Filled with emotions and memories, Dottie King steps down as the president of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College

Dottie King gives a hug to a graduate of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in St. Mary-of-the-Woods during a May 2023 commencement ceremony. After 13 years as president of the college, King stepped down from that post at the end of June. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

When you leave a place you love, a place where you have given your all to help people grow in strength, faith and love—a place that also helped you to grow in strength, faith and love—the emotions begin to pour out at some point.

That was the reality for Dottie King in the last week of June as she packed up her office at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, ending her 21 years there, including the past 13 as the school’s president.

“I’m feeling a lot of emotions this week,” she said on June 26. “It’s a mixture of gratitude, thinking about all the people I’ve worked with through these years. And gratitude to God for allowing me to do this job and to experience all I have. I also feel a lot of sadness about moving on.”

On Aug. 1, King will become president of the Independent Colleges of Indiana, an organization that represents the state’s 29 private, nonprofit colleges and universities. Brennan Randolph, a vice president at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, has been named its interim president.

As the emotions flowed for King, so did the tributes for her leadership of the college which was founded by St. Mother Theodore Guérin and which was granted the first charter for the higher education of women in Indiana in 1846.

King was described as “a true daughter” of St. Mother Theodore by Providence Sister Dawn Tomaszewski, general superior of the Sisters of Providence of Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods, the order which sponsors the college.

“As the religious sponsors of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, we entrust our legacy, mission, values and charism to the keeping of the president of the college,” noted Sister Dawn. “Dottie has certainly embraced that responsibility. And in all that she has accomplished—and those accomplishments have been significant—she has enhanced that legacy, put forward the values of love, mercy and justice, and operated out of a deep trust in the charism of providence.

“We are very proud of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College at this moment in its history, and we are grateful to Dr. King for her dedication to its mission and for the ways she had led this institution into the future by responding to the needs of students of this time.”

The Criterion interviewed King in the last week of her presidency of the college, a tenure that included opening the school to men in 2015. Here is an edited version of that conversation.
 

Q. Talk about the impact that your 21 years at Saint Mary-of-the Woods College has had on you personally.

A. “It’s been a life-changing experience. When I came, I was a faculty member. So I loved teaching, but becoming president allowed me to grow my leadership skills. It was a perfect place for me. My faith has always been an extremely important part of my life. So working in an environment that really allowed that to be on display and at the forefront was especially meaningful to me—and was one of the reasons I wanted to come to the Woods. I grew, I stretched and accomplished a lot here. It’s been a special, special experience that I will cherish for all of my life.”
 

Q. What are you most proud of from your 13 years of leading Saint Mary-of-the-Woods as its president?

A. “When people think of that, they will think of possible accomplishments, but really what I’m most proud of is that I was able to work with the people of the Woods in meaningful ways. I think I was able to understand the gifts that were inside of them and help us to use our gifts together. So really, it’s just the work itself, the people, and accomplishing things as a team.”
 

Q. The college’s history revolves around developing young women to become leaders and people of great faith. Talk about the importance of that goal to you.

A. “When I think about that, I think about Mother Theodore’s wisdom of meeting needs in society. She came when girls had no access to education beyond grade school in the Wabash Valley and created a new opportunity for them. So she met a need. That’s the story we all know. But she also created a pharmacy, and she created a free school for boys. She was really just meeting the needs of the world in her time.

“As we became a women’s college through the 1900s, women were beginning to imagine themselves in roles that went beyond those that were traditional. Some of them were dreaming of careers, and Saint Mary-of the Wood College really allowed that dreaming opportunity for them, gave them empowerment and put the tools in them that made them successful.

“Now we’ve expanded our mission to include men, and we’re attracting a lot of men of color. I think the world is asking, ‘Now, what about these men? How will they be successful in school?’ It all is a flowing story. So the women’s piece is huge, and I would never minimize it. We are still committed to the empowerment of women—and now men along with them.”
 

Q. You welcomed men into Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in 2015. Talk about the impact that has had on the college.

A. “The most immediate impact back then was an uptick in women. Because I had done my homework, I suspected that was what was going to happen. I think the very first year, we had three men. In year two, I think we were at 11. But what we started to see was the number of women going up much faster than the new men coming in. So we immediately made ourselves more attractive to women.

“We did do some things to be legally compliant and encourage men to attend, and that was adding athletic programs. We didn’t change any academic programming. Everything we had already been doing for all those years was equally good for men as women. Our percentage of men has now reached about 30%, and that’s very close to the national average which is 40-some percent across the country.”
 

Q. What impact have the Sisters of Providence had on you?

A. “My words will not be adequate to describe the impact of the sisters. They have been nurturing. They have cared deeply about me. I know they have prayed for me. The great trust they put in me was never lost on me. I took that so seriously.”
 

Q. What’s one of the most important things you’ve learned about yourself in your time at Saint Mary-of-the Woods?

A. “I’ve learned that in the midst of emotion, there’s a strength inside of me. And if I become convinced that something is right, I can go forward in that, even if I’m met with opposition. If I feel compelled that what I’m doing is for the good and for the right, I can go through hard things.

“During the co-education time, when I was being reminded by some angry alums that I was not a graduate of the Woods, I understood that was coming from a place of hurt. But I also felt that hurt. Within a few years, I came to realize something that I would always love and appreciate—that you do not have to be a student of the Woods to be a student of the Woods. This place has impacted me much like it has the generations of students who attended here.

“I feel like I have learned to find a voice and to use it to go out and make a difference in the world. And to know my actions have impact on others, and it could be good, and it could be bad. And so, I wanted it to be good.”
 

Q. What do you see as the current state of the college?

A. “I think the state of the college is strong and good. And most importantly, it’s built on strong and enduring values. I see it as a growing school. And I think it’s a sustainable growth. We’ve really worked hard to understand our own foundation and to build upon it.

“We’re not trying to do what everyone else is doing. We’re trying to be uniquely ourselves. And because of that and our willingness to innovate and our willingness to meet the needs of today’s young people, the college is growing. The other thing I would say it’s always been a resource-challenged institution, so if we were able to grow an endowment significantly in the coming years, that would be the last thing we need to do to realize a bright future.”
 

Q. How do you want to be remembered?

A. “I hope that what people remember the most is that my faith was always a part of what I did, and I always kept that. I always remembered that even in the midst of financial challenges and decisions we were making for strategic reasons that at the heart and soul of this institution was mission. So, I always kept the mission in mind. And I really valued the people I worked with and their ideas. I knew that together we were far better than me alone. I hope those are the things people will remember.”
 

Q. Anything else you would like to share?

A. “I would like to share that I worked with three different archbishops during my 13 years as president, and each one has been incredibly supportive. I didn’t work very long with Archbishop [Daniel M.] Buechlein, but Archbishop [Joseph W.] Tobin, now Cardinal Tobin, visited the Woods. And I called him on the phone when we were announcing going coed, and he literally prayed a beautiful prayer for me over the phone. And I’ve enjoyed so much my relationship with Archbishop [Charles C.] Thompson. I hope that continues as I represent all the Catholic colleges in Indiana now.

“So I really want to say I really appreciated the support of The Criterion, the archdiocese and the archbishops in Indiana. And I know there a lot of wonderful Catholic people in Indiana that care about Catholic education, and I just want to say thank you to them.” †