VALPARAISO | Mark Heckler took the job because he thought Valparaiso University was good.
He just didn't know how good.
On his first day on the job Tuesday, the university's 18th president said that, in preparing for the new position over the past six months, he found that VU was "far better than I thought it was."
"When people talk about this institution, people just light up. That's something I don't see with other institutions. This is a very special place." It will be fun, Heckler said, to learn what that something special is.
Heckler said he -- someone who did not come to the presidency by way of seminary -- represents a big change for the Lutheran-grounded university. As such, he needs to be mindful of the university's past and its mission.
"This is a truly excellent university. And its story needs to be told."
The former provost and vice chancellor at the University of Colorado Denver, Heckler said he and his wife Veronica became Midwesterners through a baptism by weather on their trip from Colorado last month. They encountered a tornado in Nebraska and the devastating flooding in Iowa.
Although Tuesday was Heckler's first official day at the helm, he had spent the previous three weeks learning the ropes. He travelled with outgoing president Alan Harre to Nashville for a college consortium meeting and to Indianapolis to meet the governor, foundation directors and business and education leaders. In Valparaiso, he has met with the mayor, the chamber of commerce director and heads of nonprofit organizations.
Heckler attended a tribute dinner for Harre last week and heard testimonials to his predecessor's two decades of service to the university.
Does he wonder what the judgement will be on him at a similar juncture in the future?
"You just get about doing the work," he said. When his time as president ends, he said, he hopes people will think, "We together -- the university and the city -- helped take the university to the next level.
"Whatever that's going to be," he added, "we'll work on that together."
