 Big weekend continues at Norfolk State University, part of the cohort of 100 historically black colleges and universities nationwide celebrating commencement weekend and throughout the month. Joining us today is Norfolk State University President Dr. Javon Adams-Gaston who's here to talk about the big weekend to return to campus and in-person celebration, preparation for the fall philanthropy and all things in between. So, Madam President goes without saying, first glad to have you here as usual. Big weekend, big weekend for you guys. You're on the heels of a major gift announcement. You're on the heels of a major football coach hiring. At what point do you start to breathe or is that gonna come into summertime? I think we are so excited for all the things that are happening for Norfolk State University. And I just gotta tell you, my view is as we have talked about being on this upward trajectory, we really feel very confident and very comfortable that good things will continue to happen for Norfolk State University. And if what you're breathing in is fresh air, new air, you don't ever want to see that stop. So, I'm just excited. The big thing, I think that one of the big things that happened for you guys this year obviously was the McKennedy-Scott gift. A number of HBCUs that were fortunate enough to receive those funds and launch new initiatives of scholarship programming, academic development, new fundraising goals. What is your vision for Norfolk State for that specific philanthropy? And the other funding that has come in since and how do you think that the university can leverage it for future gifts and future success? Well, Jared, I really appreciate the gift that was received by Norfolk State University from McKennedy-Scott. It really is a transformational gift. I mean, when you think about $40 million to an HBCU, that means a lot. And it has a lot to do with the continuity of the school and really thinking about what it is that we can become as an institution. So a lot of that money we have put towards endowment in order to make this a sustainable gift. And endowment means you get to draw off a significant amount each year, right? So our first priority, of course, is our students and scholarships and a need-based funding. So this really helps the university to be able to do that year over year. And then we've got some other pockets of areas that we wanna do some extension of some of the work that our faculty and our staff programs, that research and programs that may be available. So we're going to have a component of this money where faculty and staff create, we're gonna create a, we are in the process of creating a committee to review proposals. And then there's a portion of this that is for transformational ideas for the university. But all in all, we really use it to increase our endowment so that we continue to have significant funding for the university over the long haul. What's wonderful also about this gift is gifts tend to be get other gifts. And so as we're beginning to see the return on investment, we had the Dominion Energy give us $2.7 million. And that has some specific opportunities, but one such opportunity is to help students who are in their final semester of school to close the gap so that we know often our students leave the institution just as they are about to graduate, not because they don't do well, but because they don't have the funding. So this was a $2.7 million gift that included that and included some bridge program and some money for our public policy, our camp program. Those kinds of things are things that are really gearing up for a future for Norfolk State University. And another one would be, we had a major foundation who's gonna give us money for what we call our NEMA scholarship, which is the Disorts National Institute for Mathematics and Applied Science. That's for our students who are really interested in STEM and really good in STEM and to fund that program more. And so these things are big game changers for the university. In addition to that, and we can get into this later, we have a number of corporations who've come in and said, we wanna partner with you. Those are really important components to the success of Norfolk State University. It's an exciting time, Jer. Do you think there any, we obviously know the opportunities associated with being on the receiving end of those kinds of gifts. Are there any challenges associated with being one of those higher profile recipients? You mentioned Dominion, had partnerships with Netflix, I've had an opportunity to talk to faculty about that program. How do you, what is the culture like for an executive leading the school and managing expectations where you're now looked at as a place where people wanna invest, companies wanna invest because I think that to the late person that the suggestion is, oh, y'all got plenty money now. So you can change some of these buildings and you can give out all the scholarships in the world. So how do you simultaneously negotiate, let's have some more corporate outreach and donor outreach, but yet tell your campus, here's the way that we strategically manage and it may not look like a new building or it may not look like a new gym, something like that. That is really important. Managing expectations of course is gonna be really important to people understanding the power of these gifts. And the power of these gifts is that you can do things today, but 10 years from now, you can still do things that are making a difference. Fortunately, we have had the state provide appropriations for like a new science building, a new facilities building and the funding to begin the work on a new fine arts building. So that's the upside of being a public institution when it works, but you gotta be out there working with the legislators and getting them to understand what your needs are keeping your hand raised all the time because there are a lot of hands out there and a lot of hands think that they should have more and others should have less and you have to keep reminding them why this is important. But it actually works to mostly to your advantage to have large donations either from single donors or from corporations because what it does, it gives you a visibility to get your name out there so that others begin to say, hey, there must be something really important going on at that school, we need to get involved with that. Now, with that part of the challenge is management of that money is crucial, management of those relationships is crucial and getting everybody to understand we're not gonna spend $40 million. It's not a $40 million piggy bank that we're gonna bang with a hammer and here's all the money. It is a $40 million piggy bank where we're gonna invest the money so we get more money and that allows us to spend off and that's a hard thing for a lot of people to understand because essentially we hear 40 million we think you guys are good forever. Well, no, that's not true. What we are is just at the front end of being able to demonstrate how important this institution is to this Commonwealth and to this nation. If you can for as much as you would like to disclose just for the benefit of lay persons that don't understand how those conversations go what is it like to be in the room with the head of dominion or the head of a corporation that says, hey, we talked to us about what we should invest in and how do you make that case? They already want to give but how do you steer them towards strategic objectives for the university whether that's programmatic development or research development or real estate acquisition how do you kind of look at a company and say, you know what, you need to be over here and this company right here needs to be over there. That is a really good question also and it is dependent on having an excellent team. I have a great executive team and so I have a number of people that I can go to and then we're deep because I have other people who are who have excellence in various areas and you call those people in and you say, let's think about the most creative ways and that we can help this company as we think about who they are and what they've done most creative ways that we can pitch to them what we think we would like them to invest in and that's really important if unless it's an unrestricted gift if it's a gift, most gifts have some designation and so when you get to help them shape that designation that means that you are keeping what are your priorities for the institution at the forefront of what you're doing and so utilizing the people on your team who can best think about, okay, if we know it's gonna be dominion there's certain things that we know they're interested in if it's gonna be Netflix, we know there's certain things they're gonna be interested in, Apple, they're gonna be interested in some other things and having the best minds in the room to help you creatively come up with this is how we're gonna pitch to this particular corporation because we know we've learned this about them and we know this about ourselves and we know this is where we want to go because that's really the key you don't want people investing in you and sort of telling you what it is that they want you to do that may not be consistent with what you are most interested in now, having said that, Jared, all dollars are good dollars but you want to help them understand your institution and your mission and your vision and how you can help their mission and vision meet yours and those are the best relationships and it's a good thing when you have so many things that you're good at because in Norfolk, when you take a close look at it it is the STEM development but there's also a very vibrant and growing fine arts department and there's also athletics and we'll turn that to the next question so as I mentioned at the top you guys get a big time football coach in Dawson Odom steal him from Louisiana and you're coming back in the fall and a big part of that return to campus is the return to athletics you have a career of success in athletics what is it like for you or what are some of the things that you and your team are talking about and the re-engagement of the campus particularly around athletics and student life because that's going to be such a critical part of what is a safe return look like even with vaccinations even with all these fail safes that we're putting in place it's still going to be a homecoming that's going to be a rack of people so what are you guys talking about now in terms of the fall? So a couple of things one is we're sort of directed by what the state tells us what the Department of Health for the state and the governor instruct us to do as well as the CDC so we're going to wrap our decisions around what those requirements are going to be but as the state opens up and as the country opens up we're really looking at how to engage safely we have a very large stadium which is a good thing we have 30,000 seats in our stadium so that's a really good thing because you can still do a fair amount of social distancing for some time to come and someday we'll be back and 30,000 seats will be filled but right now we may not be able to accommodate 30,000 people in the stadium but we can accommodate quite a few people and still manage that social distancing so we're going to be one really out in front in terms of vaccinations we want and encourage everyone in our community to be vaccinated and just last week we had our first vaccination clinic we've been working with the state on that since state and federal government since January we had our first vaccination clinic was very successful and it's not only for our students, faculty and staff but it's for our community because right outside our door are people who need to be vaccinated and maybe the nearest vaccination center was five miles away well, that doesn't seem like very far if you have easy access to transportation but if you don't, it's a long way but you can walk over here and many of our churches who were right around us also did vaccination clinics so being a part of the community and letting the community know we are invested and care about you and that we are making sure that you have the opportunity to do what you need to do to keep the community safe that's helping all of us because to the degree they wanna come to the games and they wanna come and engage at the university and come to the amazing theater productions and music productions and all of those things we want people to be vaccinated so that we stay safe as a community and then the other part of this is really having the opportunity for students as they're returning to campus to really understand that some of what they came to campus for in terms of the development of self that has to do with outside of the classroom experience we still want them to have so we're gonna work very hard to provide those opportunities we're gonna do it safely but as the governor extends the opportunity for people to have more people gather particularly during the months that are nice and actually in Virginia that's a lot of the months so we can do things outside we can as students are vaccinated they can be engaged fully those kind of things will still mask up at least for the foreseeable future but really it's very important that students have the opportunity to not only engage in the classroom and to grow and stretch in the classroom but to grow and stretch outside of the classroom because with those two together that's how they develop and figure out who they are and who they want to be in the world and then go out and develop those leadership skills and as you know, Jared in the world of work today it's not just your major in fact, the major may be a minor thing for them but it's how well you write, how well you speak how well you operate on teams can you critically think have you been in a diverse environment and understand and appreciate diversity so we want our students to be what we call first day ready so we're constantly doing both in the classroom outside of the classroom and in internships the opportunity for them to stretch and grow and COVID has made that somewhat difficult because a lot of it has been virtual but we are gearing up for a lot of it being in person. Do you think that there's going to be emphasis on specific kind of resources that are gonna be needed for some of the students like for example, and we've talked before about what does mental health look like what is police and public safety looking like after COVID when people are back on campus is there any conversation about that or how do you kind of strategize around those topics? Lots of conversation especially around the mental health concerns. We have watched the proliferation of depression and anxiety in college campuses for many years and I have spent a lot of my years either as a psychologist or as somebody working to ensure that the mental health needs are taken care of as they have shot up. It's grown even worse. Now if you think about many of these students let's just think about the class that is coming in this year. They have been at least a year and a half most of them have been working remotely or online for their classes. They've been at home much of the time it's not just you're online and then you go to the museum or you're online and then you go to the zoo. You're online and then you're at home. Online and go to the living room. Exactly. Exactly. And so now you've got people who are in a major part of their developmental process who are somewhat isolated, often lonely often trying to figure out who I am in the world when I'm not in the world and they're coming to school and last year's group had done that for almost a year and now we got a second group who's done it for more like a year and a half. And so one of the things we know is they need more support particularly emotional social support so that they can make the transition and grow. So there is no going back to normal. It is going to a new normal and providing the services, the support, the outreach that it's gonna take to help these students transition. And that's what we're really looking at. How do we help these students transition? And it is also the case that with our public safety our police and the force here, we are very fortunate. We have great public safety leaders and contributors who really see this as an educational experience. And so they really spend a lot of time with our students. They talk with them, they help them understand but it's a tough world outside the gates of the university. And so what I often say to our students and also for our faculty, staff and especially our public safety leaders is for many of these students this is the first time they've had positive interaction with public safety and police ever in their life. And so I'm so grateful for how well our police do here. But I also know, and they've done some really good panels and round tables with students around policing and interacting with the police where they're very upfront with the students that it's not the same off campus as it is on campus. And so how do we help change that, right? But at the same time acknowledge that they're in a relatively safe place and they're with people who really care about them. So we're really working hard on we got to do something different here. We can't have what's happening in the nation continue to happen, but we've got some good models. And so let's use them. One of the things that is of growing concern among a lot of the presidents and chancellors I've had a chance to talk to is the idea that with a lot of the funding that has come legislatively from the states or the federal government that there may be cuts coming because they say, well, we took care of you during COVID you don't need as much. Some of y'all are getting expanded application opportunities you don't need as much. You got debt forgiven. You don't need as much. Is that a concern for Norfolk State or HBCUs at large? How do you see that as a president? And if you are concerned about it what kind of strategy are you considering to deal with a brace for what may be cuts to come in the future? Maybe not this year, but maybe next year or the year after that. That certainly is a possible reality. And I think that as I talk to my presidential colleagues we're gearing up for really having legislators and others understand that for many years HBCUs have been significantly underfunded. They have been not given what they needed to be supportive. So even in the advent of this, sort of now we're giving you a lot it still doesn't make up for all the time that we didn't get what was really due to HBCUs. And by the way, when you start to think about the percentage of students that are coming from HBCUs into the world of work, as we always say, we punch above our weight. So we have more students who graduate from HBCUs than the percentage represented in the total population. So it's 3% of higher education institutions or HBCUs and yet, we're running between 20, 25 and 30% of the graduates. So when you think about that, what I think that people have to remember is this is not a one and done. And so we can't afford to take our foot off the gas. We have to remind people that what did not occur previously has not been rectified by one and done. That in fact, if you're talking about having the brightest minds and the most diverse populations, you need to be at the HBCUs. That you need to invest in the HBCUs in big ways that allow for what this country says it wants to be, which is a diverse, inclusive, equitable society. And if we're going to do that, you can't say, okay, we gave you, we're done with you guys, we gave you what you needed. And I am, because of my background, I know it's possible. And so I never accept that this is all that you can do. And then the final thing, with all things considered, and particularly the successes that you guys have had in recent weeks and months, what do you think that you've learned most about your team, your institution, your community, yourself in such an extraordinary time that who knows when we'll ever see anything like this again. None of us has ever seen this before. But what did you learn about the resilience or the fragility or the dexterity of your, of the Norfolk State community in dealing with an overcoming a pandemic? It has been quite remarkable, the people at Norfolk State University. First off, the resilience has been amazing. We asked faculty to essentially pivot on a dime. We asked them to pivot in a couple of weeks in that very first March of 2020 to everything being in-person, to everything being online, and they did it, and they were successful at it. It wasn't that it didn't have hiccups, but they were successful at it. We asked our students to, for the most part, go home and for the students who needed to stay, for those students to stay. And we asked them to pivot from what they came to the campus for, which was online learning in and outside of the classroom, to now they're pivoting to everything online. We asked our student affairs and other individuals to stay, and they've stayed the entire time. When other people went home and sort of worked from home, they were here. And they, our facilities people stayed, they did what it took to maintain and move us forward. So what I learned is we have people who are highly committed, who are very resilient, and who want the best for this institution. I have an amazing executive team, a cabinet that really nothing that we have been asked or asked for or I've asked them to do, I've never had a no. I've only had a yes and, and I can do this and this and this, and they're creative and they really think about new ways of doing old business. So I'm really, really pleased. I learned about myself that I love what I do. I love what I get to do. And, you know, when I came to Norfolk State, I knew it was my assignment. In fact, my husband was the one who said, this is our assignment. And because I have been here and we have been here, we have known that there is such an opportunity to continue to make a difference in the lives of young people, many of whom are African-American, but we have Latinx, we have Asian-Americans, we have natives, we have international students, native Americans, international since you name it. But it is about what the HBCUs were built on, which is to provide access, affordability, and what I call success, for people who might not otherwise have had an opportunity. For us, we have about 70% of our students are Pell eligible. Many of first-time students, some come from means and also have several generations of individuals and their family who have graduated from undergraduate and graduate or professional school, but we have the range. And here, everybody is treated equitably. Everybody is invited into the room the very first moment they come to the campus. They know that this is your family. And here, not only are you supported, but you are challenged. We know that we can help you be who you want to be. And we're gonna work hard with you and for you in the classroom, our faculty really work with the students. In the outside of the classroom, our professionals work with the students. And overall, we have such a commitment to the individual. So for me, what I learned is I am thankful that this is my assignment. And I am thankful for the people around me who make it possible for this journey to be so successful.