“Keep doing the work”: How WP President Richard Helldobler Confronts Higher Ed’s Biggest Challenges

January 15, 2025

Through his decades of experience in higher education, Richard J. Helldobler, president of William Paterson University (WP) and a 2005-06 ACE Fellow, has learned many lessons.

One of the most important ones, however, is rather straightforward: to be himself.

“Once I relaxed into who I was and what my strengths were and found an institution that needed those, it got easier,” said Helldobler, who has been WP’s president since 2018. “I stopped dressing a certain way and found that my strength in interpersonal relationships is what really moved the institution forward, and that helped me find a path that worked for me. It took a minute—but I found it.”

And for Helldobler—a former professional dancer and theatre director who previously served as interim president of Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago and held various leadership roles at Shepherd University in West Virginia and California University of Pennsylvania— being himself also means working tirelessly to break down barriers to ensure students from all backgrounds can succeed in higher education.

Under Helldobler’s leadership, WP has expanded access to nontraditional and adult learners by broadening access to degree programs and course offerings, reimagining how it awards credit to include credit for prior learning, and revamping student support services to meet the needs of all students. Additionally, earlier this year WP transformed its School of Continuing and Professional Education into a College of Adult and Professional Studies.

“My goal was to apply the political will to do what would make students successful and to change the systems that no longer meet the needs of today’s students,” he said. “All of these developments provide stronger, more cohesive support models and change systems, and all required the political will of the entire institution to put into place.”

As WP has tapped into the underserved community of students with some college credit but no degree, it has bolstered enrollment, especially among women of color, older students, and student parents. Part of the success, Helldobler said, is due to intentionally establishing systems and structures designed to help them succeed.

“It was not about trying to change our students,” he said. It was about changing our academic programming and delivery modality to meet their needs.” 

The recipient of ACE’s 2024 Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award, Helldobler has worked vigorously to advance equitable access and outcomes for students from underserved populations by creating a chief diversity officer position; establishing new diversity and inclusion centers and initiatives across the institution; and increasing student scholarship dollars to WP students by 50 percent.

While Helldobler has been strengthening programs and initiatives to advance access and inclusion, it is “no secret that DEI work is under attack in certain parts of our country,” he said, which he finds both uncomfortable and encouraging.

“It means the work is doing what we want it to do,” he said. “These laws and attacks to shut down this work won’t shut it down. It will take on other forms.”

Embodying many of the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, he’s made efforts to connect and find consensus with people who might be critical of DEI by listening to understand. Helldobler said he has held several informal conversations, often with people who do not typically engage or agree with DEI work, on the ongoing decline of white men enrolling in college, which ultimately led to broader conversations on access and inclusion.

“We have done good work in defining the issues and their importance in ways that resonate with us,” he said, “but have we defined it in a way that it matters to others such that it gives them space to join the conversation?”

Despite these encouraging interactions, Helldobler is certainly aware of the monumental challenges colleges and universities are facing.

“I know this is such a hard time for this work in our country, particularly for those from states outlawing this work, but we will never stop caring about our students and our colleagues, and that will keep us committed to doing the work.”

Part of what has energized Helldobler is through building meaningful connections with his colleagues who are going through similar challenges. For example, while he has fond memories of his time in the ACE Fellows Program, some of his most meaningful benefits from the program came afterwards.

“I would say that one of the best-kept secrets of the Fellowship experience is the Council of Fellows, which is the alumni group,” he said. “I stayed involved in the Council of Fellows for more than ten years, post Fellowship. And what I found was a network of Fellows, some who came before me, and some who came after me, who had a wealth of experience that they were willing to share.

If you are curious about higher education, it will really increase your network and knowledge base, as it has done for me,” he added.

Another way Helldobler keeps moving forward is by looking back.

“Keep doing the work. It will change,” he said. “AIDS is now a manageable disease, and LGBTQ+ folks can marry those we love – two things that, as a gay man, I never thought I would live to see.”

And as the push for taking on the challenges facing higher education continues and the effort to increase access and opportunity for all students endures, Helldobler thinks higher education needs warriors, as well as worriers.

“Worriers focus on the ‘What if?’ They tend to wring their hands, and when the conversation ends, little happens. Warriors focus on the ‘What now?’ and they put their hands, hearts, and minds into doing the work,” he said. “Follow the warriors, for that is where the work gets done. Listen to the worriers, for it broadens the conversation. But invest your energy in the warriors.”