On December 5, Linfield University announced that Dr. Mark Blegen, current Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Carroll University, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, will serve as the 21st president of the university. He will replace interim president Dr. Rebecca Johnson, who has served since Dr. Miles K. Davis resigned in 2023. In February, he will be coming to campus to meet with organizations on campus and begin work on what will happen during his tenure. Meetings with students throughout the spring will be announced on Linfield Ahead.

During these visits, Blegen plans to introduce himself to as many groups and individuals as possible and begin forming a connection and creating a culture with the Linfield community.

“I’m Mark,” Blegen said. “I’ve been in higher education for a long time and when I was in the classroom I was Mark.”

Blegen says that part of the reason why he chose to come to Linfield was his background in small liberal arts schools. Apart from his PhD, all of his time in higher education as both a student and an educator was at small schools. Another part stemmed from a visit he made to Linfield in 2018.

“I was invited to Linfield’s campus by Jeff McNamee to do a program review,” Blegen said. “I got to spend a couple days on campus then. I walked around and I was like ‘Wow everybody’s so nice’. Linfield left an impression on me.”

When Blegen heard about the presidential job opening at Linfield, he jumped at the opportunity. Blegen said he had been looking around at presidential jobs for a while, but was waiting for the right fit.

“I didn’t want to be a president just to be a president,” Blegen said. “I wanted to be somewhere I felt welcome, that fit my values and I love the mission. A lot of things came together for me at Linfield.”

Blegen says he enjoys working in higher education. He grew up in a household that valued education. His mother, Mary Beth Blegen, was the 1996 Teacher of the Year. Once he began his college education, he never looked back.

“What’s kept me in higher education is the ability to learn,” Blegen said. “The opportunity to be on a campus with students that wanna learn, you keep me young. I love the feeling of higher ed but I also love what higher ed can do for people.”

As for what Blegen will do when he gets here, he doesn’t have specifics yet. His first task is to get to know everyone at Linfield and go from there.

“The first thing I want to do is get to know the community,” Blegen said. “I need to engage with the students and I need to engage with the faculty and staff and get to learn Linfield.”

Blegen says this is the best way to set goals for the university and take it in a positive direction.

“It would be disingenuous for me to come in on day one and say ‘this is what we’re gonna do,” Blegen said. “I don’t know the culture, I’ve gotten to know Linfield, but I’m not the type of individual that’s gonna come in and say ‘it’s my way or the highway without listening.’”

Blegen says his first course of action is to listen and ask questions, and then decide where to go.

For general ideas, he plans on watching enrollment and figuring out ways to increase it, how to improve programs, and setting the tone for a positive culture.

Blegen says he has been in contact with members of the board of trustees and is having weekly meetings with interim president Johnson. But when he gets to campus, he wants to do more to meet and understand the students and faculty at Linfield.

“I want to get myself invited to as many student events as I can,” Blegen said. “Be seen, meet people, both in formal and informal settings.”

Blegen added the plan is to meet as many groups and individuals as he can to introduce himself to the university.

Blegen also acknowledges the headwinds facing higher education in the wake of lowering enrollment nationally and potential changes made at the federal level as President Trump seeks to reshape the Department of Education. Blegen seeks to make Linfield as strong as possible in the face of uncertainty.

“I look at Linfield and see this wonderful place of opportunities,” Blegen said. “You’ve got wonderful programs and a wonderful culture. To battle those headwinds, I need to be the spokesperson and cheerleader for Linfield and say we’ve got a lot of programs that students want, we’re developing new programs, we’re taking care of the people here, this is a good place to be.”

Blegen also believes that higher education will stand in the wake of the challenges it faces right now because of the value a college education has, both to benefit a person financially and as a citizen.

Blegen is looking at current programs and ways to improve them, while also adding new ones that would make the university more attractive to high school students.

“When I was on campus I met with the people on the Portland campus,” Blegen said. “I’ve got a lot of experience in the health science area, so are there programs in the health science area we wanna look at. Do we wanna look at physical therapy? Do we wanna look at a program like that?”

As for a set list of programs that Blegen wants to create or improve on, he is waiting to say until he discusses with students and faculty more.

He also sees strong programs that can be made stronger, and other programs that can become strong with more attention.

“There’s some programs that are a little bit low-enrolled that, with the right allocation and right resources, can rise up even further,” Blegen said. “I don’t wanna say here’s what we are gonna do because I don’t know the lay of the land yet, but we’ve developed a lot of new programs in my six years here at Carroll that have seen incredible success.”

He also plans on working with students to create programs that they would like to see.

“What I need to do with the team at Linfield, faculty, staff, students, is say ‘Hey what’s relevant, what do you want?’” Blegen said. “I need to have conversations with students and say, ‘Hey are there programs that if we develop them, you’d do them?’ or to high school students, ‘What programs do you want?’”

He wants to ensure that he meets the needs of students on campus and ensure they are set for success after college. Blegen also says he will meet with potential employers to see what they look for from applicants, so programs can be tailored to skills students will use on the job.

When it comes down to what Blegen feels is needed to lead the university to success, he feels it is best summed up in one sentence:

“You have to have programs that students want,” Blegen said.

Blegen hopes that by implementing programs that students and potential students want, Blegen hopes it will increase enrollment and lead to the university being as successful as it possibly can.
“I would love to make an impact on Linfield by saying ‘hey we saw these enrollment challenges,’” Blegen said. “‘We met them, and look at Linfield now. They are thriving.’”

Blegen says this would be the biggest impact that he would like to make.

Blegen will be the third president the university has had in three years, but he plans to stay.

“My plan is to retire from Linfield.” Blegen said.

Blegen hopes to build a culture of stability and welcoming at Linfield.

“I hope that by demonstrating who I am and how I work,” Blegen said. “A culture of stability can take root. I think that President Johnson has done a great job healing some wounds from the past and I hope to continue that trend.”

Blegen says he took the job because he believes in Linfield, and he believes he can make the university thrive.

“I am tremendously excited to get out there and get to know as many students as possible,” Blegen said. “I want the students to know at Linfield right now that I’m here for them.”

Dr. Blegen will begin his tenure as university president on July 1, the start of the next academic year.