A Heart For Educational Leaders

Dr. Alan Cureton's heart for educational leaders—particularly those in Christian Higher Education—has guided him from Intramural Coordinator in 1978 at Southern Illinois University to President of the University of Northwestern - St. Paul where he served for 20 years from 2002-2022. Throughout his career, he has made it a priority to help institutions advance their mission. His priorities are building cultures, developing teams, and mentoring student leaders. His passion is to help institutions and leaders grow in effectiveness and expand through opportunities. His focus centers on education both within the classroom and outside the classroom.

His experience is varied: Resident Director/Director of Title III then to Assistant Dean of Student Development (1979-1982, Northwestern College), to Dean of Student Development (1982-1986, Northwestern College - Iowa), then Policy Analyst Office of Science Policy and Research (1986-1988, Iowa State University), to Vice President of Student Services then to Vice President for Administration (1988-1995, Sterling College), to Vice President for University Advancement (1995-2001) John Brown University, and finally, President of University of Northwestern - St. Paul.

His diverse path and his life have always been led by his devotion to his Savior and Lord. His passion has always centered on Christian Higher Education (and the impact a biblical worldview will have on students in advancing) the Kingdom of God. He understands the importance of understanding and knowledge based in Truth, in the person of Jesus Christ. During his tenure at John Brown University, he led the charge to expand the footprint of the university to better serve students by generating $42.5M in external gifts during a forty-two month period, coordinating all marketing efforts of the university, creating and implementing a comprehensive planned giving program as well as a foundations and grants program. He and his team were able to increase the endowment from $24M to 42M.

When the University of Northwestern - St. Paul (UNW) asked him to consider the presidency, and the Board of Trustees directed him to guide the institution in its growth and maturity. UNW was making the transition from its bible college roots into a comprehensive college with programs in the arts, sciences, humanities, and professional programs. He led the effort to  rebrand the institution from college to  University status in 2013. Growth was reflected through the addition of a graduate college (9 programs and two more pending), online college, adult degree completion, dual enrollment, and sought-after undergraduate programs in urban studies, digital media, philosophy, criminal justice, engineering, and nursing.

These changes and the leadership development under President Cureton’s presidency resulted in enrollment at UNW growing from 2,216 in 2002 to 3,497 in Sept 2022 (peaking in 2018 at 4,112). During his tenure the university  completed multiple capital campaigns, the biggest being a seven-year comprehensive campaign that generated $171M (2013-2020) for scholarships, endowment, operations, renovation, new buildings, and media expansion. Yearly giving to UNW during his tenure rose from $9.0M in 2002 to $36.1M in 2022. Endowment also increased $4.7M in 2002 to $30.5M in January 2022.

As part of its endowment portfolio UNW owned and operated a media ministry network of 23  radio stations. President Cureton oversaw the growth of the media ministry from nine radio stations to 23 stations  reaching a weekly audience of 1,500,000 people.

Today, Dr. Al Cureton has joined the team at Value Based to mentor and coach the presidents of our client universities and share his expertise at building growth-oriented cultures in Higher Education through Admissions Readiness.

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