At Southeast Missouri State University, Dr. C.P. Gause is most known for being a professor and the Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling, but he has done much more than just that. Gause has written numerous books, articles, manuscripts and book chapters and has won several awards for his writings. He also is a motivational speaker and mentor to many, specifically in the field of education. Gause has called Cape Girardeau home for a little under a year and a half now.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

My typical day starts early, I'm up by 5 o'clock, no later than 5, and I'm already answering emails and sometimes I come to the office at like 5:30, 6, then I'll go home and change and then come right back around 7:30, 8. I have meetings, we have program meetings, we'll have ed leadership and higher ed people with their program areas meeting, doing curriculum. We have the counseling people who are all involved with working with community partners and doing counseling, then I do a lot of paperwork, as you can see all over my desk, and I meet with faculty members and with our dean, [Dr. Diana] Rogers-Adkinson.

I also meet with other chairs. So really a lot of meetings around developing our programs and making sure our programs meet the needs of our students. Mentoring, I've mentored two principals, one in [Ste. Genevieve] and one in Jackson, so I do some mentorship. I also have meetings a lot in Columbia with the [Missouri Professors of Education Administration], I sit on their executive board. So it's a long day, they're long days, but they're good days, and I'm excited about them.

What is your leadership style?

My leadership style is based on servant leadership, I see myself as a servant to operate out of the trenches, and I think in order to be a successful and effective leader people have to follow you, and people usually follow who have the background experiences and who can galvanize and inspire.

Three key pieces of that are being able to collaborate, communicate and commit. Those are my three words. Collaboration, communication and commitment are all key to being an effective and successful leader, and I believe you develop relationships with people so that can come about. Being a servant leader, those three words are very important to what I do. I'm committed to my profession, I'm committed to my department, I'm committed to this college, I'm committed to the university. I'm committed to making sure that we can transform education so that it will be empowering for individuals, so that individuals will be in classrooms that are dynamic, that are exciting, that engage, that utilize technology as tools, that awaken the content for them so students can see themselves and then take the skills they learn to go out and transform others. A successful leader understands that utilizing all the capacities that they have in terms of communicating and in terms of teaching in terms of being empathetic, in terms of being exciting, as their skill set to change. But ultimately for me it's those three things: communication, collaboration and commitment.

Who have been some of your role models?

I've had many individuals who have spoken to me, to get me where I am, who've really been very supportive. There's so many that come to mind, it's hard, I really don't want to single anybody out, but, OK -- Stevie Nicks. I love Stevie Nicks. Stevie Nicks has inspired me, you know.

But my parents are very inspiring, my mother passed when I was a freshman in highschool and she really inspired me to be the best that I can be, and my father is still living, and he became a single parent in the 80s raising three kids. So my parents definitely inspired. They talked about education being a key to our future and being successful, they also showed us various individuals and shared much work with us. I've been reading the works of James Baldwin, and Martin Luther King and E.B. Du Bois, and so many of those writings spoke to me. ... So there have been key people throughout my life, there have been principals, teachers who really motivated me. But ultimately, when I think about it now, all those people are inspiring, but it's the students that I serve. The students that I get to engage with everyday, the students that I used to engage with in high schools, I still do go out to high schools and elementary schools. So it would be difficult for me to single out just one.

Do you have any advice for students about success?

Never quit. I had a challenging childhood, and I always think I am the person that I am because of the challenges in my childhood. ... But never quit, never give up on your dreams, I know this sounds passé, but when the challenges get really tough -- and life will present us with challenges -- I always used to tell myself, like people will say, "Oh, I hate when it rains," but, for me, I love when it rains because I say those are God's liquid sun drops, and if you don't have rain you can't see sunshine. ... So if I could say anything to a student, it's to never give up, never think you've reached the darkest point of your life, don't feel like you're the only one even though at times it will feel like you are, it is not the end of the world, always look to reaching out and making connections, we should always walk toward the light and celebrate. All my friends know I believe in celebrating life so that's what I try to leave with people.