News Archives - 1997

William V. Frame, vice president for finance and operations at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., has been elected the 10th president of Augsburg College by its board of regents today. The board's vote to elect Frame was unanimous, and he has accepted the offer. He will take office later this summer.

Frame will succeed Charles S. Anderson, Augsburg's president since 1980.

"We are delighted with the selection of William Frame as Augsburg's new president. We believe he carries all the qualities of leadership and passion for our mission that will make him a worthy successor to Charles Anderson," said Augsburg board chair Barbara C. Gage. "We are excited to move ahead with Dr. Frame into the next successful chapter in Augsburg's history."

Augsburg regent and search committee chair Kathy Tunheim expressed her gratitude to the Augsburg community for its participation in the selection process. "We had a very thorough and successful search process that relied heavily at every stage on input from Augsburg's many constituencies," said Tunheim, president of the public relations firm Tunheim Santrizos. "In Bill Frame we believe we have the leader who can help move Augsburg to a new level of excellence."

Frame said of his appointment: "The prospect of helping Augsburg move forward in service to the Twin Cities and to its deep Lutheran tradition is exciting and, truth to tell, slightly daunting to me at the moment. However, I believe I'm up to the task, and I'm looking forward to taking it up."

William Frame was born in Philadelphia in 1938 and raised in southeastern Ohio. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in political science from the University of Hawaii in 1962 and 1964 and his doctorate in political science in 1969 at the University of Washington.

Frame began teaching political science as an instructor at Kenyon College in Ohio in 1967. He taught there until 1982, rising through the academic ranks, gaining tenure and becoming chair of the department.

In 1980-81, during a fellowship at the Newberry Library in Chicago, Frame's career took a turn into the business sector. From 1981 to 1989 he was with the First National Bank of Chicago, serving variously as officer, assistant vice president, vice president and senior corporate banker. During this time he also was on the adjunct faculty of the School for New Learning at DePaul University. From 1989 to 1992 Frame was vice president and corporate treasurer with the Tonka Corporation in Minneapolis.

In 1993 he returned to higher education as vice president for finance and operations at Pacific Lutheran University. There he has been a principal architect and implementer of "PLU 2000," that institution's current strategic plan. During his four-year tenure at PLU, Frame was instrumental in eliminating the university's $4.3 million debt four years ahead of schedule. He guided the university to its first bond rating (S&P AAA) which led to the successful refinancing of PLU's long-term debt. He also co-authored the university's first comprehensive long-range plan, then completed work on a campus physical master plan and capital improvements plan.

Frame has spoken and written of, in his words, "the remarkable tradition of Lutheran higher education," which he says is founded on the ideas of "vocation (instead of career), of service (instead of success), of a concept of nature and history that is comprehensible and that resists value relativism, of a dialogue between faith and reason (instead of an exclusionary preoccupation with one or the other) ..." Further he says that these ideas "provide the critical elements of a preparation the world needs and for which it is beginning to ask."