FOREVER BLUE: Leadership, Legacy, and Momentum

Dr. Pribbenow met with students, stepping into the natural flow of campus life and reinforcing his commitment to accessibility and approachability. He engaged faculty in conversations about teaching and scholarship, and he listened closely to staff whose work sustains the daily life of the University. Campus traditions, community events, and alumni gatherings became opportunities not just for visibility, but for connection.

From his earliest days, this approach was guided by what is now fondly (and alliteratively) referred to as “President Pribbenow’s 4 P’s”: Presence, Purpose, People, and Partnership.

Those themes ultimately became the framework for Dr. Pribbenow’s leadership philosophy — and even his inaugural address — but they were first visible in quieter moments. Conversations in hallways. Attendance at student performances. Community meetings. Athletic events. Impromptu interactions across and beyond campus.

By the time Dr. Pribbenow stood at the podium for his inauguration and formal investiture on April 10, he had already spent months listening.

He had listened to alumni reminiscing about beloved traditions and relationships forged at Millikin. 

He had listened to students discuss their hopes and aspirations. He had listened to faculty describe the transformative relationships formed in classrooms, labs, studios, and rehearsal spaces. He had listened to community leaders articulate both the challenges and opportunities facing Decatur and Central Illinois. Somewhere, within those conversations, a vision began to crystallize.

“Who have we been, who are we now, and to what are we called?” Dr. Pribbenow asked during his inaugural address. “How appropriate that we ask these questions as we launch the year-long celebration of our 125th anniversary.”

Dr. Pribbenow’s speech, titled “Millikin Forward: Forever Blue,” served as both reflection and roadmap — honoring the past while challenging the University to embrace the future with courage and creativity.

For Dr. Pribbenow, the moment represented more than the beginning of a presidency. It represented a vocation — his personal calling.

“The opportunity to steward this great University is truly a blessing,” he said. “This is a day I will carry with me for the rest of my life … with a deep sense of humility and responsibility.”

That sense of stewardship has shaped the tone of his first year in office — a year defined not only by milestone events, but by countless small moments that together reveal the culture and character of Millikin University.

A Year of Firsts

Looking back on his first several months as President, Dr. Pribbenow struggles to isolate a single defining moment. 

“It’s been really hard to think about which [moments] have been most meaningful,” he said. He and his wife, Dr. Kris Mickelson, have called it “The Year of Firsts” and have tried to say yes to everything.

There have, of course, been milestone moments. The connection and community of Homecoming 2025 and the dedication of the David J. & Debra C. Rathje Athletic Center. Commemorating the holiday season with the annual Cookie Party and Vespers. Celebrating a history and future that are Forever Blue with the inauguration ceremony and kickoff of Millikin’s 125th anniversary celebration, and April’s Forever True Blue Challenge, which raised significant funds in support of student scholarships. 

But the moments Dr. Pribbenow returns to most often are not always the ones drawing headlines.

He points to student performances, worship gatherings, athletic events, academic showcases like the Poster Symposium, and his everyday encounters around campus as reminders of what makes Millikin distinctive. One such evening stands out in particular.

After a Homecoming weekend packed with more than 50 events in 50 hours, Dr. Pribbenow and Dr. Mickelson attended Sip & Sing, a beloved musical theatre tradition presented by the School of Theatre & Dance.

“By 8:30 p.m., we were ready to crash,” he recalled. “We went to Sip & Sing and just kicked back and were entertained by our students.”

Students selected songs from musicals and presented them to accompanist Beth Mason Creighton ’01, and then individual students took turns spontaneously performing. 

“If we closed our eyes, we would have thought we were in Chicago’s theatre district,” Dr. Pribbenow said.

What struck him most was not simply the talent, but the support students showed one another. “There is something that goes on with [our] students in the way they show up and support one another,” he said. “To see that public support is special.”

That sense of belonging — of students finding both their voice and their people — has become one of the defining themes of his first year.

The Power of Relationships

Over the course of his inaugural address, Dr. Pribbenow identified several enduring truths that have anchored Millikin for 125 years. The first is a deep belief in the centrality of relationships to the educational experience and is echoed in one of his 4 P’s: People.

“From the very beginning, this has been a place where people matter,” he said. “Where students are not just names in a gradebook, but individuals with gifts, aspirations, and limitless potential.”

That emphasis on relationships has resonated deeply with him since arriving to Decatur.

“We have found both on campus and in the community that people are paying attention,” he said. “They have a deep-rooted love for this place. We may frustrate them sometimes and not always do what they want, but whether they’ve graduated from here or not, people feel an attachment to this place that surpasses anything I could have imagined.”

Again and again, Dr. Pribbenow describes moments when students articulate the transformation they have experienced during their time at Millikin — seniors reflecting on who they were as first-year students, scholarship recipients describing the impact of donor generosity, and scholars confidently, as he described it, “putting on the cloak of their discipline.”

For Dr. Pribbenow, those moments reveal a deeper calling of higher education: helping students develop confidence, purpose, and voice. It is his hope that students go out into the world, understanding that Millikin remains part of their story long after graduation.

Tradition and Transformation

If there is one phrase that best captures Dr. Pribbenow’s philosophy for Millikin’s future, it may be the one repeated throughout his inaugural address: tradition and transformation.

Not tradition or transformation. And. Both.

Drawing inspiration from noted philosopher and educator John Dewey, Dr. Pribbenow challenged the notion that institutions must choose between preserving identity and embracing change.

“The story of Millikin University is, in many ways, the story of how these two forces have existed together in exquisite tension across generations to shape something that is lasting and meaningful,” he said. That balance is especially meaningful during the University’s milestone 125th anniversary year. “To be Forever Blue is to accept that this legacy is now ours to steward, to renew, and reimagine.” 

For Dr. Pribbenow, Millikin’s longevity is rooted precisely in its willingness to evolve.

“Millikin embraced Performance Learning before it was cool,” he said, pointing to the University’s history as evidence that adaptation is not a departure from the institution’s identity — it is a fundamental part of it. “We will adapt, because we always have.”

That adaptability, however, must be intentional. “We have to do it in thoughtful and strategic ways,” he said. “We don’t just practice this work. We have to become scholars of it and understand it.” 

That thinking informed much of his inaugural address as well, in which he outlined four imperatives that he believes will shape Millikin’s future: becoming increasingly student-ready; expanding services to new student populations; aligning academic programs with workforce and regional needs; and pursuing bold external partnerships.

Those themes have surfaced repeatedly throughout his first year in conversations about enrollment, graduate education, online learning, partnerships with community colleges, workforce development, and more. 

“We need to take risks, be innovative, and embrace learning in ways we haven’t done,” he said, “and not as something that is an affront to our mission, but as another contemporary expression of our mission.”

Decatur’s University

Dr. Pribbenow often speaks about Millikin’s relationship with Decatur not as a transactional partnership, but as one with a shared sense of purpose.

“We are Decatur’s University, and Decatur is our home,” he often says. “When we thrive, our community is strengthened. And when our community thrives, we are strengthened.”

Early in his presidency, he established a goal of holding 30 meetings with community partners in his first 30 days. He exceeded that benchmark, beginning conversations with leaders in education, healthcare, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations.

Partnerships, Dr. Pribbenow believes, are essential to supporting enrollment pipelines, creating internship and employment opportunities, and contributing to broader economic and community development. Examples already exist on campus and throughout the community.

Millikin’s partnership with Decatur Memorial Hospital supports Nursing students while addressing workforce shortages. Collaboration with Illinois community colleges is helping strengthen transfer admission. The Millikin Market addresses food insecurity through partnerships with local organizations. And the arrival of the Decatur Bean Ballers at the Workman Family Baseball Field is a reflection of community-centered collaboration.

Dr. Pribbenow believes higher education institutions must increasingly embrace their role as engaged anchor institutions within their communities. “Our best work occurs when we do it together,” he said.

A Culture Emerging

Perhaps one of the most striking developments during Dr. Pribbenow’s first year has been the growing conversation around culture. “In organizational theory literature, they say it can take years to shift the culture of a place,” he said. “People are saying they’ve witnessed a culture shift on this campus in the last year.”

He is hesitant to take personal credit for that perception.

“I don’t know that we’ve sensed a culture shift or that there was just so much else going on that it was preventing the culture from fully presenting itself,” he said. “It needed permission to do things.”

In his view, leadership is less about control and more about creating conditions that allow others to flourish. “I think that’s some of what’s happened,” he said. “We’ve given permission, removed barriers, and embraced good ideas.”

The result is a growing sense of energy and optimism across campus. One trustee recently captured it in a single phrase: “What’s going on is a capital ‘M’ Momentum.’”

Dr. Pribbenow agrees. “I feel very fortunate and blessed to come to this place at a time when it was preparing to celebrate its 125th anniversary and people were looking for reasons to do good work,” he said. “By releasing that, we have some momentum going forward.”

Forever True Blue

That momentum turned tangible during the Forever True Blue Challenge, a campaign tied closely to Millikin’s 125th anniversary celebration. The initiative embodied themes that have surfaced repeatedly throughout Dr. Pribbenow’s first year: support, community, shared purpose, and belief in students.

When reflecting on the University’s legacy, he often points to the remarkable culture and tradition of philanthropy surrounding Millikin. 

That tradition is not merely financial. It reflects collective investment in students and the University’s mission. Again and again, Dr. Pribbenow returns to the idea that Millikin people care deeply about the institution because they believe it changes lives.

“[When] you attend a capstone presentation,” he said, “or go to the Scholarship Dinner and hear the students [and donors] talk about what this place has meant to them, it’s a very visible reminder of why we keep doing what we’re doing.”

The Forever True Blue Challenge became another expression of that enduring commitment — an opportunity for alumni, friends, faculty, staff, and supporters to participate in the next chapter of Millikin’s story. 

And participate they did. By the end of the first week of May, more than $685,000 had been given to support Millikin students, demonstrating more than generosity — it demonstrated belief.

Belief in the power of a Millikin education. Belief in students who arrive on campus searching for purpose and leave with confidence, clarity, and direction. And belief in an institution that, 125 years after its founding, continues to evolve while remaining rooted in the relationships and values that have always defined it.

In many ways, the Forever True Blue Challenge became more than a fundraising initiative. It became a visible expression of the momentum surrounding Millikin University and a collective affirmation that its next chapter is one worth the investment.

Meeting the Moment

At the conclusion of his inauguration speech, Dr. Pribbenow quoted poet Wendell Berry: “What we need is here.” The line encapsulates much of how he speaks about Millikin.

He sees an institution rooted in tradition, grounded in relationships, strengthened by community, sustained through generosity, and capable of transformation. He sees students driven by passion for their disciplines. He sees faculty and staff eager to do meaningful work.

And he sees a University positioned not merely to survive an ever-changing higher education landscape, but to help shape it. Of the many truths 

Dr. Pribbenow spoke about Millikin on the afternoon of his inauguration, he concluded with this one: “We will meet the moment.”

It’s a phrase that carries with it both challenge and conviction.

The challenges facing higher education are real: demographic shifts, affordability concerns, workforce demands, evolving technology, and questions about value and relevance. But Dr. Pribbenow’s first year has been marked by possibility, not perplexity.

“We’re trying to do bolder, more ambitious things,” he said. “I have found that when you do that, and when you talk to people about that, it gets them excited.”

As Millikin celebrates 125 years, the University finds itself balancing reflection with reinvention, honoring the past while preparing for the future.

And for Dr. Pribbenow, that balance is not a contradiction. 

It is the essence of Millikin itself.

Tradition and transformation. 

Millikin Forward.

Forever Blue.