Shoulder-To-Shoulder

Dr. Alan Cureton's interest is in establishing shoulder-to-shoulder relationships with fellow Presidents of small and mid-size colleges and universities. His journey from his first position in higher education as an Intramural Coordinator in 1978 at Southern Illinois University to his last position as President of the University of Northwestern - St. Paul (2002-2022) has prepared him to be able to come along-side new and seasoned Presidents to assist them in their quest to advance their institutional mission.  

Alan is focused on 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 is on both education within the classroom and outside the classroom. Having spent more than half his career at faith-based institutions he’s especially equipped to help that sub-sector of higher education.

Alan’s 43 years in higher education has included positions with 4 public and 4 private institutions. Some of his positions include Resident Director/Director of Title III, Assistant Dean of Student Development, Dean of Student Development, Vice President of Student Services, Vice President for Administration, Vice President for University Advancement, Assistant to the President and President. In each position he was fully committed to creating a strategic and visionary impact. 

While at the University of Northwestern - St. Paul (UNW) he was able to successfully rebrand the college to a university. Alan’s individual accomplishments at UNW include generating funding for scholarships, facilities, endowment, and special projects while creating and implementing a comprehensive planned giving program. Under his leadership UNW was able to offer 90+ academic programs, re-establish graduate programs (9 programs plus two more pending) in 2006, add new majors in urban studies, digital media, philosophy, criminal justice, engineering, and nursing, and enlarge its online footprint for adult degree completion programs and dual enrollment programs. 

Under President Cureton’s presidency enrollment at UNW grew from 2,216 in 2002 to 3,497 in 2022 (peaking at 4,112 in 2018). At the conclusion of his tenure at UNW he completed a seven-year comprehensive campaign that generated $171M for scholarships, endowment, operations, renovation, new buildings, and media expansion. Yearly giving to UNW increased from $9.0M in 2002 to $35.2M in 2022. Overall, UNW’s endowment increased from $4.7M in 2002 to $30.5M in 2022 during his Presidency.  

Conversely, UNW had ownership of a number of radio stations. Under President Cureton the number of radio stations grew from 9 in 2002 to 23 stations in 2022 throughout the upper Midwest region of the U.S. The network had a weekly listening audience of 1,500,000 people generating $25M a year in gift income. 

Today, Dr. Alan Cureton has joined the team at Value Based to help presidents of our client universities build growth-oriented cultures focusing on increasing enrollment and revenues to help them survive during these challenging times. 

Watch our interview with Dr. Alan Cureton as he shares some of his passion for building a culture of Admissions Readiness, download the corresponding infographic, or email him.