GEORGE BENSON The Visionary - Office of the President ...president.cofc.edu/documents/georgebensonprofile-charleston... · —George Benson “I selected this opportunity from among

its size and academic focus, feels like a

homecoming to Benson. “I began my aca-

demic life at Bucknell, where my family

connections go back with my grandfather

to about 1900,” he says.“Being here is like

coming back to my roots.”

Benson continued his family legacy at

Bucknell by earning a B.S. in mathematics

there in 1968. He furthered his academic

career, attaining a doctorate in decision sci-

ences from the University of Florida and

afterwards assuming an assistant professor-

ship at the Carlson School of Management

at the University of Minnesota. Since then,

wherever his career in academia has taken

him,Benson has established a record of pro-

gressive measures that have enriched the

educational programs at each institution.

Benson’s predisposition towards innova-

tive approaches to higher education isn’t sur-

prising.While a statistics professor,his father,

Paul Benson, created the Bucknell College

Bookstore.Likewise, the younger Benson has

left a lasting mark wherever he’s served. For

example,almost immediately upon assuming

A U G U S T 2 0 0 7 | 127126 | C H A R L E S T O N

eorge Benson couldn’t

look more settled than he

does with his tall frame

folded into an antique set-

tee in the elegant execu-

tive office in the College of

Charleston’s historic Ran-

dolph Hall.Yet two minutes

into the conversation,his guest is aware that

his relaxed demeanor disguises a constantly

restless, persistently probing mind. Ironi-

cally, a few blocks away, his wife, Jane Oas

Benson,a former collegiate track champion,

is busy stripping wallpaper in the College of

Charleston’s President’s House, which is

being renovated.The Bensons are living in

the guest house behind the executive resi-

dence; meanwhile, all the collective stuff

that makes a house a home sits packed away

in their old house in Athens, Georgia. So—

well settled? Stasis is not a familiar concept

in the Benson household.

Perhaps Benson,who begins his first full

academic year this month as the 21st pres-

ident of the College of Charleston, derives

his aura of unflappability because he was

groomed for the job from birth. He grew

up in Pennsylvania on the Bucknell Uni-

versity campus, where his grandfather

chaired the music department and his

father taught statistics.Although his wind-

ing career path to the helm of the College

of Charleston has passed through large

research universities (most recently while

serving as dean of the C.Herman and Mary

Virginia Terry College of Business at the

University of Georgia), the College of

Charleston’s historical campus, along with

B Y B R Y A N K . H U N T E R • P H O T O G R A P H S B Y R O O W A Y

CofC’s 21st president takes the helm of the 237-year-old institution with a fresh perspective

The Visionary

GSense of Place: George Benson, the 21st president of the College of Charleston, considers the city and

the college’s historic, tree-filled campus to be a major draw in recruiting quality students and faculty.

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the charleston profile

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G E O R G E B E N S O N

Straight Shooter: George Benson (front row, far right) poses in 1967 with the Bucknell varsity golf team

and home-state hero Arnold Palmer (back row, far left). Benson remains an avid golfer; the initial spark

that led him to the College of Charleston was kindled on a Kiawah Island golf course.

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“This is the most student-centeredinstitution I’ve ever experienced. We

have a dedicated faculty who nurturerelationships with their students.”

—President George Benson, College of Charleston

Facelift: While the august Randolph Hall, the epicenter of

CofC, connotes an air of well-worn sophistication, Benson

requested funds for much needed repair. The state just

allotted $3.7 million to restore the building’s façade.P

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the deanship of the UGA’s business college

in 1998,he noticed that there was very little

recognition of the word Terry outside the

bounds of the business buildings.“The name

wasn’t even used consistently or recognized

across the Athens campus,” Benson recalls.

Although the name had been bestowed

upon the school afterVirginia and C.Herman

Terry made an initial gift of $6 million in

1991, it was largely lost in the shuffle under

the larger umbrella identity of UGA. Seeking

to position the business school in such a

manner that would place it on par with long-

recognized powerhouse names, such as the

Wharton School, Benson launched a major

campaign to “brand” the Terry name. The

measures he took there helped propel the

school’s ranking among public business col-

leges, breaking both the undergraduate and

MBA programs into U.S. News and World

Report’s top 20 and, in the process, making

the Terry brand recognized in corporate

circles nationwide.

Understanding that there must be sub-

stance behind a name, while at Terry,

Benson established a customized MBA

program for IBM Business Consulting Serv-

ices in Athens and both evening and exec-

utive MBA programs in Atlanta.To support

these and other Atlanta initiatives, Benson

opened a 28,000-square-foot executive

education center in the Buckhead area of

the city, thus linking bucolic Athens with

the bustling business capital of the South.

Seizing on Athens’ reputation as a major

player in the indie music scene, Benson

established Terry’s Music Business Pro-

gram. “Before, graduates wanting to break

into the music business had to fumble

around for four or five years figuring out

how to get established,” Benson says.With

help of major players such as REM,Wide-

spread Panic, and Drive-By Truckers, “the

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Old School: Seated

in the president’s

office in Randolph

Hall, Benson points

out that the college’s

rich history, which

includes three

founders who signed

the Declaration of

Independence and

three who signed the

Constitution, should

serve as inspiration

for the college’s

future direction.

In the Money: Above: Benson celebrates with MBA students upon the release of the 2002 U.S. News

and World Report ranking of top business schools. Under Benson’s leadership, Terry College climbed to a

top-20 ranking among public universities. Right: With Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue in 2002

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success of Spoleto Festival USA.Marine biol-

ogy, environmental studies, arts manage-

ment, hospitality and tourism management,

and historical preservation—all of these

programs are just a handful of examples

Benson mentions having vast amounts of

yet untapped potential that can bring man-

ifold benefits to the community at large, as

well as to CofC students. It’s in identifying

such potential and creatively seeking ways

to break these programs out of the tradi-

tional boundaries of academia and into

practical applications that he seems to

thrive.And he’s aware of the critical neces-

sity of understanding, distilling, and com-

municating such visions both internally and

to the wider community.

Benson was happy to discover, even

before assuming the reigns at CofC, that the

college had already begun an extensive

process for establishing a new logo that

promises to reflect the vision and spirit of

the institution. “The timing with the logo

was perfect,” Benson says, referring to his

assumption of the presidency.He points out

that the logo will reflect the look and feel

that the college will strive to communicate

to the world through its branding efforts.

This fall, the president will launch a

strategic planning process to refine the

vision, strategies, and goals of the institu-

tion. He stresses that it’s critical that the

vision be organic and not imposed, and

program is now saving them that initial

period of uncertainty by providing them

knowledge, experience, and contacts,”

Benson says, “so they’ll be able to hit the

ground running.”

Almost as soon as he assumed leadership

at CofC this February, Benson began the

process of uncovering analogous opportu-

nities at the college. Identifying them isn’t

merely a shot in the dark based on a vague

hunch, but the result of careful scrutiny.

“We must look at the strengths and needs

of the college and match them up with the

environment that already exists here,” Ben-

son points out. His scope is so broad,

though, that he doesn’t define “here” as

simply being within the confines of the

college’s urban campus. His vision extends

to the community and even the state and

region. Benson is quick to point out that

real creativity and innovation often occur

where strategic matches transcend obvi-

ous conclusions. For example, he cites the

possibility of the School of Languages, Cul-

tures, and World Affairs that was founded

last year and the School of Business and

Economics working in tandem with

Charleston’s valuable ports, “which form

the city’s and the state’s lifeline to the

world economy,” Benson says.

He also mentions the university’s out-

standing School of the Arts and how it has

long nurtured and contributed to the

“It’s hard to imagine Charleston withoutthe college or the college without Charleston,

because the two have been soclosely connected.”

—George Benson

“I selected this opportunity from amongothers in part because of all the relationships

I’ve developed across the South. I didn’twant to give them up.” —George Benson

The Course of Business: Benson’s fivesome for

the the 68th Senior PGA Championship Pro-Am on

Kiawah’s Ocean Course in May: (left to right)

Federal judge Michael Duffy, Kiawah Club co-owner

Anne Long, 2003 tournament champ John Jacobs,

Benson, and Michael Jordan’s agent, David Falk.

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Top Guns: U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos

Gutierrez, with Vice President Cheney, appointed

Benson Chairman of the Board of Overseers for the

Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Awards.

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that the future growth of CofC cannot be

created in a vacuum; rather it must emerge

through careful study and input from

numerous sources. He welcomes any voice

seeking to be heard in this process of dis-

covery. But he also stresses that three

important principles must be considered

when developing the vision, the brand, and

the logo: the history of the institution (“The

college boasts ‘three-plus-three’ signers of

the Declaration of Independence and the

Constitution, respectively, who were Col-

lege of Charleston founders,”Benson notes,

“and we were also the first municipal col-

lege in America”); the city of Charleston

itself (“It’s hard to imagine Charleston with-

out the college,”Benson says,“or the college

without Charleston, because the two have

been so closely connected”); and finally, the

exceptional strength of student-faculty rela-

tionships at CofC. Concerning the latter,

Benson boasts, “This is the most student-

centered institution I’ve ever experienced.

We have a dedicated faculty who nurture

relationships with their students.” But the

strength of such bonds extends even

beyond campus gates. Benson is quick to

add,“The college is all about relationships:

faculty with their students, and the college

with the wider community.”

Fittingly, it was such a connection that

led to Benson’s coming to the College of

Charleston in the first place.While still at

the Terry College, he was playing golf

with Kiawah Development Partners presi-

dent and CEO, Buddy Darby, on Cassique,

one of the island’s legendary courses,

when it occurred to Darby that the Geor-

gia dean had exactly what CofC was look-

ing for in its 21st president. That got the

ball rolling, resulting in Benson’s eventual

hiring. Benson acknowledges that these

sorts of relationships, which he notes

seem to go deeper and broader in the

South than they do elsewhere in the

country, were a strong consideration in

accepting the offer of the CofC presi-

dency. “I selected this opportunity from

among others in part because of all the

relationships I’ve developed across the

Capital Investment: In July 2001, financial whiz and philanthropist Warren Buffett, who Forbes ranks as the

world’s second richest man, gave Benson his wallet to show that he was sold on Benson’s leadership at Terry.

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South,” he says.“These are meaningful to

me personally and in terms of what I do

professionally, and I didn’t want to give

them up.” Benson’s vision is to further

deepen the bonds between students and

faculty, the college’s connections with

the city and state, and his professional

contacts that benefit the college both

directly and indirectly—all serving the

encompassing goal of positioning the

college to be the best it possibly can be,

which will, in turn, ultimately benefit stu-

dents, the city, and the Palmetto State.

Filtered through these three ele-

ments—history, the city, and relation-

ships—the message that emerges will be

used in the recruitment of students and

faculty as well as in representing the col-

lege to the world. Benson is so convinced

of the CofC “product”—both current and

potential—that he believes it will largely

sell itself if it’s developed and communi-

cated properly. “Once somebody sees all

this,” he notes, gesturing to the live oak-

shaded Cistern Yard fronting Randolph

Hall,“who wouldn’t want to be here?”

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“We must look at the strengths andneeds of the college and match them

up with the environment that alreadyexists in the Lowcountry.”

—George Benson

Dawg Days: Benson poses with his wife, Jane, and

Mary Virginia Terry, benefactress of Terry College,

who holds the lead of a relaxed Uga VI in Athens.

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