Episode 88: Rodeo Program, Micro-credentials. and Diversity – Innovations in action with Dr. Gregory T. Busch, President and CEO of Mesalands College

With more than thirty years of executive leadership experience in the private sector, public service, nonprofit, and higher education, Gregg is a seasoned and proven leader who can be relied upon for good judgment, open communication, honesty, compassion, and transparency.

With acclaimed teaching, scholarship, service, and leadership record, Dr. Busch is the recipient of several honors including the 2015 On The Cutting Edge Award for College-wide Innovation, 2014 Presidential Recognition Award for Commitment to Excellence in Service to the College, 2013 Presidential Recognition Award for Strategic Enrollment Management, 2012 Presidential Recognition Award for Curriculum Leadership, 2008 National Excellence Award for Teaching and Leadership from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), thrice named the WVU Parkersburg Professor of the Year, twice named the SBR Distinguished Professorship, recipient of the President’s Medal for Team Excellence, and named in the Top 2000 Great Educators Worldwide by Cambridge University.

At twenty-one years old, Gregg became one of the youngest business success stories in his chosen profession through hard work, dedication, compassion, creativity, forward-thinking, extraordinary leadership skills, and innovation.

Bringing Equality of Education to a Large Population

We need to bring everybody to an equal playing field as far as accessibility and student success goes but we know from all of the research that has been presented to us now for a number of years that certain populations of students are marginalized from education. They exist in all forms and sectors, it could be based on race or ethnicity or even based upon their family income and veteran status. There are just a number of factors that can be played into this. What we noticed is that these students are not succeeding or completing their education to the same degree as the mainstream population. The primary goal is to look at the gap between the mainstream and the marginalized students that have more difficulty in either getting accepted or moving into higher education. They have a number of barriers and getting them to overcome those barriers is the objective. The idea is to develop institutional departments to achieve the goal so that the students can work with us and in doing so they can have access to education and then follow up with those students and follow them from day one through their education to assure that whatever happened in their life that might have been an issue that was preventing them from being successful and we help them overcome that so they can be successful. We take them from day one and proactively begin to support those students and get them through. In doing so our goal is to close that equity gap between these students who have a greater challenge and the students who are in the mainstream. We build a lot of initiatives and interventions to assure that they can have access and make that access equal to the mainstream and then build in the support system to make sure that they continue and persevere throughout their goals.

Taking College to the Students Who Cannot Access It Easily

We build lots of systems into College, where we have taken those different marginalized populations and we have desegregated them as to the type of causes of problems that they may face like first-generation students who had no one in their family ever go to college and then come to the College. We use a different language and that’s always often very confusing for them. We start from the beginning and knowing that and we begin to help them understand that vernacular in a way that will not discourage them or confuse them but help guide them. It is the same with students who are young mothers. They have their child to think about and because of that, they are missing education. We have a mother’s room where those mothers have a place to be able to not miss their education but still have a place to nurse their child. We start from day one and identify the various characteristics of every student then we begin to proactively provide them with the information they need to be successful. When it comes to the rural students, we have a lot of them. For example, there are a lot of students in New Mexico who live on large ranches so they have additional responsibilities to their ranch and animal to raise. We take all of that into consideration that they have those additional responsibilities just like anyone else who is trying to go to school and work at the same time. We see what can be done to get an education them by using High Flex which allows students who are more remote can come to the class using digital technologies and actually be a part of the class and engage with the instructors. This has opened up more opportunities not only for the rural students and the ones who have greater disadvantages in being able to come to school but from all over the United States.

Degrees VS Micro-Degree and Credentials

As a president of a college, most people assume that they will say a degree is necessary but that is not true. It depends on what you want to do in life, for example, if you are planning on becoming a doctor or lawyer then yes it is necessary to have a degree in that respected field. Depending on the job you are trying to get, then it may not be necessary to get a degree. Through our workforce development, we provided the opportunity for students to earn a micro-credential or an industry credential by taking four or five classes, and thus it will allow them to work in the field. They don’t require a degree but require some type of post-secondary education or training. In today’s world, seven out of ten jobs require some type of post-secondary education or credential. This is a big shift from the standard method of a student going to a College and completing the four years of education for a degree. Not everyone needs a bachelor’s or an associate degree or even a certificate. Some people depending on what their goal is in their life can simply take the training that they need in order to get their post-secondary credential

Contact Dr. Gregory T. Busch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorytbusch

Dr. Gregory T. Busch Twitter: https://twitter.com/mesalandsccpre1?s=20&t=RL_QJOtc8oJbijttzn9NGg

Dr. Gregory T. Busch Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mesalandsccpresident/

Learn more about Mesalands College: https://www.mesalands.edu

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