Prof. Birkner reflects on College Presidents Glassick and Haaland

President Gordon Haaland talking with students
President Gordon Haaland talks with students outside of Glatfelter Hall.

Throughout its history, Gettysburg College has had 15 presidents. Nearly 50 years ago, two of those presidents, President Glassick and President Haaland, helped set the College on its path to success today. As a teacher, scholar, and historian, History Prof. Michael Birkner ’72, P’10 penned this reflection to illustrate their impact.

President Charles Glassick carring books to the library
President Charles Glassick carries books to the new Musselman Library alongside students and staff.

When Charles Glassick assumed office as president of Gettysburg College in the summer of 1977, his vision for the College’s future did not include repurposed oil barrels serving as trash receptacles on the campus. During his on-campus interview for the presidency, Glassick had noticed the unsightliness of these containers. Further, he could see the potential for sprucing up a campus whose beautiful gardens had given way to building projects over the years.

This episode clearly indicates that Glassick had a vision for Gettysburg College. He intended to take a respected regional College associated with the Lutheran church and transform it into a nationally ranked institution with an impact well beyond the College’s traditional Mid-Atlantic wheelhouse. Glassick imagined an updated campus built-environment for the 1980s, the centerpiece of which would be a new library, renovated space in most campus buildings, beautification projects, and more aggressive fundraising to make this possible.

President Charles Glassick at Commencement
President Charles Glassick poses for a photo at Commencement.

During Glassick’s 12-year tenure as president, Gettysburg College turned a corner and has not looked back. In addition to securing the necessary funds to build Musselman Library, Glassick oversaw the renovation of virtually every building on the campus, endorsed new interdisciplinary programs on race and gender, authorized funding for a startup national literary journal, The Gettysburg Review, helped organize a new Centennial intercollegiate athletic conference for Mid-Atlantic liberal arts colleges, and pressed the faculty to be more ambitious in sharing their scholarship and creative pursuits with a wider audience than the campus. 

Glassick also made a concerted effort to hire more women and minority faculty members and administrators, with mixed success but movement in the right direction. Total College endowment, standing at $4.5 million at the end of Arnold Hanson’s presidency in 1977, exceeded $35 million by the time Glassick closed out his term in 1989, putting Gettysburg on a par with its traditional peer schools, F&M and Dickinson, respectively.

President Charles Glassick planting a shrub
President Charles Glassick helps plant a shrub to beautify the campus.

Beautification of the College campus became a noticeable priority. Glassick relocated the parking lot near Stine Hall behind the physics building. Flowers and new shrubs appeared virtually everywhere one looked. A new pavilion was constructed adjacent to the Quarry on the western border of the campus. Telephone wires were rerouted underground and the College’s steam plant was relocated to the west side of Constitution Avenue.

If Charles Glassick can be considered a key figure in the transformation of Gettysburg College, his successor, Gordon Haaland, made his own valuable contributions during his 14-year tenure (1990-2004). Leaving the presidency of the University of New Hampshire for an institution he believed had great prospects for further advancement, Haaland was visionary in his own right, particularly in the area of technology. Almost from the outset of his tenure, Haaland embraced wiring the campus, ensuring that every student and faculty member had the most up to date equipment for their daily work. He also backed the innovative (in its day) C-NAV project which enabled faculty members at a fingertip to track student work and access information that had hitherto required either paperwork or a trip to an on-campus office. It was also designed to help students move expeditiously toward the completion of their degree work.

President Gordon Haaland at the library with students
President Gordon Haaland meets with students in Musselman Library.

Haaland’s awareness of the higher education landscape convinced him to grow the student body from roughly 2,000 to 2,500 to build new opportunities for students in curricular and extra-curricular activities and to provide a more stable financial footing for the institution. In the space of only a few years, he pulled this initiative off, making it seem natural, even easy. In order to house the growing student population, Haaland took advantage of opportunities to acquire properties adjacent to the College, including the “Ice House” complex. He also worked out an arrangement with Conrail and the National Park Service to move railroad tracks on the western edge of the campus further west, thereby opening property for the construction of handsome new dormitories, the Quarry Suites. Park Service buy-in was accomplished by agreeing to an easement on College land devoted to athletics.

President Gordon Haaland cutting the ceremonial opening ribbon.
President Gordon Haaland cuts the ceremonial opening ribbon for the Civil War Institute.

Haaland presided over the Eisenhower Centennial Celebration which lifted the College’s national profile. He brought the Eisenhower Institute under the College’s purview to support student connections in Washington, D.C., partnered with the Gilder Lehrman Institute to establish the $50,000 Lincoln Prize, and launched the Dwight D. Eisenhower Prize focused on public service to strengthen the College’s commitment to educate leaders for a new age. It was during Haaland’s tenure that the College not only expanded its student body but made it a more diverse student body through greater admissions outreach. At the same time, to judge by admitted students’ test scores and class rank, the quality of the student body was enhanced. More and better students at the same time seemed an unlikely achievement, but aided by a strong national economy, Haaland made it happen.

By the time Gordon Haaland retired in 2004, having built on Charles Glassick’s foundational work, he had grown Gettysburg’s campus footprint, its endowment, and its national reputation. The Glassick-Haaland years changed Gettysburg forever, lifting the College from regional to national prominence. Gettysburg was lucky to have them.

By Michael J. Birkner ’72, P’10, Professor of History
Photos courtesy of Special Collections & College Archives
Posted: 11/18/24

Since the presidencies of Glassick and Haaland, Gettysburg College has continued to strengthen its liberal arts and sciences education, developing our students into engaged citizens who, together, build a better world. With our new Strategic Direction, led by President Bob Iuliano, we continue to work to strengthen the College’s national reputation. Explore the new initiatives at Gettysburg College supporting the student experience.

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