Ex-Westminster president Stock keeps busy - After retiring in 2001, she moved to Florida and stays active with consulting workin her post-college life

If you thought Peggy Stock turned Westminster College around quickly, you should have seen how fast she left it.  Not long after the former Westminster president clocked out for the final time and said her goodbyes, she got the heck out of Dodge. Destination: Punta Gorda, Fla.

"The [college] presidency is the only job in America that after you finish it, you have to leave," Stock says half-jokingly from her waterfront home in Punta Gorda. "It's very hard, but you have to give the new president a chance to establish themselves. It's kind of a strange career path we have."

When Stock retired from Westminster in 2001, she knew how important it was to leave. More so than most professions, being a college president can be consuming because of the level of involvement with the school. And in Stock's case, it wasn't any different  --  if anything, it was more intense.

On campus, Stock was known as an approachable person. There wasn't a single person on campus she wouldn't make time for. And having to walk away from that was definitely easier said than done.

"You can plan [retirement] in your head, but until it happens . . . " says Stock. "The people I interacted on a daily basis weren't there. The students weren't there. I was home for about 12 weeks and I got depressed and lonely. I knew I had to do something."

Before long, Stock and her husband Bob were down in sunny Florida starting their new life. The couple also spend time relaxing on a 200-acre farm they own in Vermont. There they care for their horses and enjoy the isolated and peaceful atmosphere that Stock says "drops my blood pressure 30 points every time I go there."

Although moving to Florida enabled her to start a new chapter in her life, she began to feel a void. Few could envision the energetic former college president spending her days fishing, playing bridge with girlfriends or joining a book club. Someone who spent the last decade putting in 80-hour work weeks at Westminster was not going to be able to keep idle for long.     "You know, when you're going 180 miles per hour, you simply cannot stop," Stock says. "I felt I had to keep moving."

Today, Stock is working for consulting firm RPA, which helps colleges fill vacancies for presidents or deans. Stock also counsels college presidents. After all, she transformed Westminster College from a struggling commuter college into a world class institution.

"I always felt she did a very good job," says Joy Woolf, a Spanish professor at Westminster for 22 years. "She truly had the best interest of the college at heart and I think she gave it more than 100 percent of her effort and her intelligence. "

 In 1995, after an illustrious 10-year career as president of Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire, Stock interviewed for Westminster's vacant presidential position.  Stock saw something in the tiny liberal arts school that made her head west to become the first female college president in Utah's history.

Along with the presidency, Stock also inherited all of Westminster's problems.  The college had limited growth and lacked the resources to expand. She had to face payroll issues as well create an identity for the school. But Stock had a vision.

"I thought that the campus should be a destination place for the students," Stock says. "It needed to have the components of a real college. You had to go on it and go 'wow.' And the board went along with that."

Stock wasted no time, going around town and aggressively raising money. When she retired in 2001, Stock had built a state-of-the-art library, a modern residential village, a spacious student center, and a high tech business/aviation school.

"I think the new construction was necessary to accommodate the growth of student body and create a pleasant and up-to-date learning environment," Woolf says.

Before the residence halls were built, the school was primarily a commuter school with little school spirit. Now students from other states are enticed to enroll at Westminster. And with Stock bringing back basketball and even creating a mascot  --  the Griffin  --  Westminster students finally had a sense of community.

"She provided us with everything a kid could want out of a college. I had a great experience here and I can't say for sure I would have if she didn't come in and make those changes," says Matt McMullen, a Westminster Student from 2000 to 2004.

"I truly believe if you ask people, 'What's the best place to obtain an education in Salt Lake?' I think people would say Westminster," Stock adds.

Stock, who turns 70 this year, plans to move back to Utah within the next few years. "I'm so proud to have been the president there and worked with such wonderful people," Stock says. "And to know when I go back, I will have people I can call my friends. "

   
Edition: Final
Section: Sugarhouse
Page: G3
Column: Ex-Westminster president Stock keeps busy