WALLA WALLA — Alex Bryan will begin his new job as Walla Walla University’s 24th president on Monday, July 1.
Bryan was selected for the position in early May by the university’s Board of Trustees and will succeed current president John McVay, who is retiring after 18 years as president.
Bryan previously served as senior pastor of Walla Walla University Church from 2009 to 2013. He then became president of Kettering College in Ohio for one year before coming back to College Place to serve as WWU’s senior pastor for another four years.
“It was absolutely a wonderful experience. I enjoyed so much ministering to the faculty, the staff, and in particular the students’ tremendous energy on the campus of Walla Walla University,” Bryan said. “To be able to participate in a variety of ways with them was kind of the highlight of my career. It was just absolutely wonderful.”
Raised in North Carolina, Bryan’s job as senior pastor is what first brought him to College Place. He said working in education had always appealed to him as someone who spent about 25 years as a formal student. Bryan earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees in history and religion from Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, a Master of Divinity degree from Andrews University in Michigan and a Master of Science degree in bioethics from Albany Medical College in New York.
“I’ve always enjoyed school and learning — I’m a bookworm — and so it’s always been a natural home for me,” Bryan said. “But then to participate in the learning of others and to watch students’ light bulbs come on as they discover things about themselves and about the world they live in, it’s just a magical environment to be in a school setting.”
Bryan currently works as senior vice president and chief mission officer for Adventist Health in Roseville, California.
“I think finding fresh ways to provide on-ramps for students from a variety of academic disciplines into meaningful careers and vocations in health care is one strategic collaboration that I look forward to,” Bryan said.
He also wants to help the current generation of students discover a sense of community, meaning and purpose, especially in a post-pandemic world where, Bryan said, many people have lost trust in institutions and the capacity to have meaningful conversations.
“What I’m really looking forward to is finding fresh ways to connect Walla Walla University and to prepare students for meaningful impact in the world,” Bryan said. “Every generation faces fresh opportunities and challenges and how to make that impactful and relevant.”
Bryan said what drew him to want to lead Walla Walla University was the relationships he had forged during the past 15 years with academic faculty and staff on campus. As president, he said he wants the campus community to know that he intends to listen with the knowledge that he does not have all the answers.
“I think good leadership is about listening,” Bryan said. “What I look forward to most and what I’ve already been about (during) this journey over the last few weeks since the board selected me as the next president is really working to listen well and to be able to turn those ideas and questions and challenges and opportunities that I hear to synthesize them into a strong strategic plan for the growth and impact of the university.”
