Going from interim to the president, it is closure and the start of Steven Bridges’ new journey as the fifth official president of the University of Southern Indiana. With the 36 years he has been here, to him, it feels like a full circle moment.
“Dr. Rice was a special person serving in this role, that’s why I keep that picture of him on my desk,” Bridges said. “I know why we were founded. We were founded to serve students like me, and so I’m very committed to serving that way, for our students is really important to me.”
Before he became interim, he was working as treasurer. When Linda Bennett was still president, she told Bridges to consider taking the prep classes to become the next president after her because she thought he had the skills to do so. He initially declined. Later, when Ronald Rochon decided to leave, Bridges thought that for the sake of the university, he would assume an interim role.
“So as I started and I realized that he was leaving, I thought, ‘I need to step up for the team.’ That was my first thought. I’ll move us forward and keep the initiatives we have so we don’t lose momentum, and I’ll be ready for the next president.” Bridges said, “And about 30 days into this interim role, I realized I do have the skill set for this. I can move us forward, and I think I should be interested in this position.”
He interviewed himself for six months before the committee started the interview process, so he could be ready.
“It’s so important to me, from that full circle moment you discussed, to do the right thing for this university because this is in my heart, and I realized that I could serve in that capacity.”
While he is still listed as the university treasurer, Bridges delegates some tasks from the position to his team while keeping some tasks for himself. At a later date, the university will launch a search for a treasurer.
It is not an overstatement to say that he is a busy man. He has some priorities in mind for the university, including strengthening USI’s business and industry connections.
The university was founded by business leaders of the community who thought it would be great to have higher education institutions in Southern Indiana. As a result of that, they bought 1400 acres where the university and all its buildings stand now. When USI needed housing built, those same business leaders helped arrange another corporation to do so and donated the housing we have now.
While all of this was happening, connections were being made between the community and David L. Rice. Bridges wants to do the same thing, if not more, by listening to what the community needs now.
“We use the word skilling up the workforce, but that means we’re behind if we’re having to skill it up. So I want to skill ahead, talking to the community, finding out what they might need, what trends they’re seeing, and how we can plug into helping the community, because they started us, and we owe that back.”
Bridges added, “Dr. Rochon, he was very good in the national market. I’m more focusing on our local and regional market, like we did with Dr. Rice. I’m also interested in, of course, expanding our regional presence as well. I think that’s really important for us to do that and our reputation.”
He has spent time with the Indiana Chamber and the State House, getting USI’s name out to our part of the world. This is part of his plan to help with enrollment and retention. In a sense, future-proofing these efforts for growth in these areas.
“We want to be sort of a place where people think of a solution when they have a problem. And I think being out there and being present in the areas that I’ve spoken of, the region, the community, it’s going to put us on that map even more than we are.”
