North Park President Mary K. Surridge recently discussed North Park’s mission, its unique student body, and how being a college athlete taught her vital leadership skills in a wide-ranging podcast interview.
Hosted by Melissa Morriss-Olson, who previously held executive-level management positions at North Park, the podcast series features leaders and innovative thinkers in higher education. In Surridge’s June 13 episode, she and Morriss-Olson talked about being women in leadership roles.
Morriss-Olson noted that this was the first time she’d interviewed a university president who, like Surridge, had been an elite college athlete, playing NCAA Division I basketball while a student at Northwestern University. Surridge said the experience continues to shape her.
“All of the different elements that make up who we are, I call on every one of those things,” Surridge said, adding that playing on a team taught her the importance of collaboration and how important it is for each player to come “prepared and poised” for the team to succeed.
Later in the conversation, Surridge said: “I think daily about my identity as a child of God, as a mother, as an encourager, as a friend, I think about myself as a recruiter, as a coach, and as a continual learner.”
Of North Park, Surridge noted that North Park has survived and thrived for 132 years, despite ongoing struggles brought on by the pandemic and a competitive market.
Morriss-Olson is on the faculty of Bay Path University, where she served as provost from 2010–20. The podcast featuring Surridge is titled “From Bowties to Neckties to Pearls,” a reference to a line in President Surridge’s 2017 inauguration speech. It’s available for free on Spotify.