Small Colleges, Big Impact

When Elizabeth MacLeod Walls ’01 PhD interviewed for the president’s position at Washington & Jefferson College in 2024, she instantly identified with the motto of the esteemed 244-year-old small liberal arts college in western Pennsylvania: Juncta Juvant — Together we thrive.

Throughout her nearly two decades in higher education administration — half as president of small liberal arts colleges — MacLeod Walls has fostered collaboration on her campuses and beyond. Her efforts have bolstered school enrollments and endowments and strengthened the “town and gown” relationships. As a result, her institutions have grown, thrived and stood as vibrant examples of how the liberal arts tradition remains vital in today’s higher education landscape.

Path to TCU

MacLeod Walls grew up on the campus of a liberal arts college: Her father, Roger Cognard ’69 MA (PhD ’71), was a professor of English at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska, and her mother, Anne MacLeod Cognard ’70 MA (PhD ’73) was a humanities educator. When it was time to choose a college, MacLeod Walls looked only at small liberal arts colleges. “That was the universe I knew,” she said.

At Hiram College in northeastern Ohio, where she met her husband, Craig Walls ’99 MDiv, MacLeod Walls thrived in her dual studies in history and English and cherished her close relationships with both peers and professors. When she and her husband pursued their respective graduate degrees in Fort Worth, she found a nurturing environment in TCU’s literature and rhetoric department. (Today the couple’s youngest son, John MacLeod Walls, is a sophomore English and economics double major at TCU.) 

MacLeod Walls worked as a research assistant for four years for Richard Leo Enos, emeritus Piper Professor, Quondam Holder of the Lillian Radford Chair of Rhetoric and Composition. He appointed MacLeod Walls associate editor of the journal Advances in the History of Rhetoric.

Linda Hughes, emeritus professor of English and Addie Levy Professor of Literature, began as co-director, along with Enos, of MacLeod Walls’ dissertation and became her professional collaborator. The pair co-edited the book The BBC Talks of E.M. Forster, 1929-1960: A Selected Edition. 

“When you have the benefit of being truly mentored by people who care about you as a person as well as your professional trajectory, you carry that with you into your professional life,” MacLeod Walls said. “And so I have strived over the years to provide meaningful mentorship to younger colleagues and students.”

Elizabeth MacLeod Walls, president of Washington & Jefferson College, outside Old Main on the Pennsylvania campus she now leads.

Leadership Journey

Craig Walls’ career in ministry brought the couple back to her hometown of Lincoln in 2001. At Nebraska Wesleyan University, MacLeod Walls taught English but was “bitten by the administration bug” under another inspiring mentor, Bette Olson, then associate vice president for institutional effectiveness.  

“I love teaching, but I found that I really enjoy the synthesis and strategy that goes along with administration,” MacLeod Walls said. “I quickly pivoted.”

After a three-year break from academia to balance work and family life, in 2007 MacLeod Walls succeeded Olson as director of institutional effectiveness at Bryan College of Health Sciences, located a few miles south of Nebraska Wesleyan. As MacLeod Walls began working there, the college was transitioning from being a nursing school within a hospital to a four-year, degree-granting institution.

There, she ascended through four leadership positions, finishing as president. MacLeod Walls shepherded the school through the accreditation process, built the general education curriculum and mentored her administration colleagues on how a higher education institution should function. “Those were some of the most fascinating six years of my life,” she said, “because it was like a hothouse for higher ed learning.”  

In 2012, Nebraska Wesleyan recruited her as dean of its University College, comprising 800 graduate students and adult learners spread over four campuses. She hired faculty and expanded academic offerings, including a combined MSN/MBA program.

“Elizabeth is innovative and never afraid to explore ideas,” said Travis Jensen, adjunct professor of interdisciplinary studies at Nebraska Wesleyan University. “One of her greatest strengths is that if someone said, ‘What about this?’ she was all ears. … She was actually listening and evaluating how to flesh it out. She is very collaborative.”

At the encouragement of Fred Ohles, then the president of Nebraska Wesleyan University, MacLeod Walls attended the Harvard Management in Education program as well as the American Council on Education Women’s Leadership Mentoring Program. “He kept sending me to these programs that really helped me to see the big picture of higher education,” she said, “and what it means to be an effective administrator.”  

Revitalizing William Jewell College 

At Ohles’ recommendation, MacLeod Walls applied for the president’s position at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. Founded in 1849, the college is one of the oldest west of the Mississippi River. After accepting the position in July 2016, she attended the weeklong Harvard Seminar for New Presidents.  

“It’s the bread and butter of what it means to be a president: alumni engagement, how to manage a crisis, shared governance and how it affects the presidency,” she said. “To this day, I carry precepts I learned there into my presidency.” 

MacLeod Walls viewed William Jewell College’s declining enrollment not as a challenge but as an opportunity.  

“Elizabeth hit the ground running,” said Susan Tideman, former associate vice president for advancement at William Jewell College. “She had studied the institution, understood our traditions and knew what questions to ask. On her listening tour, she was talking to people about the heart of the institution and what parts should be carried forward.”   

Liberal arts education is centered on teaching students to think critically to prepare them to problem-solve. MacLeod Walls defined William Jewel College’s unique position in the region by rebranding the school as the Critical Thinking College.  

“I believe deeply in doing whatever I can to advance the liberal arts education sector in America, which is unique to this country.”
Elizabeth MacLeod Walls

“Critical thinking is their superpower,” she said. “That identity has now permeated the Kansas City market.”  

MacLeod Walls also strengthened the college’s collaborations within the Kansas City area by joining the board of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the steering committee of KC Rising, which aligns community efforts to improve regional prosperity for all. By the end of her nearly nine-year tenure, William Jewell College had seen five solid years of enrollment growth.  

“I believe deeply in doing whatever I can to advance the liberal arts education sector in America, which is unique to this country,” she said. Small liberal arts colleges “are struggling, and I want to bring all the gifts to bear that I can to help small colleges to thrive.”

New Campus, New Collaborations  

MacLeod Walls wasn’t looking for a job when a search firm contacted her about leading Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, but she was impressed by what she learned about the institution’s history and direction.  

After becoming president in June 2024, MacLeod Walls declined a traditional inauguration in favor of a whistle-stop tour to engage with Washington & Jefferson alumni across the country. She’s excited to share how the college is thriving: a recent $50 million gift, a tuition reduction and the largest freshman class ever.

“I’m telling the story of the institution,” she said, “but also really listening to them about where we should be going as a college.”

MacLeod Walls has assembled faculty, staff, trustees and students to serve on committees to set the school’s course for the next five years. She has also brought together college and community leaders to identify potential collaboration opportunities.

“She has immersed herself not just in our community of Washington but also the Pittsburgh region,” said Tracey Sheetz, vice president for enrollment and marketing at Washington & Jefferson College. “There aren’t too many people in this region who don’t already know who she is.”

Washington & Jefferson College’s track record of innovation was among the traits that attracted MacLeod Walls to the school. The college recently launched a nursing program in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Washington; the program has already reached full enrollment. A task force of trustees, alumni and the vice president of academic affairs is evaluating additional STEM and health science programs to incorporate into its traditional curriculum.

“We want to be as relevant as possible to the community we serve,” she said. “We’re willing to adapt around the liberal arts in ways that I think are necessary in the 21st century.”