 A new leadership legacy begins at Fisk University today in Nashville, Dr. Van Newkirk is the new permanent president of Fisk University and he joins us today to talk about the vision for the institution going forward, the transition from interim to permanent and his higher education journey, particularly in the context of the strange times in which we live. So Mr. President, first congratulations. How does it feel to be able to publicly announce your new gig? It's not new for you, but I guess the formal announcement of your job. Well, I'm feeling very good. I'm riding on cloud nine right now, but we realize there's a lot of work to be done and we're ready to do that work and we've been doing it for a couple of years. And so we feel good about things now. When you think about your time as interim and you've had so many distinguished stops throughout the HBC landscape and your name is attached to so many so much positive research and quality leadership. What stands out to you most about why Fisk is and has been a good fit for you and why you are a good fit for Fisk? Well, Fisk is a hidden gem. I mean, here it is. It's in Nashville, Tennessee, one of the landmark HBCUs, but beyond Tennessee and beyond its graduates, a lot of people don't know about it because of what it does. You know, Fisk transforms students and it takes them to other places. We did a survey last year of our graduates and of a hundred graduates who sent the survey back, the average starting income was about seventy eight thousand dollars, which when we start looking at other institutions and the value added piece, I think our value added piece at Fisk is tremendous. And I think for me, looking at the transformational benefits of the institution, this makes it a perfect fit for me because I'm able to be an entrepreneur to do some things that kind of keep Fisk fresh. We've got a brand new campus that we started at Clarksville for the military. And we really believe that those are the things that are going to be key for HBCU survival in the next couple of years. One of the interesting things about Fisk is nobody, nobody questions his academic pedigree of his graduates, of his programming, of his faculty. It's always Fisk is top notch. But there's always been for generations questions about the finances. And these are these are symptoms of, you know, enrollment. They're symptoms of the times, they're symptoms of competition. What do you think is the the biggest challenge or the biggest opportunity? Let's put it that way. What is the biggest opportunity to kind of reverse the course on that that reality about money at Fisk and how we grow the institution going forward? Well, I think, you know, Fisk for a long time was a very traditional school. Didn't want to have accelerated programs. Didn't want to have online programs. It was a traditional school. We've gotten out of that box. We have our first branch campus in Clarksville. We've had 100 percent growth in each year. We also have a national recruiting base, unlike many HBCUs who recruit locally. We have students that come from almost every state in the United States. And we have about 100 international students out of a population of 900 students. What we have done to make ourselves a more amenable place and to get more people to come to our university. You know, we're marketing in those places where we have many graduates. Africa, Ghana, WB, the boys is buried in Ghana. We're marketing in Illinois. We're also marketing right here in Tennessee. We only have 30 percent of our students from Tennessee. So there's a lot of ground for us to make up. And what's interesting about it this past fall, because of what we're doing, you know, we're talking about our new majors. We're talking about the new programs that we put in place, how the job market looks for our graduates. We had an enrollment increase last fall right in the midst of COVID. And so if you look at all the HBCUs that in the UNCF, only nine of those schools had enrollment increases. And we're one of those nine this fall, this spring coming back. We thought we'd have a drop off because of COVID. Our population is still steady. We have the second largest spring enrollment that we've had in almost 30 years. So we feel good where we're going. I think for us to be a more viable institution to get out of this whole yo-yo process with SACs and with finances is that we have to have steady enrollment. We need 1100 students or we're on the pathway of getting there. What do you think the fifth story is today? We know that it's always been come here, get a great degree, get a great job, move on and be a tremendous success in your field. Is that the same the same selling point that you make to some of the best and brightest around the country or has the fifth story changed a little bit where you say, yes, you still do that, but you get to come of age in Nashville. You get pipelines into these industries. How have you kind of reformed the way that people think of this? Fisk is particularly in recruiting. Well, we connected our programs to industry. We have a brand new building that's going up, our career placement building that was given to us by one of our trustees and which is set up to actually incorporate industry into our majors. And what's happening with that? Our students now doing internships with companies like Google, Amazon. They're doing internships with Kravats, Wayne and more of one of the largest law firms in the country. And what's happening, those students being placed in those jobs. So we're taking a more active role in placing our students, something we hadn't done in the past. And what's happening there is that those students are getting good jobs and those good jobs are transferring into resources coming back to the university because we're getting donations and gifts from many of those large corporations who are getting good students that they need. So we're helping to bridge that gap in many ways that HPC use has all have always done, but we're doing it better. I think at this point, what do you see your primary role as FISC now permanent president and you served an interim for a time. You served as provost. Do you see it as in an academic caretaker? Do you see your role now as a fundraiser? Do you see it as a consensus builder between the communities who are invested in FISC? What do you think you're you personally is going to be the biggest part of your time dedicated every day? Well, I think it's going to be all three. I think what we have to look at right now is that, you know, we're an institution, we raise a great deal of money. Last year, we raised $11 million. And for us, you know, we have to keep that strong fundraising appeal in. And we're doing it right now. We're raising almost $1 to $2 million a month. We're bringing that into the university. Various gifts, our lums, major corporations. We just got a major gift from the Brewer Foundation to reduce some labs. Half million dollars will be hit about that soon. But those are some things that I think we have to do now. We talk about our academic programs. You know, I'm an academic person by trade. We want to make sure that our majors stay fresh. We had majors at the university when I arrived that were almost exactly like they had been in 1961. So we revised curriculum. We've got new majors that are attractive to the markets that are at hand right now. And that means colleges have to be nimble and agile. And what we can say is that we're small enough and we're agile enough that we're making those changes to our majors. I think that's where we're going to beat the competition. Because we are able to make those changes and make our majors fit industry and the industries that are asking and coming to see us. They're glad that we can make those kind of changes. Now when we talk about consensus building in the community, you know, yes, I'm in the community here. We have to make sure that FISC remains a viable part of this community. There are questions around us that I get all the time when I ride in Nashville. And that question is, what's the difference between FISC and Tennessee State? And we get that question all the time. And I have to explain to them, you know, the legacy of each institution and each institution feels a various niche. And that's very good because I see people who are only a mile from FISC will ask, where is FISC located? So, you know, one of those things that we're actually breaking down those barriers right here in Nashville. How do you do that? I mean, is it is it is it a methodical long term process? Or is there some some kind of infusion you can do in marketing or some kind of danger you can do in community resource where people get that? Because you see that not just at FISC, but at many HBCs where it's like, what are they doing? I didn't even know they were still here. I mean, who's the president? You know, they ask all these questions, but they're in the community of that particular HBCU. So how do you think about resources and spirit and those other things that all work together to get a community behind what an institution is doing? Well, we're doing the whole thing. The thing I call it like the Huns, we're knocking on the door and the door doesn't open when knocking the door in. But we're more than people in town here, you know, because they don't know where we're located. I was at Vanderbilt Hospital the other day and I was talking to a person, a physical therapist three miles away. Didn't know where FISC was located. So we invited her over, gave her a tour of the campus. In addition, we brought some goodies back for her now. I know now that she knows we've been in other places in town where people were asking, you know, FISC, where's that located right here in Nashville? So what we've started doing is going to those businesses, making a pathway there, sending our graduates, sending our faculty because we want to make sure that everyone has a good idea where we're located and what we're about. And then we tell that story about our graduates and their income and the production that we're doing. And that's one of the things that I think that's helping us right now. But we're doing it over and over and over. We've got partnerships with major corporations here in town. There's a mural company that's doing murals and those murals are telling our story to an extent. But those are the things that we're doing here in Nashville to get our name out and make sure that people are aware where we're located and to make sure that it's not just an excuse that people are giving that they don't want to be a part of this resurgence of the university. And so we want to make sure that they know when we go back again, they say, well, you know, well, you know, I know where fish is located. We bring them on over to our art museum. So that's one of those things that it takes time and we're beginning to melt those what I want to say barriers that have existed for years. What is the what is the best part about working with the fish constituency? Because you mentioned earlier in our conversation, you know, there's so many publics that are ardent about fish. They love it. And if you mess with it or they think you're messing with it, they're going to let you know about it. So how is it? How has been your interface with alumni, with students, with faculty will have strong opinions about what fish should be? And do you feel that they are bought into your vision for the institution? Yeah, you know, one of the things I meet with alums about once a week, various chapters of, you know, so I've been very open and very plain with them as to where we are. And that's been a real helpful tool for us to actually build and to grow the university. We've also been active with our students. There are a number of things that we as a university, we just didn't have our students needed things to do on the campus. So we put our first physical fitness center on the campus, a real live, almost like planet fitness on our did that because we want our students to have those same things at other colleges. But we sold that to our alums. We sold to our students. Another thing we sold to our alums and they're very happy. We started a marching band, which you may not think. That's a big issue at this, because there were some alums who wanted to have a philharmonic orchestra instead of a marching band. And so we had to go back and explain to them, you know, it's one of those activities that our students would enjoy. And in the end, our alums have agreed to buy the uniforms for this marching band. So we started that fall. So, you know, it's one of those things that takes time. I think our alums have bought into it because we've been able to show them where we're going and how the universe is going to grow. We're growing our population, we're growing our endowment. And, you know, this year, we feel very strong that we'll be really in the black, way in the black. And so, you know, we're becoming a strong institution because we've got everyone that's working together. And I think having those conversations are allowing us to work together. You talked about the new academics. You talked about the new marching band. You talked about the accreditation gains. So many positive things are going well for Fisk. Is there a vision beyond continuing those things? Or is there one signature thing that you say, you know what? You will know that we're growing on this HBCU map when you see this happen, or is it just Fisk being Fisk? No, no, no. We have new programs that are on the horizon right now. And these programs, one of the things that we're doing, we're building three brand new buildings on our campus. Those buildings are going to be the new touchstones for the university, new residence halls, career placement center. We're building new academic buildings. And one of the buildings that we really are putting a lot of hope in is Allied Health. You know, we're very late in that whole thing, but we're right across the street from medical college. And so, Allied Health is something that's very big for us as a university. We feel that it's going to grow for us. And when that building comes to full fruition, I think that's when you'll know that Fisk, you know, we've arrived again and we're back in our old place. We plan to rival any of the best HBCUs and any of the best liberal arts colleges as in what we're doing. In our facilities, we are making upgrades to our facilities to make sure that we can be there. We want to be a top 50 liberal arts institution, know the buds about it. And I think we can do it by making sure our facilities meet the needs of our students and making sure that our campus meets the needs of the community and the people around it. And those are the things that we're trying to do. Right block from our campus, we have a housing project. And that is a troubled area, you know, North Nashville, in case you don't know it, it has to have a higher rate in the nation. One of the highest incarceration rates. And so what we're working with, we're working with certain partners like the Tennessee Titans to actually bring students to campus to an elementary school and offer scholarships down to elementary schools to get those kids head to what college. So we want to transform not only the university but the community around us. So those are the things that once those things begin to happen, you'll see that FISC has reclaimed its place as a leader among HBCUs and among institutions in the nation. And then just the last question for you personally, your name has come up so often in searches. And then now you get FISC is like one of the jewels of the HBCU community. How rewarding is it for you to work so long and so well to get a school like this at a time like this? Even with all the trouble that we're facing with COVID, just for you, is there some? Yes, like you or how is it for you? Well, I think it's a humbling experience. I mean, we have been around a lot of HBCUs and I've been around a long time. And I think getting an institution that has, what I'd say is a perfect fit. It has all the things that I need. It has the academic worth all that I think is important for any institution. It has a strong alumni base. And it's one of those institutions that, you know, it grows on you. I mean, I've been here as a consultant in 2001 and it grew on me then. And I think coming back to university as president is very rewarding to me. And it's one of those things that I think I'll cherish forever. And I think it's one of those things that, you know, if we look at where we wanna go as an institution and where I think our vision should be, I think those are the things that our vision should be what I'm saying is growing and getting it into markets. But I think that's something that's important. I think the university and the governing board is on board with that. So I think for me, this is the best fit that could possibly be.