In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast series, we invited Leah Lattimore, Forté’s Director of Undergraduate Programs. Leah shares her work with Forté Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to women, providing access to business education, career development, and more. Leah highlights their Undergraduate Woman of Color leadership symposium, an in-person conference with panels and skill-building workshops that deliver students tangible takeaways and connections. She discusses the numerous barriers for college and professional women, and how Forté aims to address them. Leah concludes by discussing the organization's goals for the next 20 years, emphasizing its commitment to developing a strong pipeline of women for business leadership. While acknowledging the challenges ahead, she encourages women to trust in themselves and make use of the resources available to them.

In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast, two of our Visiting Scholars, Joanna Jenkins – consultant and affiliate professor at St. Joseph’s University – and Natascha Saunders – certified career coach – discuss the importance of equity in career coaching. Joanna and Natascha take us through the challenges faced by young people, including family expectations and lack of support. Throughout the episode, they emphasize the need to teach students how to build and leverage their cultural capital using existing relationships, passions, and resources. They conclude that the future needs inclusive leadership, active listening, and optimism to drive problem-solving in the modern workplace.

In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast series, two university presidents, St. Edward's University President Montserrat Fuentes and Huston-Tillotson University President and CEO Melva K. Wallace, share about their ongoing collaboration as university leaders and as close friends. When faced with a university housing crisis, Montserrat and Melva came together and partnered to address the issue. They talk about the power of collaboration and how they continue to work on uplifting their institutions and the entire community alike.

In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast series, we invited John Silvanus Wilson Jr., author of Hope and Healing: Black Colleges and the Future of American Democracy and Visiting Lecturer at Morgan State University. John shares his background and higher education – having attended both Morehouse College and Harvard University. John emphasizes the need for higher education institutions to maximize and leverage both capital and character. He calls for a collective effort to save American Democracy, and segments this task into three parts: the Democracy Legacy, the Endowment Legacy, and the Encore Imperative. His core message emphasizes academic freedom, educational reform, and societal progress, highlighting the transformative potential of higher education exemplified by the HBCU tradition.

In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast series, Anna-Kaye C. Rowe, the Assistant Director for Career and Employer Engagement at Ohio University invited Hayley Haywood, an equity-centered Solutionist & Identity-Conscious Coach to explore issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in career development and the need for identity-conscious career planning in higher education. Anna-Kaye and Hayley dive into the research and value behind having representation, accountability, a sense of belonging, and measures to enhance retention and success in the workplace. Anna-Kaye and Hayley highlight the importance of equity-centered career design in higher education and discuss ways to prepare and support student populations as they transition into the global workforce.

In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast series, we invited Paul LeMahieu, Senior Advisor to the President at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Marisol Morales, Executive Director of the Carnegie Elective Classifications (CEC) at the American Council on Education to explore the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement and its impact on community engagement in higher education. Paul and Marisol uncover the origins of the CEC and touch on their significance within higher education. They take us through the Community Engagement Elective’s longevity, how the elective can bring institutional transformation, as well as the future of the elective classifications – including the development of an Indigenous Serving classification. Paul and Marisol emphasize the importance of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) participating in the process and the various benefits it can bring to these institutions.

In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast series, one of our Visiting Scholars, consultant, and affiliate professor at St. Joseph’s University Joanna L. Jenkins, discusses her new book Insecure, Awkward and #Winning. Her book offers a fertile space to investigate how contemporary issues intersect, encouraging audiences to contemplate meaning and impact within their own lives, society, and cultural identities. Joanna emphasizes the importance of research, work and publications created from the perspective of historically excluded communities and how representation matters.

In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast series, one of our John Smartt Summer Scholars, Morgan Beatty hosted an episode with Timothy Fong, an Ethnic Studies professor at California State University, Sacramento and Director and Principal Investigator of the Full Circle Project. They discuss the influence of research and teaching universities alike. With research universities focusing on research, and teaching universities focusing on teaching undergraduate students, graduate students are then left underserved with inaccessible resources at comprehensive and teaching institutions. This episode covers the differences between these institutions and offers solutions to increase student success and sense of self belonging for first-generation graduate students at comprehensive and/or teaching institutions.

In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast series, we invited Carla Ortega-Santori, Strategic Initiatives Manager at the Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University and Stefanie Johnson, Director at the Doerr Institute. In collaboration with the American Council on Education, they launched the Carnegie Elective Classification for Leadership for Public Purpose (CEC LPP). Throughout the episode, they explore CEC LPP and its impact on leadership development in higher education. Carla and Stefanie discuss the motivations behind its creation, eligibility criteria, success stories from participating institutions, and its intersection with goals of diversifying leadership, enhancing equity, and fostering justice. They also look ahead to the future of the CEC LPP and how MSI leaders can get involved.

In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast series, we invited Ginger Allison, Director at Jobs for the Future (JFF) – working with the Center for Apprenticeship & Work-Based Learning. As part of our partnership with JFF, we dive into the long-standing disparities within Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs across the country and how Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) can help bring transformative change. Ginger shares her experience and mission, focusing on the vital task of offering increased opportunities and technical assistance to MSIs that may want to begin their own RA programs yet don’t know where to begin. Ginger emphasizes the extensive benefits of RA and explains how MSIs can use JFF’s services and technical assistance to start their own RA programs.