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There is a lot to know about Ed Schrader,
Ph.D., an energetic college administrator who became Brenau's ninth
president Jan. 1.
College administration is his vocation and
passion. After earning his Ph.D. and teaching at Duke University,
President Schrader worked several years in industry. But, he says, he
never left academia and retained his ties by serving on the Duke
University Board of Visitors and other academic boards.
He learned a lot from his time as a
business executive – one lesson he learned was that industry wasn’t the
place for him. “In that arena, decisions are made purely on the advantage
to the corporation,” he said, “not always considering effects on people
and the environment.”
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And as far as President Schrader is concerned
people and the environment should always come first. Still, he believed he
had to find a way to lead and to integrate his values with his work, he
said – and academia was the obvious choice. Here, he is in his element,
and believes that the concept of a liberal arts-centered education is the
model for the way all people should be educated.
“I’m most efficient, effective, productive
and satisfied within an academic setting,” he says. Schrader maintains his
ties with industry by serving on several boards of directors. In that way
he has “one foot in that world and the rest of my mind and body in the
other.”
President Schrader says that he believes
Brenau’s rich and meaningful history is inviolate. “Ands whatever we do
while I am president will be done with appreciation for that history,” he
said.
Why does Schrader feel he and Brenau are
such a good fit? A self-confessed socially progressive and fiscally
conservative southerner, he has a strong sense of moral values.
“I've always been outraged at
discrimination and injustice and am compelled to help. Brenau, for its
size, has tremendous diversity. Not only in The Women’s College, but also
in the Evening and Weekend College. This University is a place where
thinking people embrace and accept people from different backgrounds and
that fits my personal philosophy. That's the way I live.” |
