Dr. Ron Tulley, president of Calumet College of St. Joseph

When Dr. Ron Tulley officially became president of Calumet College of St. Joseph on July 1, he says the college already felt like home. 

“I grew up on the south side of Chicago,” he says. “The mission of the college resonated with me so much because it really resembles where I grew up. It’s a blue-collar, first-generation ethos.” 

Tulley spent the last 24 years at the University of Findlay in Ohio, a Christian institution where he served in a variety of leadership roles. Leaving was bittersweet, but the opportunity to serve at Calumet College felt like a calling. “I would not have made this transition this late in my professional and personal life unless it was the right fit,” he says. 

Part of that connection comes from his own experience as a first-generation college student. He grew up in a family with strong Polish roots, and his parents strongly believed in the promise of higher education, even though neither had firsthand experience navigating the process.  

Looking back, he remembers what it felt like to arrive on a large university campus without a roadmap. “It was scary for someone that just did not have the tools or social networks or understanding of how the world worked in any way. I understood academics, but I didn’t understand anything else,” he says.  

That experience shapes how he views his role at CCSJ. “When I look at these students here, they’re not a number,” he says. “Every student here, we know by name. What I want to help provide is what we already do so well: respecting the dignity of the individual and giving students the kind of personal attention I wish I had as an undergraduate.” 

He sees one of his primary responsibilities as preserving and strengthening the mission that has long guided Calumet College and the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. “There is nothing necessary to change,” he says. ‘My job is to steward the mission.’ 

That mission, rooted the charism of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, is visible throughout campus life and in the college’s commitment to serving its surrounding community. “We are embedded in this community,” Tulley says. “Everything we do is about service. We inculcate in [students] a desire to serve the world in the way that meshes with their vocational calling.” 

Away from work, Tulley is a devoted family man. His wife remains at the University of Findlay, where she directs a graduate program, while their younger daughter finishes high school in Ohio and his older daughter attends the University of Dayton. For now, they spend weekends traveling between Indiana and Ohio to be together. The arrangement has been challenging, but it has also deepened his appreciation for family. “You’ve won the lottery if you have a family that cares about you and loves you unconditionally,” he says. Also keeping the home fires burning is his Bernese mountain dog, whom he misses tremendously. 

What brings him satisfaction at the end of the day is not a particular accomplishment or milestone. Instead, he considers if he’s done his best to live his faith and serve others. 

“I wake up every day and try to think about how I can be a better ambassador for Christ in the world,” he says. “At the end of the day, I want to know that I was on that path, that I knew the way, and I continued the way as much as I’m capable of as a flawed human being.” 

Along with students, faculty, and staff, the Missionaries of the Precious Blood welcome Dr. Ron Tulley to Calumet College of St. Joseph and pray for God’s grace as he continues the mission of the college.