Alumnus Jake B. Schrum Named Southwestern University's 14th President

March 24, 2000

The Southwestern University graduate who once served as Southwestern's student body president and president of the student senate is returning to his alma mater – this time as the 14th president of Texas' first institution of higher learning.

Jake B. Schrum, a 1968 graduate who has served as president of Texas Wesleyan University in Ft. Worth since 1991, was elected to Southwestern's presidency Jan. 10 by Southwestern's Board of Trustees after an extensive national search that netted nearly 100 nominees and applicants. His election makes him the third alumni president in Southwestern's history. The last, John William Bergin, served from 1935-42.

"I decided that I wanted to serve as a college or university president when I was a freshman at Southwestern," said President-elect Schrum. "The time and place are indelibly etched in my memory. When I dreamed of becoming a college president, I dared to believe that I might someday be a serious candidate to lead my alma mater. I am deeply honored now to be given that opportunity."

Schrum will take office July 1, 2000. He replaces Roy B. Shilling, Jr., who is retiring from Southwestern June 30, 2000, after 19 years as president.

Said Shilling, "Jake Schrum is acknowledged by his colleagues to be one of the nation's strongest college presidents. His impressive track record of visionary leadership superbly equips him for the challenge of a new era in the life of Southwestern University. I leave Southwestern in exceptional hands."

Other notable people have praised Schrum's leadership abilities.

David Warren, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) in Washington, D.C., who first met Schrum during graduate school at Yale University, noted that Schrum has "a real passion about liberal arts education and a gift for advancing the mission of a university." He called Schrum "a remarkable manager with great fund-raising skills and achievement."

Eustace Theodore, president of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) said, "The strength of a great university is centered in its community of scholars; the strength of a great president is found in the unique ability to nurture the community of inquiry and scholarship. Jake Schrum has that rare and essential capacity."

Carol McDonald, president of Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas (ICUT), said, "I know of no one more able or more perfectly prepared to build on the foundation Dr. Shilling has created at Southwestern."

SMU President R. Gerald Turner called Schrum "a talented leader and an individual of unquestioned integrity."

Red McCombs '49, owner of the Minnesota Vikings and chair of Southwestern's Board of Trustees, added, "Jake Schrum is a born leader. Of course, he's also a Southwestern graduate. Those two tend to go hand in hand."

After earning a B.A. in psychology at Southwestern, Schrum attended Perkins School of Theology at SMU. He served as Southwestern's associate chaplain and director of men's housing, then as chaplain's associate at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. In 1973, he received an M.Div. from Yale University Divinity School. At Yale, he worked in undergraduate admission, the Association of Yale Alumni, the Yale Alumni Fund, as chaplain to Methodist students, and as associate director of development in the Yale Divinity School.

In 1977, he became director of development at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Penn., where he set new records for fund-raising. He served as vice president of the college at Texas Wesleyan from 1978-82, helping to raise $21 million. Schrum then spent three years as Southwestern's vice president of university relations, raising $21 million and gaining extraordinary national visibility. In 1985, Schrum became vice president for development and planning at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., where he directed the Emory Campaign, a $400 million initiative. Schrum returned to Texas Wesleyan as president in 1991.

At Texas Wesleyan, one of Texas' seven United Methodist colleges and universities along with Southwestern, Schrum has increased enrollment from 1,400 to 3,000 and more than doubled the University's endowment from $22 million to almost $50 million.

Additionally, he has achieved full American Bar Association accreditation for the University's law school, added a distance learning education program, a weekend program, an MBA program, and bachelor's and master's degree programs for bilingual education.

Former chair of CASE, Schrum is author of the book Democracy's Last Stand: The Role of the New Urban University in 1999. In February 2000, the Association of Governing Boards in Washington D.C. will publish a book, edited by Schrum, entitled A Board's Guide to Comprehensive Campaigns.

His family includes spouse Jane Woodman Schrum, who also attended Southwestern, and daughters Libby, 21, a Southwestern senior, and Katie, 18, who will attend college this fall.

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