Monday, December 5, 2022 - On the latest stop of Future U.'s campus tour, hosts Michael Horn and Jeff Selingo visit Bowie State University to speak with Bowie State President Aminta Breaux, faculty and community members about HBCUs, partnerships with local employers, and student engagement. With support from Salesforce.org. Learn more about the podcast at futureupodcast.com.
President Aminta Breaux:
... the largest endowment in the country, Harvard University's $53 billion. So it points out the need for us to recognize there's a huge gap. When you put all the top 10 endowments for HBCUs together, they total back in 2020, just $2 billion total of the 10. So my answer to you is we need to raise awareness about the need to grow the endowments for our HBCUs.
Michael Horn:
And that was the president of Bowie State University, Aminta Breaux, where we were on site for this episode of the podcast and our latest stop on the Future U. Campus Tour.
Sponsor:
This episode is part of the Future U. Campus Tour, which is made possible thanks to the exclusive support of Salesforce.org. Subscribe to Future U. wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Twitter at the handle FutureUPodcast. And if you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a five star rating so others can discover the conversations we're having about higher education.
Michael Horn:
I'm Michael Horn.
Jeff Selingo:
And I'm Jeff Selingo.
So Michael, there's nothing like fall on a college campus. So while we kicked off our campus tour on a cool day back in March at Northeastern, I'm glad that we got to continue it on a perfect fall day at Bowie State University in Maryland. And as we just heard in that clip from President Breaux, Bowie State is an HBCU. And HBCUs have received new attention in recent years. One reason we wanted to go to Bowie State was to see how what some are calling a renaissance is playing out on HBCU campuses everywhere.
Michael Horn:
Yeah, Jeff, that's right. And many of the nation's 100+ HBCUs have seen their enrollment jump during the pandemic, which as listeners of this show know, is unusual right now in higher ed. And Bowie State, like a few other HBCUs, also made headlines in the last few years because they were the recipients of some of the tens of millions of dollars that MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire philanthropist handed out at Bowie State. That gift from Scott was 25 million, the largest in the history of Bowie State. So with that as backdrop, here we go. As we dive into that gift and far more in our most recent stop on the Future U. Campus tour at Bowie State University.
Jeff Selingo:
So president Breaux. Welcome Amita, if I may, welcome to Future You.
President Aminta Breaux:
Thank you so much. It's a delight to have you here today. We're really excited about what's been happening here at BSU during this semester and as we've been coming out from the virtual worlds and having our students fully in force on the campus as well as amazing faculty, staff and students back.
Michael Horn:
Well, it's been fun for us to be able to plan for this episode because we're here in Maryland on the campus you said of Bowie State University, the first historically black college and university in my home state and Jeff's adopted state of Maryland and one of the oldest HBCUs in the nation. So not just within Maryland. And as we think about the future of teaching and learning and pathways for students in higher ed, it's fitting I think that the Future U. podcast should be here given this institution's long history as a teaching college.
Jeff Selingo:
And I think important for our listeners is that we're here kind of in the proximity of the nation's capital in Washington DC, of the state capital of Annapolis, and of course the major city in Maryland, Baltimore. I think that for people outside of the DMV area, they're not always familiar with the geography. And so it's important because we're going to be talking a little bit later about location and the partnerships that you've been able to develop with institutions and with employers in the area.
But first I want to talk about what an exciting time it is now to be part of an HBCU. Over the past almost three years as a country, we've of course faced not only the challenges of the pandemic, but a racial reckoning both in the nation as a whole, but also within higher education I think as well.
And there's been an incredible amount of investment and energy around the HBCU sector. Some have called it a renaissance of the sector. So what opportunities are you seeing, particularly for Bowie state in this renaissance, if you want to call it that? You don't have to, but what opportunities are you seeing and more important, how can both the university and other HBCUs, which historically we know have been underfunded and too often ignored, how can they make sure that this is not just a moment in time, but that this investment and this attention is sustaining and more permanent?
President Aminta Breaux:
Well, that's a really great question and I can understand why some might refer to it as a renaissance because what we're seeing is just an incredible amount of light being shown on our HBCUs in a way that we've not seen in many, many years. And I think it's a great opportunity for our HBCUs to bring in new partners to enlist individuals in the educational process. So from the corporate sector to government to individual potential sponsors and donors, we're seeing this great support window has opened for our institutions to partner in new ways and to look at new innovative ways of delivering education. And again, it's an exciting time for our HBCUs.
I would say to your second part of the question about sustaining, how do we do that? I believe it's going to require all of us pulling together from the government sector, corporate, and likewise to make sure that this is not a one and done, that the window doesn't close and we say, "Okay, we've taken care of all of this." What we've learned through the pandemic in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd is that there are critical issues that we need to address in our society, and there are disparities. And unfortunately, our HBCUs have not always received the support that they need.
So that's going to take a while for us to address, and it's an ongoing process. It's not a one and done. So we need to recognize that, bring everyone under the tent and say, well then what do we do? We need to start to recognize the need to grow our endowment. Not everyone is aware that aside from just writing a check to an annual fund, the way that we're able to provide for scholarships and the support for research and other endeavors here is through our endowment. When I arrived here back in 2017, I'm celebrating five years now at Bowie State University, our endowment was just (audience applause)... thank you.
Our endowment was just over $7 million. So when you compare that, just to put it into perspective, the largest endowment in the country, Harvard University's $53 billion. So it points out the need for us to recognize there's a huge gap when you put all the top 10 endowments for HBCUs together. They total back in 2020 just $2 billion, total of the 10.
So my answer to you is we need to raise awareness about the need to grow the endowments for our HBCUs, including here at Bowie State University. I'm very pleased that after five years we have through new partners and new donors and sponsorships and the largest gift we've ever received in our history through MacKenzie Scott, as well as an increased annual giving and new endowments, we've received over 50 new endowments over the last five years. Our endowment is now up over 36 million.
Michael Horn:
And I'm just still floored by a 5x increase in the endowment. Even as the market nationwide has taken such a battering, I think it's a testament to the work you all are doing. You talked also about partnerships in your answer and you've talked to us about the importance of employer partnerships and their interest in really driving workforce diversity. I'm curious just to go deeper on that. What do those partnerships look like? What constitutes a true partnership as opposed to window dressing or a press release or something like that, and how are they impacting your students and the university as a whole?
President Aminta Breaux:
I would begin with the change that we've seen in what we call partnerships. I've been in higher education for over 35 years now, and what we referred to back then was an employer would show up at the career fair and look to hire your students. Today what we're seeing is an investment in education from our partners, from national partners as well as regional partners. On the national level, we're seeing partnerships from Adobe, that just announced this week an additional $1 million to partner to expand their partnership. I think that deserves a round of applause.
We have partnerships with Google, with a studio that's out on the West coast, Laika studios that's a stop animation producer. They are known for Coraline. That's their famous film. But there are so many others that are investing in education and see themselves as in partnership, not coming at the end of the educational experience, but saying, what can I do to help bring students to Bowie State University by providing scholarships?
One of our local partners, BGE, based in Baltimore, they started up a new scholarship program that isn't just giving money, but they built a program around the scholarship program, a leadership program where they provide mentors. They've assigned their experts to work with our students come to the campus. They held an event here where they brought scholars together from our institution as well as other HBCUs they're supporting in Maryland. So you see a long list of activities and initiatives that are investing in the educational experience because what we know with experiential learning where they're providing internships as well. That deepens the learning experience for our students. So students are not just looking to achieve their education in the classroom, but also to partner in new ways with these experts in the field and when they're experts come to our campus.
And then let me add here on the campus, we also have a unique partnership with a group called Saxby's. It's based in Philadelphia. They have set up an experiential learning café right here on the campus of Bowie State University. And what does that mean? It's totally run by students. About 45 students are hired every semester to operate that café. The campus CEO is a student who receives a stipend as well as academic credit. So that's a different type of scenario for a partnership than you would've seen probably 30 years ago or just 10 years ago.
Michael Horn:
Love those examples and what it does to the campus life around it. I'm curious the faculty reaction also as you start to change the learning experience or create those partnerships because we know nationwide anyway ... I won't speak for here. I'm curious your answer, but there's a lot of tension on some campuses as these partnerships get going around sort of a fight around learning for learning's sake or the professional development job training angle that some faculty say actually higher ed is overindexing on that perhaps. How do you think about that? How are the faculty here reacting?
President Aminta Breaux:
I'm very pleased with the reaction from our faculty. Our faculty, they just get it. They see it firsthand from the Saxby's set up on the campus. Again, academic credit is being given. So there's an integration of that experience here on the campus with the academic program. It's not separate and apart.
Our faculty are working very diligently to create and write up new proposals that are being submitted to various government agencies to develop new initiatives here and garnering new support through agencies like the Treasury Department from NSF, NIH, where again, we're seeing these unique relationships that are helping to deepen the relationship with the educational experience and bridging learning environments from the classroom into the real world with new research supports that we never saw before.
So the partnerships aren't just in the corporate sector. I see new partnerships for Bowie State University in the government sector as well, and that's really invigorated and energized our faculty to the point where our research proposals have increased as well. So we have seen a 98% increase from just last year to this year with (audience applause) ... that's for the faculty definitely. Where we have new research proposals this year that brought in over $17 million.
Jeff Selingo:
So I want to zoom out a little bit and talk a little bit about the university within the state of Maryland and then the university system of Maryland at a more national level, because obviously you're a national leader in higher education as well. And public higher education right now is getting hit pretty hard in a lot of states just north of here, there's a lot of consolidation happening in the PASSHE system and in Pennsylvania that's happening. Also, a number of public universities in Ohio and Michigan are also having enrollment troubles. We're obviously seeing some political interference in other states, including most famously right now in Florida.
And it's interesting to me in the 25 years that I've been covering higher education and I got my start covering state politics at the Chronicle of Higher Education, it was always interesting that the Maryland system was always held up as a national model of a system that works. Now, of course, we're not ignoring that. Not everything has been perfect here in the state of Maryland. It took a federal lawsuit, of course, to get more equal funding for the HBCUs. But what is it about the system that you've seen that kind of makes it work? Maybe it doesn't, maybe you won't tell us that on the podcast, but what is it about this system that people from the outside look at it and say, "I wish we could be that?"
President Aminta Breaux:
What I see is a true commitment to support higher education in the state. And you see it from across all sectors, from the level ... the governors, that line, but also our legislators. They're committed to higher education. You don't see that in every state. You have to follow the money. When you look at how higher education is funded here in the state of Maryland. It's at a very high level in comparison to some of the states that you just mentioned. There's some states that are as low as 7% being dedicated to higher education. You don't see that here in the state of Maryland. You see a strong commitment.
And it's less of I would say a political bailiwick or a football. Rather, there's a strong commitment from all sides. How we get there might differ, but what you see is everyone's saying, we value higher education. Yes, we have our issues, and it took the settlement of the coalition case to address that issue of the underfunding, the duplication of programs. But I would say it's still quite laudable to see how we approach higher education in the state of Maryland.
And also I want to give kudos to the university system of Maryland. What you see with our system is the flexibility for each campus to do what they need to do with a strategic plan, to enact a plan and then carry it forward with the support of the system. The system is not driving every campus, but rather they're there for support, they're there for efficiency, they're there to spark innovation. And that's not something you hear from every system talking about innovation. And along with efficiency, we want to be accountable, but also we want to be innovative. And the system has even set aside funds for innovation funds.
Jeff Selingo:
It's amazing, Michael, because I think when we have other public leaders on the podcast or talking, nobody ever talks so glowingly about their system in the way that you just did ...
Michael Horn:
Or their elected officials.
Jeff Selingo:
Exactly.
Michael Horn:
It just fascinates me in general though, just how different this conversation is from so many conversations in higher ed right now where in a lot of states ... I'm up in New England, so it's not just Pennsylvania and places like that where there's a lot of doom and gloom around higher ed. Here you're just bursting with optimism and a sense of possibility. And we understand you even saw a dramatic spike in the first year class in enrollment this academic year. And even though many of your students are commuters, you're bursting at the seams. You want to build more places for them to live. Can you just tell us about that dynamic and what you're projecting going forward?
President Aminta Breaux:
Thank you for that question. It's been a very exciting time. Yes, we've been through a lot of the challenge that we've all faced, but with challenges come new opportunities. So you can sit back and say what was us or what we did here as a campus was to come together and say, "Listen, this is the hand we've been dealt. What are we going to do about it?"
And so we did pivot to providing all of our courses online. We put them all up on Blackboard and they can be delivered at a moment's notice if needed. So we move forward. We have a strategic plan here called Racing to Excellence, and that was in place before the pandemic.
So what we're seeing as a result of our racing to excellence and accelerating our pace of change during the pandemic is new opportunity, new opportunity for us to put out the word to other audiences that we might not have otherwise reached. So during the pandemic as one example, we could have said, well, "Let's stop doing our open houses. We can't bring everyone into the campus." Instead, we did virtual open houses and we garnered new audiences from across the country, from Texas to I think our first student from Alaska. And so I don't know if they're in the audience or not, but what we did was really focus in on where are there opportunities through this crisis. And as a result, yes, we saw the largest incoming class in our history. We were focused on ... thank you. Yes.
We focused on our trend lines. We thought we would bring in about 920 students. And with all of the attention and excitement that's happening here at Bowie State University, we brought in about 1200 students to Bowie State University.
Jeff Selingo:
So before we take some questions from the audience, I want to talk a little bit about leadership and your leadership in particular because we've had ... Michael's counted this at one point. How many presidents have we had on?
Michael Horn:
I think we're up to like 34 and 35.
Jeff Selingo:
34 presidents. And I'm just amazed that there are different ways they got to the job and the different schools of experience that they call on, especially now when there's so much dynamic change happening in higher ed. So that's what I'm kind of interested in.
As you look back at your own life and your own career, are there specific schools of experience that kind of led you to this place and that you drawn regularly that could be helpful to other people who are listening who may one day want aspire to a similar job? What are the key schools of experience that you call on?
President Aminta Breaux:
Well, let me start with the school of experience from West Philadelphia born and raised, just a little girl from West Philadelphia. And when I think back to those experiences, I think about my high school experience where I had the opportunity to embark in a school that was very different than most high schools. It was called Parkway and it was known as a school without walls. So growing up in West Philadelphia until I got to high school, I knew West Philadelphia, but I didn't know the larger city and all the context of the state and larger regions. But when I went to high school and to the school without walls, the city was my classroom. My class, my art classes were at the art museum. My science classes were at the Franklin Institute, if anyone knows about Philadelphia. And I got the chance to have classes on the campus of Penn and Temple. So it opened up a new world to me. What that in told me and informed me is that learning does happen everywhere. It doesn't have to just happen in the classroom.
And so I've taken that to forward in my leadership and I wanted to impart that kind of opportunity and experience and that feeling for learning that's exciting. So when you talk to me about education, no matter at what point in my career, I think you would always see that excitement because I get excited every day when I come to this campus, when I see students out here and I'm talking to them about their experiences, each opportunity to engage with those students. And as I see them going to and from the classroom, I look at that as a new opportunity for them to learn and for me to learn about them too.
So you see that infused in the programming that we have here to the entrepreneurship living learning community that allows students to engage in and deepen their learning about entrepreneurship right here on the campus. We have an accelerator here on the campus with the Bowie Innovation Center that's in that building and how we partner with that entity and wherever I can, bringing those experiences to our students so that they can see there's a whole world out there that you've helped that you've yet to realize.
So I take it forward. From that experience, I had the opportunity and one of my positions to oversee cooperative education on one of my campuses, one of the largest co-op programs in the country. And that co-op program integrates experiential learning into the curriculum, that deep in mind learning about how we could do even more with education and higher education and not have it be too discreet areas. You get to work in the workforce after you have two years on the campus, but integrating the experiences from employment into the curriculum.
And so today, fast forward to Bowie State University, we are indeed moving forward more and more in that direction to bridge learning environments, deepen our partnerships with internships and other experiential learning opportunities.
Jeff Selingo:
That's great.
Michael Horn:
It's inspiring. I was going to say, I mean in terms of the experience and how it bleeds through to what you've shaped here, we're going to go out to you now, the audience. So we're going to get to hear maybe from some students who want ask some questions.
Larry Schaefer:
Hello, Larry Schaefer. I'm an adjunct professor here at Bowie State with the Biology Natural Sciences division, and we do the aquaponics. And I was wondering, Miss President, if you could highlight some of the urban ag initiatives and as well as the food day that's coming up.
President Aminta Breaux:
Thank you for your question, and thank you for the research that you're doing and being a part of Bowie State University. We have on the horizon new opportunities for us to enhance and expand our research in your field. Not too long from now, we hope to work even more closely within the community with the City of Bowie. We have an initiative underway to develop land right down the road, less than two miles away on Racetrack Road that will have an outdoor laboratory ... yes ... and we're really excited about that.
Also, we hope to develop a farm to table program along with our dining services. And now having this opportunity for additional land adjacent to the campus or not too far away, affords us those opportunities. We know that we need a new greenhouse or we need to add on to the greenhouse. We have a greenhouse on top of our Center for Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Nursing, but the research efforts have expanded so we do need new facilities. And so we're looking at these new opportunities to develop land to create those spaces for our researchers. And again, thank you for the research you're doing that is addressing these drought ravaged areas. And as we think about climate change and how it's impacting our world, your research is really essential and integral to the success of our, or looking forward to the future for BSU.
Jeff Selingo:
And I also think it's probably one of the things that gets often lost in the debates about higher education is the work that goes on day in and day out, especially around these grand challenges like food that we're facing. And I sometimes feel like we even get caught up in the headlines of higher ed and we sometimes forget what happens day in and day out.
Michael Horn:
I was going to say, our next meal in Maryland is here with the farm table. We have time for one more question I think.
Sydney Garrett:
My name is Sydney Garrett. I stay on campus and I'm a nursing student, freshman. And I was wondering, will the cost increase and how can that be reduced for students upon graduation?
President Aminta Breaux:
The tuition costs?
Sydney Garrett:
Yes.
President Aminta Breaux:
Thank you for your great question. We do our very best to keep our tuition down and the university system of Maryland has worked very hard to keep tuition increases over the last several years below 3%, trying our very best to keep the cost low because we are a public university very much about access and affordability to a quality educational experience.
But it's got to begin with accessing ... allowing you to access and enroll and persist and go on to get across that stage so I can give you that degree. So we work very, very hard. I can't guarantee that it won't go up at all. And that's a conversation, however, we have with the students through the Student Government Association. They are your voice to our shared governance system. And so they get you all together to talk about what do you think, what's going to work and get your input that then goes forward to the university council and then that feeds up to the university system of Maryland.
So whatever decisions we make, it's informed by the students and your input. But know that we've been working very, very hard to keep the debt load down for you so you don't have to take out loans. And I want to just at this time just remind everyone that we forgave millions of dollars of student debt through the use of the Federal Cares funds. And that was put towards your student debt to make sure that you didn't have to stop out and go and work. But we wanted to keep you here. So we will do our very best to continue on that trend to keep your costs low.
Jeff Selingo:
In the next couple weeks, one of our episodes really focuses on this. This is the biggest challenge I think facing higher education, is affordability. And we talk about this going back in history just even 30 years ago when the federal government was focused on affordability and how we actually haven't gotten better, we've gotten worse since then as a society and as a system as a whole. So great that you're working on this. And thank you again President Breaux for joining us on Future U.
President Aminta Breaux:
Thank you. Welcome to BSU.
Jeff Selingo:
Thank you. And we'll be right back on Future U.
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Michael Horn:
Welcome back to Future U. To continue our conversation today about what's next for higher ed after the pandemic here at Bowie State University, we've gathered a great panel representing some different perspectives, roles within the university. So please help us welcome first the provost, Carl Goodman, from Bowie State University. We have Professor Rose Shumba, the chair of the Department of Computer Science here. And then we have Shea Lewis, the vice president for solution engineering for K12 and higher education for salesforce.org.
So we're here in the fall of 2022. And Carl, I must admit, when we kicked off this Future U. Campus Tour last February, things weren't exactly still quite normal on many campuses. If we can use that phrase post-pandemic, we hadn't quite hit that yet. But now it seems like walking around campus today, things seem a little bit more normal. Can we say that yet?
Provost Carl Goodman:
Almost.
Michael Horn:
Okay. So tell us where we are right now. Tell us how are things feeling post-pandemic and what have you learned?
Provost Carl Goodman:
Yeah, let me go back to at least a story. When I got hired here at this great institution two years ago during the pandemic and at that time, most of our classes actually were placed online. And so really there were not any students here. And so at that time, as I told one of my friends, that I had in my office ... my office actually, there's a door that people walk in. But then I have a huge window, which is probably the best view on this campus. And I used to take my laptop and literally sit there in front of the window just wishing to see people walking by.
And so over those two years, and then going into really this year where our students are back, it's just an amazing feeling. Coming here prior to ... just looking at this university, you see a lot of things on the internet and on YouTube about this, the excitement and just the versatility of the student body as well as our faculty members. And now you're seeing that here today, in all ... in every facet, not just in the classrooms, but just the energy from our faculty and staff, the athletic events that we have going on here. So definitely is much livelier and just an exciting time being here at Bowie State University.
Michael Horn:
Rose, I want to get it from the faculty perspective as we sort of set the table for the conversation right now. From your perspective, does it also feel more normal? And I'm curious if there's anything you actually miss from the pandemic days or things that you learned that you want to bring forward.
Professor Rosemary Shumba:
So thank you very much for that question. I don't think there's anything that I missed from the last two falls. It was really hard getting to engage students teaching virtually, and office hours were so hard to handle because if you're teaching computer science courses, you want them to be engaged. You want to see what's happening on their screens as they write their programs. That was very challenging for faculty, especially in technology-related programs.
Now looking at how things are happening right now, we're seeing broader engagement. We're seeing faculty and students holding office hours in person, which improves the learning support systems. Not only that, we've started to see students are working different offices looking for opportunities, especially experiential learning opportunities. "Are there any faculty mentored research opportunities that you have? Are there any internship, paid internship opportunities?" And we are seeing that if we have any professional development workshops organized, a lot of students are registering for those.
Jeff Selingo:
So Shea, since Salesforce partners with a lot of different colleges and universities, let's zoom out and talk about what you're seeing in terms of the campuses that you're working with. And I'm kind of curious, again, about what will the long lasting legacy of the pandemic be? Maybe not the negative pieces that we all want to forget, but is there any good piece of the long lasting legacy of the pandemic, particularly in higher ed?
Shea Lewis:
Yeah, definitely. And thank you for the question. I think Carl and Rose kind of touched on it with the chuckles at the beginning of even going through the pandemic. But from our perspective, and again, a lot of it was iterated already. Opportunities to build on some things we were already doing coming out of that. So I think Rose mentioned the opportunity for different type of learning opportunities, learning experiences, whether they're virtual, hybrid, in-person, really still being carried on post-pandemic. And I think those are definitely areas where there's actually mentioned as well opportunity to connect differently. Really those students that are connected, whether they're evaluating an institution actually here are alumni or those who stay connected to that institution long term. So I think coming out of the pandemic, what we're seeing across is a lot of different ways of actually engaging and reaching out to constituents and students really at the place they're desiring and requesting us to.
Jeff Selingo:
So we talked earlier with President Breaux about using the word renaissance on HBCU campuses, Carl. So obviously the pandemic also coincided with this focus on social justice in the country. After the killing of George Floyd in the early days of the pandemic, what are you seeing ... President Breaux had her perspective on what she was seeing on campus. What are you seeing on campus in terms of a renaissance here or how is it different now than it was even just a couple of years ago on campus?
Provost Carl Goodman:
Sure. I think at Bowie State University ... when you look at us in particular, we were a traditional institution as far as our classes were concerned, teaching them face to face. But leveraging that opportunity with the pandemic, really we did a transition in terms of our faculty, number one, really developing them and giving them the skill sets to teach online. So it's a difference in terms of teaching online, but really having the skill sets, having the student engagement piece, the pedagogy, all those things were provided to our faculty. And so now we definitely are a new institution.
Also, we have an opportunity for us as an institution really to become a distance learning institution. So we applied and got all the approvals from our system, from middle states, from MTech, and then we also now we have launched eight new online degree programs. And so that is just fascinating within just the two years we've been here.
And then leveraging the technology, that was the other piece. I think we had a lot of faculty members who were using technology but not only, not so much to its fullest. And now we have all of our classrooms have the high flex classrooms. So now that we have the abilities to teach in multiple areas, multiple places around the country for our students, and that's just another asset in terms of really how we've been changed as an institution in terms of using those technology and where we are today.
Michael Horn:
I'm curious, Carl, just to stay with you, with your perspective as a provost looking over this institution, but also with your colleagues across the HBCU sector, this word renaissance or optimism or whatever it is. I'm curious, does it maybe distract that there's still needs for the sector as a whole? And what are some of those big needs that you hope get addressed for HBCUs over the next few years?
Provost Carl Goodman:
Yes, President Breaux mentioned at least here at Bowie State University, we definitely have experienced you know substantial growth here at the university. But with growth, there's, there's much more needs in terms of really infrastructure. The growth that we currently are having with our record number of freshmen, eventually become sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and we're expecting the numbers from behind those students to be getting larger. So the infrastructure is one of the major things.
Also, no matter where you go, particularly at most HBCUs, it's really the funding of our students in terms of first generation students, they need that support. And so really trying to create those scholarship dollars to make sure that our students are not just retaining them, progressing, but also graduating in a timely fashion. So there are much more needs that actually are there, even though we would say that there's a difference or there's much awareness in terms of HBCUs. There's also in terms of really to support for those HBCUs in terms of funding as well.
Michael Horn:
With opportunity comes need and responsibility, I suppose you'd say. Shea, I want to turn to you because I'm curious, the president actually in the previous session spoke about all these partnerships that are being formed with employers, and from the employer perspective, can you just talk about the partnerships that Salesforce has been forming with universities and why that approach might be preferable to the traditional ways that she spoke about employers having hired in the past or just shown up at the career fair and on the back end as opposed on the front end? What's different from your perspective and why is it important?
Shea Lewis:
Yeah, I will say we're still doing the other things too. So still career fair. There are lots of jobs posted on the website for outreach there.
Michael Horn:
So apply today.
Shea Lewis:
I got to get that plug in there. But yeah, we're looking at opportunities to continue to be proactive in that partnership. We have an organization called Futureforce where we literally partner with institutions to align, have on campus events, really align programming and as well as teaching and training in the classroom to actually support. So as students are actually graduating or coming back to engage, they have those that real world experience.
Mentoringship, one to one coaching also a very, very big piece, as Dr. Breaux mentioned as well, internships. So having that hands-on experience to not only come out to say, "Yep, I passed the test, but I also have experience actually lined as well," is a big focus with Salesforce. And across that too, it's not limited to just certain institutions utilizing a platform. It's called Trailhead from some of the training, really trying to open it up to all communities and really leveling the playing field in that space.
Jeff Selingo:
Interesting. So I'm interested in how this focus on experiential learning is showing up in the classroom. How is it ... and obviously it's different discipline to discipline, but how is it showing up in your classroom and is this a positive change in your view as a faculty member?
Professor Rosemary Shumba:
Thank you very much for that question. The change is very positive and what we are seeing is we are seeing more engaged and reached classroom environments right now and students are working on solving real life problems than before. Where we just used to give them exercises from the books, they are now working more with our industry partners. I can give you an example of experiential learning, the capstone projects.
We are getting partners who start working with faculty before even the beginning of the semester to plan what to teach for the semester for that particular capstone course. And the partners then provide tools, resources for teaching the courses. Not only that, but they also come and mentor and assess progress in the class. And this usually culminates into some kind of a capstone presentation whereby the chief information technology officers and senior software engineers attend virtually to judge the presentations. And I'm happy to say in the spring semester, we actually had two students picked up and offered jobs from the capstone projects. (audience applause)
Thank you. And another thing that's happening besides the capstone projects are these internships. We have partners who are offering both the summer and semester internships for students to work during the semester for 20 hours. We have a great partner where we have eight students working in Northern Virginia. And these students who are working with these partners, they're bringing in ... besides the workforce relevant skills, they're bringing in team working skills, communication skills. And you can see that it's really evident in the classrooms.
And we also getting some partners who are helping more for need employment where you have students who can't continue school because life has happened in the can't pay tuition. We have some partners who are giving them jobs so they're able to continue with their education. So a lot is happening with partnerships.
Jeff Selingo:
So Carl, you have said in our conversations ... we were actually just talking right before we got on stage for the podcast about the entrepreneurial mindset of students here. So it's not just entrepreneurship for entrepreneurship's sake, but really no matter what your major is to really encourage and foster this entrepreneurial mindset. What does that mean in reality?
Provost Carl Goodman:
Well, here at Bowie State University, it means something totally different. Number one, it starts with the leadership and definitely got to commend President Breaux in terms of having that leadership. We have another dynamic person in Johnetta Hardy who actually is our executive director for the entrepreneurship program we have here. And so for our students who are coming in as a freshman, that entrepreneurship mindset is actually taught in our classrooms. So at the freshman seminar classes, all 1100, close to 1200 students, actually are receiving the training almost two weeks to understand. And so entrepreneurship means a lot to a lot of different people.
But for us here at Bowie State University, it is about the communication, it is about the mindset, it is about really the thinking aspect, knowing that for entrepreneurship, it's a passion. It's something different. It's thinking outside the box. And so students who are in any discipline, really they have their own career path. But understanding that, again, there are some core values that they can have in that can carry over to a business really in terms of what they currently have but maybe thinking in the future.
Jeff Selingo:
And I'm assuming that's incredibly ... we hear this from employers all the time, that entrepreneurship thinking is critical no matter what job you have. Because I think that people, especially for example, in your industry, they think, "Well, if I have the technical skills, that's all I need to do to succeed." But that's not necessarily true from where you sit. Correct?
Shea Lewis:
Yeah, no, the problem-solving component, that goes into that. The teaming component that goes into that. The cross collaboration definitely aligns very well to the set being desired.
Jeff Selingo:
So we are going to wrap up in a minute, but I would love to just hear just quickly from each of you, we talk a lot about the future of higher education on this show, and this is a jump ball that I'm going to throw out there because we did prepare a little bit for this, but just kind of want to get your sense, just in a word or two, what gives you kind of hope and optimism about the future of higher ed from where you sit? And Rose, why don't we start with you? What gives you hope and optimism about the future of higher education from your position here as a faculty member at Bowie State University?
Professor Rosemary Shumba:
From my perspective, I can say that the future of higher education is working with industry to make sure we are producing students who have the relevant skills to go out there.
Jeff Selingo:
Hope and optimism. What is it?
Provost Carl Goodman:
For me, it starts with our students, really the opportunity and the hopes and desires for our future, a better future. And then for our faculty members, really just the innovation, just the talent that we have here and this in terms of where they want to be and where they want to really drive this university. It's just been amazing.
Jeff Selingo:
Sure.
Shea Lewis:
Yeah, I'll say unlimited potential, which I think aligns a lot to what was said here, just with the minds and just the combination of technology. Because I'm a technologist, it's unlimited. So I'm really excited about what that next stage and generation produces.
Jeff Selingo:
And I think I'm curious about the universities. I think we're curious about the universities that will be at the leadership of that, right? A president recently said to me, "Why can't we create a whole new set of institutions that we perceive as prestigious and elite, and whatever it might be? Not necessarily using those words, but we tend to talk about the same set of universities in this country over and over again." And he said, "Why can't we use this moment to talk about a new set of institutions?" And so maybe in a decade we will be talking about Bowie State among that new set of institutions.
So thank you very much. That does it for our fourth stop here on the Future U. Campus Tour. Thank you all for joining us out there in the audience. Thank you especially to Salesforce.org for the generous support of this tour, to Bowie State University and to President Breaux for being such gracious and generous hosts for us today. Be sure to subscribe to Future U. Rate us and listen using any of your favorite podcast platforms and have a good day. Thank you.
