Le Moyne College’s Barb Karper on leadership: ‘Time will get you to where you want to be’

Barb Karper can’t seem to leave Le Moyne College. Over her five decades there, her roles have included student activities, residence life, student affairs, alumni fundraising and a host of committee and community positions.

“That’s why I don’t retire. I just keep reinventing myself,” Karper says.

“I’ve just finished my 51st year at Le Moyne, and I wouldn’t change anything about it.”

In July, Karper was named assistant vice president of the Grace Center for Faith and Community. The center gathers under one roof the college’s Jesuit social justice mission, including campus ministry, cultural and social engagement, faith formation and equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging.

Karper was born the daughter of a West Virginia coal miner and was educated in a two-room schoolhouse. When the mines closed, the extended family moved to Connecticut. Karper was in the seventh grade — her first experience in an integrated classroom. Karper entered Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, an HBCU, as a member of its first class of women. She graduated with a psychology degree.

A trip to Syracuse for a college football game put Karper on a winding path to a master’s degree in special education from Syracuse University. After teaching in North Syracuse schools for two years, in 1974 she was recruited to Le Moyne as associate dean of students. Later, as associate dean for campus activities, she was involved in virtually every student development function, including designing the student orientation model still in use today.

In 2014, Karper retired from student affairs for two weeks, and then returned part time to work in advancement. During the pandemic, Karper filled a vacancy for a year as interim student affairs vice president. And now, she is at the Grace Center.

Karper was named an honorary alumna of the college in 2007. In fall of 2024, she became only the third person to receive the college’s William J. Bosch, S.J., Lifetime Achievement Award. In April, Karper and trustee Daniel F. McNeil III were honored at the Le Moyne in New York gala.

A gift from McNeil partially underwrote the recent renovation of a former city firehouse into the McNeil Firehouse, 1150 Salt Springs Road. McNeil insisted the cafe on the ground floor be named Barb’s Bistro in Karper’s honor.

We met there on her 77^th birthday for a chat over cups of Salt City Coffee. Karper and her husband, Mark, live in Syracuse. Between them, they have six children and five grandchildren. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Is there a Jesuit way of leading?

It’s all about cura personalis, care of the person. That’s the main principle that has been ingrained in me.

Le Moyne has always been cognizant of those who are underrepresented. Le Moyne was one of the founding members of the Upward Bound program for [Syracuse] high school students. The mission of walking with the student, walking with the excluded, has always been a part of [it]. We’ve seen our student population grow in leaps and bounds from being predominantly white to more ethnically diverse these days. And we have a lot of new Americans on our campus, which I think is great.

You’ve held lots of different positions here over 51 years. Has your leadership style evolved?

I feel that it’s collaborative. Being in higher ed, that’s the way we operate. Maybe it’s Le Moyne. We work together. It’s always been a team.

When I think of leadership skills, I think of working with others to make things happen. That’s just the way that I’ve always operated, whether it’s been as a supervisor or with students — just working together to move to the next level.

When I describe [it] in one word, it is about relationships. That’s been key to getting a lot of things accomplished in my world.

Did you have leadership roles growing up? Who or what influenced your approach?

We lived with my [paternal] grandparents until I was about 3 years old. In this household [were] my grandmother, my grandfather, my grandmother’s two brothers, my mother and my father, my aunt, my uncle and a cousin my age. The women had roles and the men went to work. Watching my grandmother, my mother and aunt, I don’t ever remember any conflicts. They all had their responsibilities. Everybody had roles to play.

My school in West Virginia was a two-room schoolhouse but I had the most amazing teachers, Miss Jones and Miss Cunningham. In my class, there were five girls. They instilled in us that we could do … whatever! Even at an early age, we realized that we were as capable as everybody else. [One went to Holyoke, another to Princeton.] They came from a little coal mining town in West Virginia so obviously there was something there. …

I never ever felt that I was not going to accomplish something. For my parents [Annie and Otha Meadows], it wasn’t if you go to college, it was when you go to college. That was very important to them.

What do you think employees need from their leaders?

They want somebody who’s open, they want somebody who’s honest and they want somebody who’s going to help them be their best selves.

[Karper offers the example of two recent Le Moyne grads, Isaiah Salter and Grace Thomas, on the Grace Center staff.] With Grace and Isaiah, I’m trying to include them as much as possible, not in the day-to-day operations, but in some of the important meetings that are appropriate for them to attend so that they get to know different protocols. What I want them to see is that people respond differently to things. I want them to … see that there are different styles.

What’s the best piece of advice that a parent, a mentor or a boss ever gave you?

You can do whatever you want. Don’t give up. Be respectful. Be aware that there are different opinions. Don’t be reticent about sharing your opinion but do that in a very respectful way. Those things go a long way.

And be open to new ideas.

What advice would you give for effective leadership, especially someone who’s new to the job or aspires to be a leader?

The same thing: Be open to new ideas. Be aware that others have opinions.

Be cognizant of folks that you’re working with and adopt those qualities that are good but maybe understand that there are some other qualities you might not want to emulate. Be observant.

I believe in relationships, getting to know people, sitting down and having conversations with people. We talk about getting outside of your comfort zone to talk to folks who have a difference, who don’t look like you. These younger folks know this better than I with social media. They are talking with Black folks all over the world. They’re learning that there are different cultures.

My cousin once said, “If you don’t play golf, just learn the essence of golf.” Because once upon a time that’s where all the deals were made. That’s not happening anymore. [Learn] the essence of having a conversation, getting to know folks. Put that phone down for a few minutes and talk to somebody.

What career advice would you give a young person starting out now?

Patience. Patience.

Along the way, there are things to learn. Learn that one thing you’re doing before you jump to the other thing. Become comfortable and confident that you can move to the next level.

Understand that time will get you to where you want to be. It may take a little time [but] you’ll get there. Just take it one step at a time.

I’ve heard that a lot during these conversations — people early in their careers eager to move up in the organization.

But one of the things they have taught me is a better work-life balance. … Every once in a while, get up from your desk, take a walk, and just kind of clear your head.

I do my run or walk in the morning. I used to say that it’s my de-stress time, but now I think I’m more cognizant of that. This is my time to get into my own zone and look forward to my day.

If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self?

Things will work out. Sometimes you want to push and push and push, with work or family. It will work out. Maybe that’s something I’ve learned from being here with the Jesuits. Think positive.

It’s rare to spend your whole career in one place. Were you ever tempted to leave?

I had two opportunities early in my career. I was asked to apply for the dean of first-year students at Colgate. But they wanted me to live in Cazenovia, which I ended up doing later on in my life, and it just wasn’t affordable at that point. Then, I was thinking of going to the University of Scranton. It wasn’t a good fit for my husband.

Le Moyne has been great. I love [President] Linda LeMura. She’s certainly a visionary and I’m thrilled that she’s staying for another couple of years. Stability for the college is so important. And she absolutely loves this place.

She inspires us to be as imaginative and as creative as we can possibly be to make Le Moyne the place that we want our students to graduate from. We want them to really be good citizens, good people, good humans. She inspires us to think outside the box, try to develop things that are different or better … with the mindset that we’re doing it for the students and we’re doing it for the college.

You could have worked in higher education just about anywhere. Why did you stay in Central New York?

I love Central New York. I don’t want to go back to Connecticut. I have cousins there. I’ve been back. My brother is in Charleston, South Carolina. [Otha Meadows is executive director of the Charleston Area Urban League.] It’s a great place to visit, but it’s hot in the summer.

My daughter in Boston is the farthest away. It’s five hours to Boston, five hours to New York, five hours to Philadelphia, five hours to Canada. The Finger Lakes and the mountains are just gorgeous. Growing up in West Virginia, I love the mountains. This is a great place to live. And talking to friends in other places, it is affordable, for the most part.

I love our neighborhood [off James Street]. It’s kind of cool to run through Schiller Park. In that area, there are so many different languages. That’s really cool.

If I handed you a magic wand, what is the one thing you change about Syracuse?

I think I’d mix it up a little bit more. … I’d like to have some of the people from the suburbs move into the city and maybe just expand the geographic area a little bit more.

The weekly “Conversation on Leadership” features Q&A interviews about leadership, success and innovation. To suggest a candidate for Conversations on Leadership, email Marie Morelli at mmorelli@syracuse.com. Read previous entries in the series.