Alma College announces new president
Dr. Joseph Odenwald has been named the new president of Alma College. He previously served as the president of Southwestern Michigan College.
Alma College has a new president with years of academic leadership and a great deal of expertise.
Recently, Dr. Joseph Odenwald was named as the president of Alma College. He comes to the school from Southwestern Michigan College where he has served as the president for the past half decade. While there, Southern Michigan College created a new strategic framework of goals focused on the development and maintenance of academic programs aimed at increasing student retention and success, continuing the school’s financial stability, improving the quality of engagement with alumni and its local community, as well as supporting enrollment.
A notable accomplishment of Dr. Odenwald’s time at Southwestern Michigan College was his leadership when it came to increasing the school’s enrollment in 2022, 2023, and 2024, where the school enrolled more than 2,000 students for the first time since 2019. He also created the school’s 2020-23 and 2024-26 strategic plans, created the Offices of Institutional Advancement and academic Affairs, managed to retain an “AA Stable” credit rating from Standard and Poor’s, and worked to double the school’s budget-stabilization fund.
While Dr. Odenwald was at Southwestern Michigan College, the school was able to implement the first of its entirely online courses, added eight new academic programs to its roasts, and brought back its intercollegiate athletics program for the first time in a quarter of a century. Dr. Odenwald was also in charge of fundraising efforts that supported the $3.5-million renovation of the school's athletic facility as well as expanding the campus’ residence hall capacity by 8%, the fundraising money came from institutional fund balances and grants.
Dr. Odenwald is a first generation college graduate. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree back in 2005 from Louisiana College, which is a small private university with just over 1,000 students. He then went on to earn his Master of Science degree from Mississippi College, and his Doctor of Education degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and finally another master’s degree, this time in management, strategy and leadership from Michigan State University. He also obtained a Certificate in Fundraising Management from Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
Before starting his role at Southwestern Michigan College, Dr. Odenwald held a range of academic leadership positions. For six years he worked at Mississippi College in the student affairs department. By the end of his time there, he was an adjunct faculty member in the school of education, serving as associate dean of students. From there, Dr. Odenwald went on to work in the College of Engineering at Louisiana State University, where he held the position of assistant dean for academic affairs and student services. He joined Southwestern Michigan College back in 2017 in the position of vice president of student services.
Dr. Odenwald currently lives with his wife, son, and dog in Dowagiac, Michigan.
More information about Alma College can be found at the school’s website.