Read the transcript from Dr. Jones’ interview at the Presidential Forum

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

Good morning once more. Again, thank you for being here. It’s my pleasure to introduce Dr. Mautra Jones. Dr. Jones has a doctorate in education from Vanderbilt University. And she has an MBA from the University of Phoenix, and a bachelor’s degree from OU in journalism. She is currently the Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Langston University, and is also the executive director of the Langston foundation. She’s also site administrator at Langston OKC Campus. And she’s been there since 2015. So let me start with the first question. Please explain how you will support students in this position. And please give an example of how you have supported students in the past.,

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones:

Good morning, Dr. Michaelis. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here. Absolutely. I’m excited. And I appreciate all of you being here. In terms of supporting students, I have spent my entire professional career working with students working with youth, working with children at all stages of their life, to ensure that they have the resources necessary to pursue their goals and dreams. And so I’m no stranger to creating collaborations, building programs, building support, and aligning resources with missions that I’ve been blessed to serve. When I think about the corporations, I worked with the foundations, individuals, affinity groups, they are very clear in how they like to engage. And so I’ve been able to connect those various constituencies to the missions, I’ve served, ultimately benefiting students in terms of how I’ve done that and carried it out well, in my oversight of the Langston University Foundation, I worked with a number of corporations and foundations and on scholarship programs, where students have built their needs, I’ve conducted campus assessments with various students, organizational wise, and really figured out what it is that they need to be successful. And so I visit with students to ascertain their needs, and then I connect them with the foundations and corporations, and just really the other folks that come to the various organizations I’ve served. And I will do the exact same thing here, I will bring those relationships forward here with you.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis: 

What is your leadership style? And what is the vision you have when you imagine yourself as president at OCCC?

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones:

My leadership style is one of servant leadership, I believe in creating a we-centered organization, not a me-centered organization. And I build collaborative forces really, at every institution that I’ve served. And I think that it is very important to ensure that all voices are heard, and that people have a say, in the work that’s carried out. Because we can’t tell folks what to do when we’re not in the trenches, you know, you’d have to take a step back and assess the environment and get valuable feedback from all stakeholders. And so I like to be an inclusive leader. I like to make sure that the teams that I lead are engaged and involved in the strategic planning for the organizations that I’ve served. And I would say that I’ve been very successful in doing so and so we centered not me centered, is really my philosophy. As long as we stay focused on the mission, and focus on the vision, we can’t go wrong. And if I’m given this opportunity to serve, I would certainly bring those principles into this community and make sure that every constituency is engaged as it pertains to the work that they have to carry out because nobody knows better than work than those who are in the trenches doing it.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis: 

What does diversity, equity and inclusion mean to you? And how will you foster and promote it if selected?

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones: 

As a woman of color, I’ve lived DEI my entire life. I have had to really go through a lot of challenges and navigate them with professionalism, grace, and dignity. And so I understand the importance of DEI, all too well, because it’s my lived experience, the different organizations I’ve served, and I’ve been able to really talk about the value and importance that varying perspectives bring. We are stronger together, we are stronger when everyone has a seat at the table. We’re stronger when we can understand and really not be afraid to ask the difficult questions and have the difficult conversations. And you, you need to make priority or people need to prioritize DEI and ensure that there’s an environment of inclusivity tolerance and inclusivity have to be a priority. And it starts at the top, it starts at the top in evaluating policies, and looking at procedures and ensuring that those policies and procedures don’t have discriminatory practices. It also starts with making sure that different resource groups are allowed to function and actually encouraging them. So student groups, employee resource groups, things of that nature, providing training and professional development around culture. That’s how you infuse DEI and all that it means. I also think that what I’ve seen that works is celebrating diversity, looking at the events and making sure that the culture is accepting but that we are being intentional about the things that we put forward. And so certainly no stranger to DEI, looking at policies, looking at events, looking at ways to really educate and ensure that people have an awareness and an understanding of differences make us stronger. They shouldn’t, we shouldn’t run from them, but we should embrace them understanding that the road forward has to be one of inclusivity and in ensuring that that is interwoven into the entire campus community.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

What specific experience do you have in workforce development in the realm of higher ed?

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones:

Higher education has been something that I’ve been very passionate about. And long before I became a higher education administrator, I got to work with Oklahoma City University School of Law and do some volunteer work and projects there, as well as for other initiatives. But in terms of my hiring experience, I work with corporations and foundations daily, I connect their missions, and really what they want to do philanthropic wise, and how they want to build their workforce, I connect those two different programs. So I work with Deans, I work with students and staff, and expose them to the various corporate partners that we’ve had at the university. And I managed, and the team that I’ve managed overseas scholarships and Career Services has was under my oversight as well. And I was able to bring in employers for different summits, really exposing the student population to, you know what various industries have to offer them. And so not a stranger to having to create programs to work with industry, to understand their needs to dive into the data to see what it says. So looking into trends to be forward thinking, I’ve had great experience doing that and great successes doing that. And again, if afforded the opportunity to serve, we’re bringing those relationships as key relationships here and look at this environment and figure out how it is that we’ve navigated workforce development, look at how we can strengthen partnerships and be the go to institution to build and create certificate programs and think about how we can and dive deeper into how we can create opportunities, various opportunities for our students to be able to go out and thrive in the workplace.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

What is the mission of OCCC? And how do you see yourself furthering that mission?

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones: 

Student Success Community Enrichment? It is something that I have thrived in. I’ve been able to spend an entire professional career. I’m a lifelong Oklahoman. And with the exception of a brief stint in California, right after graduating from college, I have worked throughout my entire professional career. You know, I worked to build relationships, to establish relationships, because at the beginning of the day, that’s what it’s about. It’s about relationships. It’s about making sure that you respect and support those, making sure that people feel valued and connected, and that you’re a good steward of the funds that people give you the funds that people part with, as well as the different companies that you work with, you have to be able to ensure that companies are connected. Every single constituency is connected to the foundation’s students that everybody’s really working on one accord. And so I’m certainly no stranger to being of service to this state, it is something that I have enjoyed doing. This, I see as a calling, being able to provide students with what they need.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

What motivated you to pursue a career in higher ed?

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones:  

I grew up from very humble beginnings, poverty stricken. And I really had to navigate and learn on my own. A lot of things that would set me up for success as someone who grew up in extreme poverty. When you take a walk down statistics row, and you think about the various challenges that students from underserved communities face, I can check off about 12 of those. I’ve always been inspired, regardless of the limitations that were placed upon me, because I knew that education was the gateway to a better life and opportunities. And so there’s always been this passion and desire inside of me to want better, to want to do more to ensure that students have it better than what I had. And that’s really what launched my desire to want to serve, to want to fully immerse myself into making life better for others. I am Oklahoma’s past, present and future because I’ve benefited from an Oklahoma education that only I’ve benefited. It’s opened up so many doors for me, I’ve been able to accomplish so many things that when things were bleak at home, and I, you know, didn’t have hope. God made a way for me, he made a way for me to be able to ensure that I had every single thing I needed to be successful. So I am a shining example of the transformative power of higher education. And that is really what sparked my love for the nonprofit sector in education. But when I got into higher ed, I saw a completely different side of things. Because as I’ve journeyed in work through to work with children from various constituencies, and really at from various stages of their lives from from different demographics, as I’ve worked with, with children, I have, I’m able to see, you know that they have just such hope in their eyes, and they want opportunities. And I don’t think that demographics should limit anyone. And so my work that I’ve been able to do at Langston University has, it’s really been tremendous. It’s allowed me to bring forward not only my own experiences, but connect students with opportunities to achieve their goals and dreams of achieving a higher education. And they’re doing so and being given resources and supported through the work that the team that I’ve been blessed to serve is doing. And so for me, it’s a no brainer to be able to continue to be of service. And this very opportunity was of interest to me because it gives me the opportunity to serve in such a greater capacity to continue the service that I’ve given to the great state of Oklahoma on a much larger scale to impact even more lives for students that look a lot like that have gone through the challenges in that whose background and experiences nearby.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

What part of your educational background qualifies you to be president of OCCC?

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones: 

Every part of my educational background qualifies me to be president here at OCCC. I have been a student in public education or in you know our Public Schools. I have attended an Oklahoma institution, the University of Oklahoma, I have studied community colleges, through my doctoral work, and really the experiences that I’ve had in the field, that’s, that’s what I think adds the most value. I’ve been in the field, I’ve been in the trenches, I understand the needs of higher education to understand and navigate the needs of higher education, every bit of my career has touched some component of K through 12, the K through 12 space, as well as the higher education sphere. And so having that keen understanding and awareness of how everything comes together in this for higher education. And I just, I think that this is a natural next step. I also think that everything that I’ve gone through to this point, qualifies me to lead and serve because I’ve, I’ve, in my capacity of overseeing the LSU, Oklahoma City campus, I’ve been able to oversee a site in work with various groups, feeder schools, and you know, Shepherd students and workforce development. And I’ve gone through accreditation, I’ve done all the things that are necessary, and I’ve built collaborations and partnerships and relationships. And I also believe that the board created such a unique structure, in that the President will work alongside the executive vice president and the provost, to accomplish the mission of this institution, and serve as the External Affairs voice, the fundraising person that works with legislators. And so the unique structure that’s been created fits my skills, my skill sets and really my life’s experiences.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

Have you ever participated in an accreditation visit? As an evaluator or a university official? What were your experiences? What did you learn?

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones:

Yes, thank you. We are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission at Langston University. And I’ve gone through that process now twice, and in my oversight of the various departments, seven different departments. When I started at the institution, I was able to sit in on strategic planning sessions, planning for the visits, gathering documents, working with teams to ensure that everything that was requested, was provided, reading documents review, our assurance statement, going through those assurance statements and adding and contributing. So when it comes to accreditation, I’m certainly no stranger. It is something that really takes years to prepare for. And we had a great example and structure really put into place at the institution when we started preparing for accreditation, well in advance, so gathering those documents, having those key meetings, bringing the key constituencies together that have to participate in that process. I’ve had to coordinate on the foundation side, the various donors and board members of the foundation to participate in calls and meetings that accreditation officials had and so I’ve played a very hands-on role in that process. I understand the needs and how the institutional memory is really what is  looked for and all of the components that go into ensuring a successful accreditation.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

Why do you want to be president of OCCC?

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones:  

It’s about service for me. Dr. McCandless, it’s about service. It’s about serving. And, and living out my dream of making sure that students have everything they need to be successful in life. I believe that my diverse experiences mirror the majority of students within this institution. I believe that we have shared backgrounds and experiences and so this is a calling for me. This is a way to continue to build collaborations to bring resources to work to ensure that everything that is needed is brought forward. I also see it as a way to bring in a spirit of exceptionalism. For me, it’s about exceptionalism, and really everything we do, I thought long and hard about how I would be and what I would focus on. And it’s really simple for me, looking at bringing in a spirit of exceptionalism that focuses on fundraising, building a culture of filling Anthropy building, you know, ensuring that every constituency is engaged through building philanthropy and having a better understanding of it, working to strengthen workforce development efforts and ensuring that employers come to us and come to OCCC, for their their various needs, and that we, the students that we put out, are just shining examples of excellence and exceptionalism that takes place here, elevating our brand, I believe there’s so many stories that need to be shared about the tremendous work the faculty is doing, the success stories that the students are having that I think it’s important to share that and elevate the brand. And I looked at so many opportunities to be able to do that, here. And so many exist also building a positive people centric culture. I listened to the five sessions, I listened to those. And I took to heart every single thing that was said in those sessions. And it was clear that hope, healing, prosperity, transformation, that those things are needed, hope, healing, hope and healing, that those are that that I would be able to work to bring some of that and to ensure that everyone has a voice and that that everyone matters. And then looking at the academic programs, and strengthening those looking at everything that is put forth in those academic programs and building upon the great work that’s already been done here. So I think the board has set a solid foundation, they’ve provided exceptional leadership, I believe the faculty and staff have worked incredibly hard and have gone through a lot. And while I I can’t attest to understand what everyone went through here, what I can tell you is I was aware of it, and would work and do everything in my power to bring healing, to bring hope to make sure that all of the experiences that I have, are carried out here, but that we are unified that we’re one OCCC. That is what speaks to me about having the opportunity to serve here to be of greater service to ensure that we are carrying forth a spirit of exceptionalism in every single thing that we do.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis: 

As President, securing funding for OCCC is imperative. at the state capitol and through private giving, what is your experience with fundraising?

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones:  

I’ve been a thank you. Thank you, again, My profession has been fundraising and marketing and branding and consulting. And I could go on and on. But I have spent my entire professional career. And it’s something I’m very passionate about, I love to go in and ask for resources and to connect resources to missions. And this is beautiful, this is a beautiful opportunity to do that. I have spent my entire professional career establishing and building relationships that yield returns, and it will be no different here. The beautiful thing about being a fundraiser is you’re able to establish long term partnerships, and instill trust, because when people park with their resources, they want to make sure that they can trust you with their resources, they want to make sure that you are going to do exactly what you say you’re going to do. And that you are providing them with, with reports and updates that they can take back and give to their stakeholders to say this is why we are investing in O Triple C because we have these incredible students that are coming in, they’re adding to our workforce, they’re diversifying our workforce, they’re making our company stronger. And as a career fundraiser and someone who understands the importance of relationships, someone who understands the importance of being responsible and being prudent with funders dollars, that is something that I pride myself in doing. And so what I would do here is just continue to build that culture of philanthropy. My doctoral work was to study this institution and give fundraising trends at community colleges across the nation. And I was just overwhelmed with the pride that students have in this institution. I had an amazing sample. Those of you researchers, you know, though, that I had an amazing sample size, and I can tell you what was evident was the students, the students and how they the pride that they exhibited and exuded for this, this institution and, and how they said, You know, I don’t really know a whole lot about philanthropy, but I’d be willing to give, you know, I was able to go and visit with a SCMS program and speak to those students who are tremendous. In fact, on my tour yesterday, I met Nona, Pauline, and Frankly, and let me tell you, those three young ladies were dynamic. I was able to hear about their stories and their goals and their dreams. And I was inspired, my heart was touched, by hearing from them and hearing about the hopes that they have, and how OCCC is affording them that opportunity. And that’s what it’s about. For me. That’s what brings my heart so much pride and joy is fundraising, securing resources, bringing partners, key partners to the table, who will invest, who will give, who will happily give, who will go and carry our message across the state, region nation, to say you should be investing in this great institution, because guess what the return is going to be exceptional. And the work that the faculty is doing to prepare them that sinsational And the in the product, that is yielding, you know, I mean, this this institution, it’s bearing incredible fruit, go and learn more about OCCC going invest, that is what what makes my heart happy is being able to connect resources and create programs. And so as you can tell, fundraising is something that I have such love and passion about. And it’s something that I would continue to build and grow if given the opportunity to serve.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:  

What do you feel are some of the particular needs of students of color? How do you plan to address those needs?

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones:

Students of color, in terms of the needs that students of color have, I mean, I’m a woman of color and the needs, I understand the realities of what the needs are, I’ve worked to secure those needs. All throughout my career and what I’ve learned is you really have to sit down with students, and hear their stories and talk to them, and get to know them. Communities of Color, it’s no different. You have to become one with the community. And understand what communities of color need. And engage with key stakeholders from those various communities and make your efforts genuine, sincere and consistent. And I have a keen awareness and understanding not only because I am a person of color, and I’ve lived with having to navigate various challenges I’ve lived with having to gracefully figure out how I’m going to forge a path forward for myself. I’ve been able to create, and work on solutions for putting a better understanding forward, for what students coming from communities of color need. And again, it’s sitting down with those students understanding what their needs are, having a sincere desire to move their needs forward, and connecting resources to those students. And certainly, that’s not just done by us thinking we know, it’s done by having authentic conversations in organic conversations, and diving deeper into communities of color. And bringing forward the different constituents, the key stakeholders from those communities, to get their, their ideas and their feedback as well. And so not necessarily telling students of color what they need, but they’re really having the ability to connect with those committees and understand and I’ve, I’ve done that my entire career.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

What would be your top three priorities for OCCC in your first year as President?

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones:  

My top three priorities and if afforded this wonderful opportunity to serve fundraising, I would plan to secure gifts in the first 30 days, building a strong culture of philanthropy, bringing resources because as I’ve contemplated really this role in the work that’s needed it really a great deal of it has to do with resources, resources, making sure that students have what they need, that faculty and staff have resources to be able to continue their research and, you know, bring programming and projects. I understand it, because I’ve spent a career building projects, building resources. And so priorities would be fundraising, building a people centric culture, excuse me, focusing on healing, focusing on ensuring that I’m able to sit down with faculty and staff and students are external stakeholders as well to better understand how they have supported us and how we can strengthen those relationships. And then the restoration of maybe relationships loss because that’s something that’s variable important to me, I don’t think enough people focus on it, you get new leadership in and sometimes leadership is not necessarily aware that there have been some relationships that have been lost that need to be restored. And my heart is for that. So definitely restoring relationships in that. And then of course, making sure our academic enterprise, making sure that we have resources devoted to that area, as well. So fundraising, building a positive people culture that focuses on on healing and hope and hearing from the various constituencies because I definitely, I’m very relational and love to talk to people and visit with them no matter where they are on campus or off campus, and then also focusing on resource procurement for the academic programs and strengthening those academic programs, engaging in things like a McKinsey, you know, working with the McKinsey Institute, working with them to study our academic programs and look at the ROI so that we can make business decisions and figure out how we can better support our academic enterprise with resources.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

Please share your vision for the use of technology in expanding the impact of Oklahoma city, community college, both now and in the future.

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones: 

Technology is ever evolving. And I have a long standing relationship with some technology leaders in the industry, one being Dell. I’ve worked with them probably for the past 15 years or so.

And I’ve been able to go and bring in the latest and greatest technological support for the various organizations I’ve served. And so in doing so, uh, one of the initiatives that we launched at Langston was a learning lab, a technology lab that gave students experiential experience in fielding different, technical needs across the campus.

It also afforded students the opportunity to dive deeper into technology and work with industry professionals. And so, I see bringing those types of partnerships here as well, and making sure that our technology is the latest and greatest things, and contemporary, and can help students have access.

Because one of the things that a lot of employers have shared with me, sometimes there are deficiencies in students’ learning when they don’t have the adequate resources. And sometimes in higher ed, our equipment is not the latest, you know, it’s not the most contemporary. And so some of the challenges have been students’ abilities to be able to move forward and learn on current technology.

And so they kind of have some of those struggles when they go into the workforce. So I understand all too well the needs of having contemporary technology and fostering relationships with donors and companies that are willing to support. And let me tell you, there are plenty of companies out there that get excited about this type of thing.

They get excited about coming into institutions and being able to do assessments and being able to walk alongside those institutions to give support so that students have what they need to be successful.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

What would OCCC look like five years from now under your leadership? What would be different? 

Dr. Mautra Staley Jones:

OCCC will be a force to reckon with. OCCC will be dynamic. It already is. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t, I don’t want to say that we’re not dynamic. I believe OCCC is dynamic, but when I tell you that I will work.

Just having an unrelenting work ethic to ensure that we are well-equipped with the resources we need with the healing that we need. And with, um, students being able to be supported, that is what I will work to ensure. And so OCCC will be a place of exceptionalism. A place where students want to come and even more students will come, want to come and receive such a strong foundation, academic wise, and not only on the academic side, but, just out in the field, learning experientially, they need to be able to get out in the field and have those opportunities.

And so I would work to establish a culture of philanthropy. To ensure that we have resources and abundance of resources to strengthen all of the programs that we have, that makes sense to strengthen and to make sure that I am connected to the faculty and staff and students and, internal, external constituencies.

I see greatness. I see exceptionalism through and through. I see being able to continue to grow and, you know, launch programs and law. Just a brand new era of exceptionalism. So that’s what OCCC, what looked like under my leadership, I am an eternal optimist. I am very enthusiastic. I am focused on people and making sure that people have what they need.

And I understand that, you know, people matter, you know, people’s voices matter. And so this would be one OCCC in terms of all these different  areas that I just covered and touched on under my leadership.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

Discuss your experience with leading faculty.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

Absolutely. I’ve been able to grow so much at Langston university. And so I’m able to work with deans on various projects. I was able to work with our school of nursing dean. On a couple of initiatives. We went after a project in Tulsa through the vision 2025. And it was to secure a $16.25 million allied health professions complex that would really support our efforts there and Tulsa and north county Tulsa, because the health comes in disparities and health for, uh, the north Tulsa citizens.

Or just are low and there was a lot of work that needed to be done in that space. And so I was able to work with the nursing faculty alongside the Dean to successfully secure funding, to be able to build that complex that is well underway in Tulsa.

And I was also able to work with that same group of faculty and the Dean for the school of nursing to work out a partnership with the university center of Southern Oklahoma now Murray state, but we took our nursing program to Ardmore. So I was able to secure funding and work with those constituencies and the key leaders in the Ardmore community to bring health professions opportunity to the citizens of Southern Oklahoma. 

So that’s one area, as well as the wellness center, which is part of the three initiatives of Langston University, is the operator for the wellness center that is going to go on the Northeast Oklahoma city site, actually, it’s already being constructed and it’s coming along beautifully.

But I had to work with faculty to look at how we could provide those learning opportunities for students when we were crafting the plan and building out that plan. And so I’m certainly no stranger to having to work on various initiatives with faculty and staff. I worked with the school of business and our Dean from the school of business on second chance, Pell to help secure funding and resources and to research resources.

For the second chance Pell project that Langston University went and was a part of the pilot. But then of course, was able to provide, uh, educational support. And for those who were seeking education at Dick Conner’s out of Tulsa and Kate Barnard in Oklahoma city, and so worked with faculty on that as well as other, their litany of projects, but no strangers to understanding that faculties voices matter of faculty is needed to be able to help talk to donors and faculty explain that best. You know, that’s what I’ve learned. It’s, uh, something that I’ve been able to do is be a connector. So being able to bring resources and bring donors to the table but also, you know, bring faculty and so that they can share what they’re passionate about.

Faculty know best, how to carry out what they’re doing because they’re in the trenches doing the work. And so I’ve been able to do that successfully for a number of initiatives, as well as oversee faculty in my efforts at Langston University OKC. 

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

We have five minutes left. Why don’t you take that time to just give a closing statement, or perhaps, address some issues that I didn’t ask questions about that you’d like to talk about.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis:

Thank you, Dr. McKayla. So I wanna thank you. And, the esteemed board of Regents for this great community college, for the opportunity to be here today, for the opportunity to share about my vision, and the opportunity to share about how I will work day and night to ensure that this college prospers, continues to prosper that this college embarked upon a journey of exceptionalism and every single thing that we do.

And I know that the skill sets that I have and that my life’s worth all that I’ve been dedicated to. We’ll certainly, we’ll be able to, you know, be carried out here in an even bigger capacity and an even larger capacity. I’ve spent my entire career connecting people, building resources, creating relationships that you’ll return, and it will be no different here.

I love people. I love making a difference. I love humanity. I understand the importance of making people feel valued. And I understand that because it’s been what I’ve gone through my entire life coming from humble beginnings really helped me forge my own path. And I’ve had some great mentors along the way.

I still have great mentors. So I understand the importance of mentorship. I understand the importance of just being calm. I understand the importance of listening to people and making people feel like they matter, because guess what they do. We all matter. We all have a voice and that passion that I exude it’s genuine and it’s genuine because of the life lessons it’s genuine because of the life that I’ve lived.

It’s genuine because of the experiences and the successes that I’ve had. And guess what? I didn’t get there by myself. People helped me along the way. Lots of people helped me along the way. I’ve been blessed and fortunate with so many people and so many resources that folks who poured into me, poured into my career poured into making sure that I had the answers and that I had the support and it will be no different here.

It will be no different. I planned to bring my life’s work here and build, and grow, and embark upon. A vision of exceptionalism. I plan to bring hope, prosperity, healing and exceptionalism through and through if I’m afforded the opportunity and I can assure you that I don’t just talk about it. I don’t just talk and talk. I will walk the walk and I will not ask anyone to do anything that I’m not willing to do myself because I believe in servant leadership, I believe that it’s not about me. It’s about “we”. And I hope that I have the opportunity to be able to work with you, to bring my excitement, my enthusiasm, my passion, for people, for students, for fundraising, for making sure that we have the resources we need and the vision we need, the big picture we need.

That’s what I vowed to you today and that’s what I will do. I’m a person of my word. And I will bring the resources, the relationships and everything that I’ve worked so hard to establish to this great institution, to continue to be of service to this great state. Thank you. Thank you all.