Scott Brown and Jim Peeples are both first-generation college students who call their undergraduate experiences transformative. They also credit others around them for seeing potential they didn’t see in themselves and guiding them into careers in higher education. From opposite sides of the country, they met in the Midwest where they both stepped into administrative roles at Wabash this summer. Both recognize the importance of the College’s mission, the Gentleman’s Rule, and the role alumni play in student outcomes.
Brown, originally from Los Angeles, has worked around the country at a variety of institutions, including Mount Holyoke College, Colgate University, the College of Wooster, Northern Arizona University, Sterling College, and Dartmouth College.
“All those opportunities have prepared me to be here at Wabash, which seems to be the right position at the right institution at the right time for me,” says Brown, a member of the 25th graduating class at University of California Irvine. “When I see a place like Wabash where alumni are coming back 20, 30, 40, even 70 years later, because of something that happened over four short years—it’s powerful.
“The kinds of things I really value are intensive, transformative education, in a community that is very intimate and relational,” he continues. “It’s everything I love in one place. You can’t get a Wabash education online. You couldn’t get it in a city. It’s really about the sense of place and the people here.”
After earning his master’s degree in higher education and student affairs from Indiana University, Brown went on to get his Ph.D. in student personnel administration from the University of Maryland.
“My research was on how colleges facilitate the development of wisdom—thinking about the ways in which a place in total looks at the holistic student experience,” he says.
“Wabash is the most platonic ideal distillation of that,” Brown continues. “I have not seen a place that has internalized such a living mission. The Gentleman’s Rule is unusual, unique, and desirable in terms of high expectations, and then challenging and supporting of students in and out of class. I’ve seen it as platitudes, but not in a place that it’s the defining North Star.”
In his career thus far, Brown has seen a shift toward greater understanding and thoughtfulness regarding the life experiences students have had before arriving on a college campus.
“There is a lot more sensitivity to the kinds of things we need to be aware of so students can meet our high expectations,” he says. “We’re not changing the road for the student; we’re preparing the student for the road. What kinds of things are we doing to meet them where they are, but to make sure they can meet our high expectations, both in the class of students and as citizens within the community?
“I see myself as fulfilling a role in collaboration with a much larger community, and I’m excited to do that with alumni,” Brown continues. “I consider them the proof of concept. Involvement from alumni is powerful—we can point to the cooler older brothers or uncles who have a lot of street cred.”
Peeples grew up in western pennsylvania, the son of a boilermaker.
“Pretty much everybody I grew up with was blue-collar,” Peeples says. “Most of our dads either worked at the power plant, in one of the steel mills, or they were a miner. There were also a handful of families that were dairy farmers.”
While Peeples says most young people around him did not have an idea of what a college degree could do for them, working with their fathers in the summer was good motivation to pursue postsecondary education.
“A lot of us didn’t really have any idea what we needed to study because we didn’t have any frame of reference for that,” he says.
Peeples’ father passed away when he was a teenager. It was his mother who encouraged him to pursue athletics and later walked beside him through the college recruiting process.
“I had an astute mom who identified my passion for sports and realized I needed to be involved,” he says. “She went on every recruiting visit with me. I remember walking out after a visit to Westminster—mom said, ‘I don’t know what you’re thinking, but this is where I want you to go to school because (football) Coach (Joe) Fusco and the rest of the coaches will make you a better man, and that’s what I care about.’
“It was probably the best decision of my life,” Peeples states.
Having been influenced and mentored by his football coaches, Peeples saw coaching as the route to pay that forward.
“My motivation to coach was because, as I went through my time at Westminster, people pouring into me and seeing things in me that I did not see in myself was life-changing,” he says. “I wanted to do that for other people.”
Again, being guided by a coach, he moved to Slippery Rock University to pursue his master’s degree.
“I thought I would always want to coach,” Peeples says. “One of my mentors said, ‘At some point you’re not going to want to coach. You need to get your degree in athletic administration.’ Slippery Rock has a good program, so he helped open doors there. The power of mentorship has stood out in my life. It’s critical to have good mentors every step of the way.”
Peeples went on to serve in coaching and administrative roles at Slippery Rock, Ohio Wesleyan University, Methodist University, and, most recently, Piedmont University, where he served as baseball coach and associate director of athletics until 2016, when he became the school’s director of athletics.
“Every step on my path is about relationships and people opening a door,” he says. “I’m living proof it’s all about relationships.”
It did not take long for Peeples to figure out the caliber of the student-athletes at Wabash.
“It’s been impressive to me how polished our students are,” he says. “When I get to talk to them one-on-one about how it’s going and what they’re learning, it’s remarkable what they articulate.”
He also appreciates the enthusiasm the alumni bring to the institution and the importance of their presence in the student experience.
“I am amazed how the alumni care about this place,” says Peeples. “I’m not sure people outside of Wabash understand most alumni groups don’t have the same passion for their institutions as Wabash alumni. This place can operate, but it operates even more effectively because of the passion the alumni have.”
Peeples credits divine intervention for setting the people, places, and life experiences in line for him to be at Wabash at this time in his journey.
“The Lord put a calling on me, like it was time to take on a new challenge,” he says. “My heart is to serve. We need people to pour into the coaches, and we need people to pour into the student-athletes. I feel like I’m the right person for this time in Wabash athletics.
“What an honor it is at this point in my career to be at Wabash. “It’s really cool that God has given me this opportunity. I take it seriously. I want to have impact that excites the people who love this place.”