Constant strokes of his stripped purple, black and gold necktie ensured that it laid flat atop his shirt. Periodic sips from a Cabrini College labeled water bottle (that always found its way back to its coaster) implied that he was preparing for some long-winded answers. He sat at an angle in a wooden chair at his meeting table, not at the chair behind his imperial desk—that would be just too presidential.
While Dr. Don Taylor, Cabrini’s eighth president, respects the office he’s been appointed he despises the ivory tower connotation that comes with it. Above all names, “Doc” is what Taylor prefers to be called by students, and is comfortable with faculty and staff calling him by his first name or even just “DT.”
Taylor said, that while he was growing up, he saw that his family was hard-working. He himself is the first college graduate in his family, which is why he has such belief in Cabrini’s mission of serving first-generation students.
“To me, being the president is like a vocational calling and it’s a way of giving back,” Taylor said. “Its an incredible honor and privilege.”
While Taylor does see most things “through a scientific lens” he took off his scientist-hat and used his heart when deciding on whether to become a part of St. Joseph’s College in New York or here at Cabrini.
“When I left the campus interview, I knew [Cabrini] was the place I wanted to be,” Taylor, speaking about Cabrini, said.
The “huge sports guy” compares his 120 days of research and preparation before his first day to the way offensive coordinators in the National Football League script their first 15 plays in planning for the coming season.
“I did a lot of research before I ever walked in here on day one,” Taylor said.
Cabrini is not the first school Taylor has called home. Illinois’s Benedictine University was Taylor’s home for 22 years. In his time there, the school’s enrollment grew by 132 percent and was recognized as the fastest-growing university in the country.
According to Taylor, while he still loves Benedictine (just as he did when he worked there), he had hit the “stained glass ceiling” due to the institution’s bylaws, which prohibited him from continuing his growth at Benedictine. This is what ultimately lead to his departure from the school that he helped build to what it is today.
Cabrini reminds Taylor of what Benedictine was a decade ago.
“I can see a roadmap laid out as far as what we need to do to maximize our opportunities here at Cabrini,” Taylor said. “I don’t see challenges, what I see are opportunities for Cabrini.”
He plans to utilize the existing athletics, enrollment growth, alumni support, school spirit and student engagement to leverage the development of Cabrini.
Cabrini’s first male president wants to make sure that Cabrini is left in a much better place than the way it was when he walked in the door July 1, 2014. Taylor wants to create a brand that is immediately recognized throughout the entire Northeast and, in a global view, to form an international globalization presence that will “take the institution to new heights.”
The legacy he seems to find most important to leave behind is the advent of the “Cabrini Promise,” which vows to get students involved in Living Learning Communities, studying abroad, internships, service learning experiences and senior capstone projects.
His plan is that by the time a student graduates, they would have been involved in at least a minimum of 4 of these activities (two of which being completed in their first year).
“Students might forget half the curriculum in 10 years but transformative experiences will stick with them,” Taylor said.
As president he believes himself to be the “keeper of the institutional mission,” meaning to ensure not to stray too far from the original founding ideas of the college.
“I’m going to be here for a long time,” Taylor said. “This is a marathon—it’s not a sprint. I’m in it for the long haul.”
