Week 2, Journey to Warner
We recently sat down with President Sutton to hear about his journey through higher education and what ultimately led him to Warner University.
Q: What was your first job in higher education?
A: I started my career as an admissions counselor at my alma mater—Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas.
Q: What made you want to go to graduate school, and what did you study?
A: When I first went to graduate school to pursue a master’s degree in English, I simply wanted to hone my skills as a communicator. By the time I enrolled in a doctoral program to study Educational Ministry, however, I knew that I wanted to prepare myself for educational leadership and administration. The Lord had been clear about administration being a part of my path, so I wanted to prepare myself as well as possible.
Q: You taught for a number of years before you moved into full-time administration. What was your first teaching experience at the college level?
A: When I was pursuing my master’s degree in English, I served as a graduate teaching assistant and taught two sections of English Composition every semester while I was in the program. That’s how I “caught the bug” to teach. After that, I taught night classes at a community college branch campus. Those were my first teaching experiences.
Q: What did you enjoy most about teaching?
A: Seeing the progress that students would make over the course of a semester or over the course of four years. I taught a lot of students who arrived at college because they wanted to throw or shoot or kick a ball—and I taught some who went to college simply because they were expected to do so. Many of those students, four years later, had become serious scholars with developed skills and a passionate commitment to Jesus Christ and biblical truth. Seeing students grow like that is incredibly rewarding.
Q: What did you learn from teaching at the college level?
Oh, man. I learned a lot of things. One thing I learned was that students could minister to me sometimes just as much or more than I could minister to them. A lot of students have spoken encouragement into my life over the years, and a lot of students have inspired me with resilience and a commitment to Jesus in the face of serious challenges.
I also learned that students will usually meet high expectations when instructors walk alongside them. Often, when students fail, it’s because instructors have set a high bar and then left students to their own devices to meet it. I believe students want to achieve great things and be accomplished, but the educator has a responsibility to help students along the way.
Students also respond to authenticity. The instructors who have the best relationships with students—and who get the most from students—often share a little of themselves in the classroom.
Another thing I learned is that students respond to seeing an instructor’s expertise demonstrated. I got better work from students when I would model the skills that I was asking them to demonstrate. When I taught English, I would write examples of the types of essays that I wanted students to write, and when I was teaching Evangelism and Apologetics, I would model evangelistic and apologetic conversations. Students can find some college-level assignments to be very challenging, so seeing an instructor demonstrate the skills associated with those assignments gives them confidence that they can actually meet the expectations. Seeing skills modeled also generates respect because students know that instructors are not asking students to do something that they cannot do themselves.
Q: Do you have a favorite or most memorable classroom moment from your time as a faculty member?
A: I used to require students in my Writing and Editing Capstone course to design a marketing booklet for their academic major. One student listed me as a faculty member in the program but included a picture of the actor Tim Allen instead of a picture of me. I loved it when students would interact with me in those ways.
Q: What made you move from the classroom to full-time administration?
A: I went kicking and screaming: I did not want to leave the classroom. But God made it pretty clear that administration and leadership were in his plan for me.
Even when I was faculty member, I always had administrative responsibilities built into my contracts. And when people learn that you can be trusted with those administrative responsibilities, they start to count on you for other things. I guess my experiences just snowballed into the inevitable.
Q: What were some of your first administrative and leadership roles?
A: When I was only 32 years old, a colleague recommended that I be the person responsible for writing the entire 300-page report for my alma mater’s 10-year reaccreditation visit. It seems crazy to me now to think about doing that with so little experience, but I look back on that experience as the launching point for my leadership journey. It was a high-stakes task that I somehow managed pretty well, and when you manage high-stakes tasks well, people notice.
After that experience, my alma mater asked me to lead a number of other administrative projects. I started the institution’s first Writing Center, I directed the Office of Academic Support, I oversaw a writing-across-the-curriculum initiative, and I oversaw online education.
I moved into full-time administration just after I completed my doctorate, serving as Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Oklahoma Wesley University. After two years in that role, I was asked to serve as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, and my experience in that role allowed me to come to Warner and serve as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer.
Q: Is there a certain role that prepared you more than others for the Warner University presidency?
A: That’s a good question. When I look back on all of my career experiences, I can see how God was preparing me in many different positions and moments. If I had to choose one, though, I would have to say that serving as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer at Warner University was invaluable. In that role, I was familiarized with the ethos of the university, its history, its alumni base, and of course our amazing faculty, staff, trustees, and students. I treasured my time in that position, and many things about it were difficult to give up. If I had not served there, my first 100 days in the president’s office would be much different.
