Judson College President David E. Potts announced March 2 his plan to transition from the role of president to the role of chancellor of Judson.
Potts, who has been on a temporary leave of absence for health reasons since November, will begin his new responsibilities immediately. He will devote his time exclusively to advocating for the people of the Alabama Black Belt, fundraising and “promoting Christian higher education, especially for young women.”
Judson board of directors chairman Charles Dunkin also announced the formation of a presidential search committee.
Search committee
Serving on the committee will be Dunkin, CEO of Dunkin-Lewis Inc.; David Byrd, Judson trustee and pastor of Northside Baptist Church, Jasper; Susan Jones, senior vice president and dean of students at Judson; Joan Newman, Judson trustee and financial adviser at Edward Jones; Daphne Robinson, Judson trustee and assistant Attorney General for the State of Alabama; James Sanford, Judson trustee and chairman of the board of Home Place Farms Inc.; and Lesley Sheek, associate professor of education and associate dean of the college.
Scott Bullard, who has served as senior vice president and dean of the college since 2015, will serve as interim president as the search committee completes its task.
Bullard said, “In an era of shorter presidencies and ladder-climbers, I know of no president that has prayed more fervently about the role of president, laid out a clearer vision for the institution and the presidency and remained faithful to God and that vision while adapting it to ensure that his steadfast belief in ‘Christian higher education especially for women’ was understood.
“From the outset, Dr. Potts knew that he wanted to deepen the college’s Baptist identity but also completely understood that we were entering into a post-denominational era; he wanted to form students who know that to live in Christ is to serve one’s neighbor but completely understood that other institutions might abandon the faith and the belief that we do not live on bread alone; he wanted to fund and build innovative programs that would enable Judson graduates to be not only marketable but to be agents of healing in Alabama and all over the world,” Bullard said.
“And then he followed through. From faith-based service and learning to the nursing and social work programs, his programmatic innovations have not only helped the college and her students from a fiscal perspective, they have fit with the historic mission and purpose of Judson College.”
Potts has served as president of Judson for 27 years and served as vice president of development and executive vice president prior to being named president.
Era of growth
Under Potts’ leadership, Judson has more than tripled its endowment, added nine new academic majors and completed a major renovation of its historic Jewett Hall, as well as the construction of the Charlotte G. Lowder Science Building, the Marion Acree Tucker Fine Arts Building and the Charles F. Dunkin Athletic Complex. He was instrumental in the preservation and restoration of Judson’s Carnegie Library, now A. Howard Bean Hall, which houses the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame.
Throughout his tenure, the college has increased the diversity of its faculty and student body and remained faithful to its Christian mission.
Working together
As Judson’s president, Potts has sought to actively collaborate with the leaders of other colleges and universities, believing that institutions could accomplish more by working together. He has been an active contributor to the effort to maximize the Alabama Student Grant, an initiative which allows students who enroll at private colleges and universities to receive a stipend from the state.
Potts has served as a resource to other presidents through his involvement with both the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities and the Women’s College Coalition. In 2013, Potts was honored with the James T. Rogers Distinguished Leadership Award for Outstanding Contributions to Higher Education by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
During his almost three decades as leader of one of the three colleges associated with the Alabama Baptist State Convention, Potts has become a well-known face and voice in Baptist life. He has sought to keep the college faithful to its Baptist roots, while maintaining its relevance for a new generation of young women.
During his tenure, his ability to apply distinctively Christian values to the practice of higher education has earned him respect among the laity and leadership of Alabama Baptist churches, as well as the devotion of the faculty, staff, students and alumnae of Judson.
Early in his presidency, Potts felt a personal call to inspire Judson students to follow Christ boldly by helping them connect to Ann Judson’s legacy of authentic faith lived out through selfless service.
Many would say that the most important part of the presidential legacy that Potts leaves at Judson is the integration of service grounded in Christian faith into all aspects of the campus culture. While Judson has a long history of missions involvement overseas, it was during Potts’ tenure that the college began to place a strong emphasis on seeking opportunities to minister to its neighbors in the Alabama Black Belt.
Fourteen of Alabama’s 67 counties — all of them in the Black Belt — have a poverty rate higher than 25 percent. Perry County, where Judson is located, is among the poorest counties in Alabama, with 35 percent of its residents living below the poverty line.
Opportunity to minister
Potts has seen these facts as an opportunity to follow Christ’s call to minister to “the least of these” (Matt. 25).
Working with community members and leaders around the state, Potts was a founding board member of Sowing Seeds of Hope, a faith-based nonprofit organization seeking to address the root causes of poverty in Alabama. He also is a former president of Alabama Possible, an organization that seeks to raise awareness of poverty issues.
For more information about the transition or the search committee, contact the Judson president’s office at 334-683-5102. (TAB, Judson)
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