New UHCL President looks to the future amid a delayed start to the semester
President Ira Blake has been working hard in her position as UHCL’s new president since Aug. 1. Blake barely settled into her new position before Hurricane Harvey hit. She has been catching up on work from the week-long delay of the start of the semester due to the storm, adding hurricane response duties to her list of to-dos.
“While Harvey was both unexpected and unwelcome, I have dealt with catastrophic events, which also caused university closings,” Blake said. “We pulled together quickly and reached out to our campus community and beyond in an extraordinary manner. Such a response made me more proud to have joined the Hawk family.”
Before coming to UHCL, Blake served as a provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, a role she held since 2009. Blake says the transition from her previous position to president has been interesting and fun in its own way.
Like many of UHCL’s students, Blake is a first-generation college graduate and is humbled by her upbringing and experiences.
“I want to tell all students that competency and skills come in all different forms,” Blake said.
Blake explains what it means to make history as the first female and first African-American president at UHCL by pointing out diversity is important. Diversity will allow different perspectives on any task and will enrich the outcomes.
Darlene Biggers, associate vice president of student services, was on the presidential search committee and says that Blake has a lot to bring to the table.
“[Blake] is an exemplary leader with experience at a traditional four-year university who will help UHCL achieve the next level of excellence in transitioning to a four-year, comprehensive, public institution,” Biggers said. “She has hit the ground running by establishing expectations for open communication, collaboration, strategic planning and respect for all UHCL’s diverse constituencies.”
There is no question when it comes to Blake’s leadership style. She says collaboration is key, and having a multi-dimensional view is important to her vision. Blake plans to evaluate the first, full run of the four-year college initiative and determine the successes and terms for improvement.
“We all need to be a part of the vision – own it, don’t buy in to it,” Blake said.
Justin Murphy, SGA president, believes wonderful things will come from Blake’s vision.
“I expect that [Blake] will shake things up and help the university in its transition from a two-year university to four-year university,” Murphy said.
For health and wellness, Blake says she likes to stay reasonably balanced. Blake enjoys gardening, or even mowing the lawn to “sweat a little bit.” Traveling and seeing new places are some of Blake’s hobbies, along with reading mystery and sci-fi novels and being an avid Star Trek fan.
Blake makes time to see her six grandchildren, which keep her busy. One of Blake’s grandchildren offered to let her borrow a toy light-saber so she can play with it when not at work. One of Blake’s goals is to learn how to play the flute, because it has “the most appealing sound.”
Blake also has a strong interest in being involved in the community and says providing community support is vital to the university. She has noticed in her transition to UHCL that the care is “genuine,” and plans to continue to support the students along with the community as part of her vision.
“There are so many pathways to prosperity [and end] goals,” Blake said, and states that it is important to “know what to make of opportunities.”
Blake wants every student to take full advantage of what UHCL has to offer.
“Get involved, immerse yourself in [your studies] … be as successful as you can because you’re the outcome,” Blake recommends to students.
