Dr. Anne Khademian, Executive Director, The Universities at Shady Grove

Dr. Anne Khademian was named to serve as the Universities at Shady Grove’s third executive director in October 2020, following a nationwide search and her appointment to the post by Dr. Jay Perman, Chancellor of the University System of Maryland. As executive director of USG – a regional higher education center of USM in Montgomery County, with programs from nine universities on one campus – Dr. Khademian also holds the title of Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for USM.

Before joining USG, Dr. Khademian served most recently as a Presidential Fellow and professor at Virginia Tech, where she enjoyed a stellar 17-year career that included several years as director of the School of Public and International Affairs. A longtime resident of Montgomery County, Maryland, she served in her presidential fellowship in Virginia Tech’s Research Center in Arlington, near Washington, D.C. In that capacity, she supported the collaborative implementation of “Beyond Boundaries” initiatives, working across the university’s campuses and stakeholder committees to support organizational innovation and growth.

With nearly three decades of experience in higher education, Dr. Khademian is a nationally recognized scholar and author in the areas of inclusive leadership and organizational change. As director of the School of Public and International Affairs in Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban Studies for seven years, she led the school through a period of significant growth and transformation, including the introduction of new academic degrees and programs; increased student enrollment; new faculty hires; forging of new global partnerships and initiatives; and extended outreach into the local community.

Dr. Khademian’s research focuses on leadership and organizational culture, inclusive management, policy networks, and the work of organizations involved in homeland security and financial regulation. She is the author of three books: Working with Culture: The Way the Job Gets Done in Public Programs (CQ Press, 2002); Checking on Banks: Autonomy and Accountability in Three Federal Agencies (Brookings, 1996); and The SEC and Capital Market Regulation: The Politics of Expertise (University of Pittsburgh Press 1992). She has also published numerous articles on public management and public policy.

Dr. Khademian is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan organization established by Congress to assist government leaders in building more-effective, efficient, accountable, and transparent organizations.

As part of her leadership in the community, Dr. Khademian serves on the boards of both the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation. She is also on the Board of Directors for the American Red Cross, National Capital Region for the Montgomery, Howard and Frederick Counties Chapter and the Board of Directors for Smart City Works. In addition, she is a member of the Leadership Montgomery CORE Class of 2023.

Dr. Khademian holds a B.A. in Political Science and a Master of Public Administration from Michigan State University, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Political Science and Government from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She was a cross country and track star while at Michigan State and in 2016 she was inducted into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Dr. Khademian also hosts a video podcast series called "This is USG" and an audio podcast entitled "AKA Innovation," which showcases innovative leadership and business practices that can help to drive transformation and innovation in education.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
M and T Bank Presidents CEOs.You should know powered by Iheartadia, Let's
mean doctor academian. She is theexecutive director at the University's at Shady Grove.
Before we talked more about what sheand her team do at USG,
I first asked her to talk alittle bit about herself, where she's from
and her origin story. Well,I grew up initially in Albuquerque, New

(00:22):
Mexico, went to Zuni Elementary Schoolthere in Albuquerque, swam on a swim
team called the it was Cornado Club, the Cornado Club team there. Had
a great, great life growing upin Albuquerque and lived there for about eleven
years until my family moved to Michiganand moved to Michigan because my dad took

(00:44):
a job at a small college inOlivet, Michigan. He had been working
for Sandy Laboratories, and he tooka job as a vice president for finance
at Olivet College, a little thousandstudent college in Michigan. And it was
a huge enter for us to leaveAlbuquerque, which was a gorgeous, beautiful,
warm state with majestic mountains and allkinds of cool things that we had

(01:07):
come accustomed to to a very coldlittle town in Michigan, but it was
also quite an adventure. Lived inMichigan through high school. Started running because
I couldn't swim in Michigan. Iwas a swimmer in Albuquerque, and actually
I looked as a sidetrack. Ithink swimming kind of saved me in so
many ways because I had a hardtime reading, I had a hard time

(01:30):
concentrating and focusing. And my momsaw that activity and sports really recentered me
and focused me in a lot ofways. And so I was a swimmer
for the time you're in Albuquerque,and then became a runner when we got
to Michigan. But running meant justyou running around town and jumping rope and
having fun until I discovered track teamsand cross country teams and ran. It

(01:53):
was a small, small high school, so I ran for the boys cross
country team because there was no girlscross country team. Couldn't that play basketball
or volleyball to save my life,no hand by coordination whatsoever. But I
could run, and then that wasmy gateway to college. I was able
to run cross country, indoor andoutdoor track for Michigan State University on scholarship

(02:16):
and gave me a you know,it was the first year that Title nine
was implemented. Some Michigan State hadscholarships for distance runners. It meant that
we got a new pair of shoesevery competitive season, which was a new
thing for women's sports. So Iactually got a pair of running shoes,
and cross country a pair of runningshoes, and indoor and outdoor track as

(02:37):
well. We traveled at almost everyweekend to race either cross country or a
track, and so I got tosee the United States. I got to
run and see the United States.And I got a great education at a
wonderful university, Land Grant University,which really got exposed to fantastic professors,

(02:58):
great students, and logged my timeat Michigan State University. Earned a bachelor's
there and also a master's in publicadministration. Met my husband at Michigan State
University and he was taking a jobin Saint Louis, and so we moved
to Saint Louis and I became aPhD student at Washington University in Saint Louis,

(03:20):
earned my PhD there, and thentogether we moved to Washington, d
C. Where I worked for theBrookings Institution for one year, and then
we shifted gears and went to Madison, Wisconsin, where I got my first
ten year track job, and myhusband, who had been a professor of
economics, decided to apply for medicalschool. And so my husband started medical

(03:44):
school at age thirty eight, andI was a new professor at Wisconsin,
and that decision for him to goto medical school meant that after after five
years or so at Madison, wemoved to Michigan so he could do his
residency and I started teaching at theUniversity of Michigan, and then we moved
to Philly so he could do hisfellowships and I taught a pen and then

(04:10):
we moved to Washington, d C. For his job at Children's National Medical
Center, where I started teaching forVirginia Tech in the National Capital Region.
And so that's how we ended uphere in Washington, d C. And
loved my time at Virginia Tech.Absolutely loved it. Got to explore the
kinds of questions I was most interestedin. I was fascinated about how people

(04:32):
work together, How does collaboration happen, how do organizations function, What shapes
the culture of an organization, whatinspires people to do their best, what
inspires people to invent and be creativein organizations, and what shuts people down
in organizations as well? And howdoes government accomplish what it does with the

(04:53):
tools of organizations. These questions werefascinating to me, and they were about
people and people were working together,and people figuring out how to accomplish things
together, and people you know,dreaming together about what they wanted to do
and what was possible as ways tochange things. And so I was able
to study those questions and teach studentsabout those questions at Virginia Tech for years

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and then eventually was asked to leadthe School of publican International Affairs at Virginia
Tech, which I did for sevenyears, and then went to work for
the President's Office at Virginia Tech atPresident Tim Sands as a Presidential Fellow working
on different strategic initiatives up in theNational Capital region. But my life changed

(05:39):
the day I got a call froma recruiter who said, I got to
tell you about this job at theUniversities at Shady Grove. And I said,
well, I live in montgomer County. I've driven past the Universities at
Shady Grove. I don't know alot about the Universities at Shady Grove tell
me more, and explained to methat you know that this was this union

(06:00):
model and higher education and that ithad the potential to really be transformative.
So I said, well, letme, let me dig into it.
So I went on the website andstarted looking around and learning more and more,
and I thought, this is reallyinteresting. And I had explored other
possibilities, explored the possibility of leavingVirginia Tech in the past for kind of
traditional academic positions and had not andsuddenly this felt like this campus here was

(06:27):
everything I wanted to do in mycareer, but it was everything I believed
in. Most importantly, it wasabout the very students that I felt higher
education was not serving and that weneeded to serve. And you know,
when you're in a big institution,it's hard to drive a lot of change.
But when you have an opportunity tocome to a place like Shady Grove,
which is only twenty years old,I mean, that's that's a startup

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in higher education. You know,it's it's it's a it's a baby of
an institution. So there's still alot of flexibility here. And nine universities
offer eighty degrees on one campus,and it's a two plus two arrangement with
community college first getting your associate's degreeand then transferring into Shady Grove. And

(07:12):
it's accessible, it's affordable. Youknow, we have fifty six to sixty
percent of our students here graduating debtfree. We want it to be one
hundred percent, right, you know, just a fascinating model. That most
wonderful are the students who are cominghere to Shady Grove. And you know
they are students. Many of themare working, they have family responsibilities.

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They may be first in their familyto go to college. They have they
may be financing their own education.You know, English may not be the
family's first language. Right, There'sthere's a lot of barriers to a traditional
educational educational experience. But the studentshere are motivated. They work incredibly hard.

(07:56):
They want to make a difference intheir communities. They want to learn
and stay in their communities here.And so this was just to me,
this was like the job I equitedfor my whole life. It was doing
things in higher education that I believedin for a long time that I could
actually put my money where my mouthwas in terms of trying to drive change.
It was about creating greater access andaffordability and diversity and higher education.

(08:18):
But it was also about using thethings that I had learned over the years
about how do you be more inclusive, how do you do things collaboratively,
how do you change organizations? Howdo you change organizations that are deeply embedded
in other organizations and other systems.Here at Shady Grove we are embedded in
you know, it's a campus aspart of the University System of Maryland,

(08:41):
working with nine different universities who havetheir own systems, working in Montgomery County
with our partners Montgomery College, FrederickCommunity College, Howard Community College, and
other community colleges, and with thepublic school system, with Montgomery County Public
Schools, and with the County Council, and with the County Executive been with
the state legislature. And you know, it's just this, you know,

(09:03):
I call it a really complex onion. You know, it's like every layer
is something else. But it's fascinatingand it's how the world works. And
if we can figure out how toget all these parts moving together in some
way, we can make a bigdifference in the way higher education is delivered.
So so coming here has been um, you know, invigorating. It's

(09:26):
been like a dream come true tobe working here. You know, there's
not a morning that I don't wakeup that I can't wait to get here.
I can't wait to do this.Work days are hard, days are
complicated. My team, my teamis working so hard. There are days
we're all down and we're all struggling. But the team here is amazing.
They're all dedicated to the mission wehave and you know, we're surrounded by

(09:50):
people who care deeply about what wedo. So you know, I couldn't
ask for a better a better placeto be, and you know, a
good time in my life to beable to be digging into this and trying
to draw on the experiences that I'vehad across higher education, the experiences I've
had as a students, as astudent who went to college because I was

(10:11):
able to run, but a lotof you know, that's not an option
for many people. You know,I was very blessed that I could be
supported to run and do the thingsthat I love. But without that scholarship,
without that titleline opportunity, I don'tknow if I would have been able
to go to a four year university. Right. So the challenge I think
we have is that we've got tofigure out how to serve these more what

(10:33):
we call them fluid students, studentswho are working. They need to get
a credential, they need to workagain. They need to be online,
they need to be in person,they need to be hybrid, they need
experiential. They want to chart theirown path, they want to create their
own degrees, they want to stackthings the way they go. I think
we need to accept that much morefluid experience of students today, and that's

(10:58):
students instead of saying traditional versus nontraditional. You know, if you accept
this fluidity of students and you makeeducation accessible in that sense, that's our
challenge and that's what we're dedicated andcommitted to it here at Shady Grove is
how do we serve as the fluidstudent of today and tomorrow. If we

(11:18):
have time, I'll tell you thestory about how we came to that term
of the fluid student. But that'smy origin story. That was a long
winded one, but that's my origins. No, and it's a great one.
And thank you. It's really anamazing story. And you have such
a robust resume of so many amazingthings that you've done in higher education.
I always like to ask our leadersabout differentiating themselves, and I think that

(11:43):
just goes with school and higher educationtoo, about how we're different than maybe
other schools that are in the area, or maybe a little bit of what
they do we do similar, buthere's how we differentiate ourself. And maybe
you can expand on that, doctorKademian, about you know, the differentiating
when you do the ad sales pitchand you'd say, well, here's all
the different things we have, here'swhat you can do here. Tell us

(12:05):
a little bit about that. AndI just love to hear the story about
differentiating from other schools out there.Yeah. Absolutely, Well, the first
big differentiator is that we are nota degree granting institution. So Shady Grove
students who come here don't get theirdegree from Shady Grove. They get their
degree from one of our university partners. So they're earning their degree from College

(12:26):
Park or from UMBC or from Universityof Maryland Baltimore or Salisbury or Booley State
or ums. Right, So they'reapplying to degree programs that are offered here
on the campus, but they're notgetting So that's the first big differentiator.
I think. Another big differentiator forus is that we are two plus two
program, so we offer here forundergraduates. We offer the classes that are

(12:48):
third and fourth year and students taketheir first two years at another institution,
and if you take those from acommunity college, the tuition is very affordable.
Can save up to eight thousand dollarsa year by taking this pathway,
right, So cost and affordability becomesa big factor as well. We're also

(13:09):
very local and we're constant. We'revery focused on generating a workforce here locally
as well. So a big partof our mission is not only educational achievement,
but workforce development. As a regionalhigher education center, those two pieces
come together for us, and soit's not only about students academic success.
It's about delivering on a promise thatstudents also have meaningful employment and sustainable wage

(13:33):
careers and successful businesses. So wedon't think of ourselves as just an academic
institution. We think of ourselves asan academic institution in partnership with employers and
the community in order to think aboutthese lifelong learning pathways. So that's another
differentiator. It's not about the degreeprogram. It's about the pathway that students

(13:54):
are on, so you know,all the way back to middle school perhaps
where they can be thinking about youknow, kinds of career possibilities and the
support that they might need to getinto college, and you know, thinking
about that whole learning pathway and introducingthem to different possibilities and different types of
careers. And it doesn't end theday they walk across the stage of a

(14:15):
diploma. It's a lifelong learning,fluid journey. So those are some of
the key differentiators here that really makeShady Grove stand out, you know,
access affordability, the transfer student experience, the lifelong learning focus. You know,
but we are I think over eightypercent of the students who graduate from

(14:37):
programs here stay in the region,right, So it's also about community wealth
building and we want people to earntheir degree here and build a life here
and you know, take jobs hereand build careers here and build businesses here.
We have a we have something herecalled the Lab for Entrepreneurship and Transformational

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Leadership. In that lab which wasmade possible by an initial donation by the
David by the Blair Foundation by DavidBlair and his family. That lab has
a program called the Equity Incubator,and the Equity Incubator creates its spaces.
For this year, it was thirtyteams. Next fall, it's going to

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be a hundred teams who they havean idea for a business, or they
have a business, or they're tryingto grow their business, and they spend
eight weeks in this incubator with mentorsand coaching, honing their business ideas,
and they compete at the end witha Shark tank like experience. But these
teams are students, they're people fromthe community, you know, they're from

(15:39):
other colleges. I mean, it'sit's truly the community all coming together to
figure out how to build better businesses, how to turn great ideas into impactful,
valuable things for the community and forthe world. And so that's another
kind of differentiator of Shady Grove isthat we're very porous in that sense that
we are we're not only in partnershipwith employers, but when in partnership with

(16:02):
the community. And we like tothink about our space here is one that's
very poorous and accessible for all differentkinds of engagement and learning opportunities and partnerships.
If I could, we also liketo ask our leaders about challenges and
success stories, and if we couldjust spend just a few minutes talking about
that, Let's put a pin insuccess stories, because I bet you've got
just a bountiful of different great storiesthere. But right now, as executive

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director, what kind of challenges areyou facing? We have a lot of
challenges we're facing. I mean,I think that the biggest one is just
the challenges that higher education is facingitself. You know, there's a lot
of public frustration with higher education rightnow. You're starting to see, you
know, there's another report out todayabout the number of students who have some

(16:49):
college and no credential means they've spentmoney on college and they don't have a
credential to show for it. RightSo there's a real frustration about will is
it worth the investment? Is itworth the time? Can I get a
job? Can I get a careerafterwards? And there are many fabulous institutions
across the United States, And wehave twelve incredible institutions here in the University

(17:12):
system of Maryland who are are fabulouspartners who are all working on these questions
every single day. But higher educationas an overall, as a national institution,
is facing a lot of challenges aboutjust the value of higher education.
And there's a lot of question ofthat. So we as a higher education
institution are facing that challenge who that'sskepticism about higher education, the skepticism about

(17:36):
whether or not it's worth it,and so that's a big hurdle for us.
I think another big hurdle for USis challenge for US is reaching the
students we need to reach. SoI'll give you a figure, a number.
Seventy four percent of students in highereducation today are I'm going to use
the term non traditional, meaning thatthey are not looking to go onto a
campus for four or five six yearsto live on that campus, sleep,

(18:03):
eat, sleep, eat, drinkon that campus, earn their degree on
that campus. Right, they arelooking for other options for how they can
earn their degree program going away toa campus is not an option seventy students
in higher ed. And yet ashigher ed as a big institution, we
keep focusing solutions on that four yearcollege experience. Right, we keep focusing

(18:27):
on that traditional model as the solution. It's a big part of the solution,
and we'll always have these wonderful campusesand they'll continue to thrive. But
there have to be other models.There must be other models for how we
do this, and so the biggestchallenge for us is how do we serve
the students we need to serve andbuild a new model to do that.
And building that new model, We'vegot a good head start here at Shady

(18:48):
Grow because we have the two plustwo and net work, but you know,
trying to bring alignment across our partners, alignment with the county around a
new model, is really challenging.It's probably a decade plus challenge that we
face. You know, every institutionhas its own priorities, has its own
goals, has its own objectives,and that's as it should be. But

(19:11):
in order to be successful in thisnew model, we need tremendous collaboration.
We need people to agree on ashared challenge and to work together to figure
out what that looks like. You'veprobably heard this term before of our prisoner's
dilemma. It comes from game theory, and it's the idea that as people
are engaged in different aspects of life, if you're always pursuing your individual self

(19:34):
interest in a game or in life. There are suboptimal outcomes, but if
you find a way for collaboration,information sharing, some intervention in that,
there are better outcomes that make everyonebetter off without making anybody else works off.
I think we're right there with highereducation. If we're just focused on
this as individual institutions and traditional modelstrying to serve these students, we're not

(20:00):
going to like, we're not goingto get there. The outcomes are suboptimal.
We've got to figure out working together, focusing on that student, focusing
on that future fluid student, notthinking like institutions, but thinking like collaborators
serving these students of the future.You know, that's that's a big challenge.
How do we get to that point? We believe here at Shady Grove

(20:21):
that we can provide the kinds ofcapacity and resources and expertise that can help
us overcome some of that dilemma,right, that can help us get past
that collaboration challenge and do it ina place that's a little bit risk free
or risk of less risky. Wecan try some things out, we can
test them, and we can betterserve these students. So I think achieving

(20:45):
that kind of collaboration across institutions thatare very accustomed to being individual business models
with you, with their own priorities. There's a huge, huge challenge trying
to message the possibilities of working togetherand finding some common ground. It's a
big challenge. Trying to find thetalent that we need to build these new

(21:08):
capacities is a big challenge. Sothere are a lot of challenges that we
face. But I believe we don'thave a choice. I think that there's
an urgency here to create some newmodels, some new alternative models for higher
education. The workforce needs a newmodel. Huge percentage of our population needs
a new model. The problems arefacing as a world, as communities,

(21:32):
we need problem solvers. We needpeople with the skill sets to help us
engage these challenges and these problems.I think we don't have a choice.
I think we have to be ableto do it. But it doesn't negate
the fact that these are massive challenges. We've had a lot of support from
the state. The state government hasgiven us some one year funds two years

(21:52):
in a row to implement our newstrategic plan and to support the work we're
doing to build this new model.We've had support from the county for some
of the data work that we needto do in this We have tremendous support
from donors and people who believed inShady Grove for years. I have a
team here at Shady Grove, acore team at Shady Grove that is the

(22:12):
best anybody could ever ask to workfor because they're so committed to what we're
doing, you know. So wehave a lot of people supporting us and
what we're doing and believing in whatwe can do. But it's still challenging.
It's still a big challenge, understand. Thank you for sharing all that,
all right. Success stories, Iknow that there's probably just a bunch
of them that you could share withus. There's one standout where you said,

(22:34):
you know and what we just wemade a difference that day. That's
something that whether you brought in aprogram or a change a family's life,
is there's something that stands out thatit was really special in the short time
that you've been there so far.I mean, it's the students who are
the success stories. You know,every single day, it's the students who
get through their programs and go onand do wonderful things. A success story
like Audrio Awesome who didn't even thinkshe should. You didn't even see herself

(23:00):
in college until she found her wayto the Aces Pathway, which is one
of our joint programs that we offerhere with Montgomery College and MCPS, and
she worked her way through that pathway, graduated. Now she's created her own
organization called Noble Uprising, which focuseson women who are without shelter and who
have experienced all kinds of challenges inlife. And so she's making just this

(23:22):
incredible, magnificent impact in our community. You know, you know a student
who Jorge, who goes through ourBiology Sciences program and gets exposed to be
working in a dentist's office at onepoint, and you know, just says,
that's what I want to do.I got to bring dentistry to communities
who don't have dentistry and just giveseverything he has. He's now a dental

(23:45):
student at the University of Maryland,Baltimore, and he will be a life
changing dentist for so many families andcommunities. So there's so many stories like
that that stand out as the successstories. It's the students who get through
and get on and they start makinga difference in their community. Those are
the big success stories that stand outfor me. I'm just blessed to be
in a place where, you know, we can provide support and encouragement and

(24:08):
see these wonderful students succeed. Butwe have to reach more students. That's
part of our big challenge. Weserve about three thousand plus students a year
here. We should be serving seventhousand and ten thousand, right So that's
our goal is to have that tobe able to support more students who can
make a bigger differences when they graduate. Understood, And I can see you
get excited about that. I knowyou have a lot of passion for this

(24:30):
job and what you do. Butthat's why we get up in the morning
is stories like that and people's liveschanging for the better and creating some really
amazing things that weren't there before andjust poof out of thin air with their
education and their passion, creating allthese new different companies and programs and nonprofits.
And it's extraordinary to watch young peopleand what they can do. Because

(24:51):
I have one that's about to graduateanother year and I'm very excited about her
future. I did want to putup bow on our conversation Doctor Cadamian and
ask you if for our listener whenit comes to the Universities at Shady Grove,
if you could kind of lead themwith a few thoughts, because I
know we've talked about a lot ofdifferent things and you and I could talk
for hours about what you do andthe Universities at Shady Grove, but maybe

(25:11):
some final thoughts for our listeners aswe kind of wrap up, and what
you want to leave them with asa takeaway. You know, since I've
come here, people will say,Wow, Universities at Shady Grove. That's
a great idea. How Come Inever heard of it? And we say,
well, you know, we're tiredof being the best kept secret in
Montgomery County and in the region.So you know, I want people to

(25:32):
know about the Universities at Shady Grove. I want people to know that there
is outstanding educational opportunities here offered bynine incredible university partners who offered diplomas that
say their name on the diploma it'snot University at Shady Grove and the diploma
with the incredible resources here. Wehave a building here, the Biomedical Sciences
and Engineering Building. It was builtjust before the pandemic. You know,

(25:55):
two hundred thousand square foot of feetof the best classrooms, base and lab
space and stem based education you canimagine with outstanding professors. So I want
people to know we're here, wantpeople to know that this is a great
option. It's a great option foranybody, not you know, any any
student who's interested in greater access,greater affordability, and excellent education and connection

(26:18):
to the employment world in a reallypowerful and direct way as well. So
I think it's it's not just anoption for students who might not be able
to go away to a four yearcollege. It's an option for everyone.
It's an option for lifelong learners.So I want people to know about the
about Shady Grove as an incredible resourceright here in Montgomery County that brings the

(26:38):
power of the University system of Marylandto Montgomery County and with great career opportunities.
Employers are waiting at the doors forour students to graduate because they bring
not only career readiness and knowledge,but a tremendous work ethic and eagerness to
solve problems. So I think that'swhat I know I want people to know

(27:02):
is we're here we're an incredible resource. Join us in our effort to make
this educational experience more available, moreaccessible, more affordable, and really help
us do some transformative things, notonly in higher education, but in the
county. Let's graduate more teachers fromMontgomery County Public schools. Let's graduate more

(27:23):
nurses for the incredible healthcare system here. Let's graduate more computer scientists who are
going to go out there and solvecybersecurity issues and make networks and it more
accessible. Let's graduate more social workerswho are going to serve that broad mental
health challenges that we have in thiscommunity, especially coming out of the pandemic.

(27:45):
You know, let's do that together. It's not something that's just up
to higher education. That challenge issomething that all employers need to embrace,
that our community needs to embrace.We do it in partnership. We do
it together. We're only going tosolve prisoner's dilemma of how we reach more
students and produce more professionals and solveour problems if we do it together.

(28:06):
So join us fantastic resource here,and we look forward to partner with other
employers and other community partners who canhelp us do this in a bigger way
in a more impactful way as well. Well here here to all of that,
And I want our listeners to gowith my takeaway on this, as
we had a great conversation with doctorCandamion, is that you might have a
title as executive director, but asyou can hear, she's professor, she's

(28:30):
parent, she's a pitch person,she's a businesswoman. There are a lot
of things that you might go intoa job with and you don't realize all
the extra things you have to doin that role. But the one thing
that I'm also taking away too isthat doctor Ann's got great passion for this
job. And when I talk toleaders out there, CEO's executive director,

(28:51):
as doctor Candamian, passion seems tobe one of the number one priorities that
you have to have if you reallywant to sustain in a job. You
have to love what you're doing andlove the people that you work with.
Would you agree, absolutely absolutely,as you said, that's why we get
out of bed in the morning.Yep, it's why you know. Twenty
four seven, I'm thinking about thisjob, love this job, and I
can't think it's anything more important rightnow that I should be doing than helping

(29:17):
more and more students find accessible andaffordable educational opportunity. I love it.
Let's give a website for everybody.It is Shady Grove dot UMD dot edu.
Outstanding doctor kid Amy and I can'ttell you how much I appreciate your
time. It's always nice to methe fellow in New Mexican. And when
we were in the green room,we got to talk about all the old

(29:37):
days and the things that we grewup with, and it's very special that
state means a lot to our familiesand that was really cool. But I
really enjoyed my time learning about youand the universities of Shady Grove so much.
And I know that our listeners overthe iHeart radio stations, the podcast
network and also LinkedIn are going toenjoy or have enjoyed this interview as well.
Thank you so much for your valuabletime. Continue to access in.

(29:59):
We really appreciate you joining us onCEOs. You should know. Thank you
so much. I really appreciate thisopportunity to take care. Our community partner,
M ANDT Bank supports CEOs, youshould know as part of their ongoing
commitment to building strong communities, andthat starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a bank for communities, mand T believes in dedicating time,

(30:19):
talent, and resources to help localbusinesses thrive because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed