I’ve read quite a few leadership books in my life, from Greenleaf to Senge, but my all-time favorite is Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, a short, unassuming book with great insights about the way people deal (or don’t deal) with change.
Well, change is what happened in the Office for Mission during the past summer. Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A., ’69, who had held the position as Vice President for Mission for 17 years, took up a new challenge as the Provincial Superior for the Assumptionists in the USA, Canada, Mexico, and the Philippines. We’re happy to see him assume these new responsibilities (which include being vice chairman of the institution’s Board of Trustees) and are confident he will carry them out with great expertise. His “cheese” was moved, but he seems to have accepted the change with grace and a good bit of serenity.
When Fr. Dennis had to find someone to replace him as Vice President for Mission at Assumption, he came knocking at my door. As a good friend put it, unlike Bishops who submit letters of resignation at 75 years of age, I found myself at the same age presenting my résumé for a new position. It’s not how I expected my “cheese” to be moved. I now find myself sitting at Fr. Dennis’s computer. Our styles and experience are surely different. Fr. Dennis is a theologian, with deep insights into what makes the Red Sox tick. I’m an art historian who tends to think (and communicate) in images rather than concepts.
I’m returning to the institution now after some years of absence, but my experience here as a faculty member (in the art department), as an academic administrator, and then later as a Trustee has helped me know the institution from different points of view. I’m hoping that with that experience I’ll be useful as we continue to think about what it means for Assumption to be a Catholic liberal arts institution, equipped to prepare our students for productive lives and careers in a very complex and changing world.
Another change will soon be appearing on this page of Assumption Magazine. “Nowadays, people listen more to witnesses than to words.“ I first heard that bit of wisdom from Pope Paul VI when I was a student in Rome years ago, and it’s been repeated by many others since. There’s no doubt that often we are more touched by a shared experience than by a wordy discourse. In upcoming issues, we’ll be hearing from alumni and students about their experience of the institution’s mission, how it has touched their lives, and what continues to strike them about that mission. Collaborating with you in deepening our appreciation and understanding of the institution’s mission will be one of the more exciting dimensions of my work. When the cheese gets moved, good things can happen.
-Richard E. Lamoureux, A.A., Ph.D ’64
Vice President for Mission
