 Lakeland Public Television presents Currents with host Ray Gildow, sponsored by Niswa Tax Service, offering tax preparation for individuals and businesses across from the City Hall in Niswa and on the web at niswatax.com. Hello again, everyone. I'm Ray Gildow and you're watching Lakeland Currents. Thanks for tuning us in tonight. Where I have an opportunity to introduce the new president of Central Lakes College, her name is Hera Charlier. Welcome to the area. Thank you so much. And I have a confession to make. I have never met a person named Hera. You're the first. And I have a real serious question to ask you. Have you ever met anyone named Ray? I have. Oh, shoot. I've got you on that one. Well, welcome to Brainerd. Thank you. And how long have you been on your new job? I started July 1. July 1. Tell us a little bit about your background, where you're from, what's your educational experience. I'm sure a lot of curious minds would like to know. Sure, sure. I'm originally from upstate New York. Small, rural area, very, very agricultural and had wonderful opportunities there. Love growing up in a tiny little town. And I really struggled in college. Took me five different institutions to get my bachelor's degree. Even though I had my parents went to college and it should have been easy for me, I really struggled. So I finally graduated from Cornell and was going to be a vet. And then I didn't get into vet school. So did not have a plan B like many students and went and got my master's from Miami of Ohio. And when I finally got into vet school, I had started teaching and I just fell in love with teaching. So then? So what was your master's then? It was in microbiology. So my bachelor's is in animal science and the master's is in micro. And certainly you realize that would train you to become a college president. I'm not sure how that actually works. So then when you got out of the classroom, where did you go? I went up teaching at Miami of Ohio for five years on their faculty. What's that in Rome? Oh, about 16,000 when we were there. So it's a pretty big school they've grown since then. It's a big Midwestern school. So for five years on the faculty, my husband, who's a watchmaker, was relocated. And I couldn't find a position in academia. You know how that works. And I ended up going into private industry selling scientific equipment, which was one of the hardest thing I've ever done. But it was also my foray into administration. I became director of operations. So I did that for five years and loved the microbiology and the science, did not love the mission, but did love helping people to reach their potential as a manager, a director. So when I finally got the opportunity to come back into academia, I happened to find myself in community colleges. And I realized that the students there reminded me of myself when I was struggling as an undergraduate student, because I went to two community colleges and without them, I wouldn't be doing anything that I am today. So everything just kind of clicked. And I realized that I needed to be in community colleges. It's really what I was called to do. I was on the faculty, then I became a dean, a vice president, and here I am. I think that's an interesting point you make that the two-year colleges are so vital to the development of so many people who sometimes made a mistake in life and walked away from school and came back to a college. Tell us a little bit about Central Lakes College. What do you offer? I know you have worked there myself, but you have more than just the degree programs. What are some of the other things that you have at the college? Well, what's really wonderful about comprehensive community colleges like Central Lakes is that we really are comprehensive. So we have the community college programs that one thinks about, the liberal arts and transfer, so that students who are interested in starting at Central Lakes and going beyond and elsewhere are very well prepared to do that and we know that our students are very successful. But we also have an extremely strong emphasis in career and technical education programs that are so important to, especially rural areas, but truthfully, all of Minnesota. So videography and nursing and heavy equipment and the list goes on and on. And those programs are designed to have students enter immediately into the workforce. And I think those are very exciting programs because as soon as we moved here, I ran into our students who were then working in the field. So we do all of that range of programming in addition to customized training, working with business and industry to meet their needs and designing programs for them and making sure that students have great student life so they can be successful. It's kind of interesting to me to see the evolution of the colleges in Minnesota because when I first started in the college system, we just had technical colleges in Minnesota, four-year colleges, two-year colleges, private schools. And then when we merged in 1995 to become this system that exists now, that's constantly changing too. But basically what happened isn't what was explained, it was going to happen from our legislature at the past and not to bring up old things or not. But it's just very different than what we thought it would be or what it would look like because we thought an original local economy was very important that you would still have local control while that's all gone now with the state system. And there's probably been good things about it. One of the driving forces about that was to make it so that wherever a student took a course, they could transfer it to another school in the state. Is that getting easier? And I know you don't have that history here in Minnesota, but from your knowledge, is it getting pretty easy now if you took a course at CLC, you could transfer it to Duluth, the UMD at Duluth? Yes, I think that it's always something that systems struggle with, the system I came from did as well. But there is a huge emphasis on making that simpler. And I can say that one of our children is a student at CLC. So she's looking at where her course is transferred and they will readily transfer to almost every institution across the state. So some are more streamlined than others, but Minnesota State is now working on making sure that that pathway is as smooth as it possibly can be. No, you're not called Minsky anymore. No, we're not. What is it called now? Okay, so we're still Minnesota State colleges and universities, but we're not using the acronym Minsky because it's confusing to students, and in itself doesn't mean anything. So we are Minnesota State. Minnesota State. But there is also a campus called Minnesota State. So that's a little confusing, isn't it? It is. Is that the Wadena? I can't remember. Detroit Lakes Wadena. And First Falls, right? And First Falls. So that's Minnesota State too. So there's two Minnesota States, but that's not your problem. I think that's Minnesota State Community and Technical College. Okay. And the entire system is Minnesota State. Okay. So the colleges that you came from, you were a dean, weren't you at one time? I was a dean and a VP. And were you dealing with unions when you had your college that you were at? No, that's such a good question. Virginia is a right to work state, so no unions at all. Great relationships, faculty contracts, but no unions. So a very different environment. The other thing I've noticed in just reading the papers that we now have about 50% of our college presidents are women. And I don't know that there's another state that can make that claim. I don't know, but I would be surprised. That's pretty amazing, isn't it? It is. It's truly amazing. I think that, I think it says a lot that the system has emphasized equity and diversity. And it doesn't happen accidentally. You know, they train their search committees to just realize that they have some implicit bias and to make sure that everyone has a fair chance, that we have good mentors, great professional development. It's really one part of the, one of the things in the system that interested me. Because to say it's almost 50% is very unique, as you say. Yeah, it's exciting. We had Lane Larson, the new superintendent of schools on a while back. And we were talking about the funding issues and the durability of leaders in higher ed and in the high schools. The average superintendent in America today lasts about 3.7 years on the job. I'm not sure what it is for college presidents, but it's dwindling all the time. And I can remember reading in a chronicle of higher education back in the early 90s that we were going to have this huge shortage of educational leaders, both K through 12 and higher ed. And it's here. It's really happening. And I think the disturbing trend that we're also seeing is we're starting to see a huge shortage of teachers. Right. And part of that is the salary. Part of it is I think the perception of politicians and people in certain countries and places where we don't respect the teachers in our country the way they do. I had a couple of former superintendents on last year and they were talking about Hong Kong and some of the Chinese places, how teachers are so revered because they see the value that they have in making a future for their country. So you're taking on a job that's very challenging, high risk, and probably high reward, at a time when the funding per student has gone from the... I got the data here from the... 1991, almost $13,000 per student to about $6,500 today. So we've dropped that funding for students in colleges in half. And so tuition has to have had to rise to offset that. And we're getting more and more heat from people who don't want the tuition to rise. But across education, the cost for most education is about 80% is in people, in teachers and staff. Where do you see this going? I'm not that you are the guru of this, but just as a president stepping into this kind of a role now, what do you think is happening? Sure. Well, the data that you provided is national data. So the good news and the bad news is that this is not a Minnesota problem. This is a national issue. And there was a time when I first moved into community colleges, the state of, in that case, it was Virginia, but it was fairly common, provided about 60% of the funding. And that was over a decade ago. That's really almost switched. And now it's much greater that we depend upon tuition. In Minnesota, it is quite interesting. So not only has state support declined, however, the state has now put money back into our funding so that we don't have to raise tuition in such an extreme way. Yeah, they really wanted to put a cap on that. And I think that makes sense, because we know that the more we raise tuition, the more we decrease access. And if we're going to meet our mission, we can't continue to do that. So it creates kind of a unique problem, though. So in addition to the funding shift in Virginia, I mean, pardon me, in Minnesota, we've actually rolled back tuition by 1% to make things even more accessible to this coming year. So that creates an additional challenge. So one of the reasons that I really wanted to do this and become a college president is I believe so strongly in community colleges we're all facing this challenge. I think we will look different in five or 10 years. We have to change the way we do things. And the system, all systems, but Minnesota is no different, is looking at how we can become more efficient, how we can find different ways to do things so that we preserve what we know is so important. I want to be part of that. So I think we are in for some challenging times. I don't think people really... none of us have the absolute solutions, and I think that's to be expected. We'll be talking to the legislature and trying to get additional support. We are making changes at the system level to be much more efficient. And we are working with students to help them be more successful so that when they invest in their college time, they are actually successful. And I think that will help us tremendously. But it's a tremendous challenge. There's no question. It really is. I do some work with high school seniors and a couple of statistics I share with them is that most of today's high school seniors will have between nine and 14 different jobs, careers in their lifetime. Amazing. And it's important that when they walk into a college, I always tell them, if you want to go to Central Lakes College, you go there and visit it before putting your money on the table. Or if you want to go to UMD or North Dakota State, you wouldn't buy a $50,000 car without sitting in it or looking at it. So get a flavor of what it is that they do. And I think that the thing that's amazing about the colleges, especially the two-year colleges, is you have those diploma, different diploma options. A person doesn't have to be locked into two years or one year, sometimes just a six-month diploma, that allows them to go out in the workplace and get a job. So being nimble and quick is what two-year colleges have been known for and I think still is one of the real features of what they can do. But it's interesting, the Chinese and the Indians have sent so many of their straight A students to America because we still have the best educational system. But this year, for the first time, we're ranked number two. Did you see that? I did. And that's a little disturbing. It makes us rethink things. It really does. It does. If there's any theme in education, it's going to be change, that we really have to think about what we're doing and why we're doing it and be ready for that change and be nimble, as you say. That is much easier said than done, you know. Online learning. Where are you at as a college with online learning? Sure. What percentage of your programs are online? Almost all of our programs, certainly liberal arts, but almost all of our programs have some online component. About 23% of our students take something online. I think it's part of the cadre of offerings that all colleges have to provide because our students have very specific needs and they need that flexibility in many cases. So the college has grown its online learning over the past about five years or so. So about a quarter of the students are doing some online learning. And we know that it's important that we assess our programs, whether they're a face-to-face program or an online program. So we do lots of assessment, as you well know, to make sure the students are learning. Those courses are equal in terms of their learning outcomes and how the courses are designed. However, one of the things that we're hearing from students is that they love online learning some, but some really want more face-to-face. So we're looking right now as a college at what is the right balance of face-to-face and online learning. We know that we need both, but there is no recipe to figure that out. So we're reaching out to students. We'll be having conversations with faculty. We're looking at student success data to see what that correct mix is. And we're bringing in some really interesting technologies. One of them, for example, is called Live Online. I don't know if you've heard about that, but most online courses are asynchronous, right? So the students accessing the online course through a learning management system at a time different from when the faculty member is logged in. Live Online is a platform whereby students can be sitting in a class. Another student or group of students can be streaming from home, and they can all be participating in one-on-one discussion in live synchronous time, or they can watch it later. So we're hoping that technology like this helps to bridge the gap, give people some face-time, but also the flexibility of online learning, and that we'll have to bring into our mix of what's working and the bottom line is student success. We can offer everything we want, but we have to look to see where students are successful and how they're proceeding toward their goals. That's the bottom line, and we're going to be spending a lot of time. So I really do get a sense that you have a great student focus. I do. And that's so vital, I think, for people in administrative positions to make sure that everything they do benefits students, and that's good to see. What's the staffing level you have at CLC now? You've got the Staples campus, the Brainerd campus. Do you have any on-site stuff going on in your sites, or is that basically? Those are the two primary sites. We're about 300 right now, just if it hovers, just around 300. And student enrollment is roughly? About 5,500 students annually. And enrollment is a bit down. And it is everywhere, I think. It is everywhere, that's correct. We're down today, and it fluctuates quite a bit by about 4% over last, compared to last fall. So in a perfect world, that would not be happening, obviously, but it's another one of those challenges that nationally we're facing. Because every time you have enrollment decreases, you get budget cuts. That's correct. We don't get the student tuition and fees, which is important to us. And it's not about students being numbers, of course. I mean, I think some people don't understand why enrollment is so important to us, and they think, gosh, isn't it odd that you're looking at the college like a business? We're not. We know that every FYE, as you well know, is a student. Every student has a name. Every name has a story. And the more our enrollment declines, the less likely we are to be able to meet other students' needs and provide wonderful programming for them. So we want enrollment to stay up because we know it's good for the college, but ultimately it's good for students in the community. So we have those resources to do great things. What's happening in your area of customized training? Well, it's interesting. Across Minnesota State, there are a lot of changes in customized training. We recognize that you mentioned autonomy earlier, and there's still quite a bit of autonomy in all the different colleges. They do things very differently. And customized training is designed to meet the needs of all business and industry, as you know, in the region. It turns out it's very difficult to do that without tremendously strong staffing levels, and it can be quite costly. So we find that we're having difficulty meeting the needs of all business and industry. So the state is looking at a model by which Central Lakes College can do its thing. And then we do a lot of wonderful things in leadership training and EMS and fire and, you know, OSHA, lots of very cool things where we're strong. But if a business needs something that we don't have expertise in, the system would like to provide us with a way to tap into expertise that might be across the system. So we do a better job as a system, meeting the needs. So you have some technical specialty. That's right. Individuals that could go to the sites and work with them. They're working on that model. And the goal is really to meet the talent needs of the state in a better way. And I think those conversations are very interesting. Of course, they also make people very... make people uneasy because change is not easy. But we've got a terrific team with a very open mind about how we can meet the needs of our local workforce, and we have fabulous relationships. So we're very fortunate in that way. I have the opportunity to interact with a lot of manufacturing people in the summertime from other states. Right. And they all are basically saying the same thing from Florida, Ohio, Indiana. It doesn't matter where I've had experience. They just can't find skilled workers. They can't find skilled welders. They can't find skilled plumbers. They can't find skilled electricians. It's a real frustrating thing to them. And I know it's frustrating to the colleges because when we've had those programs in the past, they haven't filled enough so we could keep them going. So it's kind of a catch-22 there, isn't it? Right. Where you don't have enough students, because you have to have a number to make these programs operate efficiently in a college. And so I think consequently what's happened is a lot of these industries have had to pick up their own training. And I think they found out how expensive and time-consuming that really is. That's just an ongoing challenge. It is. And to be a community college that meets its goals and its needs of the community, we have to have very strong relationships. And I think in this area we're very fortunate to have the support of our business and industry leaders. But whenever the pattern that you describe happens, I think it's important that we sit down before it happens and ask the question, exactly what is it that you need so that we can tailor our programs. Every one of our CTE or career and technical education programs, as you well know, have advisory committees. And they're so important to us because some people assume that they're just there as rubber stamps and their formality. But indeed they're critically important. They're our connection to the workforce. So if there are jobs that are unfilled and we have programs that have capacity, there's a disconnect. You know, we need to sit down and say, what's missing? Is the content not the right content? Is the equipment not the right equipment? What is it? And generally when we have those conversations, business and industry steps up and says, indeed this is where we're connecting the dots and this is where we're missing it. I think the onus is on us to have those very candid conversations. I really think that's... I think your point is well taken, that the industry should never sell themselves short of how important their views are because without those views, you're training people for things that don't exist. Doesn't make any sense. Unfortunately, a big part of our world is becoming security. And I'm sure that the state system has standards now. We just started getting into campus security when I was retired. This is a costly endeavor. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of effort. Is this something that the state works with you on or are you pretty much left to your own at the local college levels to work with security? I don't think there's any college, certainly no community college, that doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about security. We wish the world was not that way. But it is. And it's our job to make sure that students have all their basic needs met. They can't be successful without it. And if they're not safe, they can't be successful. So it's a concern of all of us. I think it's one of the benefits of being part of a system, to be honest. Of the 1200 community colleges across the country, they're not all part of systems, as you know. And I was looking for a system because I believe in a system you can leverage your resources. And that's a good example. So at Minnesota State, we have some great contacts. They help us to ensure that we're doing everything that we need to be doing just two weeks ago, we had a wonderful individual from Minnesota State come and work on both of our campuses to do tabletop exercises with faculty, staff, administrators, and local law enforcement to talk through how would we respond, and how can we be prepared. It's things like that that the system helps us tremendously with. I really believe that that expertise was invaluable to people to understand this is what we need to do to ensure that we're paying attention to safety and security. It's not something that we can ignore. As the new college president, I'm sure you spent a lot of your early months here just getting a feel for the lay of the land and the communities. But have you established some personal goals, some things you'd like to see done while you're here? Oh, sure. You're right. I've been here for three months, so my first goal is listening and learning. I believe strongly that I'm going to be part of this college family. I'm very, very fortunate to follow in the footsteps of Larry Lundblad who did a fabulous job, and I need to learn a lot. So I am listening and learning for the last three months, and it's been eye-opening. It's easy to listen and learn about things that are currently happening. It's a little harder to get the history and the culture, so I've been working on that piece. But we're going to be focusing on several critical things. The college has done a great job with community partners, so we're looking to deepen those partnerships. And then we're putting a tremendous focus on student success. So the college has done a great job bringing students in and has worked hard to retain them. We are going to shine a tremendous light on what happens when a student comes to Central Lakes College and what's their whole experience with the institute. We're going to be focusing on what's their whole experience with the institution. Where are they successful? Where do they have bumps? What can we do to change that outcome and make sure that more of our students are retained and more of our students complete? So our goal is to increase primarily the retention rates of these students and to make sure that all of our students are being retained and reaching their goals, including students of color, American Indian students, first generation college students, those are low-income. So we're going to be focusing on that data and move those numbers. That is my primary goal. It's the right thing for students. It's the right thing for college. It's why we all do the work that we do. And you have some pretty successful athletic programs. There's been a pretty good history for a small college. Maybe you just want to touch on a little bit and what you do. It's really exciting to me because the college I came from did not have any volleyball and golf teams. They are a huge part of student life at Central Lakes. We know as well that students are more successful when they engage. They don't just come to take classes. We like for them to think that, that academically that's the most important thing. And it is, we want them to work hard. But we also want them to engage. And we know the students who engage and feel connected to their campuses are more successful moving forward. It's amazing athletics. Our athletic teams work so hard. I'm not much of an athlete which is not too hard to tell. But I'm learning a lot. And it's amazing how hard they work. So they're doing extremely well. Right now we have football and volleyball going. And they are both doing extremely well in their divisions. So there's a lot of pride around being a CLC Raider. A lot of pride. We're proud of. And our student athletes are some of our student leaders. So you should come out and watch a game if you haven't done that recently. If an area of business person or anyone watching this program wants to get in touch with you, how should they do that? Oh, that's a great question. Well anyway, I would love to talk to people. It's really my job to make sure I understand what people feel about the college. Both the good and the places of college, that's fine. There's only one person with the name of Hera. So they just say I need to talk to Hera and that's no problem at all. They can email me at hsharlere at clcmn.edu. And they're welcome to just call me on my cell phone which is on all of my business cards. So I just want to be accessible. I meet people for coffee. We talk about their perspective and the community. That's part of me growing and learning both person and professionally. So I would be happy to hear from anyone. Just wrapping it up, one of the ways that we're working with you is we have our camera people today are your students in your video program. So you're having an impact all over. It's terrific. Well, thank you very much for taking the time to be on our program and I wish you the very best of luck in your new career and I hope you learn to love the snow. Oh, I will. Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure. You've been watching Lakeland Currents I'm Ray Gildow, so long until next time.