Southeast president talks about his leadership influences

Carlos Vargas-Aburto was named the 18th president of Southeast Missouri State University in March after a presidential search that began last year. Vargas officially became university president July 1 and has spent the past few months getting to know Southeast and becoming its leader.

Vargas sat down with the Arrow to answer a few questions:

What prepared you to take on a leadership role like being a university president?

"I think that what has prepared me, essentially, is my professional career. You may know that I have been in higher education pretty much all my life. ... I've been a faculty member. I've been an administrator. And then I have actually participated in a number of leadership programs in higher education that are fairly well known, and I have been fortunate to have been selected in some cases. The American Council on Education has a program called the fellows program, and they take around 35 individuals every year and they spend the year in a different institution or a fraction of a year in a different institution working in the president's office just to learn how the institution operates. That's very good and it gives you a lot of insight. Harvard has another program and there are a couple others that I have been involved in. I think the connection of all those and of course my interest in trying to learn as much as I can to be in a position where I am able to contribute to an institution at this level."

Who has been your biggest influence as a leader?

"Thinking back, probably my father and my mother. In their own subtle way, they were able to help me identify traits that are very important as a leader. They really did not push me in any direction, but at the same time they somehow were able to communicate to me what their expectations were."

To you, what qualities constitute an effective leader?

"There are a number of them. I'm not sure that there are any one that is more important than the others. I think that each one of these characteristics become important depending on the situation. But I think that a leader has to be someone who has integrity and honesty above all. I think that's pretty critical. Somebody who is a good listener and is willing to learn. That means that sometimes you have to recognize that maybe your view is not the best way to do things or the best approach. I think being able to have a good set of interpersonal skills is good."

What has been your biggest challenge during your first few months as Southeast's president?

"I think that the biggest challenge has been to have enough time to meet as many people as I need to learn and listen about [this university]. I enjoy sitting down with individuals and finding out what they think about the university, what they think about their experience and try to absorb and learn from what they're saying. I am in a position to be able to help the institution move forward, so that's really been the biggest challenge because, I'll tell you, I have been extremely impressed with the institution. I have been very pleased to be here, and I am very energized talking to students even though I haven't talked to many this summer. I'm just really enjoying it. About two weeks ago, I actually had the opportunity to go play soccer with the international students. They invited me, and I went there. It was just really exciting."

What is your advice to incoming Southeast students on how to become a good leader during their time here?

"I would say that my best advice for them is that they should recognize that their time here is one where they have to make an investment in themselves. As you are growing up, it comes across as 'Yeah, sure, OK.' You don't pay too much attention to it, but the reality is that I say, 'Don't just come here to get a degree.' To me, getting a degree means taking this class, this class, this class, this class, and then you have a degree. What you really want to do here is get an education that allows you to integrate knowledge into something more than what you were exposed to. I tend to repeat to students that courses in different subjects doesn't necessarily mean that you can take all that information and then integrate it into a whole that allows you to save problems. And what society wants, what employers want, what companies want, what the country needs are individuals that are able to solve problems, and to solve problems is why you take all these courses for. It's to give you the background and the tools to do it. But you are not going to do it unless you are able to integrate that."