darby, Kelly Gschwend Copy Editor Michele Lehman Art Director Malone Sizelove Leadership Letters A Publication of Eureka College and The Ronald W. Reagan Leadership Program, is published through The Ronald W. Reagan Society of Eureka College. ©2012 Eureka College, Eureka, Illinois 61530.
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VISION& Voice Eureka College President
> Dr. J. David Arnold
Dear Friends,
Welcome to this international issue of Leadership Letters: A Publication of the
Ronald W. Reagan Leadership Program at Eureka College. Through an examination of Mikhail Gorbachev’s remarks about Reagan as his partner in peace and other topical articles, this issue will address the role of international and global perspectives on the development of leadership in college students. For example, how did a residential liberal arts college surrounded by cornfields prepare Ronald (Dutch) Wilson Reagan, who also was raised in rural Midwestern communities, to become a world leader? Are the leadership lessons he learned at Eureka College still relevant for young people today as they prepare to face contemporary international challenges? How are opportunities for international leadership lessons embedded in the Reagan Leadership Program at Eureka College?
At the Reagan and the Midwest conference held at Eureka in January 2011, historian Andrew Cayton discussed the ethos of early 20th Century Midwestern rural town culture whereby the goal of public discourse situated in Main Street institutions was to persuade others of the virtue of your point of view through face-to-face communication and effective argumentation. Does Cayton’s Midwestern historical illustration create a parallel to the factors in-play at a face-to-face international summit meeting between two powerful world leaders in the late 20th Century? Taken together, the articles in this international issue of Leadership Letters demonstrate the virtue of studying the development of leadership in a great world leader and extrapolating these findings to programs designed to cultivate exceptional leadership in the next generation of world leaders—an approach that we at Eureka College call “ReaganForward.” In 1982, when President Reagan lent his name to establish a new leadership program at Eureka College, it was with the understanding that graduates would “lead and serve” in their communities and the world by applying leadership lessons forged from the integration of liberal arts coursework and international placements called mentorships. Indeed, Reagan believed that in addition to lessons learned in college classrooms, learning by doing, or applied learning, especially in international settings, was an essential component of the Reagan Leadership Program at Eureka College. Yours in ReaganForward,
J. David Arnold, Ph.D. President
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FEATURE STORY
President Mikhail Gorbachev Convocation at Eureka College Friday, March 27, 2009 Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visited Eureka College, the alma mater of his partner in peace, Ronald Wilson Reagan, on March 27, 2007. During his campus visit, President Gorbachev toured both the Reagan Museum and the Peace Garden that contains a section of the Berlin Wall. The following remarks by Mr. Gorbachev were delivered at an academic convocation in his honor just after he received an honorary degree from Eureka College. 4
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Now, let me say a few words here to you at this moment of this celebration. I would like to thank you. I would like to thank the College—the College that is associated with the name of my partner, President Reagan, with whom we had to work together in order to respond to the challenge of stopping the nuclear arms race, of saving the world for new generations, for new generations and their children… We have just visited the Ronald Reagan Museum, and that reminded me of many things that we did together. IT SO HAPPENED that when President Reagan was starting his second presidential term, just a few months after the inauguration on March 11, 1985, I was elected General Secretary of the CPS and Central Committee. This word sounds very big, but it doesn’t mean that much now. That was the highest supreme position in the old Soviet Union. I don’t know at whose wish and at whose direction, it just so happened historically that there was an intersection of two careers. President Reagan, who by that time had an established reputation as a hawk, wanted to conclude his political career as a man of peace, as a peacemaker. He needed a partner, and the changes that happened in the Soviet Union at the very top of the Soviet Government produced an opportunity for him, and certainly for me as well. President Reagan is exactly 20 years older than I am. I appreciated that and took a very respectful attitude toward him. But a President is a President, and both of us as leaders were responsible to our nations and, given the fact that those were such super powers, we were responsible to the world. We remained human beings— that’s very important. That gave us a chance later to chart the road to peace.
And as I have said, my very first meeting with the President, the beginnings of our first meeting, was not very promising. After my first private talk with President Reagan, that’s when we returned to our own delegations, my colleagues asked me what was my impression of him. (And by the way, before that, for six years there hadn’t been a single summit between the Soviet Union and America.) At a time when it was so important to take positions on the challenges that we were facing, the leaders of the two single powers had not met for six years. So when my colleagues asked me of my impression of President Reagan, I said, “He is a real dinosaur.” I still cannot explain the choice of words. Well, that was the established—the preferred—view of President Reagan. President Reagan was asked a similar question by the members of his delegation what he thought about me and he said, “Gorbachev is a diehard Bolshevik.” But two days after that first meeting, during which we had meetings, we got together, we took walks, we discussed things sitting at the fireside, there was an expectation that we would be able to perhaps open some doors—maybe only a window. But
two days afterwards, and I think that was the result perhaps of our intuition, we were able to start getting along. I felt that we would get along. And as I said, two days later, we adopted a joint statement in which we said that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought. And I thought that it is important today here to mention it here in the College that is associated with the name of Ronald Reagan. Yes, we were able to cover a lot of ground. It was difficult as both of us were men of principle. Based on the new vision, on the new appreciation of the realities that we were facing, on the analysis of the situation and on the danger that we, all of us—the entire planet could one day become a victim of a nuclear war—based on all of that, based on the understanding of what’s most important for all of us, we were able to draw certain conclusions—to come to certain conclusions. I recently asked George Shultz—the Secretary of State who worked with the President, when he was visiting me at the Gorbachev Foundation—about what happened. I said that it is still difficult to fully evaluate what happened during those years.
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President Reagan was a man of conviction. He was a man of values and a person who has his own views and who is deeply religious. There can be many things that can be said about Ronald Reagan.
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All of us were surrounded with all kinds of problems, with all kinds of commitments and with a lot of suspicion and mistrust to transcend all of that. It’s incredible that we were able to do it. I’m still, I say, “amazed.” I am perhaps more amazed now than before that we were able to pull it off and I asked George, “Was there any other American leader other than Reagan who could have done that? Who could have reciprocated our initiative, who could have met us halfway?” After a moment, Shultz answered, “No. There was no other person at that time who could have done that.” President Reagan was a man of conviction. He was a man of values and a person who has his own views and who is deeply religious. There can be many things that can be said about Ronald Reagan. I was a very different person but we were able to pull it off. I think that today, standing here, here in the place where Ronald Reagan spent several years,
where he studied, where I understand he took part in 14 amateur performances, plays—and by the way, he continued to be an actor, and so when I was asked how I reacted to the famous speech in which President Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” standing at the Berlin Wall, what was the impression, people asked. I said, “Well, very honestly, very honestly, that did not impress us that much because we knew that—we never forgot that—President Reagan’s initial career was as an actor.” Of course, today we can joke and laugh, but when all is said and done, he was a great man. I am ready to say that because it was he alone who could do that as a leader of his country and as a person bearing tremendous responsibility for this nation of great diversity. Once again, thank you. I wish the students to continue on the path of knowledge—on the path that was taken by that great man and by other people who were mentioned here and who made a great contribution to your country by addressing the problems that your country is facing.”
Eureka College students were given the opportunity to ask President Gorbachev questions after he completed his formal remarks. The following are some of the questions President Gorbachev was asked and his responses. How did President Reagan change your view of the United States and Americans? I would say that I saw in President Reagan a partner. We said that we don’t want to play games—gambits—that we don’t want to deceive the United States. When this was repeated many times and when this was reinforced by specific steps—first of all President Reagan started to change, his view changed. I think both of us remained committed to our values. As political leaders, we both understood that we could cooperate. I remember a meeting with President Reagan at which he started to, what I felt, lecture me. I had to stop him. I said, “Mr. President, you are not a teacher and I am not a student. And even less so, you are not a prosecutor and I am not the accused. If you want to work together to chart the road to the future, then, we can do it, but only if we work as equals and only if our cooperation is that of equals.” He said, “Well, you misunderstood me.” I was grateful that I had a chance to say what I had to say and that kind of lecturing never repeated itself, never happened again. Then a few days later, he said, “Call me Ron and I’ll call you Mikhail, is that okay?” The human side was very important.
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People ask me often about that human side. Well, it was an evolving relationship and our trust emerged gradually. Of course, there was also the work of our diplomats—of our experts and various others who worked on the relationship. But I think that the starting point is the human relationship—establishing a normal human relationship—and that was accomplished. The next President, President Bush, in his memoirs—those of you who read those memoirs remember—that he said Gorbachev was a difficult negotiator but whenever we agreed on something, we knew that everything would be fulfilled, everything would
be implemented. So it’s those things. It’s that kind of atmosphere and that kind of work that created an influence. I don’t know who influenced more. It’s dialogue—sometimes contentious dialogue. It showed me that we can work together, that we can cooperate and that I could rely—that I could depend on—the President’s word. Americans took time looking at Gorbachev and we were trying to stimulate them. President Reagan, I knew, wanted to change the situation, but he too was worried about making a mistake. He was taking tremendous criticism from many, including some people very close to him. There is this recent book about President Reagan by James Mann that describes this. I learned a great deal about what he was facing. So I think that both of us learned. Both of us understood with time that we could work together on the most important issues because there was trust between the two of us and our dialogue, our discussions and our work together gave us the chance to get along. President Reagan often noted that he based many of his decisions and policies on his Christian faith. What moral convictions led to your decision to take on 70 years of structure and tradition to bring revolutionary change to the Soviet Union and is there a faith component to them? Well, I have said in my remarks what motivated me to start the process of change. Above all, it was the widespread demand in our society for change. It was somewhat similar to the demand for change in the recent elections in this country. I had grown up in my country. I was looking at the situation and I saw that our people, who had gone through several revolutions, collectivization, industrialization, the War, they needed— they wanted—a more dignified situation. They wanted to live and to grow their children and to build a future in a different way. So, responding to that was the most important source of what I did and of the decisions that I took. And, of course, in our country, we had both believers and nonbelievers. All of the world’s principal religions are represented and all of them supported the process of Perestroika. In 1990, I gathered the religious leaders together in the Kremlin. They were sitting at the same table as the Politburo—as the country’s leadership. And I said, “Let us write a law about freedom of conscience, about freedom of religion in our country.” And that law was adopted. What was the most memorable interaction between you and President Reagan and is there anything that you would change about your work together? I wouldn’t change anything. It looked like we had a failure at Reykjavik, but that’s a very superficial evaluation of Reykjavik. When the meeting ended, the President was very somber, very unhappy, because I had refused to agree to the document that was being discussed about the reduction of nuclear weapons because I disagreed with the Strategic Defense Initiative. The American side, the U.S. side, said to the press that the Reykjavik summit was a failure. Forty minutes later I had my own press conference that was attended by 1,000 reporters, and when I entered the room and looked at their faces, I saw that all of them were shocked. It had seemed that we would be able to conclude our summit on a positive note with positive results and then they heard from the American delegation that the Reykjavik summit had been a failure. I told them what had happened in Reykjavik, and I said, “This is not a
failure; this is a breakthrough. We have seen that an agreement is possible. An agreement is possible.” The SDI was a different subject and I turned out to be right. A few months later we started the process of nuclear arms reduction. We destroyed INF missiles and continued that process. Ronald Reagan once said that everything good in his life began here, speaking of Eureka College. How does it make you feel to visit this place and is there a similar person, place or institution to which you would give the same credit? Moscow University is that place—my alma mater. Without the knowledge, the education that I received there, without a chance to spend time in Moscow, for a person from the heartland of Russia who had never seen Moscow—when I was going to Moscow University that was the first time in my life that I had taken a train—so the opportunity that made it possible for me, I think, set in motion all that was inherent in me as a person. I owe the University all of that. Not only the University, but also I owe a great deal to my family—to my father and mother, to my grandfather also—particularly my maternal grandfather. They had a tremendous influence on me. I was a really convinced communist. When I was in high school, I became a member of the communist party and I wrote an essay, a high school essay, about Stalin. I saw today President Reagan’s essay that he wrote here at this College. I graduated with honors from high school and my essay received an “A.” That opened the road for me to the University. University, I think, opened for me the path not only to a profession, but to the world. So I’m grateful to my University. I then later studied in the school of economics. I always wanted to study. My parents were barely literate. No one ever controlled me but I controlled myself. Remember that—no outside control, no coercion will do it, even the student body cannot make you do anything if you don’t want to. What makes a great leader? Life.
What do you want most to be remembered for? I reply to this question always the same way. History is a fickle lady. I would like for history to be able to say that this person certainly tried, he certainly tried to do something good, something important. He certainly tried to work for the people and this is indeed what I am still trying to do.
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profiles in Leadership
Former & Current Reagan Fellows > SARAH LUNT EWART & AARON CASE
SARAH LUNT EWART
discovered Eureka College along with the Ronald W. Reagan Leadership Program when she was a high school junior, living in Ohio. After receiving mail from the college, Sarah and her parents decided to visit the campus, and were impressed with the faculty, the small community, and the multiple opportunities available. Sarah’s Eureka College experiences included spending a summer at Sophia University in Tokyo, participating in a United Nations World Conference in Beijing, China, completing several internships in Washington, D.C., and traveling to New York City and Washington, D.C. with the Reagan Fellows. Sarah even met Ronald and Nancy Reagan. After graduating with honors and a B.A. in History in 1996, Sarah went to the London School of Economics, in London UK, where she completed a master’s in international development studies. Upon completion, Sarah worked in Washington, D.C. as a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Realizing that she needed practical experience working in developing countries (rather than just from academic training reading about poverty in books), she joined the U.S. Peace Corps. For two years, Sarah lived in a small, rural Senegalese village, where she worked primarily as a health volunteer, focusing heavily on malaria prevention. At that
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time, malaria was the leading cause of death in Senegal, primarily in children under five. Sarah discovered her passion for global health through her work in the small rural village. It has been her most rewarding experience so far. Upon returning to the U.S., Sarah moved to Seattle, where she worked as a Program Officer for four years at a non-profit global health organization called PATH in a program called the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), contributing to the future development and delivery of the world’s first malaria vaccine. In early 2007, she left PATH to start her own consulting firm, working primarily in the area of global health with an emphasis on supporting the research and development of new products for neglected diseases. Sarah is currently a Senior Program Officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Policy & Advocacy Team. Sarah leads and implements the foundation’s strategy to increase global financing to develop new global health technologies such as drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics. Eureka College and the Reagan Leadership Program shaped the person Sarah is today. “Eureka College offered a well-rounded liberal arts education with personal attention from professors made possible by small class sizes,” Sarah said. “That experience, complemented by summer internships, provided opportunities that eventually led me to where I am today.” When asked what her biggest accomplishment is so far, she says, “…being the mother of two bright and special daughters,” who are 6 and 3. As for her biggest professional accomplishment, “That story is still to be written.”
— Kelly Gschwend
Aaron’s mentorship in Bitburg had him working in a hospital, in the cardiology and internal medicine departments, where he was responsible for drawing blood, setting up IVs, assisting with surgeries, and admitting and stabilizing patients. While in Germany, Aaron also explored a Bitburg cemetery where Reagan had once visited to pay his respects to the young men who had died in the the World Wars. Aaron also traveled to Berlin where he saw a display of pictures of all the world leaders who helped increase freedom in eastern Germany, including one of Reagan. “It was amazing to see all of the things dedicated to Reagan in Germany, and to see his impact from across the world,” Aaron said. “I think it is the nature of Eureka students to contribute to the world in the same way that he did.” Although Aaron thoroughly enjoyed his experiences in Germany, he said that he found his true calling when he traveled to El Salvador. He worked in the orthopedics and traumatology departments in a hospital in El Salvador where he was on site for 36 hours per week, assisted with six surgeries, made braces, made orders for x-rays, and aided with various emergencies including car accidents and gunshot wounds.
AARON CASE
Growing up, watched his mother—an immigrant from El Salvador—learn English by watching former President Ronald Reagan speak on television. “At that time, the people of El Salvador were being oppressed,” Aaron said. “My mom wrote to Reagan, urging him to help her people. He replied to my mom by writing her a personal letter, and that was when I first knew he was a great man.” It was only appropriate then that Case follow in the footsteps of Reagan’s legacy, attending his alma mater and earning the four-year full-tuition scholarship known as the Reagan Fellowship. Aaron is currently pursuing degrees in pre-medicine and chemistry at Eureka College. The Reagan Fellowship program has also given Aaron the opportunities to have mentorships abroad in places such as Bitburg, Germany and his mother’s native homeland of El Salvador.
Beyond the educational experiences that Aaron gained while in El Salvador, he was also touched by the suffering people that he saw. “I witnessed poverty and a calling for help in the area,” he said. “People are literally living in tin houses. I wish I could have helped these people, and added more of a service component to my mentorship.” Case has since committed to try and return to El Salvador every year to volunteer in the poorer parts of the country. “Being abroad helps you realize that the world is bigger than Eureka, Illinois,” he explained. “You come to realize that you can make such a big impact in the lives of others.” Aaron is currently applying to medical schools, both in and out of state. He intends to pursue his medical degree with a specialization in orthopedics.
— Brittany Darby
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POLICYpoints. points. with Henry R. Nau
G
Henry Nau, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, The George Washington University
REAT LEADERSHIP THAT INSPIRES
AND IMPROVES HUMAN LIFE is a rare commodity. It comes along maybe once or twice a century. In my generation it came along in the presidency of Ronald Reagan. I have no doubt that when the partisan dust settles, Ronald Reagan will join the pantheon of America’s great presidents. What makes a great leader? Great challenges do. But great leaders are made from the inside as well as from the outside.
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GREAT LEADERS HAVE GONE BEYOND THEMSELVES. THEY DON’T GO INTO PUBLIC SERVICE Two personal characteristics stand out. Great leaders have gone beyond themselves. They don’t go into public service to find them-
TO FIND THEMSELVES. THEY HAVE NOTHING
selves. They have nothing to prove. They pos-
TO PROVE.
sess supreme self-confidence and do not need to succeed in order to validate their worth or purpose in life. They focus on what they need
A similar moment came in November 1982. The
to do, not what they need to become.
U.S. and world economy were still deep in the doldrums, and daily street protests in Europe
Second, great leaders succeed by making
threatened to undermine NATO missile deploy-
other people believe that the people them-
ments to counter the Soviet Union. My boss, the
selves are the leaders. They don’t drive their
National Security Adviser, visited Reagan pri-
followers; they make those followers feel
vately. “Mr. President, what should we do? Do
indispensable and themselves responsible for
we need a Plan B?” After some discussion and
the ideas and actions that are needed.
thought, Reagan replied: “No, fellows, we’re on the right track. I think things will turn around here
Ronald Reagan possessed these attributes in
shortly, and if they don’t, I go back to the ranch
spades. Three observations make the point.
in 1984. How bad can that be?” Here was a great leader, granite-like completely at rest with him-
I met Ronald Reagan for the first time in a
self and his policies.
private gathering on Pennsylvania Avenue in spring 1980. Reagan listened attentively as pol-
Reagan was right. Within six months the U.S.
icy advisers gave him advice, and at the end
economy started to roll, and within a year NATO
of the session, he looked at us and said: “I do
deployed intermediate range missiles in Europe,
not want you to focus on the politics. I have
the turning point in the Cold War according to
other advisers doing that. I want you to focus
Reagan’s Secretary of State, George Shultz. Rea-
on the policies we need to pursue to straighten
gan’s policies went on to win the Cold War. Yet
this country out once we move into that little
one of the enduring mysteries of the man is that
White House down the street. Then he sat back
he let others underestimate him and take the
pensively for a moment and continued with a
credit. He had a genius for insinuating his ideas
big grin on his face: “And if we don’t get into
into the minds of others and leading them to be-
that little White House down the street, who
lieve they had the ideas in the first place. They all
needs it at my age?” The room broke up. It was
thought they were his tutors but he was instead
a great leader’s way of saying, “Look, I’m not in
doing what great leaders do, persuading them to
this for me; I’m in this for the country.”
persuade themselves to follow him.
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PRACTICE points. ONE OF THE HALLMARKS OF THE RONALD W. REAGAN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM has been its tradition on mentorships with an international emphasis. In this year alone, Fellows have traveled and worked with leaders across five continents, including health professionals in Africa, Asia and Central America; military, not-for-profit and business leaders in Europe and North America; as well as educators in South America. For many of our Fellows, the international experiences here serve as their first opportunity to travel, explore and gain personal insight into foreign cultures. All Fellows begin their international journey during a week-long trip near the end of their freshman year. This group trip serves several purposes, including Dr. Michael Thurwanger, Director of The Ronald W. Reagan Leadership Program at Eureka College
a first opportunity for international travel, and for most an initial experience in overcoming language challenges. These first-year students are given an active role in researching and planning ground transportation, tours and the week’s agenda. While traveling, there is a conscious effort to tie travel and educational opportunities back to campus learning. Tours and cultural events are selected to offer new experiences in food, entertainment, as well as exposure to arts and antiquities through museum and gallery tours. At the same time, students are allowed ample time to explore major cities on their own in small groups, to interact with local citizens, and to develop self-assurance and selfreliance in their own travel abilities. The confidence gained through this initial experience carries on to the two funded mentorships provided through the Reagan Leadership Program. Typically, Fellows seek one of their mentorship experiences somewhere in the U.S., often with a leader in a field related to their academic major and career aspirations. And the second mentorship is often with a leader, organization or institution in another country. This international experience opens new doors and cultural perspectives essential to those preparing to lead in today’s global society.
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The Ronald W. Reagan Leadership Program | DEVELOPING TOMORROW’S GLOBAL LEADERS > Dr. MICHAEL L. THURWANGER
Robert Greenleaf emphasized that the role of the
their experiences, the lessons learned and their applications to
effective servant leader is to “foresee the unfore-
leadership in general and to their personal leadership journey
seeable, to anticipate and embark on an informed
specifically. Beyond personal discernment, Fellows are re-
vision that often entails strategic risk.” For our Rea-
quired to prepare and deliver formal presentations before vari-
gan Fellows, the challenges of leadership will entail
ous groups on campus. Most recently, Reagan Fellows as well
the ability to lead effectively in the complexities
as our Sandifer Fellows have been encouraged to create and
of multi-cultural organizations and global settings.
regularly update a personal blog to share their travels and keep
Their ability to anticipate challenges and opportu-
a “real time” diary to document their experiences. The leader-
nities in these settings will rely on their sensitivity
ship program has begun to use this as yet another vehicle for
to and awareness of the complexities of working in
sharing the benefits of these international mentorships with
such a diverse environment. Leaders have an ethical
other Reagan Fellows as well as members of the Eureka College
responsibility to prepare themselves—developing
community. Future plans will likely result in expanded public
skills, knowledge and awareness of the environment
access to these blog entries and presentations.
in which they serve. International travel and education is critical to today’s preparation of tomorrow’s leaders.
Within the Reagan Leadership Program we don’t define the path of leadership to be followed by our Fellows, but we do aspire to provide broad preparation that will serve them well
To confirm the critical importance of developing
in their leadership journey likely to carry them across a wide
this awareness and the knowledge that accompa-
variety of challenges. The international and cross-cultural
nies it, we need look no further than the program’s
emphasis that has been a part of the Reagan Leadership
namesake. In his dealings with the Soviet Union and
Program from its inception is a critical component in our effort
specifically with President Gorbachev, Ronald Rea-
to develop servant leaders who are prepared to make a differ-
gan displayed a confidence in his own values and
ence on a global scale.
convictions but he based that confidence on his awareness of the culture of the Soviet countries and the challenges faced by the people under its rule. On Eureka’s campus, we seek to leverage the benefits of knowledge gained through these international experiences by requiring Reagan Fellows as well as other students fortunate enough to benefit from international study to share their insights and the knowledge gained from those
FPO
travels with others on campus. Reagan Fellows are required to write a personal reflection on
Fellows from the class of 2014 visited NATO Headquarters during their freshman trip to Brussels, Belgium.
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The Mark R. Shenkman
Reagan Research Center at Eureka College During the 2011 Reagan Centennial Year, Eureka completed the construction of the Mark R. Shenkman Reagan Research Center and College Archives in Melick Library on the Eureka campus—a facility that then Governor Reagan dedicated in 1967. The Center will eventually house every volume ever written about former U.S. President Ronald W. Reagan, a 1932 graduate of Eureka College, and issues related to Reagan’s leadership legacy from economics to world affairs. The generous benefactor, Mr. Shenkman, met John Morris, the Director of Development for the Reagan Society at Eureka College, at a George Washington University event—the institution where both Shenkman and Morris earned their degrees. Learning that Shenkman was a Reagan fan, Morris invited Shenkman to visit campus. “During his campus visit, Mr. Shenkman was very enthusiastic as he learned more and more about the formative years of young “Dutch” Reagan on campus at Eureka,” said Eureka College President J. David Arnold. According to Eureka College’s Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations, Mike Murtagh, Mr. Shenkman is very involved in higher education and philanthropic work. “He is a highly successful businessman, and has a real affinity for American history, especially Ronald Reagan, whose life story is a quintessential illustration of American opportunity,” Murtagh said. With the Shenkman donation, the North Seminar Room of the Melick Library was transformed into a research center that includes new carpet, wallpaper, furniture, shelving units, and media equipment. A separate environmental control system was installed to help control the air temperature and moisture to preserve the books and materials in both the Center and the Archives. “The Center is regally designed and beautifully appointed. If a room can be viewed as art, the Center is indeed a piece of art,” Arnold said. Shenkman’s donation will also fund the acquisition of the vast collection of almost one-thousand works written about Reagan and related topics. The collection of these materials will complement the College’s existing collection of Reagan-related documents, letters, and artifacts.“Along with the Eureka Reagan Museum and Peace Garden, the Mark R. Shenkman Reagan Research Center is truly a world-class collegiate research facility,” Arnold said. A public ivy-cutting dedication ceremony of the Center was held on September 24, 2011. Arnold foresees the Center being utilized for special events and as a dedicated research space for Reagan scholars. “On behalf of the entire College community, we are extremely grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Shenkman for their generous gift,” Arnold said. “We all share a great sense of pride in the outcome of this project.”
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THE
Ronald W. Reagan SOCIETY
YOU ARE INVITED TO BECOME A MEMBER Please join hundreds of other leaders like you who value the lessons of Ronald Wilson Reagan. Become a member of The Ronald W. Reagan Society of Eureka College and help support scholarships for the Reagan Fellows, funding for the Reagan Museum and Peace Garden, Visiting Reagan Scholars, and the continued study and teaching of the same leadership lessons Ronald Reagan learned from Eureka College. Ronald W. Reagan Society benefactors and major donors receive many benefits for their annual support. Contact John D. Morris, Director of Development The Ronald W. Reagan Society to learn more about the benefits of membership. jmorris@eureka.edu, (309) 467-6477 www.reagan.eureka.edu/society
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January 14 and 15 of 2011 saw Eureka College leading the nation with the first conference to celebrate the Ronald W. Reagan Centennial. It was a resounding success. The goal of the conference was to remind the nation and the world of the importance of Ronald Reagan’s Midwestern roots.