Community Colleges Episodes

Welcome back to America’s leading higher education podcast! In this episode, sponsored by MDT Marketing, we welcome Dr. Mordecai Ian Brownlee, VP for Student Success at St. Phillip's College & the next President of Community College of Aurora!


Liz and special guest host Maagic Collins, host of Fight the Funk podcast, have a fascinating conversation with Mordecai on a range of higher education topics. Listen in as Mordecai talks about his personal journey to mental and physical health and why ...

Welcome back to America’s leading higher education podcast! This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #69. In this episode, sponsored by Element451, we welcome Dr. Michael Torrence, President, Motlow State Community College!


Michael covers a range of topics in this episode as he and Joe discussed what's happening in higher ed. At Motlow State Community College, Michael talks about how they turned fact-to-fact content into quality online content - and are not iterating to the next l...

Welcome back to America's leading higher education podcast! This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #64. In this episode, sponsored by MDT Marketing, we welcome Dr. Angélica Garcia, President, Berkeley City College! Angélica is amazing - through CA Assembly Bill 928, she has advocated for streamlining the student transfer process. She says it plainly - "students don't need to be college-ready, colleges need to be student-ready". Berkeley City College is a student-ready college where...

Welcome back to America's leading higher education podcast! This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #62. In this episode, sponsored by MDT Marketing, we welcome Dr. Christina Royal, President at Holyoke Community College! Christina talks to us about the myriad of issues students are dealing with including mental health, access to services, and food insecurities. As the first queer female person of color as President of Holyoke Community College, she is passionate about affordability...

This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #56. In this EdUp Embedded episode, sponsored by MDT Marketing, we welcome Dr. Jon Bauer, President, East Central College! Joe talks one on one with Jon about the redefinition of higher education post-pandemic. Jon talks about the changes to distance education including splitting time between seated and remote learning. Jon also details that today's students demand flexibility and that institutions should see efficiency in offering online cour...

This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #54. In this episode, sponsored by MDT Marketing, we welcome Carlos Penaloza, Chancellor at Leeward Community College! The Island of Hawaii has seen ups and downs during COVID. Carlos talks to us about how they have handled the pandemic, but how his focus is now shifting to sustainable systems and workforce development. On the sustainability front, Leeward Comunity College is at net-zero energy. Accessibility is a huge focus for Leeward, as th...

This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #53. In this episode, sponsored by MDT Marketing, we welcome Dr. Yves Salomon Fernandez, President, Greenfield Community College. Yves talks to us about the challenges and opportunities that exist in operating a rural community college. She talks about how to bounce back from challenges in order to look into the future - at GCC, it's all hands on deck and when Yves is all in, she is all in! Yves has learned to be comfortable with failure, chan...

This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #49. This episode marks the one year anniversary of The EdUp Experience's first episdoe release on January 25th, 2020. Since then, 148 episodes have been released, including 49 in the President Series, and people have listened to EdUp more than 32,000 times!


In this episode, sponsored by MDT Marketing, we welcome Dr. Michael Cioce, President, Rowan College at Burlington County! Establishing a brand is important - Michael's goal is to commun...

In this amazing episode of The EdUp Experience, we have the honor of speaking with Dr. Parminder K. Jassal, CEO, SocialTech.ai & UnMudl. SocialTech.ai develops technologies to solve and drive for positive social behavior - with the goal of an equitable and sustainable future. UnMudl Marketplace is the signature product is a course-to-jobs-marketplace driven by community colleges to connect learners with employers. This tech just went live in November and there are already 7 community colleges on...

This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #42 - In this episode of The EdUp Experience, we talk with Luis P. Sanchez, President at Oxnard College. Luis details for us how hard students at Oxnard have been hit during the pandemic, financially and otherwise - access to basic services like WiFi and food (hunger) are REAL. Luis also talks to us about how the first part of 2022 is already baked-in, and with a reputation that isn't as strong as it should be (but growing), Oxnard's move to o...

This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #39 - In this episode of The EdUp Experience, we talk with Frank Wu, President of Queens College. As the second Asian-American ever to lead a City University of New York campus, find out why Wu only has eyes on Queens College. From his time teaching at Howard University, which comes with a very interesting set of circumstances, to the passion Frank has for dispelling Model Minority Theory, Wu takes us on a journey of commitment and focus as he...

This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #37 - In this episode of The EdUp Experience, we talk with Dr. Hal Higdon, Chancellor, Ozarks Technical Community College System. Hal talks with Joe and Liz about the results of an initiative to call over 11,000 students to check up on them when Covid hit. Hal also talks about how he is making sure each student is treated like a “diamond member.“


Dr. Hal Higdon is chancellor of the Ozarks Technical Community College System and president of ...

This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #36 - In this episode of The EdUp Experience, we talk with Dr. Julie White President of Pierce College Fort Steilacoom. Julie is at the forefront of creating an anti-racist institution by committing to access, diversity, and acknowledging that students are devoid of basic services due to CV-19. She also discusses how students have been affected by our politically charged environment and how we have to understand, as administrators, how outside...

Episode 100! Can you believe it? In this 100th episode of The EdUp Experience, The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #33, we welcome Dr. Daria J. Willis, President of Everett Community College. As Everett CC's first African American President, Daria discusses why saying "yes" to opportunity and keeping it real underpinned her meteoric rise through the ranks. Though diversity, equity, and inclusion are important, so is authenticity and disrupting the traditional nature of higher education ...

This is The EdUp Experience President Series Episode #32 - In this episode, we welcome Lee Lambert, Chancellor and CEO for Pima Community College. Pima has grown to be one of the largest multi-campus community colleges in the nation. Lee talks to us about a variety to topics including the four tech superpowers, industry 4. 0, the community college as the hub of a community, and Pima's focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.

A U.S. Army veteran, Chancellor Lambert was born in Seoul, South Kore...

In this episode of The EdUp Experience, Joe and Liz talk with Robert Morse, Chief Data Strategist with US News & World Report. Bob talks to us about the data, data analysis, indicators, strategy, and reasons for the rankings and why it can be used as a decision point for parents and students looking to make a higher ed decision. However, rankings are not without controversy - so we ask questions about debt, inclusion, online education, and return-on-investment. Bob gives us his take on the contr...

This is The EdUp Experience President Series, Episode #25 - In this episode, we welcome Dr. Claudia Schrader the President of Kingsborough Community College.


Dr. Schrader describes her student-first, success and retention model with a focus on the diverse student body she serves, that consistently ranks among the leading community colleges in the country in associate degrees awarded to minority students.


As the first Black woman President in the 56-year history of the college, she is defin...

This is The EdUp Experience President Series, Episode #24 - In this episode, we welcome the Chancellor of the City University of New York, Dr. Felix Matos Rodriguez. There are some guests that we could talk to forever, and Dr. Rodriguez is one of those people. He talks about how CUNY is an anchor in the New York community - not only do they provide a cost-effective and workforce ready education, but CUNY is doing the work of advancing humanity through diversity, inclusion, equity, and responsibi...

The EdUp Experience President Series, Episode #7 - In this episode, we welcome Dr. John Rainone, President of Dabney S. Lancaster Community College. John is a seasoned senior executive with significant leadership experience in higher education, who is an entrepreneurial transformational leader with superb people, communication, and management skills.


He talks to us about the inequities of the CARES act for community colleges, the mounting numbers of the outside of the classroom challenges, th...

The Ed Up Experience President Series, Episode #5 - On this episode of The EdUp Experience, we welcome Dr. David Stout, President of Brookdale Community College. David talks to us about the emerging role of the community college as both traditional alternative and upskilling necessity. He discusses how quickly his community college has moved to service the students and how they plan to "re-open" in the fall, offering several different types of learning pathways.

As President, Dr. Stout has enac...

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