For Catherine Dunn, Ph.D., employment on the faculty at Dubuque, Iowa’s Clarke College began routinely. Fresh from the campus of Arizona State University and armed with undergraduate and graduate degrees, she joined the Clarke faculty in 1973. Six short years later, Catherine became vice president for institutional advancement.
On February 3, 1984 Dunn’s became Clarke’s fourteenth president.
What challenges did the new president face? She had to pump-up a sagging endowment. Review and restructuring were needed in the curriculum. Clarke was barely a blip on higher education’s radar and needed to raise its visibility. And the budget required more balance.
Small private colleges faced enrollment challenges. Until 1979 Clarke had been a women’s college. In 1984 recruiting male undergraduate students continued to be a daunting task. Locally, the farm economy was also in peril.
As formidable as the foregoing may have appeared, it was nothing compared to the events of May 17, 1984. On that day, just 111 days after she took office, Dr. Dunn’s presidency was thrust deep into a crater. And it all began with a spark and a mild, spring breeze.
A potential college killer
"The nightmare we endured will always be with me,” Jane Daly Seaberg, class of 1978 and Clarke’s director of public relations at the time, has written. "Running frantically around the buildings. Searching for news crews. Seeing the shock and despair on the faces that lined Clarke Drive.”
The college was on fire. Four of the eleven historic buildings on campus were destroyed.
"A lot of people thought this would be the end (of Clarke),” former Iowa governor Terry Branstad was quoted as saying. "The timing of the fire was most unfortunate." Especially for Dr. Dunn.
Only she didn’t see it that way. "When an institution has been shot in the heart,” Dunn states, ”it would be easy for some to say, ‘We might as well close.’ Only we never gave them a chance to say it. I thank God for the people I could pull together. We didn’t have any time to waste. While I stood watching the fire, and later that night, I began to think through our next steps."
Early the next morning, Dr. Dunn was hard at work with her ad hoc rebuilding committee. With a plan formulated, Dr. Dunn issued orders to all employees. She and the school’s trustees established temporary offices, and set out to phone all current and accepted students, and assure them that Clarke would be open for business in the fall semester.
John Carlson, then a bureau chief for the Des Moines Register, observed "While it was a tragedy for some, it was obviously a turning point for the institution. I saw this woman, marching up and down Clarke Drive with a bullhorn announcing when exams would be rescheduled and what the plans were going to be. She was Catherine Dunn. She was so reassuring. She exuded confidence and self-assurance. She struck me as everybody’s favorite aunt, yet tough as nails."
"People are resilient,” Dunn remarks, "especially if they know the leader believes there is a way to go. The fire forced us to do and think about things differently. As a result, I believe we learned to do things better."
A five-alarm firebrand
In short order by any standard, Dr. Dunn and the school managed not only to recover from the devastating fire, but also to surmount new heights. Just two-and-a-half years later, Clarke College dedicated a new library, music performance hall, chapel, bookstore, administrative offices, and central atrium.
While many might consider that a remarkable comeback, Dr. Dunn considered it merely a good start. Clarke then opened a new recreation and sports complex in 1994, a new student apartment building in 1998, and a new activities center in 2000.
Today, Clarke is a much stronger institution. Enrollment is up and growing. The college’s library catalog became one of the first in the nation to be computerized. And shortly after the fire, former Secretary of Education Dick Riley cited Clarke’s pioneering evening degree program for working adults worthy as a national model.
Faith in the future
Dunn has received the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education Silver Medal and Bronze Medal for her outstanding leadership during and after the fire. According to former Governor Branstad, she "… had a vision for Clarke as well as the organizational ability and the business savvy to motivate people to share, work and support the vision."
In 1989, Dunn was appointed to the Iowa Transportation Commission, making history in 1994 when she was named its chair - the first woman to hold the position in the commission’s 81-year history.
“I love doing what I do. Every day, I’m excited about coming to work,” Dr. Dunn explains. “I am a servant. I have a responsibility and an obligation by virtue of my office as president to influence others for a greater good. For me, leadership is service.”
Dr. Dunn’s full title reveals more about her motivation and its source. Catherine Dunn, BVM, Ph.D. The BVM says that Dr. Dunn is also a Roman Catholic nun.