Program date: Oct. 30, 2026
Air date: Nov. 2, 2026
From the City Club of Eugene:
Local colleges and universities have long played a critical role in the educational, economic, cultural identity and vitality of Eugene. While our diverse set of both public and private colleges and universities can point to many past and current achievements, each is facing demographic, financial and political challenges.
In the first of a series on this topic, Dr. Joseph Womack, president of Bushnell University, describes how Bushnell, a private nonprofit university, has not only survived but thrived despite these challenges by focusing on its unique, faith-based mission. Bushnell has substantially increased enrollment, co-curricular offerings, and graduate and undergraduate degree programs, with a focus on workforce needs. President Womack describes the university’s planned facilities expansion in southeast Eugene and the capital campaign that will support it while making beneficial impact on both the campus and local community.
Speaker:
Dr. Joseph D. Womack is the 10th president of Bushnell University in its 130-year history, where he has served since June of 2010. During the 16 years of his tenure, Dr. Womack has initiated a strategic shift to reinforce Bushnell’s identity as a Christian liberal arts institution to better reflect the University’s mission to equip students to discover and answer God’s call in their lives through academic excellence and faithful stewardship in a Christ-centered community. His emphasis on holistic education that seeks to shape the whole person has ensured Bushnell’s identity and values are integrated with both academic and professional training that equips graduates to be successful citizens, employees, parents, friends, spouses, and community members.
Under his leadership since 2010, Bushnell University has experienced substantial enrollment growth, the addition of 20 new graduate and undergraduate programs, and significantly expanded co-curricular offerings in campus ministries, student missions, community engagement, student internships and intercollegiate athletics. He has also secured substantial capital funds to support this growth.
Before coming to Bushnell, Womack earned his undergraduate degrees from Texas Christian University and Bushnell, as well as a master’s and doctorate from Azusa Pacific University. He served in a number of administrative capacities at William Jessup University in Rocklin, California, and California Baptist University in Riverside. While at William Jessup, he led the college’s relocation and design of the campus in Rocklin. He is the son of Sharron Kay ’64 and James ’63 (Bushnell’s 8th president serving from 1986-2004) and husband to wife, Ruby Kristine ’89. Joe and Kristy have four sons and one granddaughter.
Biographies are provided by the speaker and edited for length/proofreading by City Club of Eugene.
About the City Club of Eugene:
The mission of the City Club of Eugene is to build community vision through open inquiry. The Club explores a wide range of significant local, state, and national issues and helps to formulate new approaches and solutions to problems. Membership is open to all, and Club members have a direct influence on public policy by discussing issues of concern with elected officials and other policy makers. The City Club’s mailing address is PO Box 12084, Eugene, OR 97440, and its website is cityclubofeugene.org.
Video and Broadcast
This program will be live streamed, and the videotape will be made available on the City Club of Eugene’s Facebook page and You Tube Channel, in addition to our website. It will be broadcast on Monday, Nov. 2 at 7:00 p.m., on KLCC 89.7 FM.
Contact: For more information, visit CityClubOfEugene.org.