From Sleeping in the Bushes to a Ph.D.: Joe Webb, St. Norbert’s Vice President for Student Affairs, Has Experienced It All

As a college freshman recently clear of the foster and group homes in which he had lived since the age of five, Joe Webb (Student Affairs) didn’t realize there were resources available at Edinboro University that could make his life easier. So when the Pennsylvania institution closed for Thanksgiving break, Webb simply slept in the bushes on campus rather than risk the embarrassment of asking about temporary living options.

It should come as no surprise that Webb’s primary objective in his new role as vice president for student affairs at St. Norbert College is to ensure students know there are resources available to help them flourish. This includes help in the classroom as well as mental health services, and support around all the co-curricular activities available in the vibrant college community.

“One of the biggest mistakes I made was never seeking support,” Webb admits. “Campus resources are not just for people struggling academically. They’re for students who want to be the best possible student they can be.”

Self-motivation was Webb’s only option
Webb (left) never knew his father, and Child Protective Services removed him and one of his sisters from the care of their unfit mother when he was just five years old. He spent the remainder of his childhood without a consistent home, shifting through about a dozen foster or group homes in the Pittsburgh area. He knows only two of his five sisters and one of his two brothers well, while he has since connected with some of the other siblings through Facebook and other means.

Raw athletic ability helped a young Webb gain attention in high school, and his determination to excel in football, basketball and track eventually carried over to other aspects in his life. He started getting offers from colleges to play football and continue his education, which was a foreign concept in his world.

“I never knew anybody who went to college,” he says. “I figured once you get out of high school, you get your $600 (in welfare money) and that’s it. But I figured I’d go to college and see where that leads me.”

That proved easier said than done, however, as Webb’s poor SAT scores left him ineligible for an athletic scholarship at Edinboro, an NCAA Division II school. It wasn’t long before Webb flunked out and headed back to Pittsburgh, eventually enrolling in the Community College of Allegheny County and working a night job washing dishes.

Mentors that made a difference
Webb’s situation was not lost on his high school football coach, Todd Glaser. Glaser had accepted a coaching position at Marietta College – like St. Norbert, a private liberal arts college that competes at the NCAA Division III level. He contacted his former star running back about joining him there, and offered a campus job to help him earn an income while playing football and running track. Webb arrived with a garbage bag full of clothes to begin his second stint at a four-year institution.

Glaser had become a fan of Webb’s while the young man was a raw high school athlete. There was no way he was going to let him fall through the cracks if he had any say in the matter.

“I first met Joe at a coaching clinic when another coach said to me, ‘I’ve got a kid for you if you’re interested,’ ” Glaser recalls. “I started talking to him and could see he was willing to work and wanted to get better. Especially being in foster care, just his determination was unbelievable.”

Webb had an uncommon quest for learning that was evident early in his relationship with his coach.

“He is always striving for knowledge,” Glaser says. “If he doesn’t know, he asks. He’s not afraid to put himself out there. He can relate to a lot of different people. From where he came from, he shows how if you want it bad enough, you can get it.”

At Marietta, Webb also became close with Bob Springer, a former high-school football coach and Allstate Insurance executive who was a member of the college’s board of trustees. The relationship proved to be just what Webb needed at that point in his life.

“He took me under his wing,” Webb says. “He was very tough, but very supportive. It was the type of mentorship I needed. He got me to focus on my future and stop pondering about my past. He made me see I had an opportunity to do something different. I would go to church every Sunday with Bob, and my sophomore year he got me baptized at the church across the street from campus.

“I asked him, ‘If God really loves me, why did he let me grow up the way I did?’ He said, ‘God never puts you in a situation you can’t handle.’ I reflected on that and realized no matter how bad things got, I always found a way to make it through. I talked to Bob about five days a week, and I still do.”

A coach and friend for life
The next step in Glaser’s coaching journey took him to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a move back to his home state (he is a Janesville, Wis., native) that meant he would be leaving Webb behind at Marietta. Fortunately for Webb, Glaser was determined their relationship would not be ending. He promised Webb that upon his graduation, he would personally drive him to Eau Claire. Webb could serve as a graduate assistant for the football program while working on his master’s degree.

“When you meet Joe, there’s just something about him,” Glaser explains about what he saw in his protégé. “He’s really personable. You never know as a coach, but he was someone who always followed through on whatever he did. He could have very easily fallen through the cracks.

“I saw him grow when he was an undergrad [at Marietta], and I knew he would be good at whatever he did. To me, he was one out of a million kids. His perseverance and worth ethic is what pushed him through. The biggest thing is, he listens to a lot of different people.”

Glaser stayed true to his word, arriving at Marietta in a pickup truck on the day Webb graduated at semester. Webb quickly discovered there was a big difference between winter in Ohio and winter in Wisconsin.

“I thought, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ ” Webb recalls.

Webb figured he was on the path to a coaching career, but soon realized he didn’t really like coaching. However, he was good at building relationships and communicating with young people, so Glaser made him his head of recruiting and Webb flourished in the role. So much so that soon he was assisting the athletic department with recruiting for all sports, then undergraduate admissions, and finally graduate admissions.

“I loved it,” Webb says. “I was making a difference. I eventually transitioned into student retention because I realized I could help change students’ lives if they could get a degree.”

Glaser has since left coaching to go into business with his brothers, and he and Webb remain close friends. He knows now not to ask Webb to climb up in a tree stand to go deer hunting again, but that’s another story.

A professional journey leads to St. Norbert
After earning his master’s degree at UW-Eau Claire, Webb accepted a position at Thiel College, a small liberal arts school in Greenville, Pa. There he had the freedom to build programs centered on student retention and met his now-wife, Maria, who lived six hours away at Penn State University.

Every time he visited Maria, Webb would spend time with Penn State’s senior director of student affairs, Blaine Steensland. A position eventually opened for Webb at Penn State, and he would spend the next half-dozen years there, eventually succeeding Steensland upon his retirement. The relationship didn’t end there, as it would be Steensland who nominated Webb to the search firm charged with finding candidates for St. Norbert’s vice president for student affairs.

“If someone would have told me when I was young that I would have a Ph.D. in organizational development, I would have thought they were crazy,” Webb says. “I would have told them they were talking to the wrong person.”

His liberal arts background is a perfect fit for St. Norbert, where retaining students and helping them develop into well-rounded individuals is the goal of the Student Affairs team. A strategic thinker and data fan at heart, Webb’s vision for the department includes aligning the various learning components and support services offered by the college with Catholic and Norbertine traditions.

“In addition to academics, we encourage students to take advantage of co-curricular opportunities to further develop themselves,” Webb explains. “Our goal is to have them not only leave with their degree, but also be more mature, more developed, and be able to transfer the skills they learn in the classroom into the workforce. There are opportunities here to understand the differences in diversity and acquire the multitude of life skills they will need to flourish.

“When I work with students, part of our focus is on how the decisions they make today will impact tomorrow,” he says. “The difference between you and your peers is the decisions you make. You can develop your own path moving forward, and I’m true testament to that. My challenges weren’t because I’m not smart, it’s because I didn’t apply myself. These men saw something in me I didn’t see in myself, and they helped me flourish as a student.”

Webb and his wife have quickly grown to love the area since arriving in the summer of 2021. Coincidentally, one of the first calls Webb received was from Jason Vrabel, who was the quarterback at Marietta College when Webb was a running back. Vrabel is a rising assistant coach with the Green Bay Packers and connected the Webbs with his real estate agent.

“He lives 10 minutes from me. His kids are the same age as ours and they all go to the same school,” Webb says. “Green Bay and De Pere have been so welcoming and inviting. God led us to a great place to raise our kids, and now we can grow and provide the necessary support for those around us.”

March 17, 2022