Dr. Eric Darr’s lifelong dream of building a university is becoming a reality as he leads Harrisburg University as its President since May 9, 2013. With pivotal roles as interim president and consultant during the institution’s creation, he has been instrumental in its development. As the founding Vice President of Finance and Administration, faculty member, Executive Vice President, and Provost, Dr. Darr’s entrepreneurial spirit and passion for innovation drive him forward. Beyond work, he embraces new experiences and values collaboration, supported by a talented team. Grateful for the opportunity, Dr. Darr continues to shape the future of Harrisburg University, an institution he has helped build over the past two decades.
Below are highlights of the interview conducted between World’s Leaders and Dr. Eric Darr:
Describe your background, and what did you do before you started/joined the company?
I have been fortunate to do lots of different things in my career, and I think they’ve all helped build Harrisburg University. I started out as a mechanical engineer and worked for the U.S. government. I decided that wasn’t exactly right, so I went back and earned an additional graduate degree in psychology, and founded a business that was about safety training and how to help people. And, again, I decided that wasn’t exactly right, and went back to school, earned an MBA and a Ph.D. in economics, and made my way into higher education as a faculty member at UCLA. I liked a lot about higher education, but there were some things that I didn’t appreciate very much, so I left higher education and had the opportunity to start up a consulting practice inside a global consulting company. That was a great opportunity. I traveled the world and developed a lot of different types of businesses through that experience. But I had children and had the opportunity to get off the road and come back to where I grew up. That’s when I helped create a new software company, one of the world’s first learning management system companies. We raised more than $50 million, and through that, I got to know the mayor of the city of Harrisburg. That is what ultimately led to me leaving the technology business and helping to launch and create Harrisburg University.
Tell us about the inception of the company. How did it all start?
During the mid-1990s, a group of community business leaders recognized the value of integrating STEM education with economic development. Harrisburg University was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 2001, making it the first independent science and technology-focused, nonprofit university established in the state in more than 100 years. It was chartered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in 2005 and accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in 2009.
What has made you successful? What do you value?
One of my true values is identifying people who are smarter than me and getting them to work together. And, through time, and through building Harrisburg University, it’s been about hiring a whole bunch of really smart people and having a vision for where we’re all going collectively. It involves putting a goal in place and an idea about an institution that we want to build. You can’t predict the future, and so you have a great team that can pivot and work in different ways as necessary over time. I think, generally speaking, I am an optimistic person, and I try to view the future as optimistically as possible and come up with lots of different paths to it. If there’s only one path to where you want to go, then you’re in trouble because that one path almost never works. But if you can see lots of different ways to get to a future point, then I think you’re in much better shape.
Which are the major services of the company and how does the company get ahead in the competition? What value-added services does the company provide?
Harrisburg University provides academic STEM programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels for a diversity of learners, using student-centered, technologically advanced, and experiential learning designs that emphasize student success, with a sharp focus on specific interdisciplinary competencies and strong linkages to career development. Many of the University’s courses include lab or field classes.
What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?
I think you have to like what you do. Life is too short for that not to be the case. And, you have to generally like the people you work with. Harrisburg University is a very collegial institution. We work together to accomplish goals, and we generally hire people who have positive outlooks and want to build a new university. That’s very important. We also hire people who are student-centered. As an institution of higher education, educating students is why we’re here. And we’re here to make them as successful as possible, so to have that as a core value of what you’re doing, I think is really important, and it doesn’t matter what role you’re in necessarily in the university, you need to be student-centered. If a student has a problem, you should stop what you’re doing and try to help them to the best of your ability. And as a new university, I think it’s important to have a tolerance for change and an appetite for continuing to grow. These are all important aspects of our culture.
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
It’s everything. Innovation is everything. It’s the power of ideas that’s important at Harrisburg University. It’s not your title, your role, or how much gray hair you have; it’s the potential of the ideas themselves. So, innovation is critically important for what we do. That means you also have to have a tolerance for risk because some innovations work and some do not. You have to tolerate that, or people can become afraid to innovate and try new things. Innovation is critically important for what we do.
Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?
It takes both, but Harrisburg University relies more on team processes. I would say team processes are a healthier way to operate, but there are certain circumstances where I think individuals need to step up and solve problems, innovate, or take on additional responsibilities that are outside their normal job descriptions. In general, at Harrisburg University, it’s about teamwork. It’s about us working together as colleagues.
What are your responsibilities as the Founder/CEO of the company? What is the happiest part of your daily routine?
The best part of my job is being creative, coming up with new ideas, and trying things. As a founder and CEO, you establish a vision. You establish where the institution wants to go in the future, and you work with a variety of constituents to make that happen. It involves continually working and reminding people of what we’re trying to achieve together. Ultimately, the institution needs to be financially sound. I think that it falls to the CEO or founder to make sure that the institution is sustainable and is on a path towards its goals.
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
It’s not all about you. I would say listen more than talk. That would be my advice: surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Don’t think that as the leader, you have to have all the answers. You have to listen to people. You have to surround yourself with a bunch of smart people and get them to work together.
