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It's academic to Dr. Gwen A. Fountain that she is the first female president in Butler University's 145-year history. Her tenure as interim president began on June 1, following the resignation of Dr. Geoffrey Bannister. Fountain, the former dean of academic affairs, has spent 23 years in Butler's elegant, marbled, hallowed halls getting on-the-job training.

No one could accuse Butler University of having a glass ceiling. Not even in the J.I. Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium. Founded in 1855 as North Western Christian University, Butler was the first university in Indiana to admit women on an equal basis with men. And with the appointment in 1870 of Catharine Merrill as Demia Butler professor, it was the second in the nation to employ a woman as a full professor.

Fountain began her teaching career at Butler in 1977 as a lecturer in economics. In 1992, she was named associate professor of economics and management. She then served as director of undergraduate programs for the College of Business Administration and associate provost for student learning before becoming dean of academic affairs.

Along the academic career path, her personal life took on as many layers as her university president's commencement robe and academic regalia.

She was born Gwen VanDomelen and raised in Hart, Mich., a little town located six miles from Lake Michigan, between Muskegon and Ludington. She is the only child of Harold and Marjorie VanDomelen. Her father was Hart's prosecuting attorney, then circuit judge for three surrounding counties.

Her mother had degrees in English and social studies, including a master's degree, but was a stay-at-home mom … when she was home. A talented artist, Marjorie was periodically hospitalized while she battled mental illness. It was a family secret kept by the whole town. Gwen herself didn't learn the truth until she was a sophomore in college and visited her mother in the hospital.

"We're not real forthcoming in my family," laughs the woman who is as private as her university. But she agrees to speak openly about her mother in hopes that others will shed the stigma of mental illness in their own families.

"There's no feeling sorry for myself, because when my mom was good, she was terrific. I still remember being out in the fields watching her paint and having long talks. We took hikes on the beach and she was our Brownie, Girl Scout and 4-H Club leader. I will never forget her incredible patience with me when I made my one and only dress," Fountain recalls of her now deceased mother.

She credits her judicious father, who now lives in Indianapolis, for maintaining the semblance of a normal childhood. "Because my mother was ill so much of my life, he took me around on the Republican Party rubber chicken circuit and we had a good time campaigning. But my grandmother was actually the one who got me interested in politics. She was the register of deeds in our county and one of the first female elected officials in the state," she says proudly. "I spent a lot of time with her while growing up and she was a real role model. She was a very religious woman, very value-centered. And a neat person to have around when you were a kid."

Myrtie Spitler, her maternal grandmother, raised seven children by herself after her husband died. "My grandmother was so intense about education that she literally mortgaged her farm every time one of her kids went to college," she says. Grandma Spitler also instilled the love of learning in her granddaughter, who excelled in school.

At Hart High School, leadership exhibited itself at an early age. She was student council president, debate team member, National Honor Society member, saxophone player in the band and an actress in school productions. "I was on center stage all of the time because I was one of the few people who could memorize all of the lines," she laughs. "I also played basketball, ran track and was the person who did the batting practice for the baseball team. There was no Title IX (1972 legislation establishing gender equity in school athletics) then, so I couldn't be on the team. But I was the one who did the hitting and the boys were the ones who did the snagging," laughs the self-confessed tomboy.

"Hart is a small town," she says. How small is it? "It's so small that when I was a sophomore in high school, we got a stoplight. Some people worried that it might ruin our town of 2,000 people. But we held a parade to celebrate the stoplight and I played the saxophone in the parade," she roars with a contagious, staccato laugh.

"Hart was a great place to grow up, but as I got older it became pretty confining intellectually. So going away to Kalamazoo College was very freeing. I was just like a sponge with all the books in the library, attending Shakespeare plays, and having late-night discussions in the resident halls about civil rights and the war in Vietnam."

"I was not in favor of the war but I was much more interested in civil rights and I participated in marches and candlelight vigils," she admits. "I really did a lot of changing as I thought about things, but it was extraordinarily positive. I just love those years of my life," says the woman who denies ever being a radical but does confess to "a little bit of partying" her freshman year.

That was the same year that she had four majors: history, political science, math and English. Seeking direction, she turned to her father who advised her to try economics. "He said, ‘All those things seem to combine in economics.' So I took an econ course and it was love at first sight because econ gives you a context to thinking about everything." A Phi Beta Kappa, she graduated cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in economics in 1968.

She learned to love economics during her freshman year, but it was during her sophomore year that she truly fell in love — while taking a test for her year abroad. Jim Fountain was taking the same test. It was love at first sight for Gwen, who made sure she had a summer class with him. "I knew we should be together, but it took him a year to determine that." She blushes from chin to forehead, describing her retinal and vitreous surgeon husband of 31 years. The couple dated for two years, got engaged during their first year in graduate school at the University of Michigan, and then married after that year.

During Jim's stint in medical school at the University of Michigan, Gwen earned her M.A. in economics there in 1969. While working on her doctorate at Michigan, she was an assistant professor of economics at East Michigan University in Ypsilanti. She earned her Ph.D. in economics in 1972, and gave birth to their first-born, Matthew.

When Matt was 3 months old, they moved to the Philippines, where Jim served his internship at Clark Air Force Base. The only joy the Fountain family had while living in the Philippines was the birth of their daughter Kristen. Their stint in the service was marred when Matt, a toddler, contracted a tropical virus and lost his hearing.

"I knew something was wrong with him within five or six days but it took me about three months to convince everybody else. Because Kristen was only 6 weeks old at the time, everybody said he was just reacting to her birth. He was screaming in the night and he would keep screaming when I would walk into his room to talk to him. But as soon as I would hold him, he would be fine. I began doing experiments and I finally convinced Jim. But it took awhile to convince the pediatrician on the base."

Matt was diagnosed as being profoundly deaf when the family moved to Indianapolis where Jim completed his residency at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Fountain "hit the books" and researched everything she could find on the development of language and child development. She dropped out of academe and dedicated her time to teaching Matt how to speak. "I crawled around on my knees for four years so that he could see what other kids hear. I'm real good at knee-walking," laughs the athletic woman who is an avid swimmer and tennis player. "I spent all day working with him on his language development. We had a language-rich environment. Everything was labeled in our house. And we went to speech therapist Geri Drexler three times a week; she gave me things to do with him."

What made her think that she could teach Matt herself instead of sending him away to a school for the deaf? "I never thought I couldn't. I had Geri. I wasn't going to leave Matt. And I certainly wasn't going to leave Jim. So, we were going to do it. When you have a child with a disability, you need to be an absolutely irrational advocate for your child because nobody else is going to be." During this time, she gave birth to another son, Steven.

A born teacher, she continued to educate others. She co-founded SPARCS for Learning Inc., with renowned New York educator Esther Fusco. It is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to teacher education and development.

Following in her beloved grandmother's footsteps, she has devoted her valuable spare time to community service. Fountain became a board member of the Indiana Association for Hearing Impaired Children (1975-1986); chair of the Education and Training Committee of Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana (1986-present); Indianapolis Children's Museum Board of Trustees (1991-present); and Orchard Country Day School Board of Governors, where she just retired after 15 years of service.

Organizations naturally elect her treasurer. That doesn't faze the financial strategic planner. "Everyone would rather be treasurer than the president first. That's how you find out about an organization. You can tell whether an organization lives their values by where they spend their money," says Fountain, whose father used to hold her on his lap and read her the Wall Street Journal.

All her children went to Orchard school. Matt, who is auditory/oral, then went on to Park Tudor School for high school, while Kristen and Steven went to Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School. "At one time, I had kids in three different schools and that's when I bought a cell phone."

She went on the tenure track at Butler in 1986 as an assistant professor of economics and management. While she was publishing, she didn't let her family perish. Practicing "Family Management 101," she hired a cook when the children were young.

"I was working full-time and I wanted to have my own time with them. You can't do it all. So I hired a cook who came at 3 o'clock, picked the kids up at school, cooked dinner and left. She was wonderful! Since my husband was so involved in his job, I couldn't count on him to do anything. I was the one who had to be there for them. So I had to create ways for that to happen."

Her elective directive paid off with great grades in motherhood. "Matt went to Tufts University, has a bachelor's in biology, and is actually using it," she laughs. Now 27 years old, he is a technician with the Indianapolis Water Co. When Geri Drexler, his former speech therapist, retired last year, Matt spoke at her retirement party. "It was very moving," says his proud mother.

Fountain also bubbles about her daughter, who was a Rhodes Scholar, saying "When I grow up, I want to be like Kristen. She got her undergraduate degree from Princeton University and her master's in philosophy from Oxford University. She's now the media person for a not-for-profit company in New York City.

"Steven just graduated from Colgate University with a bachelor's in molecular biology and is now a med student at I.U. Medical School," she beams. In turn, the kids expressed their pride in their mother's exalted position by saying, "Cool, Mom! Way to go!"

Fountain credits Matt for her perspective on life. "When you have a child with a disability and you work through that with them, you experience the reactions people have toward them ... sometimes positive, sometimes not. There aren't a whole lot of things that are a big deal to me. Matt's a big deal. And my mother is a big deal. But there aren't too many other things that are a big deal. It puts everything into perspective. When somebody has a huge problem, you can certainly empathize and try to work it through with them. But you don't have a crisis mentality. Because you know what real crisis is," explains the serene woman.

Parents of Butler students don't need to worry as they send their children off to college. Awaiting their arrival is an incredibly loving mom. A woman who appreciates the melodious tones emanating from the Carillon Bell Tower. A woman who is as strong as the Indiana limestone edifices lining her Fairview campus.

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About Butler …
• Butler University was the second coeducational institution of higher learning in the nation.
• It was the second in the nation to employ a woman as a full professor.
• Hinkle Fieldhouse was the largest basketball arena in the nation when it was built in 1928 and remained so for 20 years.
• Ovid Butler, a prominent attorney and abolitionist, wrote the charter for Butler University which opened its doors in 1855.
• Tuition is $18,040 a year for a full-time undergraduate.

—Courtesy of Butler University