Ronda Lilienthal retires after 35 years

By Emily Gibson

Section Editor

Ronda Lilienthal is retiring as associate dean of students after 35 years.

From the baby boomers all the way to Gen Z, Lilienthal has worked alongside and trained nearly three generations of resident assistants, resident directors, and students in leadership for service, which has given her a rare perspective in her field of work.

“There’s no one who can possibly step in with her depth of both experience, wisdom and knowledge about her work,” said Dan Boone, president of Trevecca.

To better understand Lilienthal and her story at Trevecca is to travel back as early as her childhood.

Lilienthal is the eldest of one brother, David, and they were raised on a wheat farm in Herington, Kansas to a farmer and a music teacher, Ivan and Alice respectively.

According to Lilienthal, her dad was a faithful Methodist while her mother a faithful Nazarene, and together, they instilled within her a strong sense of right and wrong as well as a strong work ethic. Both of which would later become especially important to Lilienthal at 16-years-old when her mother died from a three-year battle with breast cancer.

Per their mother’s final wish before death, Lilienthal and David were baptized, and Lilienthal took it upon herself to fill her mother’s shoes in the home.

“My dad didn’t know how to cook and my brother didn’t either, so I ended up taking on some additional responsibilities,” recalled Lilienthal.

Lilienthal always managed to ensure her brother and father were fed, even during the summer when Lilienthal was gone for a week at a time as a camp counselor.

“I cooked food ahead of time, put it in some sort of dish, and froze it so that all they had to do was put it in the microwave,” said Lilienthal.

After graduating from Herington High School, Lilienthal attended college at MidAmerica Nazarene University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a minor in Christian education.

While at MidAmerica, Lilienthal served two years as a resident assistant, and in the spring semester of her senior year, she trained for the resident director position at a Child Abuse Treatment Center in Marshall, Missouri, where she began fulltime after graduating.

Two years later, Lilienthal went back to school at the University of Missouri in Columbia and graduated with a masters degree in counseling and personnel services, afterwhich Lilienthal was the resident director for Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee, for five years.

At the five year mark, Bryan College faced financial issues and let Lilienthal go.

“I was a single woman, and I didn’t know what I was going to do, so I prayed, and I had this sense of peace about it,” said Lilienthal.

Lilienthal did not know then that her ties to Trevecca several years prior would become the answer to her prayer.

While visiting with a friend during the spring break of her first year at Bryan College, Lilienthal received a phone call from an administrator at Trevecca who found her resume and wanted to interview her for the open position of associate dean of students.

The next week, Lilienthal met with President Adams, and a few days later, she was notified that another candidate was selected, but this did not dishearten Lilienthal who on one of her trips back to Kansas stopped by Trevecca to meet the person who got the job.

“She happened to be there, and we just sat down, talked about our common experiences, and some of the things we’d done,” said Lilienthal. “We decided to stay in touch.”

Five years later, when Lilienthal was let go at Bryan College, she sent out her resume again to several universities, including Trevecca, and informed her new friend of her situation.

A week or two later, Lilienthal received a letter back.

“It’s funny you sent that letter to me right now because my husband and I are talking about moving back home to Kansas, and I think you’d be a perfect fit for this job,” read the letter. “I’m going to recommend you.”

Steve Harris, dean of students at the time, recalls what happened next.

“The person who was in the position prior to Lilienthal brought in her letter of resignation and with it Ronda’s resume and said here’s the person you need to hire,” said Harris. “So we went through the interview process, and Lilienthal was the best candidate, so that’s who we hired.”

According to Harris, Lilienthal’s personality has always made her stand out in that she is soft spoken and handles difficult situations with grace and a caring spirit, evident by her impact on not only him but also students throughout the years.

Over 25 years ago, Harris and Lilienthal instituted the first ever Judicial Councils at Trevecca which the University has since used to uphold policies and address disciplinary concerns.

“Everything you’re doing in student life is for preparing Christian leaders to go out and make an impact in the world, so everything she’s done over the past 35 years is hopefully helping students grow and develop in every area of their life,” said Harris.

Lilienthal said her favorite part about her is watching the students as they mature and grow from freshman year to senior year and beyond; moreover, her greatest challenge is and has always been trying to understand every student’s situation and then from there make the best disciplinary decision.

“You have to do a lot of listening to understand where someone is coming from, and sometimes you have to make hard decisions that don’t please people,” said Lilienthal. “I hope people sense that I care for the students even though there are difficult situations we have to work through and that my goal has been for them to grow from it.”

In honor of Lilienthal and in an effort to keep her name institutionalized on campus for generations to come, the entry lobby of the new University Commons apartment was named after her.

“We don’t have anyone else to compare her to, so in a way how she’s done her work is the standard for how Trevecca does this now,” said Boone. “We’re just going to have to make the best hire that we can and start growing them in the process of doing this.”

As for what the future holds, Lilienthal’s official last day at Trevecca was Feb. 29, and she said she plans to continue to invest in others in a new kind of work that’s closer to home where she enjoys life with her husband of 34 years.

“I am so very thankful for the fact that God led me to Trevecca through a series of interesting circumstances and that He saw fit to keep me here,” said Lilienthal. “It is a bit sad to think about leaving the day-to-day lively nature of the campus, but I will pray for TNU, knowing that God will continue to bless her and use her to bring His light to this world.”