Moore College of Art's leader marks a personal milestone

As president of Moore College of Art and Design, Cecelia Fitzgibbon manages a budget of $20.2 million and a staff of 177.

How can it be, she wonders, that she has a 27-year-old son when she feels like she's still 26 years old? How can it be that she's actually celebrating her 60th birthday this Monday?

Maybe she'll be able to relax, because her weekend was busy.

On Saturday, she presided over Moore's second annual Leadership Conference for Women in the Arts, a gathering that drew many of the region's female leaders in arts and cultural organizations to share their experiences with female students from Moore and the region's other art colleges.

"I didn't have trouble with 40. I didn't even have trouble with 50, but 60 is a little weird," Fitzgibbon said.

"I'm astounded that I'm that old."

Question: Turning 60 is a time to reflect. Regrets?

Answer: I just think that's a waste of time. It's just not in my nature. In the next couple of years [I want] to start thinking about what I want to do. What does my life look like when I choose not to be the president of this college or when someone else chooses that for me?

Q: Having a career and raising a family, it's easy to lose track of one's own identity.

A: You do. I'm [trying] to get to know myself a little better - identifying the things that make me happy and that I care about.

Q: Well, it seems like you always cared about leadership - even as a little girl.

A: Very early on, age 10, I knew I wanted to be in charge. I knew I was good at getting people to do things.

Q: What's the secret?

A: Understanding them and not asking them to do anything you wouldn't do yourself.

Q: You've said credibility is the chief determinant of whether a leader will be followed over time.

A: When I was teaching [leadership courses], I played a Wheel of Fortune game. I would put up D-W-Y-S-Y-W-D. It means: Do What You Say You Will Do. That is the fundamental indicator of credibility. If there's some doubt that I'm not going to be able to deliver, I don't promise. People invest [psychologically] in me because I'm not selling them a song and a dance.

Q: What do you think about maintaining Moore as an all-female school?

A: Obviously I was an enthusiast as a feminist, but I became a convert quickly to the value of an all-women's education. [Moore's culture] shifts the competition from being competitive with others to being competitive with yourself and supported by others.

Q: You preside over an art school. Are you artistic?

A: I am not an artist, but I think being a leader is one of the most creative things you could possibly do.

Q: So what's it like to work with so many artists?

A: I care about the art. The first thing I loved about it when I got here is that I could smell the paint in the studios. I don't have to be able to do what they do, but I have an abiding respect for it.

Q: What class would you like to take at Moore?

A: I'd love to get down to the wood shop.

Q: Your job involves going to a lot of exhibitions. What if you go and you hate the art?

A: You say to the artist, 'I wish you the best.'

Title: President, since 2012.

Home: East Falls.

Family: Husband, Scott Cameron; sons, Stuart, 27; Ross, 24.

Diplomas: University of Massachusetts, landscape architecture; New York University, master's in arts administration.

Resumé: Various art administration jobs. Rose through professor ranks at Drexel University, managing its Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, its graduate arts administration program, and a major undergraduate arts department.

Birthday plans: Family dinner at Talula's Garden.

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What: The only all-women's visual arts college in the country.

Where: Center City.

Enrollment: 500.

Employees: 177.

Budget: $20.2 million.

Point of pride:

90 percent of college's graduates are employed in their field of study.

Majors: Art education, art history, fashion, graphic and interior design, photography, motion arts, fine arts, curatorial studies.EndText

Moore's Cecelia Fitzgibbon, cracking the toughest nut. www.inquirer.com/jobbing

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jvonbergen@phillynews.com

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@JaneVonBergen