 Okay, Calvin, thank you so much for joining us on This Is Purdue. It's great to be here, big fan as you know, so it's a high honor. I love that. Okay, so tell us what it means to you tonight to be celebrating here in West Papua, celebrating your graduation in Purdue Global, all the festivities. Absolutely. You know, for me, the first thing that comes to mind, there's no better example of what shared success looks like and this kind of mutual goal that we've all been on. So to be here, it's a culmination of just something really special for an adult learner. The stakes are really high for adult learners as you know, so for me, it's just really exciting. And you're speaking in commencement tomorrow, what does that honor mean to you? It's a big honor and I'm humbled to be asked to do so. It's a big task, right? Because you want to communicate something that's relevant to what we are and what we do and what we represent as adult learners. You know, a lot of us came to Purdue Global because we recognized that we wanted something that really mattered and that was recognized. So for me, to be able to share a little bit of my story, my journey as an adult learner that I know will resonate with many folks, it's a high honor. But the reality is the stories aren't that different. What I'll share is largely going to be a similar journey to the other. So it's a big honor. Why Purdue Global? Why did you choose to attend, you know, online? Why was that important to you? You know, I did a lot of online research trying to figure out exactly what was going to fit me as an adult learner. I had taken a number of classes in the past with a number of other online platform and some mix. And I'll talk about this during my remarks, but I never felt a connection to the education. So as time was ticking closer to my time ending in the Navy, I didn't know that at the time. I wanted to really find an organization that I felt a connection to. So a lot of research and I thought Purdue Global had everything I was looking for. It was a name I recognized. It was something that I knew to be very big special or very special. So it was easy once I did the research and I'm glad I came. You touched on your military experience a little bit. Thank you for your service. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about your experience? Absolutely. And normally when I'm sharing information about my military experience, I would tell someone, well, how much time do you have, right? But it's two words. It was totally awesome. I mean, for over 20 years, I had the distinct pleasure of serving in the United States Navy. As a young enlisted man came in at the age of 18 and having opportunities to earn a commission as a naval officer was an incredible journey. The ability to lead, serve alongside incredible people in uniform. For me, every day was not easy, extremely challenging but a real honor and a joy. You know, I'm like any kid from any town USA that joins the military for one reason or another. I personally needed a lot of the structure that it had and, you know, look back 22 years later and it's like a blink of an eye and I just couldn't be more thankful for everything that I learned and experienced as a result of being a service member. That's incredible. What does persistence mean to you? Sure. And I've been thinking a lot about that as I see it. You know, for me, I'll make it quick. It's about grit. It's about determination. It's about giving it your best day in and day out but on a consistent basis. So that's persistence and ultimately the goal of being persistent is that you make things better. So that's what it means to me. I love that word grit. Yeah, absolutely. What are you most looking forward to in your future? Yeah. Going on. A lot going on. You know, for me, as I look at the future, having just retiring from the United States Navy, number one, I'm looking for more family time. I'm looking for more opportunities to volunteer, to be a better neighbor, to be a better friend, to be a more engaged, you know, a member of my community. But again, I want to travel. I want to spend time with my family. I want to reconnect with my wife and my two amazing children. But I'm also really eager for new opportunities. I've already started a new career as a leadership safety and performance coach, helping high-risk industries develop their leaders, increase their performance, and eliminate safety-related incidents. And for me, I see that as another opportunity to continue serving in the future. So I'm really, really excited. What would you say to someone considering Purdue Global? Well, I'll tell you what. I want to answer this in two ways. Anyone who is looking to be an adult learner, I ask them to do a couple of things. Be well-researched, understand what program you're trying to enter, and then make sure it makes sense with your future goals, right? So that's standard advice that I would give to anyone who would ask it of me, and that's a big ask. Now, if you find yourself a Purdue Global, I will tell you this. Get ready for an incredibly enriching experience like I had. It won't be easy. It's academically rigorous. The faculty and staff are incredible. But the goal here is to give us a meaningful learning experience as adult learners. And I think I speak for every single person in this room. There's not a single one of us here that regretted our Purdue Global experience. So for anyone looking to come to Purdue, sharing my experience would be, get ready for what will be a very academically enriching opportunity. What are you most thankful for this year? Absolutely. Obviously, my family. I have an amazing family that's been alongside me for the majority of my military career. So my wife is amazing, and my wonderful children are just incredible. So I'm thankful for my family, and their incredible support. You know, Kate, I have incredible friends, and I'm so thankful for friendship. I'm so thankful for the opportunities that I've had in the past to serve our nation as a Navy sailor. But I'm also really thankful for what the future holds. And I'm incredibly eager to learn new things, see new things, and as a result, be better for it. So that's what I'm thankful for. And you know what? I'm thankful to be here with you actually, having a conversation with you on a podcast that I'm a fan of. So I have a lot to be thankful for, and I'm just eager to see what the holidays bring for us and the future. We love that. We love a good fan of this is Purdue. Absolutely. You guys are getting it right. So thank you. Thank you so much. Tell us about your Purdue Global experience. You know, why you're celebrating tonight, why you're excited to be here at this wonderful celebration. My Purdue Global experience has been wonderful. It's provided me with an opportunity that I never had before. I've worked at Purdue for 18 years, and a few years ago Purdue purchased Kaplan, and that gave us the opportunity to take classes through Purdue Global. It was a challenge for a while as an older learner. I never done anything like that online before, and so there were a few challenges that I had. But then I found that it set me up for success when we went with the pandemic and we went remote. I had skills that a lot of people didn't have, and so that made that transition a lot easier for me. That's awesome. I know, and it takes a minute to get used to this remote life, right? Absolutely. It's a lot different than working in the office. What does persistence mean to you? Sticking with it and never giving up. I learned to reach out for help when I needed it. It took a village. I had people within my office that I reached out to help me. If I didn't understand how to do some things, I had a lot of help there. And I also found that the professors were wonderful, and if I asked them a question, they were always very willing to help. What would you say to someone who might be considering Purdue Global? I think Purdue Global is a wonderful experience. It provides a lot of opportunities. I started, I had no college background. I earned my associate's degree, and then I earned my bachelor's, and now I've continued on, and I'm working on a grad certificate in project management. That's amazing. What does that mean to your friends and family? Are they just so proud of you? They're very, very proud of me. I'm the first generation college graduate, so yes, they're very proud of me, and it did take a lot of time, and it was a lot of effort, and I won't say that there were tears a few times, but I kept working at it, and I just wanted my children and grandchildren to know that no matter where you are in life, you can grasp what's ahead of you and make things better, so I'm very proud of myself, and I know they're very proud as well. That's amazing. This is going to air during Thanksgiving. What are you most thankful for this year? I'm just most thankful for my family and all the support that I had, and that as well as my work family who supported me. Awesome. How did you first find out about Purdue Global? What led you to this role? Well, this was an opportunity that was so unique for me that I couldn't pass up. To be able to work with adult students and the accessibility that Purdue Global provides was just remarkable, and so learning about that was something that I couldn't pass up when the opportunity came my way. What's it like working with all these students? It's obviously non-traditional, it's remote, it's online. What does that mean to you? Yeah, it's extremely humbling to begin with because you look at these students and all the obstacles that they have to overcome and work through. Their grit and persistence is just remarkable. It really is humbling for me to be in a situation where I'm a part of their lives and the difference that's going to happen because of their involvement with Purdue Global. What does it mean to be here tonight celebrating and getting to meet people in person? Yeah, these graduation ceremonies are just what makes it all worth it to be able to be here and not only see the graduates, but the family members that are here with them and to see the impact that this has on their family members, the ability to celebrate. When I talk with the graduate, I not only congratulate them, but also their family members that are with them because it really is a family contribution and a team effort for this to happen. What does persistence mean to you? You mentioned that word earlier. I did. It is a situation where a person doesn't stop. They try, try again, try again, and try again. Keeping the goal in mind, knowing that when obstacles happen, it's not going to be something that stops them, but can you continue on to pursue what the goal and objective would be. What are you most looking forward to for the future of Purdue Global? The opportunities are just so immense. In the field of IT and business, the disciplines are changing so rapidly. The ability to create career opportunities for students and align with skills that are needed in those fields. There's just so many opportunities in different programming, different types of offerings that we can have for students, and so the future is stupendously bright. Do you have a favorite story of any students who have come back to you or any success stories that you want to share with our listeners? There are several of those, but there's a common thing. It's the opportunity to finish something that, because of a reason, didn't happen before. For many people, that dream of earning a college degree had been something that they thought they'd lost. But through the accessibility that we provide, these individuals are now able to come back and fulfill that dream. And that means so much, not just for that person, but the legacy that it's going to mean for their family and on down the line. I can think of multiple stories where an individual said, you know, I came back and I finished this. My kids saw this. And now they're in college and they're pursuing a degree and they can see that it's possible because what I did when I was a student at Purdue Global. That's definitely a theme that Chancellor Dooley talked to us about, too. This is going to air during Thanksgiving, so we have to ask what you're most thankful for this year. You know, I really do feel blessed to be in a position where I can be part of this. You see the impact that Purdue Global has on the lives of individuals. And again, just the humbleness and the feeling that I have of being a part of this. I really am grateful and feel blessed to have that. That's amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Okay, Melissa, explain your role with Purdue Global. Tell us a little bit about your job. I have the wonderful privilege of serving as the dean and vice president for the School of Nursing. And I lead the faculty and the students across the entire United States. And it's such a wonderful honor. What does it mean to you to be here tonight, all these awesome students, all the staff, all the faculty celebrating? So much energy, so emotional. Just such a wonderful feeling. I feel so excited for all of our graduates and their families. We have many students, so this is their first person and their family graduating for the very first time. And so it's such a wonderful accomplishment and the energy that you feel when you're attending graduation. And we have our teams and our faculty that are all in support of our students. It's just so exciting, just so wonderful. I can feel, yeah, the vibes are... It's palpable. Yeah, it really is. You can feel it. It really is. Tell us why Purdue Global, you know, out of all the other online institutions, why is Purdue Global special? I think it's special because we go the extra mile. We meet our students where they are at for what their needs look like. Many of our students are working adults. They're often caring for their children. They may have an older parent that they're caring for. They're working. So they've got multiple commitments that they're balancing at the same time. And so it is incumbent upon us to meet them where they're at and really be that support for them. So I think that's a differentiator and that's what makes us special. And so, again, so excited to see all of our graduates cross that stage tomorrow and be celebrating tonight. That's awesome. Okay, do you have a favorite story or memory from your time as Dean that you want to share with our listeners? So many favorite stories. I think tonight, being at graduation, these are always my favorite events. I was just telling members of my team earlier this evening before joining you how much I love having the opportunity to connect. And it's connecting with our faculty, our staff. It's connecting with our students, our graduates and their families. So this really tops the chart for me, I would say. What do your students say, you know, after their Purdue Global experience? Do you ever get feedback of, like, you know, thank you so much? We do. And, you know, we're very humbled by the feedback that we receive from our students, from our alum, but also from our healthcare partners. So that's really what it's all about. So we want to prepare our graduates for a seamless transition into practice. We want to prepare them so that they are safe providers, they're resilient, leading with empathy, data-driven, evidence-based. All of those things really matter to us. And so when we have the good fortune of connecting with our healthcare partners, those are the things that they're sharing with us. And then when our alum come back to us, oftentimes to continue their journey for that next program, that's what we're hearing from them. And it's just truly, it's a wonderful moment to hear that type of feedback. It's positive. And we're really grateful for that. What would you say to someone who might be considering Purdue Global, might be considering nursing school? Yeah, it's a great question. I think that it's really important to take a look at what your life looks like. And when you are considering any institution for your higher education, you need to look at what your life looks like and what resources are available. And so for us, it makes sense for those who are often working, right? They've got competing priorities. And so they can complete all of their learning online and then any required clinical practices, obviously for nursing, can be done face to face. So there's a balance. So I think it's what matters most to the individual. And it's really important to seek an institution that can support them best. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay, so this episode is going to go out the week of Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for this year? I love that question. And it's a really easy answer. I am so, first I want to say, I'm very thankful to my team, to all of our faculty, to all of our staff, to all of our leadership. I am equally as grateful to our students for choosing us. I am so grateful. Thank you all to all of our students in the United States who really want to be a part of Purdue Global School of Nursing. It gives me great joy. And I really feel fulfilled each and every day. And it never feels like work because it's passion. So when you get to live your passion every day, it's just such a gift. But I would be remiss if I didn't say that I was thankful for my family. I have a lot of wonderful family, many sisters, my parents. But the real, there are three people in my life that I am just most grateful for. And that's my husband, my daughter, and my son. And that support, that circle of support is just so awesome. So thank you to everyone. I guess I'm just really grateful. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing. Yeah, thank you. Okay, last question. What are you looking forward to most with the future of Purdue Global? Ah, that's a wonderful question. So I have been involved in a lot of innovation. Innovation is really important to me. Not only from an efficiency standpoint, but we do need to be thinking about the evolution of higher education, certainly nursing, right? So I look forward to continued innovation. I also am just looking forward to seeing our students grow, serving their needs. That's really important that we take the time to listen. I think active listening is really important. So I'm looking forward to seeing what comes forward from all of that. Wonderful. Well, we cannot thank you enough for your time. Thank you. Go enjoy the celebration now. Ah, well, thank you so much. My honor to be here. I'm very thankful. Thank you. Okay, now tell us about your Boilermaker background. You have a couple different family members and your son just graduated from Purdue Global. Tell us your story. There's a lot of layers to the story. So let me see if I can do the cliff notes. When my brother and I were graduating from high school, we had a choice of any university that we could go to because our dad worked at the University of Chicago and with that, we had tuition free anywhere in the United States. Wow. My brother went engineering and I was a year younger than my brother, so I would come on weekends here to the university and I thought, wow, this is really cool. We came from a small town. There were 2,000 people in our town. We had one stop sign. That was it. So coming to this place, I thought, wow. So I was very interested in science. I started in the pre-med program. So my brother came here and then I came here and my brother's freshman year, he got accepted into NASA's internship program through the School of Engineering. My brother got a degree in aeronautical and astronomical engineering with high honors. No big deal. No big deal. Yeah. So then there was me. But because he got internship, he worked a semester at Johnson Space Center in Houston and then he'd come to school for a semester. So I was always very competitive with him, but I'll tell you what, my senior year, I wasn't doing well in physics and if it hadn't been for my brother, I'm sure I would have had an F in physics. But he pulled me through with a B because he tutored me all semester long. So he went on, got a job with NASA and he worked 42 years. That was his only job. His only job. So he just loved it there. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. He wrote computer code for the space station and he wrote computer code for the crew recovery vehicle. In case the astronauts had to leave the station really quickly, the ship was to me fully automated and it was my brother's software that would fly the ship from space, you know, all the way down in land on Earth. Tell us about your son, Daniel. He is graduating from Purdue Global. Yes. How did he find Purdue Global? What were you thinking when he decided to come to Purdue? Daniel got a degree in business communications and information systems from University of North Texas in Denton. And he was, you know, going along, doing his thing, you know, being an adult, as I call it. So about two and a half years ago, he says, Mom, I'm thinking about getting a master's. And I said, hey, that's great. What do you want to get it in? He said cybersecurity. And I thought, well, that's what he's doing now. He's working with computers and all of that. So I said, that sounds really good. What schools are you thinking about? Well, Penn State has a really good program and the other one is Purdue. And I said, well, you know how I feel about Purdue, man. I love the school. I loved every minute I was here. I'd come back if I could. I probably could. I'd be a non-traditional student, wouldn't I? That's okay. So I left the decision to him. I didn't want to sway him because it was his money he was spending. So he finally calls me up one day. He says, well, I made a decision and he says I'm going to Purdue. And I said, I am so excited for you. So during the pandemic was when he studied and I don't know how he did it. He got a 4.0. He has a full-time job. He's the chief information officer of the CIO with an online bank mortgage company. Like if you want to refinance your home, it's his software. And I said, you're married. You got a kid. You're the scout master. And you went and you have a 4.0. Good God, son. Did you even sleep along the way? So he's part of this Purdue Global non-traditional college student with a family, a full-time job. What was it like for him going through school? Like you said, did he not sleep? Okay. Well, he lives in Austin. We're in the Dallas area. So I don't know exactly what his work habits were. However, growing up, my husband and I were very much taskmasters with all of our children. You have to work a plan. You have to figure out how many hours you're studying. You stick to the plan. You don't go outside and play. So I know he would say, every Thursday night, Mom, I have class. You know, I have to be online every Thursday night. My papers are due, like, by Sunday. And he just... He's very analytical. He's very left-brained. And he had it all figured out on a spreadsheet. And he has a very supportive wife. Katie has been absolutely fantastic. Katie throughout the whole thing. And they have two little kids who are so happy about their daddy getting a degree. So when Daniel finished his degree, I said, oh, son, I'm really, really proud of you. Are they going to have in-person graduation ceremony? He says, oh, yeah, I think so. But, you know, no big deal. Everybody in the family is going to be there because this is non-negotiable. You only get one chance to wear the cap and the gown and be with other graduates and walk the stage and now that we can have in-person ceremonies again, he goes, okay, mom, I get it, I get it, we'll go. Oh, that's awesome. Okay, what does the Boilermaker community mean to you? You went here, your brother went here, your son's involved now. What does that mean to you? You know, it kind of makes me really happy and really nervous at the same time because I feel like we have a mantle now that we're carrying. We want to show the way for other young people coming up. How expensive it is to go to college. We have three children each one year apart, so we have three kids in college at the same time. Jeez, that's crazy. So, I'm part of the LinkedIn group with Purdue. Yeah, and I see a lot of the graduates, you know, I'm always high-fiving them. I say, man, this is great. No one can ever take education away from you. If you want something you go for and don't let anyone get in your way. It's almost Thanksgiving. We're going to air this around Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for this year? This is going to sound funny. I'm thankful that we had a pandemic because it took me awake that I needed to stop working, spend more time with family, more time with my husband. We were both very much workaholics. We did live surgeries. When the pandemic came, you couldn't go in hospitals. There were no elective surgeries and there were no conventions and no banquets, you know, none of that. So, for me, I was thankful that happened so my husband and I are remodeling a home and we're traveling and we're getting to see our grandchildren more and enjoy them growing up. So, that's what I'm thankful for. It kind of like slowed down a little, right? Yes, yes, very much, very much.