In the last four months, Said (sah-ED) Sewell moved from northeastern Ohio to Mid-Missouri, officially began his new Lincoln University job Aug. 15 and began his Listening/Learning Tour, "listening to the stories and the voices of the faculty, the students and the staff."
Sewell is LU's new vice president for Adacemic Affairs, and its new provost.
In Greek, Sewell said a provost was the "keeper of the keys - essentially, it was a warden."
Today, he says "the provost serves as the second person to that of the president. When the president is away from the campus, it is the provost who acts in his stead and makes decisions."
He had graduated from high school early, and went to Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science in 1992.
As a teenager, Sewell planned on a political career - and said he was influenced by television's "Schoolhouse Rock" cartoons that explained the political process.
"I wanted to go and help that bill become law," he said, "so I wanted to go into politics."
He also was influenced by his part-time work in the district office of U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Houston (and Sewell's "honorary godfather"), and his participation in the election campaigns of U.S. Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga. (1992) and President George H.W. Bush's 1992 re-election bid.
It was that unsuccessful Bush campaign that helped him shift his career focus.
"It made me realize that it's not always about winning - sometimes, it's just about raising the right issues," Sewell said. "Of course, I was disappointed and sad - then I went home to Houston, and began to take an interest in understanding more about how policy is made."
He earned a master's degree in public administration and public policy, "because I want to understand not just about the actual process, but the reasons behind policies - what are the real feelings of the people who make policies?
"And that really deepened my desire not to run anymore, or go into politics - but to help students understand the reasons to getting involved."
Sewell credits a number of teachers and adult friends with mentoring him through his college career and the decisions he made.
He said the late Robert Brisbane - the second African-American ever to earn a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard - told him: "You will make more of a difference working with students than you would being a lawyer or a politician."
So Sewell began teaching - first at an Atlanta high school, then for nine years at the University of West Georgia in Carollton.
Although initially not interested in administration, he went to Fort Valley State University, a historically black college like Lincoln, in Fort Valley, Ga., where he was the executive director for the Academic Success Center, working with students, and became the assistant vice president for Adacemic Affairs.
From there, Sewell went to Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, as dean of the College of Undergraduate Studies, and, a year later, was promoted to assistant provost for Adacemic Affairs.
"And I had a great time," he recalled. But he also decided "it wasn't what I thought it would be, (that) there weren't the (personal) connections that I had had" at the two Georgia schools.
He has found those again at LU, Sewell said.
Sewell wants to develop a strategic plan for Adacemic Affairs, "to make this university what I call "distinct'"
Ultimately, he said, his vision is the same as LU President Kevin Rome's: "To be so distinct here that people will come from all over the country to come to this place to go to school, to engage with our faculty."
Although LU already has an international program, Sewell hopes to expand it.
Sewell didn't know about Lincoln before applying for the Adacemic Affairs and provost job, but has decided it is "one of Missouri's best-kept secrets."
"What we're doing here is not unique," he said. "But what I want people to understand is that Lincoln University has, and will continue, to provide a quality education for the best and the brightest, as well as those who may be, as I call them, "budding' students - (those who) have the idea of college, but they may not have the clear pathway to getting through college."
Sewell will teach a political science course each semester, and plans to continue his special efforts to improve education opportunities for African-American men, a segment of the population that "has, historically, not done well" in higher education.
Still, he said: "I believe that Lincoln University really is a microcosm of how society ought to be - where people who are from different backgrounds (are) here together, all with the same purpose to get a great education and to go on to be successful in their careers and to make an overall impact in the overall world."
During his first four months, he said, one of the surprises he's found has been "to hear about the great research that's going on on this campus. People don't realize the great research. ... The research that these professors are coming out with in our research colleges and in our labs is amazing stuff."
Since coming to Jefferson City, Sewell hasn't had a lot of free time.
"I enjoy driving my car to the various eateries," he said. "I do a lot of reading.
"I travel a lot - probably not as much now, because I'm here. (And) I spend a lot of time, just kind of relaxing."