By Azhley Rodriguez
Dominican University has a new President following Donna Carroll’s retirement earlier this year. Glena Temple came to Dominican from Viterbo University in Wisconsin, where she served as the president of the university since 2017.
Glena Temple began her Presidency at Dominican on August 2. In a conference room in Parmer, President Temple and I spoke about her struggles as a first-generation student, her life as an educator, her experience in small institutions, and her goals for Dominican.
She was not actively on the job market when she was nominated for the position but has noticed Dominican over the years and considered it to be a “dream” to work at.
When asked about her nomination, she leaned in and whispered, “I honestly didn’t think I would get it [the position].” But she was determined to try, and in the end, she is “thrilled” to be in her new position.
“Every day I kind of pinch myself and say, ‘wow, am I really here?’”
She was drawn to Dominican’s mission, Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) identity, and commitment to equity and inclusion.
Temple is a first-generation college graduate originally from western New York. She received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Alleghany College in Pennsylvania– a small private liberal arts college; she also earned a Ph.D. in botany and plant sciences from the University of California-Riverside.
She started college with the hopes of becoming a doctor, but after she “passed out at the first sight of blood,” she laughed and said her plans changed.
She was conflicted and did not know which steps to take next. But with the help of her mentors, she discovered a passion for teaching. She decided to volunteer at a local elementary school to teach science and do a research project, and she loved it.
“I still remember what it feels like to have this dream and when it’s not there anymore, you find a different path that still resonates,” Temple reminisced.
Her first year of college, she struggled to maintain a strong GPA and adjust to college life. Her confidence was low, but her mentors continued to help her until she found her path again.
“Being a first-generation student in college, I didn’t find it particularly easy, and I had a low GPA. I struggled to adjust. Even though high school was pretty easy, I just didn’t find college to be easy,” she said. “But I had good mentors, a good environment, and I think Dominican also has that.”
It is because of her experience on small campuses and working with mentors who helped her through college that allowed her to discover what kind of campus she wanted to work on.
“That [experience] started my journey on small universities who care about me as a person and value the sense of who I am, so I try to work in that kind of environment,” Temple said.
In 2001, she began teaching at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin; a Catholic Franciscan liberal arts institution, where she stayed for 20 years.
“I found that school also had an emphasis on social justice, diversity, first generation students, and supporting students from all backgrounds,” she said. “I found my niche, and I also found that small liberal arts environment that I longed for.”
In between those 20 years, she left briefly in 2014 to serve as the founding dean of online and distance education for the University of Wisconsin Colleges. There she gained the confidence to work in a bigger school, but she missed being with students and was recruited back to Viterbo in 2015 to be the vice president for academic affairs, and later in 2017 became the president of the university.
During her time at Viterbo, Temple takes pride in having helped build retention and higher graduation rates and hopes to accomplish more for students at Dominican, “It always comes back to finding ways to better support the students,” she said. “When I think of what makes me happy, I think back to the times I worked with students.”
She’s “pleased” to know students on campus are activists who fight for what they believe in. “We’re supposed to hold each other to the ideals we want. I think that’s how a university setting should be like; respectfully raising concerns and then working together to solve them” Temple said.
She wants students to know she finds “great joy” in her work, “I love what I do for my job, I don’t even think of it as a job, I think it’s a vocation and a calling,” she said. “I went to a soccer game, and that doesn’t feel like work, that’s fun! I find a lot of enjoyment going to activities.”
She’s passionate and dedicated to learn about the student body, the Chicagoland area, to understand where students come from and to find ways to move Dominican forward in its HSI identity.
Her message to the Dominican community is:
“I see myself as one piece of a very strong community that I feel privileged to be part of. I look forward to working with the community, the students and the staff, to move the institution forward and ultimately better serve our students.”
Her office is located at Parmer 115, and she is always open to visitors.
She focuses on her job as President more than anything. But when asked what she would like for students to know about her, she hesitated to answer.
“I don’t think I’m very fun,” she laughed. She joked that she finds pulling weeds in her garden to be a great stress reliever. She loves to read Jane Austin prequels and sequels and finds it to be her “guilty pleasure.” She likes to hike and travel. She and her husband Steven travel often. He is from England and her sister lives in Indonesia.
Longtime President Says Goodbye to DU
Donna Carroll served as the president of Dominican University for the past 27 years. She was appointed the first lay (non-nun) president at Dominican in 1994.
During her time as president, she led the transition of the university name from Rosary College to Dominican University. She guided Dominican to be a sanctuary campus in 2016 and helped raise over $165 million for student aid, academic programs, three new buildings and the renovations in the Rebecca Crown Library. She finished the academic year at the end of the 2020 spring semester.
She announced her retirement on October 2, 2020, in a letter to students. She said, “I have joked with many of you about the fact that I have been President of Dominican University longer than you have been alive. Now, the time has come for me to retire – not tomorrow, but at the end of this academic year. I do so with great confidence in Dominican’s future, but also, knowing that I will not be here to give some of you your diplomas, which makes my heart ache.
If there is a lesson to be learned from my presidency, it is first and foremost – do something that you love, something that is meaningful, and do it wholeheartedly.”
arodriguez2@my.dom.edu
This story has been updated to reflect that Donna Carroll began as DU president in 1997, when she started in 1994. The Star regrets the error.
