What John Fry remembers most about his first few days on the job at Drexel was how incredibly normal it all felt.
Even though he had arrived at Drexel after eight years working at a much different institution—Lancaster-based Franklin & Marshall, a liberal arts institution located in a sleepy college town—Fry says he settled in to his new job with ease. Which was a good thing, indeed, because Fry knew before he even arrived back in August of 2010 that his most important task, at least at the start, was going to be keeping Drexel moving forward—to keep the amazing momentum it gathered under former president Constantine Papadakis rolling.
Suffice to say, Fry has succeeded—and, as a result, Drexel today stands stronger and taller than it ever has before.
Overall student enrollment has surpassed 26,000, the University has climbed to No. 83 in the influential U.S. News & World Report college rankings (its highest ranking ever), two major building projects are nearing completion and, last spring, Fry rolled out his new strategic plan—the blueprint that will guide Drexel’s growth and evolution over the next five years.
In early September, just before students arrived back on campus for the Fall quarter, Fry took time out of his busy schedule to chat with Drexel Magazine about his early days on the job, his proudest moments so far, and his exciting vision for the University going forward.
You’ve been at Drexel for just over two years now. Can you give me a sense of how you feel these first 24 months have gone?
I think the University has done incredibly well over the past two years, in part because we had a very strong base to build from—that’s because of Taki’s leadership and Chuck Pennoni’s as well—and in part because I came in as an experienced college president who didn’t have to spend a lot of time learning the job. I understood the necessity of not only building on the momentum that Taki had created, but actually accelerating the pace of progress and development.
When you arrived here, what was it that you wanted to get accomplished, both in the short term and the long term?
My primary goal, and I mentioned this when I sat down with the search committee, was to be a president who could quickly understand where the institution was and make the kinds of decisions that would help it get to where it needed to go. In that regard, I’m proud of how we were able to resolve some of the bigger issues that we faced when I got started. We’re at the point now where we’re basically done with the URBN Center and we’re within a year of opening the LeBow College building. Those were two projects where there was a lot of uncertainty about timing and financing, but we were committed and we had to keep our word to our donors, deans and faculty. In a larger sense, executing on these initiatives was the best way of sustaining Drexel’s momentum.
Those two projects are, as you mentioned, moving toward completion. What are some of the other accomplishments that you are most proud of?
I think the second big thing has been our ability to continue working in an entrepreneurial way—that Drexel was going to go after opportunities that made strategic sense. The merger with the Academy of Natural Sciences reflects that kind of mindset. It allowed me to put my leadership stamp on the institution and at the same time forge a partnership that will benefit both the Academy and Drexel. It will change the way we do our work in earth and environmental sciences. It allowed us to create the new BEES Department. It basically joined us to one of the most important and prestigious scientific organizations in the world.
The merger with the Academy has been viewed far and wide as a huge success for Drexel. I’m wondering, was there a “model” out there that you followed when you were putting this deal together?
I can’t think of another merger that came together in a similar way to this one, particularly when you’re talking about a merger between a 120-year-old university and a 200-year-old scientific institution that had a lot of success in its own right. We were able to work through what might have been a very delicate situation, and we did it in a lightning-fast time frame and a very harmonious way.
You mentioned earlier that your previous experience as a president proved valuable. Was that true, even though you were coming from a very different institution in Franklin & Marshall?
The two institutions may have been different, but the leadership scenarios have a lot in common. I’ve been aware of Drexel for years, ever since I joined Penn back in 1995, and Taki and I were very close. I had enough engagement over the years to give me a sense of what Drexel was trying to do. Making matters easier was the fact that I had a very eager and talented senior staff and faculty who were anxious to move their own programs and the University forward. Even in the first week, though there were quite a number of issues, I remember feeling very comfortable with everything. Having that sense that we needed to keep the progress going, I was able to lock right in and get to work.
From your perspective, what is the “state of Drexel” at this moment?
I would say that Drexel is very strong in its fundamentals and very competitive in its market. Beyond our excellent faculty, strong academic programs and co-op opportunities, we’ve had a great year financially in terms of our operating margins. After restructuring our debt and implementing various capital projects, we now have a stronger balance sheet. We also had a record-breaking fundraising year—we raised over $80 million for the first time, and beat our previous record by a significant amount. Meanwhile, we’re expecting to increase our enrollment to over 26,000, which is just amazing, given where Drexel has been in the past.
At the same time, the building continues.
Yes, and although physical development is only part of the story, you can certainly tell if a place is on the move by the amount of work being done on campus. We’re in the process of finishing over $300 million worth of projects right now, from the big academic buildings like the URBN Center, to innovative mixed-use projects like Chestnut Square, on down to renovations of buildings like Stratton and Nesbitt. This is a good thing. All the while, our research enterprise is as good as it’s ever been, and our faculty are very competitive. The place is very healthy academically, financially and physically. So I would say the state of the University is very strong. But we still have a lot of work to do.
In May, you introduced the University community to your Strategic Plan. What is your sense of how that document and the efforts to implement its vision have gone over so far?
I think it has galvanized the community. The plan begins with overarching themes, like the idea of “One University,” which I’ve been gratified to hear many people talking about. There are many examples of why One University is important—from getting the Academy and the College of Medicine better integrated into our University to making sure all our co-ops are placed where they want to be placed. It’s about the institution becoming more effective and efficient from a management standpoint. What I’m doing is establishing real goals within the context of those themes and getting the institution to move briskly in the same direction. I think the university community has responded very well to that challenge.
One of the more exciting aspects of the Strategic Plan is your vision for what you’re calling the “Innovation Neighborhood,” which would quite literally be an entirely new neighborhood surrounding 30th Street Station. It’s a pretty grand vision. And I’m wondering just how big a deal you think this could be both for Drexel and Philadelphia.
I think it could be a very big deal. The thing I’m sure of is that the land we currently control in this area—land that the university was so smart to buy back in the 1990s, as well as more recent acquisitions—will assure Drexel’s growth for the long term. If you envision the west side of 30th Street Station from Market Street to JFK Boulevard as Drexel’s gateway, and consider our partnership with Amtrak and SEPTA to develop strategies for the air rights over the tracks north of the station, it would completely change the face of University City. It would be absolutely unprecedented to have that much development opportunity for any major urban university. Any other campus would love to have what we have, and if we can put this together and engage in some pretty dramatic urban planning, which we’re already starting to do, then I think the potential for Philadelphia is enormous. If you fly over Philadelphia today, you can see the entire city is developed, but the “hole in the donut” is the Amtrak and SEPTA rail yards—right next to us.
So your plan is now in place, and the work has begun to make the plan become a reality. My final question, then, is this: What does the future hold for Drexel?
I think between Taki’s presidency, Chuck’s presidency and my presidency, an enormous amount has happened in a very short period of time. I would say, looking five years down the road, our team is going to execute our strategic plan and the first two phases of the campus master plan. Then we’ll be in position to move forward with the third and fourth phases. I think we need to follow the plan, and the good news is that one of Drexel’s great gifts is its ability to do that. It really is an amazing story for Drexel—what it was in 1995 and what it is today. It’s a great national university. We’ve started a new law school. We’ve added a distinguished College of Medicine, School of Public Health and College of Nursing and Health Professions. We’ve merged with the Academy of the Natural Sciences. We’ve expanded our campus by thousands of square feet to make room for thousands of talented new students and hundreds of incredible faculty members. This is an institution that, when it puts its mind to making a change, goes ahead and makes it happen.
Along the way there will be challenges we’ll have to overcome. There will always be things that need to be fixed or fine-tuned. But again, one of Drexel’s most special characteristics is its ability to honestly assess its shortcomings and address them head on. It’s one of the great strengths of this place, its people and its culture. We’re a University that is very ambitious, and committed to being the best we can be. I have a feeling that Anthony J. Drexel would be very proud to see what his university has become.