In
Good
Hands BY DICK ANDERSON
|
PHOTO BY MAX S. GERBER
Harry J. Elam Jr. prepares to take center stage as Oxy’s 16th president as the College faces a new set of challenges—and he’s ready There aren’t that many college or university presidents who come from a theater background—but if you think about the leadership attributes common to both jobs, you have to wonder: Why aren’t there more? “My experiences of being a leader have been shaped by being a theater director,” says Harry J. Elam Jr., who was named Occidental’s 16th president in February following a nationwide casting call. “Theater directors are sometimes thought of as autocrats, but I see them as collaborators. And my style of leadership has to be collaborative. What the theater director has to do is work to get the best performances out of all of the people involved. How do you incentivize people to do their best work? “That’s what good leadership does, I think—make people feel part of the whole,” he continues. “That’s the designers, cast, and crew all feeling that their voice matters, like they’re working together toward a shared vision. And the show’s got to go on, right? So, that sense has shaped how I think about doing a project, or starting a strategic plan—
but more than that, of working with people toward a cohesive, collective end.” A member of the Stanford faculty since 1990, Elam is an award-winning professor of theater and performance studies, internationally renowned scholar, and a veteran senior administrator. As Stanford’s vice provost for undergraduate education for the last decade, Elam has been responsible for nearly all policies and programs relating to the university’s 7,200 undergraduate students. Elam helped lead a major rethinking of Stanford’s undergraduate curriculum as well as a separate effort to create a new vision for the university’s student residences. A leader on issues of diversity and inclusion, he also created the Institute for Diversity in the Arts, initiated a summer bridge program for firstyear students from under-resourced high schools, and designed a program to increase the number of students of color pursuing graduate degrees in STEM fields. Elam has won the highest honors from the scholarly professional organizations in the fields of theater and drama—the Distin-
guished Scholar Award from the American Society of Theatre Research and the Career Achievement Award from the Association of Theater in Higher Education. In April 2006, he was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. And last year, Elam was elected into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest learned societies. The Boston native emerged as the clear frontrunner out of an impressive field of candidates during a national search conducted by a 21-member search committee drawn from all segments of the College community. “Harry has the proven leadership skills, profound understanding of undergraduate education, and enthusiastic embrace of our commitment to access and excellence that we were looking for,” says Steve Rountree ’71, chair of the Occidental Board of Trustees. “In addition to his academic credentials, Harry has a genuine ability to connect with people. He was the Board’s unanimous choice.” “His lifelong commitment to promoting diversity and equity, supported by his scholSPRING 2020 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 29