Vicki and Lynn were thrilled to be joined in this episode by Jay Gonzalez, president of Curry College, to learn more about what college presidents do and why it matters.  With his background in business, politics and law, Jay brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective on what it means to lead a higher education institution today. Jay also described the groundbreaking Curry Commitment, a job guarantee program that is the only one of its kind in Massachusetts and one of only a handful of similar programs in the country. We discussed the importance of career readiness and how the college is weaving the necessary skills throughout the four-year program. Of course, we also talked about parents, and our conversation highlights the pivotal role parents play in their children’s college journeys.

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This was a special episode for us as we welcomed Jay Gonzalez, President of Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts  – and our boss!

We wanted to talk to Jay about what college presidents do and also about a new career readiness program at the college.

The president’s job description is a mystery to many of us. Jay joked that as president he doesn’t have any direct responsibility for anything – but we know that means presidents are responsible for everything. Being a president involves partially being a business leader but also a bit like a politician as the college works with many, many stakeholders.

We heard about Jay’s journey to becoming a college president. He brings a unique perspective since he didn’t “grow up” in the traditional higher education academic pipeline. Jay’s been in his role as president for a year-and-a-half and shared some of what’s he’s learned about the higher education world – and how much he’s enjoying working with the students.

Jay also shared with us a new program established at the college that works to make career readiness a top priority and put the college’s “money where our mouth is.” The college has made a job guarantee commitment for students who sign up for and complete the program. Curry is the only college in Massachusetts, and one of only a handful in the country, with such a program. It’s a program that tries to deliver on the college’s value commitment.

The program will include workshops, events, and experiences that directly build career readiness and essential employment skills for students.  Students who opt in to the program will need to fulfill requirements and engage with the program. They will attend a certain number of events, maintain a minimum GPA, do at least one internship, and they need to graduate in four years and start looking for their first job during their final semester.

While Curry is at the forefront of a program such as this, as higher education moves forward more schools may be creating similar programs.

Jay talked about how parents play a critical role in advising and supporting students. Students are being asked to take a great step forward and parents need to let go a little bit – but they also need to be there. We all agreed that being a parent is hard, but that we have a place to coach our students forward to help them develop the confidence they need.

As we discussed the important concept of career readiness, Jay mentioned the Career Competencies developed by NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers. If you’d like to read more about these concepts, you can follow up  with their Competencies for a Career-Ready Workforce. 

Jay left us with a final thought about the importance of “fit” as your student is looking for a school. Students need a place where they will feel they belong and feel connected. Trusting your student’s sense of what is right for them matters.  Encourage your students to be in tune.

Finally, we heard about Graham, the community dog – and most popular staff member on campus!

And we also want to give a shout-out and great thanks to Professor Ken Carberry and student Chuck Luarasi for the use of the Curry Radio Station podcasting studio and production help. Thanks for making everything run so smoothly!

Don’t forget that you can listen to all of our previous podcast episodes here or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also go to followthepodcast.com/collegeparentcentral to add our podcast (it’s free!) so that you’ll receive each new episode as we release it.

Let us know what you’d like to hear about on future podcasts! Leave a comment below or email us at [email protected].

Transcript:

Announcer: 0:10

Welcome to the College Parent Central podcast. Whether your child is just beginning the college admission process or is already in college, this podcast is for you. You’ll find food for thought and information about college and about navigating that delicate balance of guidance, involvement and knowing when to get out of the way. Join your hosts, Vicki Nelson and Lynn Abrahams, as they share support and a celebration of the amazing child in college.

Vicki Nelson: 0:47

Welcome to the College Parent Central podcast. This is the place where we talk about all sorts of things that have to do with being a college parent, and we know that means while your student is in college, and sometimes post-college and more and more before they start college. So we’re looking at high school too, and if you are a high school parent, you may be interested in this. My name is Vicki Nelson and I am a professor of communication, but my second credential is that I am the mother of three daughters who have all gone through college and come out the other side, and we have all survived, and I am here with my co-host.

Lynn Abrahams: 1:29

Hi everyone. My name is Lynn Abrahams and I also come at this from two different directions. I am a learning disability specialist. I’ve been working with college students for my whole career, so I work closely, I have worked closely with students and their families, but I’m also a mom of two sons who have gone in and out and around and through and come out the other end of college. I think they’re grownups now even. It’s pretty exciting.

Vicki Nelson:

So we have the girls and the boys covered

Lynn Abrahams:

Yep.

Vicki Nelson: 2:03

But, most importantly, we are very excited today because, although we love to talk to each other, we are not here by ourselves. Today, we are very excited about a guest who is with us. Today we are here with Jay Gonzalez, who is the president of Curry College, small liberal arts college in Milton, Massachusetts. Jay has served as Secretary of Administration and Finance of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under Governor Deval Patrick and he was a candidate for governor in 2018. He also served as Chairman of the Board of the Massachusetts Health Connector, where he oversaw implementation of Massachusetts health care reform, and as chair of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care. Prior to coming to Curry, he was a partner at Hinckley Allen, a leading Boston law firm. Jay has a deep breadth of experience in law, government, education, politics, advocacy and business leadership, and he is now a college president and he is here with us today. So we’re excited to talk to you and welcome you to the podcast.

Jay Gonzalez: 3:14

Well, thanks for having me. You didn’t mention one of my other credentials. Just to jump on your bandwagon. I have two daughters who also went to college, so I’m a college parent and know what that feels like and what that experience is, and I think your podcast is awesome. It’s great that you’re speaking to these issues and speaking to parents. They play a really important role in it and it’s a privilege to be on with you and I want to say I have the privilege of working with Vicki now and, having worked with Lynn before, one of the great things about Curry College, where I get to be the president, is the community of people who work here, and you two are definitely high on that list and it’s a privilege to be on your podcast.

Lynn Abrahams: 4:01

Thank you so much.

Vicki Nelson: 4:02

Well, I’m not at all intimidated about interviewing my boss. Not at all.

Jay Gonzalez: 4:08

Only easy questions.

Vicki Nelson: 4:11

And I think you know the fact that we all bring that double perspective of parents who’ve lived through the process and also that we see and work with students every day and we sort of know what they’re going through. So we really have two things we wanted to talk to you about today, and one is a little bit about what it’s like to be a college president, because I think a lot of us don’t know that. And then we also want to talk about an exciting new program that’s going on at Curry. So we’re going to make sure we give you plenty of time to talk about that, but I think we want to start by thinking a little bit about college presidency.

Lynn Abrahams: 4:54

We’re going to start by asking you what does a college president do?

Jay Gonzalez: 4:56

What a great question.

Lynn Abrahams: 4:56

We just some of us, we really don’t know exactly.

Jay Gonzalez: 5:09

Well, I joke. I do these staff faculty lunches every couple of weeks at the president’s house with staff and faculty and we go around and have everybody tell each other what they do at the college. And I joke that as college president. One of the things I love about my job is I have no direct responsibility for anything.

Everybody else does everything, but, in seriousness, my job at the highest level is to make sure we’re delivering on our mission, and our mission at Curry College, like many other colleges, is to educate and graduate our students so they’re prepared to be successful in their careers and in life generally, as active citizens with a global perspective. And, first and foremost, that’s what I feel a responsibility to deliver on. Being college president, the day-to-day of it, requires being a few different things. It’s being a business leader. This is a big organization. We need to be sustainable, we need to manage a budget, we need to make sure we are getting the most out of all of our staff and faculty and other employees, that we’re taking care of our customers, who are our students, and so there are aspects of it that are like running a business. I report to a board of trustees. There’s also a component of it that’s a little like being a politician. It’s kind of like being mayor of a small community where you have all these different stakeholders and who are members of our community. It’s our students, first and foremost, but also our employees, our faculty members, our staff members. We are a member of our broader community, the town of Milton in this case, and the broader community beyond that. We need to be good citizens of our broader community.

Jay Gonzalez: 7:05

I’ve got alumni, who I engage with a lot, donors of the college, employers who partner with the college to provide opportunities to our students, so there are a lot of different. . .

Jay Gonzalez: 7:17

We have regulatory agencies at the state level and the federal level who we need to be responsive to and engage with, so there are lots of different stakeholders that, as college president, I need to be mindful of. I need to understand what they care about, what their challenges are, what the opportunities are, how we kind of bring everyone together to move the college forward toward delivering on that mission. And it’s one of the things I love. Some people you know they’d much prefer, you know, if they run their own business, if they’re in a similar type of leadership position run their own business or their own organization where they can just decide everything and just kind of do what they want to do. It’s a lot more complicated, as you guys know, at a college, in a place like this, where everybody feels a sense of ownership and interest in our mission and delivering for our students, and I actually like that and it’s part of the fun of the job.

Vicki Nelson: 8:16

Okay, so you talk about how complex it is and liking it. So maybe you’re hinting at my next question, and it is,  there was a Forbes article that described the job of college president as one that is “so tough nobody in their right mind would want it.” and you have a broad experience that covers a lot of ground and you were recently a partner in a law firm. What made you decide you wanted to be a college president?

Because you’re coming at this from a different perspective, not having sort of grown up in academia.

Jay Gonzalez: 8:55

Yeah, I’m a really untraditional candidate to be a college president. Most have grown up through academia, as you said, and this is my first job in higher ed. I was an adjunct faculty member at Northeastern Law School for a bit, but I was interested because I had had some leadership positions in my past career. You mentioned that I was one of Governor Patrick’s cabinet secretaries where I oversaw a bunch of state agencies and had a pretty impactful leadership position there. I also ran a health insurance company that covered low-income people in state Medicaid programs. So I’ve had a couple of leadership positions and I really liked the leadership roles I’ve had, and so I was interested in the leadership role. But at a point in my life where I really wanted it to be something that fed my soul and where I felt invested in what we did, and somebody got me, somebody suggested I would really like being a college president, I started thinking about it, I started researching it and I thought if I could ever convince someone to hire me to be a college president, I think I would really love it, Because you mentioned I had run for office and the part about it being kind of a political job it really is.

Jay Gonzalez: 10:19

It’s really about understanding the people who are the constituents. It’s about showing up, showing up to the games of the students and the performances and the speaking competitions that you were a part of, Vicki, and going to classes and going to the faculty meetings and really understanding the community and helping to kind of bring people together to move us forward in ways that are going to benefit our students. And the transformational impact that a place like Curry College and other places like it have on a student’s life in terms of their personal growth and development, preparation for career and life and the trajectory and social mobility impact it has on their lives is so meaningful. It’s something that I personally experienced and so it was just.

Jay Gonzalez: 11:12

It felt like it would be the type of job that would be perfect for me, selfishly, in terms of what I really enjoy and what would make me feel good and be rewarding for me. And so I got lucky. The board at Curry College decided to take a chance on me and I’ve been here a year and a half now and I love it way more than I ever thought, even thought I would. I think partly because of the job itself. It was everything I thought it might be and more. But also this place is. I got very lucky with this place. I couldn’t have known by just reading about it how special the community here is, and that was a big part of it being part of a college campus community and kind of the ideal of what that is as a caring, supportive environment where people are engaged with each other. A lot of interesting things going on on a college campus and this is just a really neat place. So I feel really lucky.

Vicki Nelson: 12:18

I think we’re glad you were a little selfish.

Jay Gonzalez:

Well, thanks.

Lynn Abrahams: 12:21

Well, and I was going to say I can tell that you really like it, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without smiling. You have this energy that’s you know, you’re, you’re happy with it, you’re smiling.

Jay Gonzalez: 12:35

You don’t see me all the time, no, but and it’s not always easy, that’s for sure.

Jay Gonzalez: 12:40

But but I will say like um, I’ve had maybe like one really hard day here, yeah, and the rest of the days are days where I’m smiling, where there’s just so many neat things going on here that students are the best part you know. I want to mention we’ve got Chuck here with us who’s managing this podcast for us, operating it. He’s a freshman here who’s involved in all kinds of stuff and being in a place where you’re constantly running into and getting to talk to students like Chuck and understand what the experience is like here for them and what their aspirations are and what they’re trying to do and how they’re doing it and what’s working and what isn’t, it’s energizing and it’s hard not to be happy.

Lynn Abrahams: 13:29

So let me ask you what are some of the hard parts?

Jay Gonzalez: 13:33

Well, I would say the hardest part is the kind of part that’s outside of our control ,the industry challenges that are facing higher ed today. I don’t think it’s any secret that there are, demographically population-wise, there are just going to be a lot less high school students year after year for the next few years, and, of the high school students who are graduating, many more questioning the value proposition of a traditional four-year undergraduate degree at a place like Curry College than used to be the case. There are other alternative paths that high school graduates can take to careers and a lot of people are questioning is the value proposition of college, all the time and money that you need to spend to go to a four-year college, worth it? And so, as a result, over the last 10 years, a smaller and smaller percentage of high school graduates have been choosing to go to college, and that’s put a lot of pressure on most colleges across the country where enrollments are down. That’s the case at Curry, where enrollment is less than it was 10 years ago, and we’ve gotta be responsive to that and it’s something we’ve been focusing on.

Jay Gonzalez: 14:51

I know we’re gonna talk later about one of the ways in which we’re trying to be responsive to that, but that’s the biggest challenge is how do we ensure we are delivering on the really important and impactful value proposition that we know higher ed delivers, and delivered for our kids, and that we’re doing it in a way that is responsive to the market demands from parents and families and students, but also delivering what higher education has always been expected to deliver, which is not just preparing students for a job, but preparing them to be successful over a lifetime of career, potentially different jobs, and to be positive, engaged community members and citizens, and that’s a really important role we play in society.

Lynn Abrahams: 15:51

You know, I think we should jump into one of your big ideas at the college, something you came in with, I think, an idea about a program that you know that we want to hear more about. So what is your?

 

Jay Gonzalez:

You’re opening the door?

Lynn Abrahams: 16:09

I’m opening the door.

Jay Gonzalez: 16:10

Yeah.

Lynn Abrahams: 16:10

We don’t want to say too much.

Vicki Nelson: 16:11

We want to let you say it all.

Lynn Abrahams:

Yeah, you say it.

Jay Gonzalez: 16:12

So I’ll say that I didn’t come in with this idea.

Lynn Abrahams: 16:17

Okay.

Jay Gonzalez: 16:20

We had a strategic planning process last year that you guys may have been part of, lots of members of our community were a part of, in light of these challenges that we and lots of other colleges are facing, to try to figure out strategically what our priorities should be and how we move forward. And it was actually a member of my team, Keith Robichaud, our VP of Enrollment Management, a great human being who’s been at Curry College for 20 years and works with lots of parents and families, answers lots of questions for them. In that role he does an amazing job. He’s also a really creative guy and one day I was sitting with him and I said what can we do to elevate Curry and really differentiate us? And he said we could guarantee everybody a job, every student a job. I said are you serious?

And he kind of laughed and said no not really. Little did he know. I started thinking about it, and I called him a couple days later and I said I really want to talk with you about this and we kind of planted it with the strategic planning committee.

Jay Gonzalez: 17:33

Where we had one area of focus was on career readiness. Because it’s really clear from all the data, all the surveys of parents and students today that way more than was the case in the past, the number one thing that they’re looking for out of a traditional four-year college experience is what’s the job I’m going to get when I get out. Wanting to understand that return on investment concept and we know there’s a much broader return on investment from college than just the job but that is foremost on families’ minds today. So we really looked at this and what came out of our strategic planning process was we were going to make career readiness one of our top priorities and we were going to put our money where our mouth was. So we developed a—we are investing now and have made a lot of progress on a much more robust career readiness program at Curry College that supports our students, which we can talk about a little bit.

Jay Gonzalez: 18:36

We have made a commitment that is basically a job guarantee.

Jay Gonzalez: 18:40

We’ve told students that as long as they meet certain minimum requirements, we are guaranteeing they’ll have a job within six months of graduating and if they don’t, we will pay their student loan federal student loan for up to a year, place them in a paid internship for up to a year, give them free credits toward one of our grad programs.

Jay Gonzalez: 18:59

And we are the only college in Massachusetts to do anything like this, and one of only a handful in the country, so it is a real differentiator. We just implemented this program. Basically, we’re in the process of doing it and launching it. Now we hired this great new director of our Career and Experiential Learning Center, who we stole from MIT, who is doing an amazing job. We’re investing in this, hiring some career advisors and other folks to help out, and this is becoming something that will be kind of infused throughout Curry College and it’s a really exciting initiative. I think it’s mobilized us in a lot of ways and it’s different for a college to make this kind of bold of a commitment and with some actual consequences if we don’t deliver on it. But it’s exciting to be a part of it and I think I feel good about the fact that we’re being responsive to what families and students are telling us they want.

Vicki Nelson: 20:13

So I want to come back to talking more about the program, specifically what students need to do and what the college is doing. But I’m curious you mentioned there are only a handful, and I tried to be a parent searching a job commitment program and it’s a really smart idea. Why aren’t more schools doing this?

Jay Gonzalez: 20:35

Well, as I said, it’s really different for a college to do this, right? I don’t think traditional four-year colleges like Curry have ever thought of themselves as responsible for the actual job when a student gets out, and in recent times there’s been more investment. More colleges have career centers, will help provide supports. But to say that it’s our responsibility and if we don’t deliver we will be held accountable in some meaningful way, that’s really different and in a way it’s kind of scary, which is why I think when Keith said what if we did a job guarantee, and I said are you serious? He said oh no, not really. And when I first mentioned it to my senior team and when it came out in the strategic planning process, everyone’s initial reaction was well, whoa, that seems like a lot, that seems big. Do we really want to take that on? It seems risky. It is, but it’s also, I think, what people are looking for. What people want is some assurance that we’re in it with them and we’re holding ourselves accountable to deliver on this value proposition which is top of mind for families. So, there is a lot more focus now from government regulatory agencies on this return on investment concept.

Jay Gonzalez: 21:56

There was an article on the front page of the Boston Globe just a week or two ago about whether colleges are worth it, getting at this whole point about what is the job that students are getting coming out of colleges across the country, graduating from different academic majors and programs, and there are new reporting requirements imposed on colleges by the federal government around what is happening with students when they graduate and what are the jobs and how much are they earning and how does that compare to the debt that they’re taking out? This is out there. I mean this is happening, and we saw it as an opportunity to. Yes, it’s different, it’s bold, we’re taking a risk, but on the other hand, we should. We should hold ourselves accountable, and one of the things that I love about it is by doing so, it is forcing us to mobilize internally,people are. We are actively working and making a ton of progress to figure out how we make sure we deliver on this commitment for our students, and I’d rather be kind of in the forefront of that than getting dragged behind and doing it too late and not delivering for our students.

Lynn Abrahams: 23:30

You know, one of my kids went to a four-year liberal arts college and then when he got out he couldn’t find a job and worked at Subway for a long time and then ended up going to one of those boot camp things. And you know, so it was a little strange for us as parents that you know we paid for this big degree and then you know, then he goes to this sort of short-term thing. How is this different than that, than that short-term boot camp thing?

Jay Gonzalez: 24:03

Yeah.  Well, so there are a lot of people who are just skipping the college part and going to the six-month coding boot camp thing

Lynn Abrahams:

Right, which may not be a good plan either.

Jay Gonzalez:

Yeah, and that’s where we need to have a value proposition for students that is delivering on what they’re expecting to get out of the experience. So how is it different? We now need to hold ourselves more accountable for the job part and that’s what we’re trying to do through the Curry Commitment, than Curry or colleges generally have done in the past. But one of the things a place like Curry delivers, and always has,  is a much broader kind of base liberal arts, whatever you want to call it, breadth of education that prepares students with the skills they’re going to need to be successful in that job and any other job they get and just to navigate life. So critical thinking skills. Good communicators which I know Vicki spends a lot of time helping our students with. You know, good communicators which I know Vicki spends a lot of time helping our students with. You know, good communicators, you think about it being able to write an email that’s like critical in a lot of jobs An email that is cogent and people understand and communicates what you want to communicate, let alone giving a presentation or public speaking or just how to navigate an interview. So, communication skills working collaboratively with other people on a team to solve a problem. Getting exposure to a broader world than your personal world has been. You know, getting educated about different types of people, different cultures, different experiences you’re going to run into. Our students are going to run into lots of different types of people than they grew up with and they’re going to have to work with them and they’re going to have to understand them, and the more we can do to help prepare them for the life that they’re going to be engaging and the career experiences they’re going to be having, the more successful they’re going to be. So you get a lot more than learning how to code. You get a broader educational experience.

Jay Gonzalez: 26:23

One of the things we’re doing through the career readiness programming that we’re standing up to deliver on the commitment is supplementing what students get through the traditional academic program by providing a whole career readiness program that includes workshops around some of the key essential skills. They’re referred to as the NACE skills. It’s an organization that’s kind of identified the eight core skills that employers are looking for. It’s things like communicating, leadership, equity and inclusion, working on teams successfully, technology this career readiness programming that we’re putting in place for our students, which students will be engaging with from the day they start till the day they graduate has those types of components as well. And then there are workshops on some of the nuts and bolts-resumes, mock interviews, Linkedin, all these things that lots of people in their careers need to do.

Jay Gonzalez: 27:32

There are also going to be a lot of events that students that will be put on for students around networking, panels from employers who are talking about what they’re looking for in new employees, young employees who are coming out of college. So the programming that we’re putting in place to help emphasize and provide support around these essential skills for employment, along with some of the nuts and bolts and opportunities to meet employers, engage with them, network. Networks are so important. A third of our students at Curry are first-generation college students. My daughters and lots of others had a lot of privilege in the sense that if they wanted an internship, I knew some people and I could make a call and see if . . . a lot of our students don’t have parents who have those connections or relationships and networks are really important. Unfortunately too important to finding jobs and opportunities, and we’re going to be providing those types of experiences and opportunities for our students.

Vicki Nelson: 28:40

So you’ve talked a lot about all of those things that we’re providing everything from the workshops and the networks and the panels and all of that. And I know students are not part of this commitment Curry commitment program just by walking in the door. It’s voluntary. You ask students to sign up. I think one of the advantages of this is even for those students who choose not to sign up they’re going to get a lot of the benefits.

But can you talk a little bit about what we expect of those students who do sign up? We’re providing a lot for them. What’s their end of the bargain?

Jay Gonzalez: 29:22

We are providing a lot and we’re making a commitment, a guarantee, but so they have to do their part too. This is a two-way street, so it is a voluntary program. All the investment we’re making in career readiness programming will be available to all of our students.

Jay Gonzalez: 29:42

But if a student wants to qualify for the Commitment, the job guarantee, then there are certain requirements that they need to meet. First, they need to sign up for it. There’s an agreement that they sign that basically says we get what the expectations are and we swear to God we’re going to do everything we can to meet these expectations. So they need to engage with the career readiness programming we put in place and there are sanctioned events and workshops that count toward the commitment requirement and they’re going to be expected to attend five or six different career readiness programming events every semester over their four years at Curry. They also need to maintain a minimum GPA of 2.8 or higher. So we’ve tried to set it at a very reasonable, accessible place for students who should be at least hitting that mark.

Jay Gonzalez: 30:43

They need to do at least one internship or experiential learning opportunity, which we will help with the placement to the extent they want and need help with that.

Jay Gonzalez: 30:55

But they need to have one experience like that and they need to graduate in four years, and they need to start looking for their first job during their last semester at college. So as long as they meet those minimum requirements we’ve tried to set the bar at a very reasonable place, then they will be eligible for the Commitment. The signing up and the showing up to the five or six events, that’s a real test of their willingness to invest in their growth and development. Unfortunately, we all see it. There are times students who come to college and don’t show up to a class or to multiple classes and this is an investment they’re making in their future, the very least show up to class. Right? If we’re going to be making this commitment and promising to pay federal student loans if they don’t get a job, or placing them in a paid internship or whatever they choose, they need to have done their part too, and we believe, by doing their part, we’re going to be successful working with them to ensure they’re getting a job that they’re excited about when they graduate.

Vicki Nelson: 32:23

It’s a very exciting program. I can’t wait to see it unfold, because it is all brand new

Jay Gonzalez: 32:33

It is, and you’re not going to just see it, Vicki, you’re going to be part of it, I know the Communication department is actually great about requiring internships and have a lot of great relationships in the media and communication world in the greater Boston area, and have placed a lot of our communication students in great internship opportunities and do a lot. It’s one of the neatest things about our faculty here is how much they care about our students beyond just the classroom, and the Communication department in particular has done a great job about giving our students job opportunities and helping to make connections for them. I’ve met a ton of students who have benefited and they speak about Professor Carberry or whoever it was who helped them get a job and so you will be part of it. But you won’t be alone anymore. The college is investing in a big way to work collaboratively with our faculty and others on campus to make sure we’re all rowing the right direction to get our students jobs.

Lynn Abrahams: 33:38

So how do you see the role of parents in this?

Jay Gonzalez: 33:47

Well, parents obviously play a critical role. It’s great that you guys are focused on this and I know Vicki has talked with me a little bit about it. We’re really through another strategic initiative we have. We’re working at Curry on how we do a better job engaging families and supporting students here. You know, I think I’m interested in what you guys think about this, but families are the most important advisor and supporter for students, right? And you know, the point at which a child goes to college is a big moment for the child and for the parents.

Jay Gonzalez: 34:31

Speaking as a parent. This is the child is being asked to take a big step forward in terms of their own agency and independence and personal development and growth, and the parents have to let go a little bit, but they also need to be there for their child.

Jay Gonzalez: 34:57

And you know, I think the I mean personally my opinion on this is parents can be extremely helpful in making sure that the student, their child, is advocating for themselves in the situations where the college might not be delivering on their end of the bargain in terms of what was expected from the college in one way or another, but that the student is also engaging and investing in their own personal growth and development and taking advantage of all the opportunities the college has.

Jay Gonzalez: 35:34

If I was a parent of a student going to Curry College, I would be advising my child you might want to think about signing up for the Curry Commitment Program and showing up to the five or six things every semester. So you know it’s as we all know, being a parent is hard. They don’t always want to listen to you and to whatever advice you have and how you approach it is for every relationship between a parent and a child probably depends but being there for them and helping to make sure they’re considering both whether there’s anything they’re being shortchanged on from the college that they should be advocating for themselves for, and whether they’re doing their part to take advantage of everything the college has to offer.

Vicki Nelson: 36:25

We often talk about the idea of becoming a coach. So you know, moving from that caretaking aspect in high school and then you’re on the sidelines as a coach. But any good athlete says I owe it all to my coach, and so you know. You don’t say let me as a coach. You don’t say let me just run this play because I can do it better. But helping students learn how to do all of the things you’re talking about,

Jay Gonzalez: 36:52

Yeah, I think it’s really good advice and thinking of it as a coach is a great way to put it. I have the pleasure of meeting and dealing with lots of parents and families and I really enjoy it, and I often seek out parents to talk to. I had dinner last week with a parent of one of our freshmen One. It’s great for me to get a sense from them of their sense of what their child’s experience has been and what’s working or what isn’t working. But with all the families that I interact with, there are some who have a harder time giving up the caretaking part and there are some who have, it’s been very easy for them to cut the cord and you’re off. You know it is hard because it’s a big change and you know, I think the coach model is a good one. This is an opportunity for your child to grow, to become more confident.

Jay Gonzalez: 38:06

Confidence is such a big thing. You know, when we talk about career readiness, what are all the things that you know, all the competencies and all that, just like leaving college feeling confident that you’re ready. That in and of itself is huge, and I’ve heard from lots of particularly who’ve gone through the PAL program here, Lynn, that you were a part of. That supports students with learning differences where but not just those students where their experience here. A lot of times when I ask you know what was your experience at Curry what worked and what would you love about it? A lot of times I will hear them talk about it. It was the first time I felt like I really belonged somewhere and I got the confidence that I could do it. It was the first educational setting for a lot of the students you worked with where they felt like you know what. Yeah, I could do this. I’m smart and they had the confidence to carry on.

Jay Gonzalez: 38:58

Parents as coaches should be encouraging to carry on. My advice would be encouraging their students to do things, engage, advocate for themselves as opposed to doing it for them, because they’re going to develop that confidence that they can and that they’re going to be successful doing so when they leave.

Vicki Nelson: 39:25

And it’s one of the reasons I think we’re so pleased that a number of people who seem to listen to our podcast are high school parents, because that’s the time when you can lay that foundation for helping students have some of that confidence and know how to advocate and know how to do things for themselves, and then as parents, we can be confident sending them off because we know they’ve accomplished those milestones.

Jay Gonzalez?

Yeah, it’s a great point.

Lynn Abrahams: 39:55

So I think we could talk all day. We could keep going all day.

Vicki Nelson: 39:59

I’m trying to think of. You know, just pulling together everything you’ve told us about presidencies and what that’s about, and I think hopefully parents understand a little more now about that person as president and maybe they want to ask when they’re looking at colleges who’s the president and maybe have some questions for him.

And then also that idea certainly the commitment program and creating that or making it happen thanks to Keith, team effort. What would you like to leave parents with from the vantage point of a college president? If you could just say here’s my bottom line message to parents, whether they’re parents of current college students or prospective, as they’re looking at colleges and considering, do you have anything you’d leave people with?

Jay Gonzalez: 41:00

I would say there are lots of great colleges and there are lots of factors that will impact which ones might be best for your child, the academic major they’re interested in, whether they want an urban environment or not an urban environment. There are all kinds of factors. One that I think is really important is whether your child feels comfortable at whatever the place is. In order for them to be successful, wherever they end up, it needs to be a place where they will feel comfortable or they’ll feel like they belong or they feel connected.

Jay Gonzalez: 41:51

And you can’t know that 100% for sure before you start, before the child starts there and actually has the experience there. But the child will have a sense of that. Right? When you’re visiting campuses and checking things out. And I would say don’t ignore that part of it. In fact, really be tuned to it, because it is such an important factor in whether or not a student is going to get the most out of their experience at college. And I would encourage parents to encourage their students to be in tune with that as they’re visiting and thinking about different places. And then the coaching part, I think that’s the most valuable role a parent can play and the most constructive role in helping their children get the most out of the college experience, grow the most, become as independent as possible and have that confidence that they’re going to need.

Vicki Nelson: 42:57

Great advice to leave people with.

Lynn Abrahams: 42:59

Nuggets of wisdom from the president of Curry.

Vicki Nelson: 43:05

And before we let you go, we have one more question. So when you came to Curry, one of the first things you did you brought a really important partner to work with you here, and I’m wondering if you could tell us a little bit about Graham and why you thought it was important to have Graham be part of the Curry team.

Jay Gonzalez: 43:23

I’ll tell you the Graham story. So, for those who don’t know, listen to this podcast. Graham, his formal name is Alexander Graham Bell. He is the Curry dog. Alexander Graham Bell was a chancellor at Curry College way back when. When I started, I asked my team what are some quick wins that we can get with students? What are things students have been asking for that we just haven’t delivered on? That would be easy for us to quickly do and improve the student experience. And one of the things that came up was students have talked about could we have a service dog on campus?

Jay Gonzalez: 44:03

So I talked to my wife about that and she had been working in the town of Needham where they had a service dog that was bred and trained by this organization called Gofie. That’s based in Walpole. It breeds and trains English cream golden retrievers. It was part of the police force. His name was Rocket Officer Rocket and she would come home from work all the time and if she saw Rocket that day I would have to listen about Rocket for like a half an hour and see all the pictures.

Jay Gonzalez: 44:34

So then you know, we start talking about it and it turns out my assistant in the president’s office, Amy, who you might know also volunteers for Gofie and has had three dogs from Gofie. So at that point there was no turning back.

We had to do it, so, Cindy and I got Graham from Gofie.

Jay Gonzalez: 44:56

He goes to training. He was going four days a week. He now goes two days a week. He’s a little over a year old and he lives with us in the president’s house, comes to work with me every day, goes to training a couple of days a week and otherwise students take him around campus. He as you know, he is a rock star on campus. He is such a positive presence. The students love him. He’s amazing with the students and it’s been a really positive thing for the community. I think you know it’s kind of like your team or being a Red Sox fan if you’re from Boston. It’s like one thing that we all share and Graham is something that we all share at Curry and, yeah, he’s been great. He’s been a lot, as a family that didn’t have a dog before, and we haven’t had kids in the house, so now it’s like we’re going to go out to. No, we can’t go out because we’ve got the dog. But he’s been great and yeah really glad we got him.

Lynn Abrahams: 45:57

He’s beloved.

Jay Gonzalez: 45:58

He is yeah.

Vicki Nelson: 45:59

And you did not list him as one of the challenges of being a college president, so that’s great.

Thank you so much. We’re so happy to talk to Jay Gonzalez, the president of Curry College, and to learn a little more about presidency, because I don’t think a lot of people understand who the president is and what the president does, and then to hear about the Curry Commitment Program, which I suspect right now is one of a handful, but we’ll have many, many more programs following. So thank you so much for giving us your time, because it sounds like you keep busy.

Jay Gonzalez: 46:41

Yeah, well, thanks for having me. This was fun,

Lynn Abrahams:

Thank you so much Thanks.