Iowa’s oldest college announces retirement of its longest-serving president

DUBUQUE — After 20 years leading Loras College — the state’s oldest campus, founded in 1839, seven years before Iowa became a state in 1846 — James E. Collins next year will retire as the college’s longest-serving president and one of the longest-serving of any president to have led any college or university in Iowa.

“Spending 45 years of my life on this special campus has been a blessing,” Collins said of Loras, which has expanded its reach and impact across the state of late through collaboration with the University of Iowa, Drake and St. Ambrose universities, and Mercy College of Health Sciences.

“It is a privilege to have served my alma mater all these years even as it was a surprising, unexpected set of circumstances that led me to serve as a staff member, let alone as its president.”

A Crystal Lake, Ill. native and the oldest of six, Collins showed up as a freshman at Loras in 1980 because it was a few hours from home, had a community feel, and was Catholic. He started as an English major and ended up a finance major, envisioning himself as a banker back in the Chicago area.

After graduating in 1984, Collins wanted to take some time off — and within weeks realized that wasn’t the best idea. So he embarked on a job hunt that summer, and one day found himself swinging by his alma mater during a trip to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville for an interview.

“I decided to come down to Loras just say hi to folks,” he said.

One of those folks was a long-standing and esteemed faculty member.

“And as I was about to leave, he said, ‘What are you doing here?’” Collins told The Gazette. “I said, ‘I just interviewed at Platteville.’ And he said, ‘Why don't you go talk to the director of admissions because we have an admissions rep job.’”

Collins did, and the director told him of the 80 applications in front of him, Collins was the best.

“I wound up getting the job offer later that day, and life was good,” he said.

Having graduated in May 1984, a 22-year-old Collins in December of that year resumed what would stretch into a 45-year stint at Loras. After a few years as an admissions representative, he advanced to “director of special projects” and then director of alumni and college relations before being asked to serve as assistant to the president in 1992 — when Rev. Monsignor James Barta was at the helm.

Barta left in 1994, when Collins landed his first vice presidential post at Loras as VP for institutional advancement. In June 1999, Collins began his five-year stint as senior vice president — during which time the campus went through a presidential search and transition from Dr. Joachim Froelich to Dr. Joseph Gower, who resigned after just one year in 2002.

Looking externally again for new leadership, Loras’ Board of Regents hired an outside interim to stand in until they found a permanent successor.

“It was during that time that a lot of faculty, staff, alumni, and students were saying why aren’t we hiring somebody who is known and has been here for a while?” Collins said. “So the board thought it would be best if we did a national search and they encouraged me to apply.

“Lo and behold I wound up being selected.”

Twenty years after graduating, Collins — at age 42 in 2004 — became the youngest president in school history. It was his job performance leading up to that moment that earned him advancement over the years. Other than the presidential application he was encouraged to submit, Collins said he “never applied for any one of the jobs.”

Demographic changes

In 2004, with a student body of 1,839, the higher education landscape looked different than it does today, Collins told The Gazette.

“I think the biggest change is that demographically, and nationally, there are fewer students available, and there are fewer students attending private colleges and universities,” he said, reporting a fall 2023 enrollment of about 1,250. “Most are either opting out of looking at traditional four- or two-year colleges, or many are opting for bigger and public.”

Those demographic changes — complicated by natural disasters, COVID, and state aid shifts — have been among challenges Collins has navigated over the course of his tenure, alongside his peer private colleges and universities in Iowa.

“What we've tried to do is double down on mission and our long-standing liberal arts tradition, while at the same time introducing a number of new graduate and undergraduate majors that are what I think are marketplace savvy,” he said. “So whether it's business analytics at the undergraduate level, or becoming an ABET-accredited engineering college for mechanical, general, and electrical engineering, those are all moves that were made that build upon the strengths of our Loras faculty that simultaneously have marketplace demand.”

In a spring 2023 higher education environment that brought the closure of Iowa’s second-oldest campus — Iowa Wesleyan University — Loras just weeks after that news announced new five-year articulation agreements with St. Ambrose University to expand collaboration between the two institutions.

The agreements included one path for students to earn a bachelor’s and doctorate of occupational therapy in six years or “4+1” agreements starting students at Loras and finishing them at St. Ambrose with master’s degrees in exercise physiology or social work.

“It’s very difficult for small private colleges to think about the future independently,” he said. “So we've created a number of collaborations.”

Next president

With all the changes and challenges, fundraising and endowments have grown increasingly important for private institutions — and Collins has stepped up. During his tenure, he oversaw the most successful comprehensive campaign in school history — generating $106 million by 2017, increasing the endowment 67 percent and growing estate contributions 1,400 percent.

Loras recently launched another campaign — this one aimed at raising $128 million, with a little over $60 million raised to date, he said. The goal, in part, is to boost Loras’ financial aid offerings and its endowment.

“The endowment is a little over $60 million,” he said. “Our goal is to hopefully double that.”

Capital improvements Loras saw during Collins’ tenure include construction of the Lillis Athletic & Wellness Center, renovation of Rock Bowl Stadium, an updated Keane Hall, Einstein Bagels addition, Beckman Hall renovation, new Tucker Tennis Complex, and transition of the Grotto to the center of campus.

Collins, now 62, is retiring at the end of the next academic year on May 31, 2025 because his five-year contract is up and timing made sense. The board is planning to meet shortly about a national search to replace him, and Collins said he’s willing to help through the transition.

“I think that we'll have success in finding a great successor,” he said. “And if, for whatever reason, there wasn't a new president (by his planned retirement date), I would be willing to stay for some period of time.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com