Dr. Battle Makes Positive First Impression

After listening to this interview, I'm excited about Dr. Stanley F. Battle serving as A & T's chancellor.

Dr. Battle comes across as a serious, purposeful man who plans to lead A & T to even higher levels.

He conveys respect, sincerity, and decency, as well as quiet enthusiasm.

His responses to Doug Clark's questions were very much to the point--my impression is that Dr. Battle prefers to be straight-forward and that he strongly values honesty.

Addressing what challenges he will face, Dr. Battle pointed out that "there's so many people to deal with. Each person is important on that campus."

I have the impression that Dr. Battle realizes how important it will be to connect with everyone on his campus, as well as with the broader Greensboro and Guilford County communities.

Knowing the financial irregularities that were recently exposed at A & T, Dr. Battle recognizes that "best practices" must be in place to ensure that future problems do not arise under his watch.

Doug asked Dr. Battle, "Who are the most important people to you?"

Dr. Battle immediately answered, "My wife and daughter . . . and God.

"But other than that, everyone is, quite frankly, because you can't shortchange anyone.

"And when you look down on someone, you never know when they're going to come back and get you.

"So the reality is to treat everyone the same way, and that is kind of difficult."

He added that he's "always telling someone, 'just come see me,'" indicating that his office staff has already told him he can't do that.

Dr. Battle's response: "We're gonna work on that."

(From the way Dr. Battle shared this exchange, I sensed that the office staff meant that it wouldn't be practical for him to see everyone but that Dr. Battle still wants to makes sure he's fully accessible to the A & T community and to the larger local community.)

He wants to "make sure everyone's treated the same way."

His comments and the way he delivered them strongly suggest that he recognizes the supreme importance of treating all people with respect and dignity.

(Dr. Battle may ultimately serve as a role model for some of our less impressive local leaders.)

I'm curious about the public school (K-12) initiatives that Dr. Battle plans to set up. (This is one such initiative that already exists on A & T's campus.)

As someone who thinks some leaders are much too arrogant, I appreciated hearing Dr. Battle say, "Four-year institutions must lose their arrogance because if we don't reach back, we won't have jobs."

My first impression of Dr. Battle is very positive.

Dr. Battle is a welcome addition to Greensboro, and I foresee great things happening for A & T and our larger community under his leadership.

Thanks to Doug and the News & Record for taking the time to conduct this interview and make it available for us.