As technology, workplace norms, and career expectations continue to change with increasing speed, universities and organizations face questions about their identity, value, and purpose. In such a context, how can we create communities that flourish rather than stagnate or decline?
For PLNU’s provost, Dr. Jim Daichendt, the answer lies in fostering an environment that puts people first. Efficiency and outcomes naturally flow from a healthy community where people feel supported, empowered, and inspired.
As provost, Daichendt is PLNU’s chief academic officer. He has purview over the university’s faculty, policies, curriculum, and academic support services. “I like to see my role as a curator,” said Daichendt, who has graduate degrees in art history and art education from Columbia, Harvard, and Boston University. Daichendt’s experiences in the arts and administration have shaped his view of leadership.
“We know our core themes and our mission for this institution. We want to ensure our faith remains front and center while our academics are as brilliant as they can possibly be. By helping our faculty and staff thrive, we create meaningful experiences where students can explore their vocation and its connection to their faith. Much of my role is putting people in a position to succeed, curating the environment so that every element complements the others.”
People Matter Most
Whether he’s putting together a leadership team for accreditation, hiring a faculty person to lead a center or institute on campus, or leading a faculty meeting, Daichendt knows that the personnel decisions he makes have a tremendous impact on the university and its ability to fulfill its mission.
“Our culture is defined by teaching, scholarship, service, and faith integration, not just for students but for faculty as well,” Daichendt said.
“We realize people are our most important resource,” he said. “It’s not buildings; it’s not the view. It’s the people that make Point Loma what it is.”
Because of this, Daichendt says PLNU prioritizes a developmental faculty model. Professors are encouraged to engage in scholarship, present their work, connect with their guild, and pursue lifelong learning. The Center for Teaching and Learning helps faculty to improve their pedagogy and hone their effectiveness in the classroom. Faculty are also given both formal and informal opportunities to engage in faith formation, including book studies, faculty chapels, and reading groups.
The investment in development by the administration tends to proliferate into faculty helping each other to grow as well.
In any role, it’s important to keep the most important things front and center. Not only does Daichendt try to foster thinking, learning, and engagement through things like the faculty reading groups, but he tries to model them in his own practice as well. This can both inspire others and give them a sense of permission to also pursue them.
Modeling the Mission
To create a healthy university culture, Daichendt believes it is important for faculty to model lives of faithful service.
“A really important part of the educational process here is that each of our faculty does faith integration and shows how their own faith interacts with their discipline and also how it just interacts with their life,” he said. “As a teacher, modeling that and displaying that is helpful for our students as they explore what their faith walk looks like as they’re figuring out what they’re called to do as they go forward.”
“I often tell prospective faculty that this community has made me both a better person and a better Christian.”
He also recognizes that every member of a community can teach and inspire one another.
“I often tell prospective faculty that this community has made me both a better person and a better Christian. The way we engage with one another as staff and faculty alike is a model of what a community should be. I choose to stay here because I want to contribute to that culture and ensure it continues to flourish.”
Sometimes improving the health and happiness of a community can be done with small but meaningful changes.
“A very simple thing was, a year and a half ago when I started the role, I wanted to ensure that the way we talk to each other is filled with grace,” said Daichendt. “And so we changed how we facilitated faculty meetings. We made sure all the chairs face each other so that when folks are speaking, they’re not just talking to me, but they’re talking to the whole faculty. I think it’s changed the way we engage one another. It may seem simple but these ideas ripple; they ripple away.”
Agile Yet Rooted
Culture isn’t formed only in moments of calm. Building a flourishing academic community also requires navigating change. Especially with the rapid rise of AI, higher education is under pressure to make the changes necessary to prepare students for a working world that is still in flux. Financial pressures and changes in the numbers of students likely to pursue a traditional, residential college experience in the next few years add to the uncertainty. While some universities may be tempted to change themselves to the point of being unrecognizable, PLNU is committed to staying relevant without reneging on identity.
“Another priority is ensuring that we’re staying true to our Christian mission,” Daichendt said.
“One of the big priorities is ensuring that we’re an agile university,” Daichendt said. “We want to ensure we understand what employers are looking for from our graduates. What are the skill sets? What are the requirements? What are the soft skills? What are the degrees? We want to make sure we have those partnerships and that feedback in place so that we can make changes in a way that will impact and benefit our students when they leave Point Loma.”
But equally important to Daichendt and the rest of the PLNU leadership team is what won’t change.
“Another priority is ensuring that we’re staying true to our Christian mission,” Daichendt said. “That involves faith formation in terms of thinking of who we are and how we develop our faith as staff and faculty, but also with our hiring. We want to ensure that we are aligned with what the founders hoped for and that we hold on to that promise very carefully and that we steward that well.”
One way to avoid stagnancy is to continually evaluate the university’s curriculum and program offerings. Daichendt has been part of adding a significant number of new degree options at the undergraduate and graduate level. More are in the works, including several doctoral programs. The purpose is to ensure that students graduate with degrees that are relevant and meaningful so that they can live out their callings and have an impact after they graduate.
A differentiator Daichendt sees between PLNU and secular institutions is the focus on whole person education.
“We’re educating everlasting beings,” he said. “And so that changes the way you think about your role in this earthly life and that education is not simply about gaining a skill set that one could use in the marketplace. It’s discovering one’s vocation, their calling to God, but also their earthly vocation and what they’re gifted to do.”
To this end, PLNU prioritizes professor-student relationships, especially between faculty advisors and the students they mentor, internships, and faith formation. Daichendt also believes healthy workplace communities are fostered when leadership listens before acting. Transparency also builds trust. To fulfill the part of PLNU’s strategic plan focused on creating “Tomorrow’s Academy,” the university must be willing to try new things. But being agile doesn’t have to mean that leaders act without input or disclosure. When navigating change, PLNU can innovate while remaining true to its values and mission.
Margin and Intentionality
In order to make wise decisions when it comes to both people and programs, leaders need to be able to think, learn, and discuss. In a flourishing workplace community, all members need these same opportunities. Lamenting that there isn’t time for personal development and big picture thinking can be an easy fallacy to adopt, but it’s one Daichendt actively resists.
“The work that we do in the university now can be all encompassing,” he said. “I could answer emails all day, every day, for too many hours, and that’s it.”
In any role, it’s important to keep the most important things front and center. Not only does Daichendt try to foster thinking, learning, and engagement through things like the faculty reading groups, but he tries to model them in his own practice as well. This can both inspire others and give them a sense of permission to also pursue them.
“I want to make sure I’m still writing,” he said. (Daichendt has written extensively about arts history and education as well as pedagogy.) “That’s such an important part of my identity and why I have joy in terms of doing this. And so if I’m not doing that, it’s hard for me to get excited about the faculty that are doing it, and I want to be able to support them with everything I have. As an administrator, I don’t get to teach whole courses, but I like to get in and [guest] teach a class a few times a semester.”
Daichendt also prioritizes reading whether in his discipline or faith-based books.
“Continuing to feed your mind like that is so important,” he said.
Creating a rich, meaningful life and sharing it with others makes both individuals and the communities they belong to better and stronger.
Christ-Like Community
Daichendt likes to use art as a way to connect with faculty in inspiring ways. One recent example was when he showed Van Gogh’s Starry Night in a faculty meeting.
“In that particular image, the church is very dark in this really sort of wonderful sky, and there’s lights in each of the buildings in the little town sleeping,” he said. “Van Gogh was seeing the love of Christ being lived out in the community. I pointed that out and emphasized to faculty that our students are seeing that too, that the love of Christ follows you wherever you are. And that you’re creating these moments and modeling it for each other, but also for our students as well.”
Curating these kinds of experiences that value people, inspire others to model and lead, and keep core values at the center during all seasons isn’t just Daichendt’s role. It’s his passion and one that shapes not just his own work but the community he serves. It’s also more personal for him than ever. Two of his own children are current PLNU students with his oldest a recent alumna and his wife, Rachel Daichendt, Ph.D., an adjunct professor in the Department of Art & Design.
“Seeing faculty pour into your kids, knowing they do this with students all the time, makes it so much more meaningful to you because you know all the context on both sides,” he said. “And it’s a pretty magical experience.”
