Montevallo president talks university progress, business advice at chamber luncheon

Under President John W. Stewart III, the University of Montevallo has prospered. Stewart shared some of the university’s successes at the June 28 Greater Shelby Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

The 44 percent increase in first-year applicants was one of the examples he gave. U.S. News & World Report also named the university’s master’s program number one in the state of Alabama, and Stewart said, in the last five years, medical school acceptance for Montevallo students has neared 100 percent.

The university also boasts six new facilities including a classroom and Barnes & Noble on Main Street, new athletic facilities for softball and track and field, and a 3-D art building. These improvements and additions around campus were thanks to a partnership between the university, the city of Montevallo and Shelby County, Stewart said, and he thanked them for supporting University of Montevallo.

In addition to the university receiving recognition, last year Stewart was nominated to be the CEO of the year in Birmingham. He came in third, and Stewart said he was struck by the fact that so many people recognized higher education as a business.

During this time, someone told Stewart to offer business professionals, CEOs and leaders some advice.

“I never really thought that I could do that before, but I’m going to try today,” Stewart said.

Stewart offered words of advice to the business owners gathered at the Pelham Civic Complex ­— each followed by an anecdote.

His first lesson was to not let stress “get to you.”

“It’s really easy to lose yourself, and take life too seriously,” Stewart said.

Stewart said he realized he’d let the stress get to him after his 5-year-old grandson made a joke.

He was taking care of his grandson and needed to make an important call to a trustee. He asked his grandson to be quiet and not interrupt him. Once he’d hung up, he found his grandson to tell him he had done a great job behaving. When he walked up, however, his grandson was holding a plastic phone to his ear, and told his grandfather not to interrupt him because he was on the phone with “a trustee from his preschool.”

“It was that moment the light bulb went off, and I said, ‘Stewart, you’re taking yourself way too seriously,’” he said.

One of Stewart’s other pieces of advice was that things are rarely as bad as they seem. When he ­was in college, Stewart’s younger brother and a friend had fallen through the ice on a nearby lake. Stewart jumped into the water after them and said he was revered as a sort of “town hero” for the next few weeks. It was just a few years ago that his fiancée pointed out to him the lake was only three feet deep.

Stewart also advised to “be yourself,” and listen to your inner voice because people know what the smart decisions and right things to do in their gut.

“I would say the best decisions I’ve made in my career have come from right here, from my gut,” he said.

When his dad was 24 and worked in an oil refinery, Stewart said he trusted his gut about an unsafe work situation and pulled his crew out of the situation. When the next team went in, a spark led to a fire that killed one man and severely burned others.

“I really think that often times, we know what the right decisions are, what the smart thing to do is,” Stewart said. 

With the approaching holiday weekend, Stewart said he’d leave the chamber with one last piece of advice.

“My last nugget of advice is do what makes you happy,” he said.