The Rev. Brian Konkol was sworn in Friday as Valparaiso University’s 20th president.
In his inaugural address, he stressed the need to build character and faith, not just prepare students for careers.
“Our world needs people of character who value more what’s said in their eulogy than what’s written on their resume,” he said.
Konkol, who has been in office since Jan. 1, used the start of Homecoming weekend for his inauguration.
“Our graduates seek way, way more than just a ticket to an entry-level job,” Konkol said.
“What does the world need from us? The world needs more Valpo graduates,” he said.
“At Valparaiso University, we build lives for good,” Konkol said. That includes taking religious devotion seriously as well as intellectual exploration. Students need to learn to take personal responsibility and give to the larger community.
“Our graduates are connectors in a connected world,” he said.
“Whenever we get somewhere good, we got there because others were good to us,” Konkol said. “To move forward is to be brought forward by those who went before us, those who shaped us and those who sometimes carried us, all because of love for us.”
Konkol, an ordained Lutheran minister, looked to the past as well as to the future.
“The world of today is in many ways the world the Lutheran tradition was born into 500 years ago,” he said. The printing press was new then; now internet search engines and artificial intelligence are rewiring how humans communicate and learn.
Five hundred years ago, as now, people wondered what human life is actually for. Martin Luther said each person is fully and forever loved by God, Konkol said. “Today, we continue to wrestle and wonder why this thing called life even matters.”
“Valparaiso University was made during a time such as this for a time such as this,” he said.
“This day, as was the case 500 years ago, our world needs people whose lives are built for good,” Konkol said. In 500 years, future people can thank God for us. “They will look back, and they will say our time was a special time, a time when we embraced our calling with courage.”
“What does the world need from us?” Konkol asked. “What are the deep hungers of our world? What is the nourishment that the world is seeking from us?”
Facing these questions requires examining the world at center of these questions. “As a society, are we going forward, or are we moving backward?”
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Konkol said he asked for input on what Valparaiso University students need as they prepare to go into the world.
“I received numerous, numerous, numerous emails. Most of them were helpful,” he said.
One person took the time to “share their fervent belief that what the world truly needs is no classes on Fridays,” Konkol said. Nice try, he said; not going to happen.
Others offered suggestions like the world needs people who refuse to equate different from deficient, who are disciplined to choose what they need most over when their want now, who are lifelong learners to bring love and action into the world.
Valparaiso University, founded in 1859, has been operated by the Lutheran University Association since 1925. Konkol said he aims to deepen VU’s Lutheran roots and expand its public reach.
To Lutherans from the Midwest, “We need to be done with being the best kept secret,” Konkol said.
“There is nothing wrong with tooting your own horn if the sound of that horn helps someone else find their way,” he said.
“We are not here today to celebrate the moment. We are here to take part in a movement,” Konkol said, a momentum to serve in God’s mission.
“Every once in a while, a relatively small group of people is moved by the spirit of God to live differently, and others are inspired to join in. This is the story of the Bible, and this is the story of human life,” he said. “May we be such people.”
Lem Cartman, manager of community relations at Henry Ford Health, is a 2021 alum who received his master’s degree from VU in 2024. “Valpo challenged me personally and spiritually. It forced me to deal with bigger questions.”
“Education is not just about achievement. It’s about formation,” he said.
“Valpo taught me that achievement without service is incomplete.”
“We live in a time with the deep, dark, shadows of division,” Cartman said, but consider that light is not meant to go where it is already bright. If things seem dark, he said, you may be the light.
One Region President and CEO Matt Wells, a VU graduate, said, “Sound judgment cannot be outsourced. Moral courage cannot be downloaded.”
“The word desperately needs institutions that help people understand what knowledge is for,” he said.
The world needs Valpo to become unapologetically itself, Wells said. “Valparaiso University must be a source of discernment, courage and hope.”
J. Michael Haynie, chancellor and president of Syracuse University, has known Konkol since the latter became dean of Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse in 2017.
“He built bridges across faith traditions, across faith and doubt, across every division you can find on a college campus,” Haynie said. “Religious and spiritual and cultural life at Syracuse University grew.”
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“He will make room for everyone in this community,” he said.
Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas said Konkol “brings tremendous energy to the university. It’s a job he’s wanted virtually his entire adult life.”
“This is just what the university needs to thrive in the years ahead.”
Costas received his law degree from VU. “They’re returning to their roots in many ways, and that’s good for every organization,” he said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.