“Challenges are just part of life”: An interview with new Board Clerk Clinton Pettus
Deborah: I’m honored to be the interviewer for this interview of Clinton Pettus.
Clinton, you have a diverse and amazing professional background that includes service in several key administrative roles for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) as well as more than thirty years as a college faculty member, administrator, and university president. What are some of the highlights of your current and past work? Which professional experiences have been most meaningful for you?
Clinton: First, let me say something about my personal experiences that have been the most meaningful for me, which are being a father and husband. Both have taught me so much about myself and are very significant to any success I have had in my professional life.
The highlights of my professional life have been due to persons, whom I respected, encouraging me to apply for or to be nominated for positions. In short, it was not only getting a position that was a highlight; it was having colleagues observe my work in a position that I had taken and then say that they thought I had what it takes to be successful in a new position. As a result I had the opportunity to be a faculty member, a department chairperson, a dean, a vice president twice and a college president.
While most of my early career was in higher education, one volunteer service that I consider a highlight experience was not related to higher education. It was my serving as the campaign manager for the first person of African descent to be elected to the Board of Supervisors in Chesterfield County, Virginia. When I consider my career in higher education and with the American Friends Service Committee, in many ways I feel that my professional life has been one big highlight for which I am most grateful to my family and many other people who helped me along the way.
Deborah: It sounds like you’ve been open to the discernment of people you trust as you’ve made decisions in your professional life. I’m curious what you taught?
| Clinton Pettus at Pendle Hill's 80th anniversary celebration |
 |
Clinton: My doctorate is in personality and social psychology. So, I mostly taught psychology courses in those areas. My education in psychology has been very useful to me in many ways in both my personal and my professional life.
Deborah: Say something about your own discernment process. How do you discern how to move forward?
Clinton: I don’t know if there has been any particular structure to my discernment. Most of the time, I act based upon what feels right to me. Of course, I consult with my wife and sometimes with persons I consider to be close friends. In recent years, I have found it wise to also consult with my three daughters on many matters. Some people say they pray over such matters. I can’t say that, but I do look inside myself. I trust myself and those persons with whom I feel a close relationship.
Deborah: I like to say “God leads me by my gut.”
Clinton: Yes, it’s a better situation when we listen to that voice inside us.
Deborah: It seems like serving as a campaign manager was a very meaningful position, as was the rest of your work.
Clinton: Yes, that experience has taken on more meaning as I have looked back on it than when I was experiencing it. As for the rest of my work, in my higher education career and now at the American Friends Service Committee, I enjoy being able to influence things that I hope have increased the quality of life of others. For example, in college, commencement was important to me when I felt that I had been able to touch some people’s lives in a very real way as they matriculated. It is especially satisfying when your former students stay in touch with you or tell you about how you had a positive influence on their having become a successful contributor to society.
Deborah: Yes, that’s my experience too with college students.
Let’s move on to board service. Clinton, you’ve served on the boards of many organizations. Would you be willing to name some of them?
Clinton: I’ve served on a variety of boards: • Chester County Hospital Board (Pennsylvania); • Wilmington Friends School Board (Delaware); • Board of Managers of the Girard School (Philadelphia); • Wilmington College (a Quaker college in Ohio); • Chesterfield County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Board (Virginia); • Thurgood Marshall College Fund Board (New York); • National Association for Equal Educational Opportunity Board in Higher Education (Washington, DC) • Rodale Institute Board (Pennsylvania). I feel good about having been plucked out of the millions of people who could serve. I felt it to be a special privilege and loved serving on each of them.
Deborah: What motivates your service?
Clinton: It may surprise you but first I would say personal growth. Service has added to my own development. The second motivation is contributing something. Humans are happier when they contribute something to others. I’m not a “go to the soup kitchen and dish out lunch” kind of person. But I think I’ve been able to use my professional experience and my knowledge of myself to make a contribution to society. Many of us live with the hope that we have had an impact on society greater than ourselves.
Deborah: Clinton, what is your understanding of the role of the board of a non-profit organization?
Clinton: First, it is fiscal responsibility, being good stewards of the resources that are given to the organization. Also, it is being good stewards of human resources. Second, it is establishing useful policies and monitoring how they’re being carried out. Third, it is helping to bring in financial resources – giving or getting the funds that the organization needs to carry out its mission.
Deborah: How did you become involved with Pendle Hill?
Clinton: Shortly after becoming regional director of the Middle Atlantic Region of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), my wife and I attended the annual summer session of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting. Someone asked me to meet Lauri Perman, who was then the presiding clerk. Lauri asked me to speak to Baltimore Yearly Meeting for ten minutes about the work of the AFSC. The next year my wife and I went to Baltimore Yearly Meeting again. We belonged to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, but we went to both yearly meetings. That year, Lauri noticed that we were present and asked me to be reading clerk for one of the meeting-for-business sessions as the person who was to serve hadn’t arrived.
Later I saw Lauri and someone said she’d become executive director of Pendle Hill. Lauri asked me if I’d be willing to be considered for service on the Pendle Hill General Board. I thought it sounded interesting. Related to that was that my wife, Kathryn, served on the Kendal-Crosslands Board of Directors. Someone on that board encouraged her to attend an Inquirers’ Weekend at Pendle Hill. We both attended as we were not Friends at that time but were interested in knowing more about the Religious Society of Friends. Anyway, the bottom line was that my personal experience with Pendle Hill had been positive and I thought that I might be able to make some small contribution to its future.
Deborah: Becoming clerk of the Pendle Hill Board is a significant commitment. I hope nobody said, “Clerking the Pendle Hill Board won’t take much time”! With all of the opportunities you have to serve, why did Pendle Hill rise to this level for you?
Clinton: Deborah, as a person who had encouraged you to be the clerk before me, it just did not seem like it would have been proper for me to say “no” when the Nominating and Governance Committee decided to discuss with me the possibility of my serving. Also, it seemed right based on my experience and background to step in at this point in the history of Pendle Hill. It’s an honor. Yes, it’s a stretch given the other things with which I am involved, but my inner voice said that I should give it a try, and I have done so.
Deborah: You have been active with several Quaker organizations in positions of responsibility. What common issues do these organizations face today?
Clinton: There are some commonalities, certainly. When I first came to the AFSC, there was a sense that financially all would be OK. Times have changed. One of the common issues is the financial challenge that many Quaker organizations are facing at this time in their histories. A second common issue is identifying enough Friends to serve on boards and play other roles at Friends organizations. Third, sometimes I think too many Friends organizations are kind of “stuck in time” and unable or unwilling to draw on their many resources to propel them forward in more meaningful and productive ways. Finally, I worry that we may surround ourselves with people whose perspectives are similar to our own and not be as open to the world in general as we might be.
Deborah: Clinton, I understand that you have talked a lot with Lauri Perman about strengthening and reviving the historic relationship between Pendle Hill (PH) and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Are there ways you see that PH and AFSC can work together to support each other’s mission?
Clinton: It is my understanding that at one time many Pendle Hill resident students held internships at AFSC. I think that there may be some merit in returning to that practice in some form. We can also partner with each other in writing proposals for grants. We, at the AFSC, can increase the number of contracts we make with Pendle Hill to hold staff retreats and other activities. We might share certain resources, in technology, for example. These are a few examples of things that good organizations can do together.
Deborah: Quakers have had influence in the world in the past well beyond our small numbers. What do you believe Quakers and Quakerism should be contributing today? What role(s) do you see Pendle Hill playing?
Clinton: Certainly we’ve contributed beyond our numbers principally because we’ve worked on peace and human rights issues. When the AFSC held focus groups and asked what people knew about us, I don’t think I heard anyone not mention Quakers and peace in the same sentence. Most people in the world want peace but are placed in situations that make it difficult. I would like to see Friends reach back to our roots and bring people together – be less critical and judge less. If we’re not in a state of peace ourselves, we can’t bring peace to others. When it is at its best, Pendle Hill is that place where people can go to find inner peace and where they will be able to interact with like-minded people. I encourage people to come regardless of gender, race, and sexual orientation, to be with nature and find inner peace. We want Pendle Hill to be a special place because of how we do business and because of how we relate to each other - how we help one another find inner and outer peace.
Deborah: Well, Clinton, I see in you some characteristics that should lend themselves well to your clerkship of the PH board. I would say that you are unfailingly, unflinchingly honest. You also have a knack for keeping people on track. Your way of speaking truth is invitational, not confrontational. This is critical. You have a sense of the Religious Society of Friends and what it could be about. Finally, I would say that you are articulate and comfortable with yourself.
Clinton: (Chuckle) My wife and daughters are always there to ensure that I do not get too comfortable with myself, to ensure that I keep striving to be a little better tomorrow than I am today.
Deborah: You did such a good job introducing Pendle Hill at the 80th anniversary celebration in November. You’re comfortable with yourself. You are a very encouraging and supportive person. You help people do what they’re able to do. I’m so thrilled that you’ve taken on this role. It’s a very exciting time, and your gifts of leadership seem absolutely appropriate to this time.
Clinton: I appreciate all this. There will be challenges. We’ll do our best. I think that is all that can be asked of us.