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Dr. William Allen: A Man Worth Knowing
By Patrick Heery, University College PACE Publications Assistant
Who is Dr. William Allen? Who is this man without whom there would be no LINKS program, this man who, to many, personifies the University’s commitment to student success and retention, the man whose legacy earned him the recognition of having the Student Help Center, now housed in the Baker University Center, named after him? Who is this man who, when he retired - very quietly - in 2006, having begun his work at Ohio University in 1969, became the longest employed African American administrator in the history of the University? Who is this man who, while others interpreted academic advising as a secondary concern, defined himself first and foremost as an advisor and servant of the students? This is not an easy question to answer. When asked to provide an incident that seemed to encapsulate exactly who Bill Allen is, very few could come up with a response. He is too comprehensive a man for such a question. They referred, instead, to “continual little moments of encouragement.” Some people are simply too expansive to be summed up in a few words, in even a thousand words. Nevertheless, this question was my project. It took me through university documents, through interviews with past and present students, through meetings with his colleagues, through weeks of reflection. I still do not have a complete answer. I do not think I ever will. In fact, I do not think such an answer exists, at least not one that can be contained in an article such as this. But I would like to share with you what I have learned about Dr. Allen.
David Descutner, Associate Provost and Dean of University College, remembers attending the announcement of the Urban Scholars program, sitting down at a table of 12 people, and learning that not only had each of them participated in LINKS but each attributed much of their success to the program Dr. Allen had created in 1984, “the first and still successful mentoring program at Ohio University focused on improving the retention of first-year and second-year students who belong to disproportionately represented groups by creating sound conditions for them to succeed academically and become engaged in campus life” (Resolution 2007-3010).
Prior to the creation of LINKS, retention rates for African American students once got so bad that Ohio University was losing one out of every two students between their freshman and sophomore years. Ohio University was not alone in this trend. It was happening all over the nation. With retention rates at a dismal 50%, researchers conducted a national study in order to assess the reasons for this disproportionate loss. What their study revealed was that these students were not leaving because they lacked the ability to succeed. They were leaving because, in the words of Dr. Allen, “(1) minority students often felt isolated, (2) they perceived the environment at the majority of colleges as hostile, and (3) they did not have good relationships with the majority of faculty, staff and students.” The idea of LINKS was Dr. Allen’s response to this pervasive social problem. While to this day most universities are still “talking” about what to do with the retention rates of disproportionately represented students, Ohio University, because of Dr. Allen, is not talking, but doing something - something which, I must add, has been overwhelmingly successful.
LINKS was not born in a vacuum. It developed, in the words of Dr. Allen, at a time of “significant social change in this country.” Up until the early Sixties, most African American college graduates came from historically Black colleges, the one place African American students did not have to feel isolated. The division between the mostly white colleges and the black colleges was only a sample of the segregation that drew lines through almost every community in the country.
Several LINKS graduates recounted to me their first experience with Dr. Allen. The summer before freshman year, during the LINKS introduction proceedings, Dr. Allen stood before the new LINKS students and asked them to look to their left and to their right. Once they had done so, he concluded, “One of you won’t be here in four years.” At that moment, Adonis Bolden, a LINKS graduate and now coordinator, will tell you, each of those students realized the seriousness of what they were beginning that day. Dr. Allen was not just utilizing effective rhetoric. He was speaking of something very real and tangible in the history of this University and of the minority student. It bears repeating: there was a time when 1 out of every 2 African American students, for instance, would not make it to his or her sophomore year.
President Ping, soon after being appointed to his position, set, as one of the goals of the University, “educational and social justice.” Dr. Allen seized the opportunity. Up until that point, the University had relied on volunteers to mentor and advise first-year minority students. Despite the goodwill of many volunteers, there was no system and thus there was no way to ensure consistent and quality advising for minority students. Dr. Allen decided that “a more systematic and well-defined approach was necessary,” and, with this in mind, submitted a proposal to the 1804 Grant for something no one had ever heard of: LINKS. That summer, with the grant approved, LINKS came into operation for the first time. UPAC, the following year, approved permanent funding for the program. Ohio University - along with most universities in the country - had no precedent for such a program. Dr. Allen started LINKS by himself. There was no university mandate, no committee, no requirement as a part of his job, no state funding. He just did it. In an academic world defined by committees and then more committees, this was in fact quite a remarkable action.
Having observed that upperclass students were often more effective in advising freshmen than professionals, Dr. Allen centered LINKS on the use of peer mentors. For a long while, Dr. Allen acted as the coordinator of LINKS. LINKS was immediately a great success. The University welcomed this original and insightful answer to the national issue of minority-student retention, but funding was initially low. Because of its low funding, LINKS began as a program devoted solely to African American students. As the program grew, however, it expanded to included Latinos, Native Americans and eventually all under-represented students.
LINKS is a caring program, according to one of its current coordinators, Adonis Bolden, precisely because Dr. Allen is a caring individual. LINKS insists on “face to face” contact and relationships because that is what Dr. Allen advocated. LINKS boasts the statistics of success, but it is successful precisely because it makes the student more than a statistic, more than a number; it treats every student as an individual deserving of individual attention, respect and challenge.
Dr. Allen was, and is still, driven by one predominating philosophy: “all human beings have worth and value, and given the right circumstances, preparation, nurturing and support, achievement is possible.” Though he recognizes that it is difficult to pin down specific factors in promoting student success, he does link success to “adequate funding,” an “appropriate attitude, motivation and commitment” on the part of students and parents, “learner-specific services and support,” knowledgeable and committed staff, a learning-conducive environment, a flexible delivery of service which “accommodates use of technology when appropriate,” and the prioritization of such services by all constituents.
During his 37 years as an Ohio University administrator and educator, Dr. Allen touched the lives of students, faculty and administrators in ways beyond telling. In fact, many of his students went on to become administrators and educators at Ohio University. He made his students his colleagues - sometimes quite literally. Some examples of LINKS students who went on to be employed by the University are Elizabeth Warren (University College Academic Advisor and Assistant Director of Learning Community Programs), Jesse Raney (Interim Director of Disability Services), and Adonis Bolden (LINKS coordinator). Admired by all, he received the Outstanding Administrator Award in 1991. At the presentation ceremony, Ohio University President Ping chose to quote from one of the nomination letters: “Dr. Allen is open, unbiased, a problem-solver, ethical, a positive influence on students, a true educator, but above all a wonderful human being.”
Dr. Allen received his BSED in Biology with a minor in English at Bluefield State College in West Virginia. He taught in the public schools of West Virginia for four years (1964-8) and served as the Recreation Leader at a community center from 1965-7. He started out at Ohio University in 1968 as a graduate student. He received his Masters in Elementary Guidance and Counseling and his PhD in Higher Education Administration. From 1969 to 1972, he served as the Assistant to the Dean in University College. In 1972, he was promoted to Assistant Dean, and in 1981, he became the College’s Associate Dean, acting in that capacity until his retirement in 2006. As an educator and as a person of color, Dr. Allen’s world necessarily extended far beyond the Hocking. He served as an Intern with the American Council on Education in 1978. In 1981, President Jimmy Carter and his staff hand-picked Dr. Allen to join about fifty other African American educators as a Fellow in the Education Policy Fellowship Program, part of the White House Initiative on Black Colleges. Throughout his tenure at University College, he served, at varying times, as an academic advisor, as the Director of Advising and as the Coordinator of the Bachelor of General Studies degree program.
Dr. Allen looks back on his University College position with deep regard: “Aside from the opportunity to work with creative and caring staff and interact with a variety of students, UNC [University College] provided an environment which: encouraged ‘thinking outside the box;’ was supportive and encouraging; allowed discussion and exploration of new ideas; attempted to utilize practices, concepts and ideas to assist and nurture students and ensure their success.” This does not mean that there Dr. Allen has only angelic memories of his job. Like any administrator or faculty member, he remembers all too well the “externally imposed administrative minutia” that increasingly accumulated in the later years of his career. He also remembers encountering many parents who, though well-meaning, struggled in allowing their children the chance to develop “independent thought and actions,” the product of which Dr. Allen saw as his primary objective.
In addition to creating LINKS, Dr. Allen formed a “companion program” called OU START, recognized by the Ohio College Personnel Association with the auspicious Award of Excellence. Dr. Allen also developed the advising program for undecided students which continues to this day and which was, in 1986, recognized with a national award by NACADA, the National Academic Advising Association. Dr. Allen began the still operating quarterly publication, “The Advisor,” co-editing the first issue with Jan McMannis in 1978, as a way to keep faculty and staff abreast of new developments in ways to improve academic advising and of changes at the University. He created Project Excel, now known as Turning Points, as a way to improve the retention of reinstated students. With this same goal in mind, he developed a probation counseling program. In an attempt to supplement current modes of advising, Dr. Allen created both “Action Line,” which gave students a chance to ask questions about advice they had received, and the First Year Student Course Information Guide to be used in advising sessions by both faculty and students.
Though most people remember him for his work with LINKS and other such initiatives, there are some, such as Dale Tampke and Cynthia King, who remember with great gratitude Dr. Allen’s proficiency as a budget manager. When Dale Tampke inherited the University College budget manager position from Dr. Allen, he inherited a lifetime of files, providing an invaluable source of historical information. Dr. Allen saved everything. Cynthia King said something very similar. When she became director of the Academic Advancement Center, Dr. Allen was a great help with budget, she said, for he knew the whole history of the University and its finances.
But as President Ping stated, Dr. Allen was more than an administrator or educator; he was and remains a “wonderful human being.” He is a quiet, reserved man. One of his colleagues described him as “the strong, silent type.” When he does speak, however, you can trust that everyone listens. But because of his reserved exterior, many people have not had a chance to see his more eccentric - and endearing - qualities. For instance, those who worked closely or socialized with Dr. Allen will tell you that he has a great sense of humor, allegedly dubbed the “second funniest person on campus” (the identity of the funniest remains a mystery). Sam Crowl, once Dean of University College, remembered staff meetings where “Bill had a very wicked, dry, sometimes bawdy sense of humor.” This always surprised the person who did not know Dr. Allen and had only encountered his academic, taciturn exterior. That person might have been even more surprised to find a “joke gift” from Dr. Allen at the college Christmas party or to hear Dr. Allen reciting a satiric poem on a colleague’s birthday. When he did tell a joke, everyone else would be bent over laughing, while he would look on with an amazingly straight face and a slight, amused smile. “I,” Dr. Brinkley of the Office of Diversity told me, “can always count on opening my email and finding a joke.”
Among his colleagues, there are, even now, running jokes passed between Dr. Allen and his friends - which just goes to show the kind of endearment he has inspired. Indeed, he inspired a special affection and respect in all who knew him. His most rewarding moments, Dr. Allen will tell you, have been coming across a student he once taught and/or advised and having this alumnus recount the difference Dr. Allen made in his or her life. Speak to anyone that knew him and you will quickly find that mere memory of the man can elicit tears, chuckles of endearment, and soft smiles of respect. He is almost universally equated with the concepts of student success and retention. Elizabeth Warren remembers, for instance, little things such as how he collected class textbooks and would allow students to borrow them for a quarter if they could not afford to buy the books themselves.
Dr. Allen also happens to be a jazz connoisseur and an exceptional cook. Dr. Brinkley remembers with great pleasure his “tasty treats,” such as his bread pudding, and says, “he should up a restaurant.” He is, in the words of Sam Crowl, “a great fan of Ohio University athletics... though not an optimist.” Dr. Allen and his wife are present for every basketball game. He was even here during the famous riots. And if you see him on the street, riding a motorcycle or sitting behind the steering wheel of a Miata convertible, do not be surprised, for there is more to Dr. Allen then first meets the eye. But he is a humble man. His colleagues remember looking into his office, finding it emptied and asking, “Where did Bill go?” - only to learn later that he had retired. Others received a simple phone call, telling them he was leaving. They of course merely thought he was going on vacation, until he explained he was retiring. He simply does not like attention drawn to himself. In fact, he probably doesn’t like the fact that this article is being written about him or that you are reading this right now.
Many of these people will tell you that Dr. Allen has a shell, an exterior that might at first glance seem somewhat impenetrable. This is often true for those who lead quiet, profound lives. But, despite any first impressions, Dr. Allen is, according to Adonis Bolden, a man of exceptional and welcoming accessibility. Nor are these two sides (the reserved exterior and the caring interior) opposed to one another. His dispassionate reserve endows Dr. Allen with an objectivity and a clarity of thought much appreciated by his students and his colleagues alike (he could always be the “devil’s advocate”) - a clarity which grew out of his compassionate desire to see the University and its students excel.
Humble to the last, Dr. Allen attributes much of his success as an administrator to the mentorship of Don Flournoy who always pushed Dr. Allen to be more than “mediocre or average” and to do more than “show up for work and leave.” Let there be no question, Dr. Allen is a man with high standards. During his time at Ohio University, he asked a lot from himself, and he asked a lot from his students. He was not one to coddle. If he felt a student was slacking off, he told the student. He often treated the student with what Sam Crowl affectionately refers to as “tough love.” But it was “love.” Nothing else could have motivated this man to review personally for several years every African American freshman’s class schedule to make sure they were on track.
He cared deeply about the success of all students. The 2007 Board of Trustees Resolution (#3010) officially named the Student Help Center after Dr. Allen, making it the Dr. William Allen Student Help Center. The Help Center is a representation of how he impacted students of all races and backgrounds. Dr. Allen particularly wanted to help those students who were at a disadvantage. He liked the tough cases. The Student Help Center, administered by University College, exists to do one thing: to serve the students through academic advising - an objective which, in manifold ways, was established and furthered by Bill Allen. The Center, patterning itself off Dr. Allen’s legacy, does not simply provide the conventional forms of advising. It goes beyond the DARS, because its goal is not simply to have the student graduate but to have the student succeed. Thus, it helps students set personal and academic goals, realize their potential and rise to “high-level academic standards.” The Center also oversees student-retention initiatives.
The Student Help Center exists, according to its director, Dale Tampke, as an “enduring reminder” of the legacy left by Dr. Allen, a legacy of momentous, though too often “unsung,” accomplishments. It is appropriate that the Help Center is located in Baker, the central hub of the campus, because that is where Dr. Allen’s legacy remains rooted: at the heart of Ohio University. The Student Help Center endeavors to live up to that legacy by maintaining a close relationship with the Office of Diversity and the LINKS program, and by conducting academic advising in the comprehensive way Dr. Allen intended it. Likewise, the Office of Diversity, according to Dr. Brinkley, is endeavoring to preserve the foundation Dr. Allen established through LINKS.
When asked what advice he would give students through the Help Center, Dr. Allen said that he would advise students to be willing to acknowledge and accept help when necessary. This is often, Dr. Allen explains, not an easy task for students. It is difficult for students driven to succeed to acknowledge that they cannot do this alone; it is hard to set aside the ego and ask for help. Difficult as it may be, he was clearly successful, for this is what Adonis Bolden feels he learned from Dr. Allen: humility, selflessness, the ability to set aside the ego. Cynthia King related how Dr. Allen not only taught humility but lived humbly, “always willing to share the credit.” She says that when you leave a conversation with Dr. Allen, you know more about yourself or the issue at hand than you do about Bill Allen. In his approach, it just was not about him.
Dr. Allen leaves behind at Ohio University numerous stories, memories and friends. David Descutner knew Dr. Allen as a “savvy, tough guy.” Adonis Bolden refers to Dr. Allen as an “advocate, staunch in supporting all students” and a “stalwart of academic prowess.” Adonis says that Dr. Allen taught him to value and cherish education and to be assertive about his educational rights. Adonis came to Ohio University in 1997, only about 40 or so years after Brown vs. Board of Education. “To see someone like Dr. Allen,” Adonis told me, to see a successful African American educator and administrator, was to realize “an opportunity” and the “need to capitalize on that opportunity.” Adonis felt, right then and there, a real sense of “cultural responsibility.” Cynthia King saw the same element in Dr. Allen. He was an educator, she says, but it was also important that he was a black man. It is not easy to represent a people but he recognized, because of the social and racial context of the United States, that he had to. This of course brought obstacles, but it was through those obstacles that he learned the way to remove obstacles for his students - or to help them do so for themselves.
During his three years as a coordinator of LINKS, Adonis has always felt the guidance of Dr. Allen and his other mentor, Christine Taylor, Director of the Office of Diversity, “not wanting to let them down because they didn’t let me down.” Always, he says, he has these two individuals perched on his shoulders, reminding him to keep students at the heart of everything he does. Cynthia King says that Dr. Allen taught her the same lesson.
Cynthia King, who interacted with Dr. Allen most directly after she became director of the Academic Advancement Center, states that during her “overwhelming” transition into the position, Dr. Allen was a constant, “calm” source of support and aid. He was an “advisor, mentor, and guide.” However, she also had a chance to interact with him while coordinating CAAP. He, understanding the important role of the family for many under-represented students, suggested they involve the parents when CAAP was experiencing problems with its applicants. According to King, his suggestion changed the entire application process, improving its quality immensely. As a result, they made a point of involving parents in the conversation when students were struggling.
She considers Dr. Allen “the historian of Ohio University” and “the champion of students.” She remembers a time when someone asked what students did before they could retake classes, and the very next day, Bill Allen showed up with a 1950 catalog. Anytime there was a problem, she would call Dr. Allen. Because he was so versed in university procedure, he knew when it could be bent (for a system without flexibility is no good to anyone) and when it had to be strictly heeded.
Christine Taylor referred to Dr. Allen as “an esteemed colleague,” “a selfless man - which is hard to come by these days,” and a “great thinker.” Having worked closely on multicultural projects, and collaborating as a part of the Synergy Team which produced the Templeton Scholars, Dr. Taylor considers Dr. Allen to be one of the most knowledgeable people on campus about student success. She told me that he was a good, analytical person to have on committees. Dr. Taylor expresses deep respect and love for the man who was “supportive of [her] personally and professionally.” She states, “I valued his mental energy, appreciated his laughter, and valued being his colleague.”
Sam Crowl originally met Dr. Allen when Dr. Crowl became the Dean of University College in 1982 and asked Dr. Allen, the then-Assistant Dean, to become the Associate Dean. They worked together for eleven years. One thing that really impressed Sam Crowl was the fact that Dr. Allen, contrary to the standards of the time, was incredibly committed not only to the numbers of multicultural students but to their success. He describes Dr. Allen as a “rarity,” explaining that most people burn out after a few years at University College due to the intensity of constant advising and oversight of at-risk students. Yet, Dr. Allen held on and thus brought “solidity to the professional demands of being a fine staff member in positions that turn over fairly quickly.” This, Sam Crowl believes, is part of the reason University College has seen greater longevity in its personnel, such as Laura Chapman and Laura Munsel. It is because Dr. Allen was a model.
Stacey Brinkley, whose primary interaction with Dr. Allen occurred once she returned to Ohio University as an employee of the Office of Diversity, says that it was not so much what Dr. Allen said but what he did that impacted her. A “true man,” Dr. Allen possesses a “good listening ear” and is always willing and able to provide “tremendous help.” He encouraged Dr. Brinkley to pursue her PhD. Tears actually come to her eyes as she remembers that when she walked into the room where she was to defend her PhD, he and his wife were the first ones there. She describes Dr. Allen as a “trail-blazer, a path-finder, and a path-maker... A quiet, powerful person.” Dr. Brinkley and others note with equal regard the leadership and pedagogy of Dr. Allen’s wife, Carolyn, who served as a beloved advisor and staff member of University College. I guess good people just somehow find each other.
Perhaps now you have some sense of the man behind LINKS, academic advising, the dramatically improved support of disproportionately represented students, and countless other programs and initiatives. Or perhaps he remains a mystery. If so, that’s okay. Some people are meant to be mysteries. It stems from a largeness of character, a complexity of being, and a reserved, though powerful, sense of self - all of which have seeped into the marrow of this University, endowing it with new vision and new vigor. Retention and student success remains a challenge for Ohio University, but it is less of a challenge partly because of the contribution of Dr. Allen. What remains of the challenge - well, we can handle it partly because of Dr. Allen. If you still do not feel you know Dr. William Allen, I suggest you walk into Chubb and watch a University College staff member advise a nervous freshman; enter Baker and take a look at the new Student Help Center; attend a LINKS meeting and observe upperclassmen taking the hands of their younger peers; sit on College Green and feel the sense of community that pervades the air; think back on how far this University has come since the days of covert segregation; think of how far it and this country still have to go; take a glance at the scholarships offered; or simply look into the face of many an educator, administrator, and student - perhaps then, you will know Dr. William Allen.
To learn more about LINKS, please visit this website: http://www.ohio.edu/diversity/LINKS/index.cfm
To learn more about the Allen Student Help Center, please visit this website:
http://www.ohio.edu/helpcenter/index.cfm
To learn more about University College, please visit this website:
http://www.ohio.edu/univcollege/
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