The Wheel Interviews President Becky

This article marks an exciting point in the history of the Wheel as it is our first interview with St. Catherine University President ReBecca Koenig Roloff, known more informally as President Becky. President Becky is an important symbol to many students at St. Kate’s, particularly for graduating seniors who began their first year when she was the incoming president. 

For many, it seemed that President Becky had a fresh new vision when she came to St. Kate’s that prioritized students and moving forward through love of dear neighbor in a difficult political climate. She was easily relatable and progressive, sending Friday emails, and sometimes posing for selfies. However, St. Kate’s has undergone a great deal of change under President Becky’s leadership, demonstrating the challenges that come with guiding an institution through transformation.

Among adjustments, St. Kate’s has celebrated triumphs and landmarks under President Becky. The Wheel wanted to reflect on these as well as her vision for St. Kate’s, getting a feel for what it’s like to lead the school.

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If you reflect on your time as the President of St. Kate’s, what is the most important thing you’ve learned?

It’s actually a statement I make often to people. The most important thing I’ve learned is that - in my opinion and in my feeling - there is no more hope-filled place to be.

Everyone has a goal for the future, and everything looks forward. I guess I knew that from being a student, but it’s very different than any other setting I’ve been in. I can ask you – ‘what are you doing, what are you working on?’ and you’re not talking about a project. You’ll be talking about yourself and a goal in the future. So, when you’ve got this goal orientation, you live in the future. You need to be careful that you keep living in the present also, and you’re always looking around the corner.

You can see the people that we are sending into the world, and I often say that every student that crosses that stage, any part I played for them, that is my contribution to world peace. 

The only thing that changes the world is leadership, whether it’s leadership in the public sector or the private sector or the government sector. That is what I would have known intellectually to be true, but how I feel about it is the biggest thing I’ve learned. It’s a feeling of optimism and hope. I feel that way every day when I come through the gates.

It’s that true belief that there are so many things in the world that you can’t change but you should change the things that you can. First you have to figure out in life what you have to accept, then you have to figure out what you can influence, and then you figure out what you can change. The more work you can do on what you can actually change, the more progress you’re going to make.

So, I can do a lot of work to help that next student in big and small ways - through policies, through fundraising, etcetera – to help that student reach their goal. If we do it in an honest and ethical way, and if we all subscribe to the same values, that is the contribution - through somebody else - that I can make to that better world. 

Some of the bigger stuff you can’t change, so I like to say – don’t get frustrated, just do what you can. Buckle down and do what you can. And that’s, in some ways, a great freedom too.

We heard you wrote for the Wheel as a student at St. Kate’s. Is this true and if so, what did you write?

I was not on the staff of the Wheel, but I did write for the Wheel. There was only one college when I was here, the College for Women, and the name of the student senate was the College Association Governing Board (CAGB.) In CAGB I was the head of Academic Affairs. There was the Social Affairs leader and the Academic Affairs leader, and so the articles that I would have written would have been on things of an academic nature.

The bigger note I wrote down is that the Wheel was the source of all information on campus and all stories, announcements, and deadlines. So, if you were in student government, the Wheel office (which was located downstairs where the printing office is now) was where we hung out with the Wheel leaders. There was a very close connection between the student government and the Wheel. The Wheel also worked with the administration at the time because there was no internet and no email, so if you wanted for example, the schedule for class registration, that would be a big newspaper thing. Any social activities would be in the Wheel, any notices of change or anything at all, that was the source of campus information. If you missed the Wheel deadline to publicize your event, too bad, your event wasn’t going to happen.

So, it basically served the function of the St. Kate’s website and student page today?

It was the paper version of that – everything was in there. Notices of ‘I need a roommate,’ notices of ‘is anyone going to Duluth for the weekend, I need a ride’ or ‘I’ve got an empty space in my car, I can take somebody to Rochester,’ that was all in want adds. It was a little community newspaper.

What voices do you feel are unheard in our community? 

This one I thought about a lot and I wrote down a couple of things – first off, I hope none, but that’s hope versus fact. I hear from a lot of voices all the time, so that may cloud my perspective on who’s voice is missing.

I hear from alums ages 22 to 90. I hear from the neighborhood. The faculty generally go through the provost, and they have a whole range of opinions. So, there are a lot of voices that come in here to try to either explain what we’ve done, or to try to share hopes or concerns going forward. I think it’s a challenging part of the job. All the voices are deeply passionate about what they believe is right for St. Kate’s, so it’s about listening and being open to what they’re saying.

What is one thing – no matter how radical – that you would like to change during your time as President of St. Kate’s?

Well I cheated on this one because I put two thoughts together.  I don’t know that this is radical, but it would certainly be hard.

I would really like to figure out how to make it so that 100% of students have a career path and program plan from the moment they’re accepted that includes all students having at least one study abroad experience. I don’t know if that’s radical, but it would be completely consistent with the vision of educating women to transform the world - knowing that every student that held a degree that said ‘St. Catherine University’ on it had at least one experience outside the United States. For me, it’s so important to understand how every culture has their own philosophy and if you go someplace completely different, you often say, ‘Wow I thought this was just the way it was,’ and it’s important to learn that, no - that’s just the way it was for you.

I don’t know how close to that we can get, or if we can ever make that happen, but a career plan and program that includes at least one study abroad for everybody… I would like to get us there. We already have some parts of that in place, like May Thao-Schuck, the new Vice President of Career and Professional Development. Also, Provost Anita Thomas’ work on clearly defined outcomes and career pathways for students.

We just keep thinking about how we could link international study into that career path. I think that some of that already happens now, it’s just taking it another step further. 

But that’s the idea. I would feel very good about that if we could get there. That would be another contribution, like I’ve said, to world peace.

Our job is to have you question, question, question. To know what you don’t know is very powerful. To question: are we sure it has to be this way? I think travel and those experiences do that.

What is one thing that students don’t know about you?

I am going to a three-day needle-point school in May. They’re held around the country, but this particular teacher is coming to Minneapolis in May, so I’m going to spend three days with her in a class. I can’t wait! It’s about how to put embellishments into your needlepoint – I’m almost levitating right now just thinking about it. I just can’t believe we can work it into the calendar.

And! We’re going to have our second grandchild in April. A little boy. I don’t think anyone knows that yet other than my staff.

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As snow falls over the St. Kate’s campus, it’s hard to believe that President Becky has been here for almost four years. She reflected near the end of our interview that the time had flown, remarking that December graduation was only a few weeks away. St. Kate’s is sure to see many more changes under the leadership of President Becky, and she has committed to listen and to work towards greater world peace through all of them.