Seven years ago Walla Walla College had recently finished celebrating its centennial. A dramatic enrollment drop during the mid-1980s had been reversed, and the school had become the largest undergraduate Adventist college in the United States. The college president, Niels-Erik Andreasen, had accepted a call to become president of Andrews University, and a search process began to find a new president.

The search led to Southwestern Adventist College’s (now Southwestern Adventist University) academic dean. W.G. Nelson accepted the invitation to serve as the 20th president of WWC in 1994, and he began the first of seven remarkable years faced with the challenges of leading WWC into the 21st century.

This year Nelson’s journey in the the field of education will come full circle. In January Nelson announced his intention to return to teaching. In a campus announcement, he said, “I have long planned to return to the classroom for the balance of my career, and I’ve come under increasing conviction that the time is right for me to make this change.”
During his presidency, Nelson and WWC pursued a remarkable journey together. His presidency was a time of significant turning points for the institution.

Some were planned, such as the much needed renovation and construction of buildings both on campus and off, new academic programs and accreditation for college departments and programs, and capital campaigns planned and launched that will profoundly transform the heart of the campus.

Other turning points during his presidency were significant in a different way.

At the midpoint in his presidency, the pain, reflection, and prayers connected with the Commission Study of spiritual training and the School of Theology, followed by the campus’s successful response to that study, represented one of the institution’s most significant times of transition.
Through it all, Nelson offered WWC a measure of integrity, grace, and openness, essential skills for the challenges he would face as
president.

Walla Walla College financial vice president, Manford Simcock notes that “at the most discouraging times, W.G. would remind us that this is God’s school and that He would successfully guide it to a satisfactory conclusion as He has always done all through its history.”

For the past seven years, the skills that Nelson brought to his work as a president and to the campus he served, helped him succeed during a significant time of building for the school. And, perhaps most importantly, a significant time of rebuilding.

 

The Road that Leads to WWC
Before becoming president, Nelson had worked for 16 years in administrative-level positions in academies and colleges. He had also worked as a teacher and men’s dean, and had been involved at academies in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Colorado, Indiana, and Virginia. At Southwestern Adventist College in Keene, Texas, he was academic vice president and graduate dean, and had previously served as assistant academic vice president, registrar, and dean of students at that school.

This path that led to the presidency of WWC represented an increasingly common trend as colleges sought new presidents, hiring from without, rather than promoting from within. For a school like WWC, where previous presidents had often come from within, that may have presented some challenges.

But as Vice President for Academic Administration John Brunt notes, Nelson brought with him “his integrity, his sense of humor, and his perceptiveness—I saw all of these qualities come together at the very first faculty meeting that he had. At the time, there was a good bit of suspicion about him. But he was able to acknowledge that and win all of us over in just a very few minutes.”

 

Tools for Building
As with so many other schools in the late 20th century, WWC needed to build for its future. Issues ranging from technology and infrastructure to accreditation and aging buildings faced Nelson as a new president.
Technology was a constant refrain during Nelson’s presidency, as the demand for newer and faster computers, Internet access, and the expectations of technology on college campuses grew rapidly. During his presidency, technology-savvy classrooms were built, a campus network of more than 500 computers was kept up-to-date, and wireless networks and fiber optic cable connections were installed throughout campus.
Additionally, building renovation and construction needs were studied and addressed, both on the campus and off.

As he began his presidency, Nelson oversaw the completion of the Chan Shun Pavilion, which housed the Edward F. Cross School of Engineering, the Adventist Church’s only comprehensive undergraduate engineering program. That project, along with the completion of the third floor of Kretschmar Hall, greatly expanded the resources of a building that had been constructed to meet the needs of engineering student enrollments nearly five decades ago. The college bookstore was moved out of its older building and located in a refurbished building across the street from the main college campus.

Off campus, a major renovation of the Marine Station at Rosario Beach, Wash., was completed. The Marine Station has 17 new cabins, a new dining and assembly hall, and a new water system. The new dining and assembly hall was dedicated in May 2001.

The most challenging building discussion during his presidency revolved around the Administration Building, the original academic building on the WWC campus. The building holds great significance for WWC graduates.
After a series of studies, the college reluctantly decided to build a new facility.

That project, and others, will be funded by a new capital campaign (see page 9). This campaign represents only one of the many ways that Nelson, and Karen Johnson, vice president for advancement, have brought financial strength to the institution during the time of his presidency and of building and renovating campus buildings.

During the last year, nearly $5 million was donated to WWC by its alumni and friends, and over the last seven years, the college endowment has nearly doubled, from just under $5 million to $9.5 million.

Bricks and mortar are, of course, only part of what needs to be built on a college campus. Nelson has described the faculty as the “heart of a college.”

The academic work of this group at WWC continued to grow and strengthen during Nelson’s presidency.

A number of new areas of study were added to the campus, including a graduate degree program with emphasis on field-based learning for practicing teachers, as well as majors in special education, biochemistry, Web design, and computer networks. A minor in archeology was added, and a concentration in computer engineering was added to the degrees offered by the Edward F. Cross School of Engineering.

The business program at the college also received specialized accreditation from the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, the first Seventh-day Adventist college or university to do so.

 

Rebuilding the Heart of the School
While technology, buildings, fundraising, and accreditation characterized his presidency, the most significant passage involved a study, conducted both externally and internally, of WWC’s commitment to mission and its spiritual training and mentorship of students.

This series of studies was conducted in 1997 and 1998. At the time, Nelson noted that “there were issues of concern to constituents or church leaders which were not easily expressed. We needed to synthesize these into issues that we could get a handle on, to give shape and form to the concerns, so we could address them.”

A board-appointed special commission was formed to study these concerns. During its study, this group was challenged to find solutions that helped bring about unity, rather than drive the various groups involved farther apart.

At the December 1997 board meeting, this group presented its findings. Overall, the group made 12 specific recommendations for the college to address.

At that meeting, WWC was challenged to provide a response to the commission report at the next board meeting in March 1998.

A school-appointed committee, which included a college administrator, faculty, staff members, and students, tackled the project. The report was read at the March board meeting in its entirety, and the Board of Trustees voted the proposed solutions in its entirety, with no additions or changes.
Dan Matthews, executive director of Faith for Today television, and a WWC board member said at the time, “I believe that this report may bring the Seventh-day Adventist Church to its finest hour.”

In reflecting on that board meeting, Nelson noted “There was a palpable sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit in (that) conference room. Observing the unifying effect of the Holy Spirit in this circumstance has been a faith-building experience for me.”

Those who work with him have reflected on the key role he played during this critical moment in the school’s history.

Victor Brown, vice president for admissions and marketing, says “W.G. will be remembered as the president that stood in the breach during a tough time. W.G. was able to walk the line between the union and the college better than many could have.”

Following that study and response, Nelson appointed the college’s first vice president for spiritual life and mission, a unique position in Adventist higher education, and established a new spiritual life center on the campus.

The latter project reflects one of Nelson’s key themes in his presidency, a commitment to promoting service as an essential part of education at WWC. In his first interview on campus, Nelson suggested, “My hope is that there will come a time when Walla Walla College students will be distinguished, not just by the excellence of their academic resume, but also by the excellence of their service and experience.”

 

Returning to His Roots
As Nelson prepares to return to his original calling as a teacher, it is perhaps most important that he leaves this institution not only as a builder of physical things and a rebuilder of spiritual things, but also as one that built up the lives of those around him.

Student association president Peter Smith IV says “W.G. really cares about student needs and is willing to see things from a student’s point of view.”
“W.G. Nelson has remarkable gifts of understanding people and understanding academic issues,” says Terrie Aamodt, professor of English and history. “He has incredible sensitivity to the needs of the people he works with.”

“He united the campus,” says Pedrito Maynard Reid, vice president for spiritual life and mission.

In the end, Nelson’s presidency at WWC won’t simply be characterized by bricks and mortar, new academic programs, and accreditations, or successful board reports.

Instead, his legacy will also be reflected in his frequent reminders that a Christian college like WWC has significant purpose, great potential, and profound meaning to its students, its faculty and staff, its graduates, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Early on, he reflected on one of the ways a graduate described WWC.

“He described his alma mater as ‘Hallowed Ground,’” says Nelson. “To be hallowed, of course, is to be set aside for a holy purpose. Such a definition seems to summarize the feelings of many former Walla Walla College students. This was where they encountered the Lord. It was from here they were sent forth to minister.”

That was perhaps the most important building project of all for Nelson: to continue to build a college that truly is Hallowed Ground. W

 

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Stephen Payne is a 1981 journalism graduate of WWC. He served with W.G. Nelson as vice president for admissions and marketing from 1994-98. He lives in Bridgman, Mich., and is currently vice president for enrollment management at Andrews University.

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