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In the forty-fourth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Eric F. Spina, President of the University of Dayton. Spina begins by sharing details concerning how he and his colleagues are reinvesting in the city of Dayton, including the development of a business incubator and a multiuse community. He goes on to articulate how such investments not only make wise sense for the recruitment and retention of faculty, staff, and students, but more importantly how such efforts express the Catholic and Marianist commitments to the common good. Spina then discusses his own formation as an educator and the influence offered by his parents, teachers and coaches at Buffalo’s Canisius High School, and his graduate advisor at Princeton University. Spina originally had no interests in an administrative career as he was vocationally content to serve his students and his discipline as an engineer during his 28-year career at Syracuse University. The decisions he made to serve as a department chair, a dean, and provost were a result of leadership he became persuaded he could offer. While Spina also initially had no interest in pursuing service as the president at Dayton, he became compelled by the possibility due to the university’s mission and meeting the people who seek to bring that mission to life each day. He then offers details concerning the conclusion of Dayton’s current campaign as well as his aspirations for the university in the years to come. Spina concludes by explaining how he understands the qualities and characteristics that inform the academic vocation as expressed at Dayton.
Todd Ream: Welcome to Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. My name is Todd Ream. I have the privilege of serving as the publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review and as the host for Saturdays at Seven. I also have the privilege of serving on the faculty and the administration at Indiana Wesleyan University.
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Our guest is Eric F. Spina, President of the University of Dayton. Thank you for joining us.
Eric Spina: My pleasure. Great, great to be here.
Todd Ream: You were appointed president at the University of Dayton on July 1, 2016, and have fostered momentum for Dayton becoming a university for the common good. When you arrived at Dayton, what needs and/or opportunities compelled you to focus on such an understanding for the university and for its future moving forward?
Eric Spina: Yeah, so really it was through my first year on campus and also with our alumni across the country, that that frame really came, kind of came into, into, into focus. So at kind of the superficial level, really, it’s what we see on campus every day with our students, it is talking to alums about the lives that they led and how their education and our Catholic Marianist University prepared them to live their life to pursue their vocations. It became clear this notion of the common good and the way that our students, while they’re on campus or alumni, contribute to that was kind of a good frame for us.
Beyond that, I would say, you know, again, coming to the University of Dayton, the degree of commitment to our local community here on campus, but also in the city of Dayton, the care for others really became clear that also was an important piece.
I think that the last element for me is that our calling, I think across higher ed these days really should be for all of us to contribute in some way to really reducing some of the inequality in our society and in our country. And when we think about the common good and the focus on, on every person—not the majority, but in every person—that’s what we need to do more of at the University of Dayton to make sure that we’re contributing.
And one of the ways we’ve done that, for example, is really increase our Pell eligible percentage on campus to make certain the socioeconomic diversity on campus reflects broader society and that we’re contributing to reducing that in inequality.
Todd Ream: Yeah, thank you.
You echoed this, but was wondering if I could ask you to say a little bit more and unpack more about in what ways is such an understanding also rooted in the university’s Catholic and Marianists charisms?
Eric Spina: Yeah, I mean, I think just you know, the charism of the Marianists is really much aligned with Catholic, so social teaching. You know, I think about the preferential option for the poor, the dignity of every person, recognizing every person, no matter what, you know, kind of their, their station in life, the path that they walked in life, their identity, that all the diversity of God’s creation is so important to us. Embracing, supporting that again, really is at the core of who we are as an institution. We’re really founded in that charism.
Todd Ream: Yeah. Thank you.
Such an understanding then is also focused on what were identified as five qualities or characteristics. And some of these you’ve echoed already: a commitment to community, living a life of purpose and meaning, transparent affordability, research that matters, and hands on experiences that build leaders.
Would you offer some details about practices in particular that have been implemented at the University of Dayton that foster these qualities or characteristics?
Eric Spina: Yeah, the first thing I’ll offer is, you know, become more and more important to this university. I think all colleges and universities, especially independent institutions, in a hyper competitive landscape for higher ed, that our value proposition is as clear as possible, and in fact is a value proposition. Just saying these things that subjectively, we are X or we are Y. It’s not enough. We actually need to show that.
So, you know, the notion of commitment to community care for others, respect for difference. These are things we see on campus every day. We know these are things that for our students when they graduate and go into society that are going to be incredibly important.
One example of a practice on campus is we actually have a residential curriculum, so our students across their four years, I think 92% of our students live on campus all four years.
Todd Ream: Wow.
Eric Spina: First year, they’re in a typical, you know, double loaded corridor, trying to just come to terms with, you know, living with people different than them, than themselves. Second year, they’re in a suite, third year they’re in apartment. Fourth year they’re actually in an entire neighborhood that we own nearly every house and every house in fact has students on it. And we really work with students to help them come to terms with how one builds community. And so in their senior year, they’re actually literally building a community across, across a, a neighborhood. So I think that’s a good example of a practice.
Beyond that, you know, we’ve just instituted a hands-on or experiential learning requirement for every student. We figure maybe 70, 75% of our students had that experience already. Those are the students who absolutely graduate, who absolutely get jobs, who absolutely kind of have this foundational sense of their vocation. And so, you know, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
We’re going to have all of our students in these kinds of experiences mentored by a faculty member and framed so that you know, it’s not just a research experience, it’s not just a study abroad experience, but we ask students, we’ll ask students to work with faculty ahead of time to really think about what they need to do to prepare. And then as they go through that experience and come out of it, do the reflection to make certain that they’re actually taking those lessons of lasting value from the experience.
So this is a place that’s, I think, much more intentional than many universities around you know, these are our goals, these are our values. Let’s make certain we’re living into them.
Todd Ream: Yeah, thank you.
That living into those values as you echoed also earlier, is not simply limited to the experience on campus that the university seeks to foster. But in recent years, publications such as The Atlantic have focused on efforts being made in Dayton to reinvent town gown relations. With one of the most prominent of those efforts being onMain, a 38-acre transformational development initiative and partnership between the University of Dayton and Premier Health.
Would you describe the vision that led to this project?
Eric Spina: Happy to. I’ll just say I, I recognize that for many universities having 38 acres that’s undeveloped is unheard of, so, you know, we, we, we feel, we feel blessed in, in that way.
Yeah, but it really begins with kind of an overall philosophy that predates me, but certainly is one of the things that attracted me here. So we are an anchor institution in the, in the city of Dayton. As I say, you know, the city’s name is in our name. We aren’t going anywhere. And in Dayton, that’s a sensitive topic, right? This used to be a home of a number of Fortune 500 companies that they’ve all left. But we, we are here, we’re staying here. So we’re an anchor institution, a partnership university.
You know, frankly, our survival, our ability to attract students and their families to attract good staff and good faculty from out of town really depends upon the quality of life here, here in Dayton. So, you know, we went through a tough 20, 30 year period as people disinvested from Dayton. So at one level, it’s really a selfish act for us to think about how we contribute to the community, how we can move it forward.
But you know, at the end of the day, it’s my fiduciary duty to ensure, ensure our students are getting what they need, right? And, you know, it’s not necessarily clear to some people that supporting the development of the city is one of those things. But this is where, you know, I’m a believer that getting our students off campus and interacting with people different than themselves in the community, in various parts of the community is the best way to educate students, right? Classroom and out of the classroom, in the community is really key.
So this notion of community engagement is at the center of the way that, you know, that UD has always been, but it’s certainly been the way that I’ve led. So we’ve looked for those opportunities in the community that benefit our students and benefit the community.
So we’re now downtown in a major, major development called the Arcade Innovation Hub. We have a hundred thousand square feet. Many of our business students are taught down there. We also have a number of entrepreneurs who are starting businesses. That was really the first kind of off campus thing that we did. It’s, you know, a mile and a half away, but just getting 500, 600 of our students downtown into that hub on a semester basis really, really been valuable for the vitality of downtown.
The next thing we did, kind of connected to the hub was the Greater West Dayton incubator. West Dayton is the historically African American part of town. Hasn’t been a lot of interaction between the university and that community over time. But building on the strength of the Arcade Innovation Hub, working with a lot of leaders in Greater West Dayton, we now have a footprint there and we’re working actively to support entrepreneurs from that community.
Our biggest project as you identify is onMain, 38 acres, kind of the, the, the frame for it is work onMain, live onMain play onMain. And you know, the anchors are going to be major employers. Uh, we’re just about to break ground on our first building there, a hundred, 120,000 square feet.
Todd Ream: Oh, wow.
Eric Spina: It’s not going to be a place where our students live. It’s going to be a place where people who work at that site, who work at the university, who work at Premier Health are going to be living. But then the idea is to really make that a walkable, livable neighborhood that’s right on the border of the institution, contributes to the building of the community but also provides internships for our students, research opportunities for faculty and staff, and really can further, kind of build that connection between the university and the community.
So those are kind of three high profile things we’ve done, mostly across the institution, courses from philosophy to engineering to business. Our faculty really looks to make connections with community organization that get students not only in the classroom, but outside the classroom where they can benefit their education, but also help rebuild the city in meaningful ways.
Todd Ream: Yeah. Thank you. Very exciting project. Very exciting efforts.
I want to transition now to asking you about your own vocational formation. Buffalo, New York is your childhood home and if you are—there you go. You already just gave it away. I was going to say, if you’re like anyone I know from Buffalo, you’re very proud of being from Buffalo.
So you went on to earn an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and earned master’s degrees and a PhD in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering from Princeton University. At what point did you know engineering was a critical component of how you were called to express your vocation?
Eric Spina: Yeah, that, that, that’s an interesting question. So like, like many people who pursue engineering, I was really good at math and really good at science, and people said, you should be an engineer.
I was like, well, okay. Yeah, they get jobs. They drive nice cars. They afford houses. I think I’ll be an engineer. So to begin with, it was not, not a vocation. You know, as time went on, especially in graduate school. I came to appreciate that that was a way to kind of use some of my talents and skills to contribute in one way or another.
But for me, I’ll say my first time that I really thought about having a vocation was not around being an engineer, but really about being an engineering educator. So my dad started out as a biology teacher, became a middle school principal. My mom was an artist who became an art teacher. You know, like many people in academia, you know, I can point to teachers through my elementary school, through high school, through grad school who really had a profound impact on me.
So recognizing, especially as I was making the transition from college to grad school, that education was my calling, that the ability to sit down with somebody, with having trouble understanding something and, and showing them different ways to look at it, that gave me a sense of satisfaction that nothing else had.
So yeah, I’m an engineer. I often think like an engineer. I certainly use data and I use tools and so on, but I think my true vocation, my true calling, has been the teaching aspects. Even when I’m not teaching, like now.
Todd Ream: Yeah. Thank you. You mentioned mentors. Anyone in particular that you would name who helped cultivate that side of your vocation?
Eric Spina: Yeah, I mean, I think about really in my high school, so I went to an all male Jesuit high school in Buffalo, Canisius High School, got to call them out. It means a lot to me.
So when I was installed here as president of UD, I probably had eight or ten of my high school classmates.
Todd Ream: That’s great.
Eric Spina: The principal for my high school came here.
So I think about Jim Skipper, who was a track coach and my phys ed teacher, but used to think I was a coordinated athlete, but I wasn’t. But he pushed me and tested me to become kind of a God-fearing, respectful contributor to society. I, I think about Father McIntyre, who is my English teacher, I think about Andrea Tyrpak-Endres, who was my religion teacher. So, high school, I mean, really foundational for me.
And then I spent, you know, my advisor in graduate school, Dr. Lex Smits, who, who taught me how to write. I thought I knew how to write. And then my first paper, it came back, it looked like he had bled all over it. And by the time I graduated with my PhD, I knew how to write, I knew how to write for a purpose. I could convince people with my writing.
And then finally, you know, I had a long, long career at Syracuse. The chancellor that I worked for as Dean and then Provost, Nancy Cantor, who still is still a higher ed, extraordinary mentor for me, really taught me a lot, the first Jewish first female chancellor of Syracuse University. She taught me things about social justice that apply to this Catholic university that I lead, that I wouldn’t be able to do without her.
Todd Ream: Yeah. You mentioned your service at Syracuse University. You were there for a total of 28 years. During that time, you secured tenure as a faculty member and established a reputation for an expertise in experimental fluid mechanics.
For individuals unfamiliar with the subdiscipline of engineering, that would include me, would you please offer a brief overview of the scope of the interests that define that subfield?
Eric Spina: Yeah, so I’ll do a couple of just quick linkages. So we talk about fluid, fluid mechanics or fluid dynamics. You can think about a fluid as a liquid or, or gas. My work really was in gas dynamics, specifically air and then specifically at very, very high speed. So the work that I did was in wind tunnels.
They range from three times the speed of sound to 20 times the speed of sound, so very, very high speed, where interesting things happen.
The work that I did was in something called the boundary layer, which is the period, the space very close to a surface that is going through the air. So whether it’s a car traveling 60 miles an hour, or an airplane traveling 300 miles an hour, or a rocket traveling Mach 15, very close to the surface is the boundary layer. And that’s where all the interesting things happen that enable you to fly a plane and control a plane or control a ballistic vehicle.
So that’s where, you know, drag and lift are created. That’s where heat transfer occurs. In some cases, even mass transfers. So the work that I did, I used big, expensive wind tunnels, some at the places I worked, some at NASA or the Air Force, which I would take measurements very close to the surface of model geometries, very high speed to really understand the physics of what was happening.
So what happens at Mach 10 that doesn’t happen at 20 miles an hour? And, and, and for me, kind of the joy there is solving hard, hard problems, figuring out what’s an experiment that would reveal how such and such had an impact on something else. So kind of the thrill of the chase is part of what motivated me.
Todd Ream: Yeah. Thank you. That’s fascinating.
Eric Spina: Now you know all about gas dynamics.
Todd Ream: Yeah. Well, I was going to say as fast as I move worrying about friction and heat probably not an issue. But when we’re at Mach 7, 8, 9 definitely, yeah, definitely an issue. And I’m glad there are people who were thinking about these questions. Thank you.
Your administrative career at Syracuse then, you were a faculty member, but then also an administrator included serving as a department chair, dean, interim vice chancellor and provost, and then vice chancellor and provost. Would you describe the discernment process that led you to accept incrementally larger forms of administrative responsibility while at Syracuse?
Eric Spina: Yeah, so I, you know, I’ll often sit with faculty members who are thinking about going into administration and they say, so to tell me, you know, how did you figure, you know, I call myself kind of the accidental president. This is one job that I actually applied for. But all the other jobs you listed were really accidental.
I was very, very happy as a faculty member. And then someone came to me and said, look, you know, we’re in trouble. You know, we think you’re the guy. We need, need you to be the chair, so I really don’t want to be the chair. And they said, well, we really need you. If it’s not you, it’s going to be this other guy. And I said, okay, well I’ll do it. And then, you know, that for me, being chair was the first time I really, you know, I taught, I did research. I did service, but it was the first time that I was responsible for other people, so students in my department, faculty in my department.
And I found being behind the scenes and sometimes doing something that a person would know about, but sometimes that they wouldn’t, wouldn’t know about that would lead to their success really, again, gave me great satisfaction. I could see how that helped the university in our mission.
You know, so I can remember, you know, watching students cross the stage. And seeing there’s a kid who you know, we actually suspended from the university because of academic performance or whatever. And we worked to get him back in. And here he is, you know, he getting his master’s degree now. You know, you feel some pride that you had some small part of that.
And then each of the other positions really similar things happened, right? So an associate dean was needed and I didn’t want to do it as was happy to be department chair and said, look, you really got to do it. And, and I did. And that’s kind of how I worked my way up to provost. I loved every job that I did. And I didn’t want to change.
But, you know, with, with need, came opportunity that helped me develop and grow as a person, as well as as a faculty administrator. So, again, no, no plan, but I’ve enjoyed every position I’ve ever had.
Todd Ream: Thank you.
As I previously noted, you were appointed president in 2016, the discernment process that you followed when considering that appointment, you mentioned this was one of those jobs for which you applied, actually. But could you say more about the process that you went through?
Eric Spina: Yeah, so I served nine, nine years as provost, vice chancellor and provost at Syracuse. We had undergone a chancellor transition about two years before, and I just figured it was time for the chancellor to have his own provost. So we agreed. I would step down. I can either go elsewhere and be a provost, go elsewhere to be a president, or go back to the faculty and teach. That was really my intent. I had no interest in being president, right?
So I saw when I worked for Nancy Cantor, you know, that that’s a, that’s a hard job, right? The buck literally does stop with you. Lots of, lots of hard decisions that as provost I could say, well, geez, Nancy, here’s what I think, but it’s up to you. I don’t want to make that decision. And then same thing with the next chancellor. So I really, I didn’t have interest in being president of a university. I was really planning to go back to the faculty.
Linda LeMura, who’s the president at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, said, Eric, you’d be a great president. You should go to a Catholic university. I said, I’ve never worked at a Catholic university, Linda, how could I do this? You should. So I got my mind thinking, but I wasn’t pursuing it. And then I got a call from a headhunter from the University of Dayton who said, what do you know about the University of Dayton? I said, well, let’s see. There’s all those universities in Ohio who are named after the city that they’re in, right? Cincinnati, Dayton, Youngstown, Toledo, Akron, you name it.
Let’s see, one of them is that the Catholic university? He said, oh, you know all about it. I said, I just told you everything. I think I know. So long, long story short, yeah, we had a good conversation. She told me a little bit about the Society of Mary, the Marianists, who are sponsors at the university. Sounded interesting, told me about some of the things they’re good at.
I said, well, send me some information. I read the information. I said, that’s that’s, that’s, that’s pretty, pretty interesting. I think I’ll throw my hat in the ring, but I don’t think I want to do it. So I got asked to go to an airport interview. I told my wife I’m going to do this, but I don’t think I’m going to be interested.
And then just a quick aside, so Syracuse is the Orange, colors here are red and blue. I want to make sure the search committee knew that I wasn’t dying for this job, so I wore a nice orange tie to the interview. And nine 90 minutes later really I came out of the interview. I called my wife and said, I want this job.
The way the particular questions they asked, the way the trustees and the students and the faculty interacted with each other, I could tell it was a special place, that there was a higher purpose here. As I said, I left wanting that job. And you know, when they offered it to me, I was, I was happy to take it.
Todd Ream: Yeah. As someone who’s a proud graduate of Canisius High School, but hadn’t yet participated in Catholic higher education, would you describe the process you followed when familiarizing yourself with the Catholic and Marianist charisms that animate the University of Dayton?
Eric Spina: That’s a really good question. I mean, the final thing my wife and I had to get over was, you know, can I be kind of the leading Catholic on a university when, you know, my faith life before was quite active at Holy Cross Parish back in Syracuse, New York, and my work life was very active. I’d like to think I brought my values to work. But I certainly didn’t, you know, lead prayers at the start of meetings or you know, say, God, God bless in my messages and so on.
So for me, you know, coming to terms with, you know, this is going to be part one and the same was, was important at the end of the day. So prayer, deep reflection, talking to family and certainly talking to the Marianist brothers, right? So there are several, several brothers who really helped me understand in the discernment process some of the challenges but also some of the great joys and opportunities of being at a Catholic university and being a Catholic president.
So, you know, lots of prayers, lots of conversations. Ultimately, it’s a leap of faith, right? My wife and I said, you know, it’s a strong place. We love the people. The students are fabulous. We’ll find our way in, into this. And it has been, I’ve been very well supported by the Marianist brothers on campus. It’s felt natural from day one.
Todd Ream: Wonderful. For individuals who are discerning, whether they’re also being called to serve as presidents, what advice would you offer them?
Eric Spina: Yeah, first and foremost, don’t want it too badly, right? I’ve seen lots of people take presidencies that either aren’t good fits or the institution is in a lot of trouble and there’s really no, no, no way to get out of it. So don’t, don’t want it too, too badly.
And, and, and find, find the right fit, right. Not every institution is right for every person. I’m not sure that being 28 years at Syracuse, I don’t think I would’ve been the right president there. I think the presidency here at Dayton, given our purpose, given our mission is right, right for me.
The last advice is to talk to multiple presidents from different kinds of institutions and ask them to be honest with you. Don’t, don’t sugarcoat it. You know, what, what are the upsides? But then what are those challenges? Talk a little bit about the pandemic. How did they respond to the pandemic? What were the difficult calls to make? Just an example of this is not always an easy, easy job. Lots and lots and lots of extraordinarily positive elements, but I think anyone who’s considering, needs to understand what’s hard.
Todd Ream: Yeah. Thank you.
Through summer 2025, the University of Dayton participated in the We Soar campaign, which included four goals, investing in people, enhancing access, hands-on learning, and academic excellence and innovation. Would you describe the process that the community went through and your leadership role in how those goals were defined and you know, what success you’re seeing from them?
Eric Spina: As I was preparing to come to Dayton and start the job in July 2016, I had enough conversations on campus. University was in good shape. Nothing was on fire. You know, clearly work to do like every institution, but felt I could use that first year to really listen carefully. Almost immediately, we scheduled my installation for April. You know, most people do it right in the fall.
But he pushed it out to April. I said, look, I want to have something to say. So we spent, vice president for advancement, myself, the provost spent those months in between July and April listening here on campus, listening here in the community and going across the country. You know, altogether, I think we engaged in with well over 2,000, 3,000 people. Just a lot of listening. What is UD? What’s, you know, at a high level, what should our 20-year future be? What are the things we’re good at? What are the things we need to get better at?
So we had a steering committee back home for the kind of vision for the institution. You know, we’d come back off the road and download with the committee and have conversations. And that’s really how we developed the strategic vision for, for the university that ultimately underpins, the We Soar campaign.
At the end of the day, the University of Dayton is about people and the relationships between people. The primary themes of the campaign, scholarships, right? Let’s make certain that no matter, as I say, no matter their zip code, right, no matter the path they’ve taken, no matter their family’s means, if they’re a good fit here, if they think they can benefit from our education, we, we want to find a way to get them here.
So, you know, scholarships, once they’re here, let’s make certain they have that really world-class experiential learning that we’re known for. That will make sure that they get internships, make sure that they get, get permanent placements, but also allow them to explore that vocation, right? Is that really what I’m called to do? So, you know, we already had kinda world-class experiential learning. The campaign has enabled us to expand that even more.
The final thing is how do we best support, recruit, retain, support faculty and staff who are on the front lines mentoring students, right? Whether it’s, you know, helping them get through difficult academic elements or helping them expand their horizon through experiential learning, study abroad, and so on.
So you know, we certainly have invested in, in buildings and, and labs and so on during the campaign, but our primary focus has been on those things that will enable us to continue to support people. Students here, make sure our faculty have a kind of a life of the mind and an active life to support those students.
And it’s been extraordinarily successful. Our, our, our target was four hundred million dollars about a little bit from closing away. We’ll be a little bit over 450. So we’re, we’re excited about that.
Todd Ream: That’s wonderful.
One question I can’t help but ask involves your ability to persist in the senior leadership roles to which you are appointed, nine years as Provost at Syracuse and nine years to date now as president of the University of Dayton. A considerable amount of attention is given to the declining tenure of university presidents right now sitting in some estimates at about 5.9 years. What doesn’t get as much attention though is that one recent study put the average tenure of chief academic officers or provost at three years.
To what would you attribute your ability to persist as provost at Syracuse and now as president of Dayton?
Eric Spina: I think the lifespan of presidents is rapidly decreasing. I’ve heard numbers less than five. But I will say provost is the toughest job. No ifs, ands, or, buts about it, right? So the buck stops with, with the president, but the provost is right on that front line. It is a tough job.
I mean, for me at Syracuse, I worked most of my time for a chancellor who I learned a lot from was really transforming Syracuse, the University and Syracuse, the city. Our vision, our goals, our values were really completely aligned. She gave me opportunities to really work across the institution, unlike many, many provosts. So, you know, I was involved in athletics and student life and, and so on. And we set some high challenges for ourselves and saw that we were making a difference.
So, you know, again, strong support from her, an opportunity to really make the institution better. It’s a good motivation to hang around. Obviously I had good, good, good, good people around me. Syracuse was an extraordinary university. Very good to me. I think they produced wonderful graduates.
At the University of Dayton, we have a higher purpose, right? We don’t just tell students, we’re going to get you a job. We focus on holistic education, holistic outcomes. We want people to be good citizens. We want people to contribute to their communities in ways that, that, that really, really matter.
So for me, at Dayton, it’s that higher purpose. You know, the values that we have, the mission that we have. And again, just a great set of vice presidents and, and deans and a fabulous board of trustees.
So really for me, both of these jobs have, have not been a drudge, despite, you know, some, some challenges that came along from, from external forces. But you know, not once at either of these jobs I ever thought, boy, I can’t wait to end this. When my time comes to an end, it’ll be sad because it’s been extraordinary.
Todd Ream: If I may, are there any spiritual, physical, mental, and/or even relational habits that you would recommend to individuals who also serve in comparable roles from which you’ve also benefited?
Eric Spina: Yeah, so I’ve been married to my wife for more than 30 years. I talk about us taking this job. I’m the one who, only one who gets paid, but she does a lot of work for the university in the community that reflects positively on me and, and the institution. I couldn’t do this, absolutely couldn’t do this without her as a partner. We do this together. She’s my greatest asset in many ways. And these, these are jobs that literally are 24/7. I try to take at least two weeks off in the summer and a week off between Christmas and New Year’s. Other than that, we’re working for the university.
Now, some of that work is enjoyable at basketball games and, you know, Christmas on campus and so on. But it’s a full-time job. I couldn’t have possibly taken it without her support. So certainly, you know, spouse, partner are just critically important. Very healthy family relationship. We have two kids who are now both away from home, but when we get together, we play games, we hike, we see movies. Those are very important.
A belief in what we’re doing. I couldn’t imagine being in a place where you weren’t 110% behind this is the place, this is the difference that we’re making. Time with students. I was with students this morning for about 45 minutes and you know, I walked away from that engagement with the skip in my step, right? You can just see this is, this is why we’re, we’re, we’re here. There’s no, no, no doubt about it.
And then you know, kind of one more mundane thing, I try to exercise regularly both for my back, which can be bad, but most importantly to, to clear, clear, clear my head. Vacation’s important. I, you know, around this time of year, I’m really beating on people to tell them to get, get out of here, go, you know, invest in your relationships, spend your time alone. Whatever it is.
And then a faith life again. I mean, I’ve come to Catholic education late in my life. Being a place in which faith is at, at the, the center just makes everything easier. You know, I think about our engagement with the Marianists and all they add to the university and how their charism really continues, even though there are fewer numbers and so many people that I see in a regular basis. So kind of the faith life that my wife and I and our family lives, I think is also an important part.
Todd Ream: Yeah. Thank you.
Before we close, I want to ask you some questions about the academic vocation as you understand it, drawing all the way back from your time as a faculty member, but also including, you know, the vision that you had for those who served with you as a department chair, associate provost, provost, and now president.
But what do you define as the characteristics and our qualities of the academic vocation, especially as you nurture, you know, say at the University of Dayton?
Eric Spina: A couple things come to mind. One is, you know, the student has to be at the center, right? I mean, your calling, well, first of all it’s a calling and not a job.
I had a colleague yesterday who was part of the orientation for new students, and he ended by saying, look, there are parts of this job that frankly, I don’t like that they pay me for and they better pay me for it. There are parts of this job, most of the job I do for free. Engaging with students is part of that. So come and see me when you have trouble. That, that’s how I feel. I mean, this is, yes, I get paid. But this is for me mostly not a job. It’s a joy. It’s a calling. So I think that’s, that’s at the center.
And then in that center, you also need to put the students, right, whether you’re a research university or a liberal arts institution or undergraduate serving, well, if the student, if commencement day is not your favorite day of the year, you’re in the wrong line of work, right? Because it’s about student success. It’s about seeing the growth from, from day one to year, at the end of year four.
So I mean, I think those are the major things and the notion of the whole person as we think about it, Dayton, in so, so many other places. You know, what are we doing so that these individuals, the young people who come to us kind of wet behind the ears, that they’ll be good citizens, they’ll contribute to their church or their mosque or their synagogue to their faith community, to their neighborhood. That they’ll be a good, you know, good member of their family, that they’ll be a citizen that votes and thinks about the state of the country and the world. These are the things we’re called to do.
Now I’ve said often over the last number of years through COVID and now through this more, this also challenging time. Where else would you rather be right, right now in this time of challenge, this time of concern than in education. And for me in higher education, where you are building that next generation, that is I believe, going to make a difference. Because I, you know, we see them every day and I’m ready to vote for them.
Todd Ream: Yeah, thank you.
When seeking to exercise such an understanding of the academic vocation, and in particular in a side-by-side capacity there working with students and cultivating their gifts and talents, what virtues do you believe educators need to cultivate?
Eric Spina: Selflessness, right? This can’t be about you, especially if you’re an administrator. That’s what I tell folks, you know, if you’re doing this for the glory. Your job is to get other people’s names in the marquee, not yours. So selflessness.
Faith in the future, you, you got to believe in these students, you know, no matter how much they might upset you by doing X or doing Y, you, you got to, you got to believe in them. Love for others. And then just a fundamental faith, right? That we’re on this earth to do something that matters, to do something for others.
Todd Ream: Yeah. What vices do you believe then are also perhaps most important to confront?
Eric Spina: Yeah, so selfishness. So the opposite of selflessness. That was an easy one.
Skepticism, cynicism, right? I mean I do think in higher ed, we tend to be sometimes too cynical about the world we’re in or about the students that we teach. I think especially if you’re going to be an administrator, it’s important to move out of that mindset and see the potential and the promise in each person rather than this flaw or that flaw. They’re 17, 18-year olds when they come to us. What do you expect?
Then I think maybe the one other thing I’d say is individualism, right? So we are, we’re a university, right? We obviously, lots of individuals, but we need to work collectively. Our impact in the city, our research that we do, and obviously supporting students, so they can grow. You need to do that in a collaborative way. And, you know, my agenda or that person’s agenda, that per, much less important than the agenda that we have for the student.
Todd Ream: Yeah. Thank you.
For our last question then, today, in what ways do you envision the health of the academic vocation as exercised on a Church-related university campus, say such as the University of Dayton, in what ways is it reflective of the health of the relationship that the university shares with the Church?
Eric Spina: Yeah, it’s a good question. And one that I didn’t have to think about until 9 years ago. You know, we pride ourselves here at the University of Dayton that some things we do should be of service to the Catholic Church, you know, so we have a special ministry for Hispanic individuals in the area. We have something called the virtual community for faith formation. That’s quite an exercise that does things kind of, for the global Church.
But I think here locally in our community, I mean certainly the work we do in the city of Dayton, I think is work that is certainly supported by the Church. But I also think universities are, you know, I’ll say Catholic universities in this case are places where, I want to be careful how I say this, really kinda the natural tensions between Church teachings and societal and cultural trends are tested.
You know, not everyone who comes to University of Dayton is Catholic, not everyone who is Catholic is going to subscribe to everything that the Church teaches. So you know, the notion of synodality that Pope Francis really brought to the fore, where people can be heard and can know they’re being heard, the Church can hear, even the least of us, I think is really important.
Yeah, I think sometimes it’s frustrating that the Church is very, very slow to change, but sometimes I think we all recognize it’s a very, very good thing, that it’s slow to change, and that in that time filters it out the things that are less, less important.
So I think the relationship between a Church and a university, you know, where we, where we kinda test some ideas and test trends and see, you know, is this really this something of lasting reason and, and purpose? Or is it just more temporal? You know, what I see on this campus happening on a regular basis, we want people to test ideas. We want people to talk about their faith, whatever that faith may be. And ultimately we want people to grow in that faith, whether they’re Catholic or any, any other faith. And I think it’s special being a Catholic university that does celebrate difference, does celebrate diversity, including diversity of beliefs.
Todd Ream: Thank you very much. Our guest has been Eric F. Spina, President of the University of Dayton.
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Thank you for joining us for Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. We invite you to join us again next week for Saturdays at Seven.
