March 19, 2025 • 46 mins
Vicki and Lynn were thrilled to be joined in this episode by Jay Gonzalez, president of Curry College, to learn more about what college presidents do and why it matters. With his background in business, politics and law, Jay brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective on what it means to lead a higher education institution today. Jay also described the groundbreaking Curry Commitment, a job guarantee program that is the only one of its kind in Massachusetts and one of only a handful of similar programs in the country. We discussed the importance of career readiness and how the college is weaving the necessary skills throughout the four-year program. Of course, we also talked about parents, and our conversation highlights the pivotal role parents play in their children's college journeys.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:10):
Welcome to the College Parent Central podcast.
Whether your child is justbeginning the college admission
process or is already in college, this podcast is for you.
You'll find food for thoughtand information about college
and about navigating thatdelicate balance of guidance,
involvement and knowing when toget out of the way.
(00:31):
Join your hosts, vicki Nelsonand Lynn Abrahams, as they share
support and a celebration ofthe amazing child in college.
Vicki Nelson (00:47):
Welcome to the College Parent Central podcast.
This is the place where we talkabout all sorts of things that
have to do with being a collegeparent, and we know that means
while your student is in college, and sometimes post-college and
more and more before they startcollege.
So we're looking at high schooltoo, and if you are a high
(01:09):
school parent, you may beinterested in this.
My name is Vicki Nelson and Iam a professor of communication,
but my second credential isthat I am the mother of three
daughters who have all gonethrough college and come out the
other side, and we have allsurvived, and I am here with my
co-host.
Lynn Abrahams (01:29):
Hi everyone.
My name is Lynn Abrahams and Ialso come at this from two
different directions.
I am a learning disabilityspecialist.
I've been working with collegestudents for my whole career, so
I work closely.
I have worked closely withstudents and their families, but
I'm also a mom of two sons whohave gone in and out and around
(01:53):
and through and come out theother end of college.
I think they're grownups noweven.
It's pretty exciting.
So we have the girls and theboys covered Yep.
Vicki Nelson (02:03):
But, most importantly, we are very excited
today because, although we loveto talk to each other, we are
not here by ourselves.
Today, we are very excitedabout a guest who is with us.
Today we are here with JayGonzalez, who is the president
of Curry College small liberalarts college in Milton,
massachusetts.
Jay has served as Secretary ofAdministration and Finance of
(02:27):
the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts under Governor
Deval Patrick and he was acandidate for governor in 2018.
He also served as Chairman ofthe Board of the Massachusetts
Health Connector, where heoversaw implementation of
Massachusetts health care reform, and as chair of the
Massachusetts Board of EarlyEducation and Care.
(02:50):
Prior to coming to Curry, hewas a partner at Hinckley Allen,
a leading Boston law firm.
Jay has a deep breadth ofexperience in law, government
education, politics, advocacyand business leadership, and he
is now a college president andhe is here with us today.
So we're excited to talk to youand welcome you to the podcast.
Jay Gonzalez (03:14):
Well, thanks for having me.
You didn't mention one of myother credentials.
Okay, just to jump on yourbandwagon.
I have two daughters who alsowent to college, so I'm a
college parent and know whatthat feels like and what that
experience is, and I think yourpodcast is awesome.
It's great that you're speakingto these issues and speaking to
(03:36):
parents.
They play a really importantrole in it and it's a privilege
to be on with you and I want tosay I have the privilege of
working with Vicki now and,having worked with Lynn before,
one of the great things aboutCurry College, where I get to be
the president, is the communityof people who work here, and
(03:56):
you two are definitely high onthat list and it's a privilege
to be on your podcast.
Lynn Abrahams (04:01):
Thank you so much .
Vicki Nelson (04:02):
Well, I'm not at all intimidated about
interviewing my boss.
Not at all.
Jay Gonzalez (04:08):
Only easy questions.
Vicki Nelson (04:11):
And I think you know the fact that we all bring
that double perspective ofparents who've lived through the
process and also that we seeand work with students every day
and we sort of know whatthey're going through.
So we really have two things wewanted to talk to you about
today, and one is a little bitabout what it's like to be a
(04:31):
college president, because Ithink a lot of us don't know
that.
And then we also want to talkabout an exciting new program
that's going on at Curry.
So we're going to make sure wegive you plenty of time to talk
about that, but I think we wantto start by thinking a little
(04:52):
bit about college presidency.
Lynn Abrahams (04:54):
We're going to start by asking you what does a
college president do?
Jay Gonzalez (04:56):
What a great question.
Lynn Abrahams (04:56):
We just some of us, we really don't know exactly
.
Jay Gonzalez (05:09):
Well, I joke.
I do these staff facultylunches every couple of weeks at
the president's house withstaff and faculty and we go
around and have everybody telleach other what they do at the
college.
And I joke that as collegepresident.
One of the things I love aboutmy job is I have no direct
responsibility for anything.
Announcer (05:21):
Everybody else does everything responsibility for
anything.
Jay Gonzalez (05:28):
Everybody else does everything, but, in
seriousness, my job at thehighest level is to make sure
we're delivering on our mission,and our mission at Curry
College, like many othercolleges, is to educate and
graduate our students so they'reprepared to be successful in
their careers and in lifegenerally as active citizens
with a global perspective.
And, first and foremost, that'swhat I feel a responsibility to
(05:53):
deliver on.
Being college president, theday-to-day of it, requires being
a few different things.
It's being a business leader.
This is a big organization.
We need to be sustainable, weneed to manage a budget, we need
to make sure we are getting themost out of all of our staff
(06:16):
and faculty and other employees,that we're taking care of our
customers, who are our students,and so there are aspects of it
that are like running a business.
I report to a board of trustees.
There's also a component of itthat's a little like being a
politician.
It's kind of like being mayorof a small community where you
(06:39):
have all these differentstakeholders and who are members
of our community.
It's our students, first andforemost, but also our employees
, our faculty members, our staffmembers.
We are a member of our broadercommunity, the town of Milton in
this case, and the broadercommunity beyond that.
(06:59):
We need to be good citizens ofour broader community.
I've got alumni, who I engagewith a lot, donors of the
college, employers who partnerwith the college to provide
opportunities to our students,so there are a lot of different.
We have regulatory agencies atthe state level and the federal
(07:20):
level who we need to beresponsive to and engage with,
so there are lots of differentstakeholders that, as college
president, I need to be mindfulof.
I need to understand what theycare about, what their
challenges are, what theopportunities are, how we kind
of bring everyone together tomove the college forward toward
(07:41):
delivering on that mission.
And it's one of the things Ilove.
Some people you know they'dmuch prefer, you know, if they
run their own business, ifthey're in a similar type of
leadership position run theirown business or their own
organization where they can justdecide everything and just kind
of do what they want to do.
It's a lot more complicated, asyou guys know, at a college, in
(08:01):
a place like this, whereeverybody feels a sense of
ownership and interest in ourmission and delivering for our
students, and I actually likethat and it's part of the fun of
the job.
Vicki Nelson (08:16):
Okay, so you talk about how complex it is and
liking it.
So maybe you know it is andliking it no-transcript and you
(08:48):
have a broad experience thatcovers a lot of ground and you
were recently a partner in a lawfirm.
What made you decide you wantedto be a college president?
Jay Gonzalez (08:55):
Because you're coming at this from a different
perspective, not having sort ofgrown up in academia.
Yeah, I'm a reallyuntraditional candidate to be a
college president.
Most have grown up throughacademia, as you said, and this
is my first job in higher ed.
I was an adjunct faculty memberat Northeastern Law School for
a bit, but I was interestedbecause I had's cabinet
secretaries where I oversaw abunch of state agencies and had
(09:29):
a pretty impactful leadershipposition there.
I also ran a health insurancecompany that covered low-income
people in state Medicaidprograms.
So I've had a couple ofleadership positions and I
really liked the leadershiproles I've had, and so I was
interested in the leadershiprole.
But at a point in my life whereI really wanted it to be
(09:51):
something that fed my soul andwhere I felt invested in what we
did, and somebody got me,somebody suggested I would
really like being a collegepresident, I started thinking
about it, I started researchingit and I thought if I could ever
convince someone to hire me tobe a college president, I think
I would really love it, Becauseyou mentioned I had run for
(10:15):
office and the part about itbeing kind of a political job it
really is.
It's really about understandingthe people who are the
constituents.
It's about showing up, showingup to the games of the students
and the performances and thespeaking competitions that you
were a part of, vicki, and goingto classes and going to the
faculty meetings and reallyunderstanding the community and
(10:42):
helping to kind of bring peopletogether to move us forward in
ways that are going to benefitour students.
And the transformational impactthat a place like Curry College
and other places like it haveon a student's life in terms of
their personal growth anddevelopment, preparation for
career and life and thetrajectory and social mobility
(11:03):
impact it has on their lives isso meaningful.
It's something that Ipersonally experienced and so it
was just.
It felt like it would be thetype of job that would be
perfect for me, selfishly, interms of what I really enjoy and
what would make me feel goodand be rewarding for me.
(11:24):
What I really enjoy and whatwould make me feel good and be
rewarding for me and I got lucky.
The board at Curry Collegedecided to take a chance on me
and I've been here a year and ahalf now and I love it way more
than I ever thought, eventhought I would.
I think partly because of thejob itself.
It was everything I thought itmight be and more.
(11:46):
But also this place is.
I got very lucky with thisplace.
I couldn't have known by justreading about it how special the
community here is, and that wasa big part of it and kind of
the ideal of what that is as acaring, supportive environment
(12:06):
where people are engaged witheach other.
A lot of interesting thingsgoing on on a college campus and
this is just a really neatplace.
So I feel really lucky.
Vicki Nelson (12:18):
I think we're glad you were a little selfish.
Well, thanks.
Lynn Abrahams (12:21):
Well, and I was going to say I can tell that you
really like it, because I don'tthink I've ever seen you
without smiling.
You have this energy that's youknow, you're, you're happy with
it, you're smiling well, it'suh.
Jay Gonzalez (12:35):
You don't see me all the time no but and it's not
always easy, that's for sure.
But but I will say like um, I'vehad maybe like one really hard
day here, yeah, and the rest ofthe days are days where I'm
smiling, where there's just somany neat things going on here
(12:57):
that students are the best partyou know.
I want to mention we've gotChuck here with us who's
managing this podcast for us,operating it.
He's a freshman here who'sinvolved in all kinds of stuff
and being in a place whereyou're constantly running into
and getting to talk to studentslike Chuck and understand what
(13:17):
the experience is like here forthem and what their aspirations
are and what they're trying todo and how they're doing it and
what's working and what isn't,it's energizing and it's hard
not to be happy.
Lynn Abrahams (13:29):
So let me ask you what are some of the hard parts
?
Jay Gonzalez (13:33):
Well, I would say the hardest part is the kind of
part that's outside of ourcontrol the industry challenges
that are facing higher ed today.
I don't think it's any secretthat there are, demographically
population-wise, there are justgoing to be a lot less high
school students year after yearfor the next few years, and, of
(13:56):
the high school students who aregraduating, many more
questioning the valueproposition of a traditional
four-year undergraduate degreeat a place like Curry College
than used to be the case.
There are other alternativepaths that high school graduates
can take to careers and a lotof people are questioning is the
(14:21):
value proposition of college,all the time and money that you
need to spend to go to afour-year college, worth it?
And so, as a result, over thelast 10 years, a smaller and
smaller percentage of highschool graduates have been
choosing to go to college, andthat's put a lot of pressure on
most colleges across the countrywhere enrollments are down.
(14:42):
That's the case at Curry, whereenrollment is less than it was
10 years ago, and we've gotta beresponsive to that and it's
something we've been focusing on.
I know we're gonna talk laterabout one of the ways in which
we're trying to be responsive tothat, but that's the biggest
challenge is how do we ensure weare delivering on the really
(15:03):
important and impactful valueproposition that we know higher
ed delivers, and delivered forour kids, and that we're doing
it in a way that is responsiveto the market demands from
parents and families andstudents, students but also
(15:23):
delivering what higher educationhas always been expected to
deliver, which is not justpreparing students for a job,
but preparing them to besuccessful over a lifetime of
career, potentially differentjobs, and to be positive in
everything, engaged communitymembers and citizens, and that's
(15:47):
a really important role we playin society.
Lynn Abrahams (15:51):
You know, I think we should jump into one of your
big ideas at the college,something you came in with, I
think, an idea about a programthat you know that we want to
hear more about.
So what is your?
You're opening the door, I'mopening the door, we don't want
to say too much.
So what is your—.
Jay Gonzalez (16:07):
You're opening the door.
Lynn Abrahams (16:09):
I'm opening the door.
Jay Gonzalez (16:10):
Yeah.
Lynn Abrahams (16:10):
We don't want to say too much.
Vicki Nelson (16:11):
We want to let you say it all.
Yeah, you say it.
Jay Gonzalez (16:12):
So I'll say that I didn't come in with this idea.
Lynn Abrahams (16:17):
Okay.
Jay Gonzalez (16:20):
We had a strategic planning process last year that
you guys may have been part of,lots of members of our
community were a part of, mayhave been part of, lots of
members of our community were apart of, in light of these
challenges that we and lots ofother colleges are facing, to
(16:41):
try to figure out strategicallywhat our priorities should be
and how we move forward.
And it was actually a member ofmy team, keith Robichaud, our
VP of Enrollment Management, agreat human being who's been at
Curry College for 20 years andworks with lots of parents and
families, answers lots ofquestions for them.
In that role he does an amazingjob.
He's also a really creative guyand one day I was sitting with
(17:02):
him and I said what can we do toelevate Curry and really
differentiate us?
And he said we could guaranteeeverybody a job, every student a
job.
I said are you serious?
Vicki Nelson (17:19):
And he kind of laughed and said no not really
how subtle, did he know Istarted thinking about it, and I
called him a couple days laterand I said I really want to talk
with you about this and we kindof planted it with the
strategic planning committee.
Jay Gonzalez (17:33):
Where we had one area of focus was on career
readiness.
Because it's really clear fromall the data, all the surveys of
parents and students today thatway, more than was the case in
the past, the number one thingthat they're looking for out of
a traditional four-year collegeexperience is what's the job I'm
going to get when I get out.
(17:54):
Wanting to understand thatreturn on investment concept and
we know there's a much broaderreturn on investment from
college than just the job butthat is foremost on families'
minds today.
So we really looked at this andwhat came out of our strategic
planning process was we weregoing to make career readiness
(18:18):
one of our top priorities and wewere going to put our money
where our mouth was.
So we developed a—we areinvesting now and have made a
lot of progress on a much morerobust career readiness program
at Curry College that supportsour students, which we can talk
about a little bit.
We have made a commitment thatis basically a job guarantee.
(18:40):
We've told students that as longas they meet certain minimum
requirements, we areguaranteeing they'll have a job
within six months of graduatingand if they don't, we will pay
their student loan federalstudent loan for up to a year,
place them in a paid internshipfor up to a year, give them free
credits toward one of our gradprograms.
And we are the only college inMassachusetts to do anything
(19:03):
like this, and one of only ahandful in the country, so it is
a real differentiator.
We just implemented thisprogram.
Basically, we're in the processof doing it and launching it.
Now we hired this great newdirector of our Career and
Experiential Learning Center,who we stole from MIT, who is
(19:24):
doing an amazing job.
We're investing in this, hiringsome career advisors and other
folks to help out, and this isbecoming something that will be
kind of infused throughout CurryCollege and it's a really
exciting initiative.
I think it's mobilized us in alot of ways and it's different
(19:47):
for a college to make this kindof bold of a commitment and with
some actual consequences if wedon't deliver on it.
But it's exciting to be a partof it and I think I feel good
about the fact that we're beingresponsive to what families and
students are telling us theywant to what families and
(20:10):
students are telling us theywant.
Vicki Nelson (20:13):
So I want to come back to talking more about the
program, specifically whatstudents need to do and what the
college is doing.
But I'm curious you mentionedthere are only a handful, and I
tried to be a parent searching ajob commitment program and it's
a really smart idea.
Why aren't more schools doingthis?
Jay Gonzalez (20:35):
Well, as I said, it's really different for a
college to do this right.
Four-year colleges like Curryhave ever thought of themselves
as responsible for the actualjob when a student gets out, and
(20:55):
in recent times there's beenmore investment.
More colleges have careercenters will help provide
supports.
But to say that it's ourresponsibility and if we don't
deliver we will be heldaccountable in some meaningful
way, that's really different andin a way it's kind of scary,
(21:18):
which is why I think when Keithsaid what if we did a job
guarantee, and I said are youserious?
He said oh no, not really.
And when I first mentioned itto my senior team and when it
came out in the strategicplanning process, everyone's
initial reaction was well, whoa,that seems like a lot, that
seems big.
Do we really want to take thaton?
(21:39):
It seems risky, but it's also,I think, what people are looking
for.
What people want is someassurance that we're in it with
them and we're holding ourselvesaccountable to deliver on this
value proposition concept.
There was an article on thefront page of the Boston Globe
(22:02):
just a week or two ago aboutwhether colleges are worth it
getting at this whole pointabout what is the job that
students are getting coming outof colleges across the country,
(22:22):
graduating from differentacademic majors and programs,
and there are new reportingrequirements imposed on colleges
by the federal governmentaround.
What is happening with studentswhen they graduate and what are
the jobs and how much are theyearning and how does that
compare to the debt that they'retaking out?
This is out there.
(22:43):
I mean this is happening and wesaw it as an opportunity to.
Yes, it's different, it's bold,we're taking a risk, but on the
other hand, we should.
We should hold ourselvesaccountable, and one of the
things that I love about it isby doing so, it is forcing us to
(23:05):
mobilize internally is, bydoing so, it is forcing us to
mobilize internally, people are.
We are actively working andmaking a ton of progress to
figure out how we make sure wedeliver on this commitment for
our students, and I'd rather bekind of in the forefront of that
than getting dragged behind anddoing it too late and not
(23:28):
delivering for our students.
Lynn Abrahams (23:30):
You know, one of my kids went to a four-year
liberal arts college and thenwhen he got out he couldn't find
a job and worked at Subway fora long time and then ended up
going to one of those boot campthings.
And you know, so it was alittle strange for us as parents
(23:52):
that you know we paid for thisbig degree and then you know,
then he goes to this sort ofshort-term thing.
How is this different than that, than that short-term boot camp
thing?
Jay Gonzalez (24:03):
Yeah Well, so there are a lot of people who
are just skipping the collegepart and going to the six-month
coding boot camp thing Right,which may not be a good plan
either Expecting to get out ofthe experience.
(24:25):
So how is it different?
We now need to hold ourselvesmore accountable for the job
part and that's what we'retrying to do through the Curry
commitment.
Than Curry or collegesgenerally have done in the past
(24:50):
is a much broader kind of baseliberal arts, whatever you want
to call it, breadth of educationthat prepares students with the
skills they're going to need tobe successful in that job and
any other job they get and justto navigate life.
So critical thinking skills.
Good communicators which I knowVicki spends a lot of time
helping our students with youknow good communicators which I
know Vicki spends a lot of timehelping our students with.
You know, good communicators,you think about it being able to
(25:12):
write an email that's likecritical in a lot of jobs An
email that is cogent and peopleunderstand and communicates what
you want to communicate, letalone giving a presentation or
public speaking or just how tonavigate an interview.
So, communication skillsworking collaboratively with
(25:36):
other people on a team to solvea problem Getting exposure to a
broader world than your personalworld has been.
You know, getting educatedabout different types of people,
different cultures, differentexperiences you're going to run
into.
Our students are going to runinto lots of different types of
people than they grew up withand they're going to have to
(25:59):
work with them and they're goingto have to understand them, and
the more we can do to helpprepare them for the life that
they're going to be engaging andthe career experiences they're
going to be having, the moresuccessful they're going to be.
So you get a lot more thanlearning how to code.
You get a broader educationalexperience.
(26:23):
One of the things we're doingthrough the career readiness
programming that we're standingup to deliver on the commitment
is supplementing what studentsget through the traditional
academic program by providing awhole career readiness program
that includes workshops aroundsome of the key essential skills
(26:44):
.
They're referred to as the NACEskills.
It's an organization that'skind of identified the eight
core skills that employers arelooking for.
It's things like communicating,leadership, equity and
inclusion, working on teamssuccessfully, technology this
career readiness programmingthat we're putting in place for
(27:07):
our students, which studentswill be engaging with from the
day they start till the day theygraduate has those types of
components as well.
And then there are workshops onsome of the nuts and bolts
resumes, mock interviews,linkedin, all these things that
(27:29):
lots of people in their careersneed to do.
There are also going to be a lotof events that students that
will be put on for studentsaround networking panels from
employers who are talking aboutwhat they're looking for in new
employees, young employees whoare coming out of college.
(27:49):
So the programming that we'reputting in place to help
emphasize and provide supportaround these essential skills
for employment, along with someof the nuts and bolts and
opportunities to meet employers,engage with them, network
Networks are so important.
A third of our students atCurry are first-generation
(28:10):
college students.
My daughters and lots of othershad a lot of privilege in the
sense that if they wanted aninternship, I knew some people
and I could make a call and seeif a lot of our students don't
have parents who have thoseconnections or relationships and
networks are really importantUnfortunately too important to
(28:33):
finding jobs and opportunities,and we're going to be providing
those types of experiences andopportunities for our students.
Vicki Nelson (28:40):
So you've talked a lot about all of those things
that we're providing everythingfrom the workshops and the
networks and the panels and allof that.
That we're providing everythingfrom the workshops and the
networks and the panels and allof that.
And I know students are notpart of this commitment Curry
commitment program just bywalking in the door.
It's voluntary.
You ask students to sign up.
I think one of the advantagesof this is even for those
(29:04):
students who choose not to signup they're going to get a lot of
the benefits.
But can you talk a little bitabout what we expect of those
students who do sign up?
Jay Gonzalez (29:22):
We're providing a lot for them.
What's their end of the bargain?
We are providing a lot andwe're making a commitment, a
guarantee, but so they have todo their part too.
This is a two-way street, so itis a voluntary program.
All the investment we're makingin career readiness programming
will be available to all of ourstudents.
But if a student wants toqualify for the commitment, the
(29:45):
job guarantee, then there arecertain requirements that they
need to meet.
First they need to sign up forit.
There's an agreement that theysign that basically says we get
what the expectations are and weswear to God we're going to do
everything we can to meet theseexpectations.
So they need to engage with thecareer readiness programming we
(30:06):
put in place and there aresanctioned events and workshops
that count toward the commitmentrequirement and they're going
to be expected to attend five orsix different career readiness
programming events everysemester over their four years
(30:26):
at Curry.
They also need to maintain aminimum GPA of 2.8 or higher.
So we've tried to set it at avery reasonable, accessible
place for students who should beat least hitting that mark.
They need to do at least oneinternship or experiential
(30:48):
learning opportunity, which wewill help with the placement to
the extent they want and needhelp with that.
But they need to have oneexperience like that and they
need to graduate in four yearsand they need to start looking
for their first job during theirlast semester at college.
(31:12):
So as long as they meet thoseminimum requirements we've tried
to set the bar at a veryreasonable place then they will
be eligible for the commitment,the signing up and the showing
(31:39):
up to the five or six events.
That's a real test of theirwillingness to invest in their
growth and development.
Unfortunately, we all see it.
There are times students whocome to college and don't show
up to a class or to multipleclasses and this is an
investment they're making intheir future the very least show
up to class.
Right, If we're going to bemaking this commitment and
(32:00):
promising to pay federal studentloans if they don't get a job,
or placing them in a paidinternship or whatever they
choose, they need to have donetheir part too, and we believe,
by doing their part, we're goingto be successful working with
them to ensure they're getting ajob that they're excited about
(32:22):
when they graduate.
Lynn Abrahams (32:22):
It's a very exciting program.
Vicki Nelson (32:23):
My goodness, I can't wait to see it unfold,
because it is all brand new itis, and you're not going to just
see it.
Jay Gonzalez (32:26):
V it is all brand new it is, and you're not going
to just see it, vicki.
You're going to be part of it, Iknow the communication
department is actually greatabout requiring internships and
have a lot of greatrelationships in the media and
communication world in thegreater Boston area, in the
(32:48):
media and communication world inthe greater Boston area, and
have placed a lot of ourcommunication students in great
internship opportunities and doa lot.
It's one of the neatest thingsabout our faculty here is how
much they care about ourstudents beyond just the
classroom, and the communicationdepartment in particular has
done a great job about givingour students job opportunities
(33:12):
and helping to make connectionsfor them.
I've met a ton of students whohave benefited and they speak
about Professor Carberry orwhoever it was who helped them
get a job and so you will bepart of it.
But you won't be alone anymore.
The college is investing in abig way to work collaboratively
with our faculty and others oncampus to make sure we're all
(33:35):
rowing the right direction toget our students jobs.
Lynn Abrahams (33:38):
So how do you see the role of parents in this?
Jay Gonzalez (33:47):
Well, parents obviously play a critical role.
It's great that you guys arefocused on this and I know Vicki
has talked with me a little bitabout it.
We're really through anotherstrategic initiative we have.
We're working at Curry on howwe do a better job engaging
families and supporting studentshere.
(34:07):
You know, I think I'minterested in what you guys
think about this, but familiesare the most important advisor
and supporter for students,right?
And you know, the point atwhich a child goes to college is
a big moment for the child andfor the parents.
(34:31):
Speaking as a parent, this isthe child is being asked to take
a big step forward in terms oftheir own agency and
independence and personaldevelopment and growth, and the
parents have to let go a littlebit, but they also need to be
(34:53):
there for their child.
And you know, I think the I meanpersonally my opinion on this
is parents can be extremelyhelpful in making sure that the
student, their child, isadvocating for themselves in the
(35:14):
situations where the collegemight not be delivering on their
end of the bargain in terms ofwhat was expected from the
college in one way or another,but that the student is also
engaging and investing in theirown personal growth and
development and taking advantageof all the opportunities the
college has.
If I was a parent of a studentgoing to Curry College, I would
(35:38):
be advising my child you mightwant to think about signing up
for the Curry Commitment Programand showing up to the five or
six things every semester.
So you know it's as we all know, being a parent is hard.
They don't always want tolisten to you and to whatever
advice you have and how youapproach it is for every
(36:02):
relationship between a parentand a child probably depends but
being there for them andhelping to make sure they're
considering both whether there'sanything they're being
shortchanged on from the collegethat they should be advocating
for themselves for, and whetherthey're doing their part to take
advantage of everything thecollege has to offer.
Vicki Nelson (36:25):
We often talk about the idea of becoming a
coach.
So you know, moving from thatcaretaking aspect in high school
and then you're on thesidelines as a coach.
But any good athlete says I oweit all to my coach, and so you
know.
You don't say let me as a coach.
(36:46):
You don't say let me just runthis play because I can do it
better.
Jay Gonzalez (36:52):
But helping students learn how to do all of
the things you're talking about,yeah, I think it's really good
advice and thinking of it as acoach is a great way to put it.
I have the pleasure of meetingand dealing with lots of parents
and families and I really enjoyit, and I often seek out
parents to talk to.
(37:12):
I had dinner last week with aparent of one of our freshmen
One.
It's great for me to get asense from them of their sense
of what their child's experiencehas been and what's working or
what isn't working.
But with all the families thatI interact with, there are some
(37:34):
who have a harder time giving upthe caretaking part and there
are some who have.
It's been very easy for them tocut the cord and you're off.
You know it is hard becauseit's a big change and you know,
I think the coach model is agood one.
(37:56):
This is an opportunity for yourchild to grow, to become more
confident.
Confidence is such a big thing.
You know, when we talk aboutcareer readiness, what are all
the things that you know, allthe competencies and all that,
just like leaving collegefeeling confident that you're
(38:17):
ready.
That in and of itself is huge,and I've heard from lots of
particularly who've gone throughthe PAL program here, lynn that
you were a part of.
That supports students withlearning differences where but
not just those students wheretheir experience here.
A lot of times when I ask youknow what was your experience at
(38:39):
Courier, what worked and whatwould you love about it?
A lot of times I will hear themtalk about it.
It was the first time I feltlike I really belonged somewhere
and I got the confidence that Icould do it.
It was the first educationalsetting for a lot of the
students you worked with wherethey felt like you know what.
Lynn Abrahams (38:57):
Yeah, I could do this.
Jay Gonzalez (38:58):
I'm smart and they had the confidence to carry on.
Parents as coaches should beencouraging to carry on Parents
as coaches should be encouraging.
My advice would be encouragingtheir students to do things,
engage, advocate for themselvesas opposed to doing it for them,
because they're going todevelop that confidence that
(39:21):
they can and that they're goingto be successful doing so when
they leave.
Vicki Nelson (39:25):
And it's one of the reasons I think we're so
pleased that a number of peoplewho seem to listen to our
podcast are high school parents,because that's the time when
you can lay that foundation forhelping students have some of
that confidence and know how toadvocate and know how to do
things for themselves, and thenas parents, we can be confident
(39:49):
sending them off because we knowthey've accomplished those
milestones.
Yeah, it's a great point.
Lynn Abrahams (39:55):
So I think we could talk all day.
We could keep going all day.
Vicki Nelson (39:59):
I'm trying to think of.
You know, just pulling togethereverything you've told us about
presidencies and what that'sabout, and I think hopefully
parents understand a little morenow about that person as
president and maybe they want toask when they're looking at
colleges who's the president andmaybe have some questions for
(40:23):
him.
And then also that ideacertainly the commitment program
and creating that or making ithappen thanks to Keith team
effort.
What would you like to leaveparents with from the vantage
point of a college president?
If you could just say here's mybottom line message to parents,
(40:49):
whether they're parents ofcurrent college students or
prospective, as they're lookingat colleges and considering, do
you have anything you'd leave?
Jay Gonzalez (41:00):
people with.
I would say there are lots ofgreat colleges and there are
lots of factors that will impactwhich ones might be best for
your child, the academic majorthey're interested in, whether
(41:20):
they want an urban environmentor not an urban environment.
There are all kinds of factors.
One that I think is reallyimportant is whether your child
feels comfortable at whateverthe place is.
In order for them to besuccessful, wherever they end up
, it needs to be a place wherethey will feel comfortable or
(41:46):
they'll feel like they belong orthey feel connected.
And you can't know that 100% forsure before you start, before
the child starts there andactually has the experience
there.
But the child will have a senseof that right when you're
visiting campuses and checkingthings out.
(42:07):
And I would say don't ignorethat part of it.
In fact, really be tuned to it,because it is such an important
factor in whether or not astudent is going to get the most
out of their experience atcollege.
And I would encourage parentsto encourage their students to
(42:30):
be in tune with that as they'revisiting and thinking about
different places.
And then the coaching part Ithink that's the most valuable
role a parent can play and themost constructive role in
helping their children get themost out of the college
experience, grow the most,become as independent as
(42:52):
possible and have thatconfidence that they're going to
need.
Vicki Nelson (42:57):
Great advice to leave people with.
Lynn Abrahams (42:59):
Nuggets of wisdom from the president of Curry and
before we let you go, we haveone more question.
Vicki Nelson (43:05):
And before we let you go, we have one more
question.
So when you came to Curry, oneof the first things you did you
brought a really importantpartner to work with you here,
and I'm wondering if you couldtell us a little bit about
Graham and why you thought itwas important to have Graham be
part of the Curry team.
Jay Gonzalez (43:23):
I'll tell you the Graham story.
So, for those who don't know,listen to this podcast.
Graham, his formal name isAlexander Graham Bell.
He is the Curry dog.
Alexander Graham Bell was achancellor at Curry College way
back when.
When I started, I asked my teamwhat are some quick wins that
(43:44):
we can get with students?
What are things students havebeen asking for that we just
haven't delivered on?
That would be easy for us toquickly do and improve the
student experience.
And one of the things that cameup was students have talked
about could we have a servicedog on campus?
So I talked to my wife aboutthat and she had been working in
(44:08):
the town of Needham where theyhad a service dog that was bred
and trained by this organizationcalled Gofie.
That's based in Walpole.
It breeds and trains Englishcream golden retrievers.
It was part of the police force.
His name was Rocket OfficerRocket and she would come home
from work all the time and ifshe saw Rocket that day I would
(44:29):
have to listen about Rocket forlike a half an hour and see all
the pictures.
So then you know, we starttalking about it and it turns
out my assistant in thepresident's office, amy, who you
might know also volunteers forGofie and has had three dogs
from Gofie.
So at that point there was noturning back.
Lynn Abrahams (44:50):
We had to do it, so, cindy and I got Graham from
Gofie.
Jay Gonzalez (44:56):
He goes to training.
He was going four days a week.
He now goes two days a week.
He's a little over a year oldand he lives with us in the
president's house, comes to workwith me every day, goes to
training a couple of days a weekand otherwise students take him
around campus.
He is you know, he is a rockstar on campus.
He is such a positive presence.
The students love him.
(45:17):
He's amazing with the studentsand it's been a really positive
thing for the community.
I think you know it's kind oflike your team or being a Red
Sox fan if you're from Boston.
It's like one thing that we allshare and Graham is something
that we all share at Curry and,yeah, he's been great.
(45:41):
He's been a lot as a familythat didn't have a dog before
and we haven't had kids in thehouse, so now it's like we're
going to go out to.
No, we can't go out to.
Lynn Abrahams (45:49):
Derek because we've got the dog.
Jay Gonzalez (45:53):
But he's been great and yeah really glad we
got him.
Lynn Abrahams (45:57):
He's beloved.
Jay Gonzalez (45:58):
He is yeah.
Vicki Nelson (45:59):
And you did not list him as one of the
challenges of being a collegepresident, so that's great.
Thank you so much.
We're so happy to talk to JayGonzalez, the president of Curry
College, and to learn a littlemore about presidency, because I
don't think a lot of peopleunderstand who the president is
(46:21):
and what the president does, andthen to hear about the Curry
Commitment Program, which Isuspect right now is one of a
handful, but we'll have many,many more programs following.
So thank you so much for givingus your time, because it sounds
like you keep busy.
Jay Gonzalez (46:41):
Yeah, well, thanks for having me.
This was fun, thank you so muchThanks.
Welcome to the College Parent Central podcast.
Whether your child is justbeginning the college admission
process or is already in college, this podcast is for you.
You'll find food for thoughtand information about college
and about navigating thatdelicate balance of guidance,
involvement and knowing when toget out of the way.
(00:31):
Join your hosts, vicki Nelsonand Lynn Abrahams, as they share
support and a celebration ofthe amazing child in college.
Vicki Nelson (00:47):
Welcome to the College Parent Central podcast.
This is the place where we talkabout all sorts of things that
have to do with being a collegeparent, and we know that means
while your student is in college, and sometimes post-college and
more and more before they startcollege.
So we're looking at high schooltoo, and if you are a high
(01:09):
school parent, you may beinterested in this.
My name is Vicki Nelson and Iam a professor of communication,
but my second credential isthat I am the mother of three
daughters who have all gonethrough college and come out the
other side, and we have allsurvived, and I am here with my
co-host.
Lynn Abrahams (01:29):
Hi everyone.
My name is Lynn Abrahams and Ialso come at this from two
different directions.
I am a learning disabilityspecialist.
I've been working with collegestudents for my whole career, so
I work closely.
I have worked closely withstudents and their families, but
I'm also a mom of two sons whohave gone in and out and around
(01:53):
and through and come out theother end of college.
I think they're grownups noweven.
It's pretty exciting.
So we have the girls and theboys covered Yep.
Vicki Nelson (02:03):
But, most importantly, we are very excited
today because, although we loveto talk to each other, we are
not here by ourselves.
Today, we are very excitedabout a guest who is with us.
Today we are here with JayGonzalez, who is the president
of Curry College small liberalarts college in Milton,
massachusetts.
Jay has served as Secretary ofAdministration and Finance of
(02:27):
the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts under Governor
Deval Patrick and he was acandidate for governor in 2018.
He also served as Chairman ofthe Board of the Massachusetts
Health Connector, where heoversaw implementation of
Massachusetts health care reform, and as chair of the
Massachusetts Board of EarlyEducation and Care.
(02:50):
Prior to coming to Curry, hewas a partner at Hinckley Allen,
a leading Boston law firm.
Jay has a deep breadth ofexperience in law, government
education, politics, advocacyand business leadership, and he
is now a college president andhe is here with us today.
So we're excited to talk to youand welcome you to the podcast.
Jay Gonzalez (03:14):
Well, thanks for having me.
You didn't mention one of myother credentials.
Okay, just to jump on yourbandwagon.
I have two daughters who alsowent to college, so I'm a
college parent and know whatthat feels like and what that
experience is, and I think yourpodcast is awesome.
It's great that you're speakingto these issues and speaking to
(03:36):
parents.
They play a really importantrole in it and it's a privilege
to be on with you and I want tosay I have the privilege of
working with Vicki now and,having worked with Lynn before,
one of the great things aboutCurry College, where I get to be
the president, is the communityof people who work here, and
(03:56):
you two are definitely high onthat list and it's a privilege
to be on your podcast.
Lynn Abrahams (04:01):
Thank you so much .
Vicki Nelson (04:02):
Well, I'm not at all intimidated about
interviewing my boss.
Not at all.
Jay Gonzalez (04:08):
Only easy questions.
Vicki Nelson (04:11):
And I think you know the fact that we all bring
that double perspective ofparents who've lived through the
process and also that we seeand work with students every day
and we sort of know whatthey're going through.
So we really have two things wewanted to talk to you about
today, and one is a little bitabout what it's like to be a
(04:31):
college president, because Ithink a lot of us don't know
that.
And then we also want to talkabout an exciting new program
that's going on at Curry.
So we're going to make sure wegive you plenty of time to talk
about that, but I think we wantto start by thinking a little
(04:52):
bit about college presidency.
Lynn Abrahams (04:54):
We're going to start by asking you what does a
college president do?
Jay Gonzalez (04:56):
What a great question.
Lynn Abrahams (04:56):
We just some of us, we really don't know exactly
.
Jay Gonzalez (05:09):
Well, I joke.
I do these staff facultylunches every couple of weeks at
the president's house withstaff and faculty and we go
around and have everybody telleach other what they do at the
college.
And I joke that as collegepresident.
One of the things I love aboutmy job is I have no direct
responsibility for anything.
Announcer (05:21):
Everybody else does everything responsibility for
anything.
Jay Gonzalez (05:28):
Everybody else does everything, but, in
seriousness, my job at thehighest level is to make sure
we're delivering on our mission,and our mission at Curry
College, like many othercolleges, is to educate and
graduate our students so they'reprepared to be successful in
their careers and in lifegenerally as active citizens
with a global perspective.
And, first and foremost, that'swhat I feel a responsibility to
(05:53):
deliver on.
Being college president, theday-to-day of it, requires being
a few different things.
It's being a business leader.
This is a big organization.
We need to be sustainable, weneed to manage a budget, we need
to make sure we are getting themost out of all of our staff
(06:16):
and faculty and other employees,that we're taking care of our
customers, who are our students,and so there are aspects of it
that are like running a business.
I report to a board of trustees.
There's also a component of itthat's a little like being a
politician.
It's kind of like being mayorof a small community where you
(06:39):
have all these differentstakeholders and who are members
of our community.
It's our students, first andforemost, but also our employees
, our faculty members, our staffmembers.
We are a member of our broadercommunity, the town of Milton in
this case, and the broadercommunity beyond that.
(06:59):
We need to be good citizens ofour broader community.
I've got alumni, who I engagewith a lot, donors of the
college, employers who partnerwith the college to provide
opportunities to our students,so there are a lot of different.
We have regulatory agencies atthe state level and the federal
(07:20):
level who we need to beresponsive to and engage with,
so there are lots of differentstakeholders that, as college
president, I need to be mindfulof.
I need to understand what theycare about, what their
challenges are, what theopportunities are, how we kind
of bring everyone together tomove the college forward toward
(07:41):
delivering on that mission.
And it's one of the things Ilove.
Some people you know they'dmuch prefer, you know, if they
run their own business, ifthey're in a similar type of
leadership position run theirown business or their own
organization where they can justdecide everything and just kind
of do what they want to do.
It's a lot more complicated, asyou guys know, at a college, in
(08:01):
a place like this, whereeverybody feels a sense of
ownership and interest in ourmission and delivering for our
students, and I actually likethat and it's part of the fun of
the job.
Vicki Nelson (08:16):
Okay, so you talk about how complex it is and
liking it.
So maybe you know it is andliking it no-transcript and you
(08:48):
have a broad experience thatcovers a lot of ground and you
were recently a partner in a lawfirm.
What made you decide you wantedto be a college president?
Jay Gonzalez (08:55):
Because you're coming at this from a different
perspective, not having sort ofgrown up in academia.
Yeah, I'm a reallyuntraditional candidate to be a
college president.
Most have grown up throughacademia, as you said, and this
is my first job in higher ed.
I was an adjunct faculty memberat Northeastern Law School for
a bit, but I was interestedbecause I had's cabinet
secretaries where I oversaw abunch of state agencies and had
(09:29):
a pretty impactful leadershipposition there.
I also ran a health insurancecompany that covered low-income
people in state Medicaidprograms.
So I've had a couple ofleadership positions and I
really liked the leadershiproles I've had, and so I was
interested in the leadershiprole.
But at a point in my life whereI really wanted it to be
(09:51):
something that fed my soul andwhere I felt invested in what we
did, and somebody got me,somebody suggested I would
really like being a collegepresident, I started thinking
about it, I started researchingit and I thought if I could ever
convince someone to hire me tobe a college president, I think
I would really love it, Becauseyou mentioned I had run for
(10:15):
office and the part about itbeing kind of a political job it
really is.
It's really about understandingthe people who are the
constituents.
It's about showing up, showingup to the games of the students
and the performances and thespeaking competitions that you
were a part of, vicki, and goingto classes and going to the
faculty meetings and reallyunderstanding the community and
(10:42):
helping to kind of bring peopletogether to move us forward in
ways that are going to benefitour students.
And the transformational impactthat a place like Curry College
and other places like it haveon a student's life in terms of
their personal growth anddevelopment, preparation for
career and life and thetrajectory and social mobility
(11:03):
impact it has on their lives isso meaningful.
It's something that Ipersonally experienced and so it
was just.
It felt like it would be thetype of job that would be
perfect for me, selfishly, interms of what I really enjoy and
what would make me feel goodand be rewarding for me.
(11:24):
What I really enjoy and whatwould make me feel good and be
rewarding for me and I got lucky.
The board at Curry Collegedecided to take a chance on me
and I've been here a year and ahalf now and I love it way more
than I ever thought, eventhought I would.
I think partly because of thejob itself.
It was everything I thought itmight be and more.
(11:46):
But also this place is.
I got very lucky with thisplace.
I couldn't have known by justreading about it how special the
community here is, and that wasa big part of it and kind of
the ideal of what that is as acaring, supportive environment
(12:06):
where people are engaged witheach other.
A lot of interesting thingsgoing on on a college campus and
this is just a really neatplace.
So I feel really lucky.
Vicki Nelson (12:18):
I think we're glad you were a little selfish.
Well, thanks.
Lynn Abrahams (12:21):
Well, and I was going to say I can tell that you
really like it, because I don'tthink I've ever seen you
without smiling.
You have this energy that's youknow, you're, you're happy with
it, you're smiling well, it'suh.
Jay Gonzalez (12:35):
You don't see me all the time no but and it's not
always easy, that's for sure.
But but I will say like um, I'vehad maybe like one really hard
day here, yeah, and the rest ofthe days are days where I'm
smiling, where there's just somany neat things going on here
(12:57):
that students are the best partyou know.
I want to mention we've gotChuck here with us who's
managing this podcast for us,operating it.
He's a freshman here who'sinvolved in all kinds of stuff
and being in a place whereyou're constantly running into
and getting to talk to studentslike Chuck and understand what
(13:17):
the experience is like here forthem and what their aspirations
are and what they're trying todo and how they're doing it and
what's working and what isn't,it's energizing and it's hard
not to be happy.
Lynn Abrahams (13:29):
So let me ask you what are some of the hard parts
?
Jay Gonzalez (13:33):
Well, I would say the hardest part is the kind of
part that's outside of ourcontrol the industry challenges
that are facing higher ed today.
I don't think it's any secretthat there are, demographically
population-wise, there are justgoing to be a lot less high
school students year after yearfor the next few years, and, of
(13:56):
the high school students who aregraduating, many more
questioning the valueproposition of a traditional
four-year undergraduate degreeat a place like Curry College
than used to be the case.
There are other alternativepaths that high school graduates
can take to careers and a lotof people are questioning is the
(14:21):
value proposition of college,all the time and money that you
need to spend to go to afour-year college, worth it?
And so, as a result, over thelast 10 years, a smaller and
smaller percentage of highschool graduates have been
choosing to go to college, andthat's put a lot of pressure on
most colleges across the countrywhere enrollments are down.
(14:42):
That's the case at Curry, whereenrollment is less than it was
10 years ago, and we've gotta beresponsive to that and it's
something we've been focusing on.
I know we're gonna talk laterabout one of the ways in which
we're trying to be responsive tothat, but that's the biggest
challenge is how do we ensure weare delivering on the really
(15:03):
important and impactful valueproposition that we know higher
ed delivers, and delivered forour kids, and that we're doing
it in a way that is responsiveto the market demands from
parents and families andstudents, students but also
(15:23):
delivering what higher educationhas always been expected to
deliver, which is not justpreparing students for a job,
but preparing them to besuccessful over a lifetime of
career, potentially differentjobs, and to be positive in
everything, engaged communitymembers and citizens, and that's
(15:47):
a really important role we playin society.
Lynn Abrahams (15:51):
You know, I think we should jump into one of your
big ideas at the college,something you came in with, I
think, an idea about a programthat you know that we want to
hear more about.
So what is your?
You're opening the door, I'mopening the door, we don't want
to say too much.
So what is your—.
Jay Gonzalez (16:07):
You're opening the door.
Lynn Abrahams (16:09):
I'm opening the door.
Jay Gonzalez (16:10):
Yeah.
Lynn Abrahams (16:10):
We don't want to say too much.
Vicki Nelson (16:11):
We want to let you say it all.
Yeah, you say it.
Jay Gonzalez (16:12):
So I'll say that I didn't come in with this idea.
Lynn Abrahams (16:17):
Okay.
Jay Gonzalez (16:20):
We had a strategic planning process last year that
you guys may have been part of,lots of members of our
community were a part of, mayhave been part of, lots of
members of our community were apart of, in light of these
challenges that we and lots ofother colleges are facing, to
(16:41):
try to figure out strategicallywhat our priorities should be
and how we move forward.
And it was actually a member ofmy team, keith Robichaud, our
VP of Enrollment Management, agreat human being who's been at
Curry College for 20 years andworks with lots of parents and
families, answers lots ofquestions for them.
In that role he does an amazingjob.
He's also a really creative guyand one day I was sitting with
(17:02):
him and I said what can we do toelevate Curry and really
differentiate us?
And he said we could guaranteeeverybody a job, every student a
job.
I said are you serious?
Vicki Nelson (17:19):
And he kind of laughed and said no not really
how subtle, did he know Istarted thinking about it, and I
called him a couple days laterand I said I really want to talk
with you about this and we kindof planted it with the
strategic planning committee.
Jay Gonzalez (17:33):
Where we had one area of focus was on career
readiness.
Because it's really clear fromall the data, all the surveys of
parents and students today thatway, more than was the case in
the past, the number one thingthat they're looking for out of
a traditional four-year collegeexperience is what's the job I'm
going to get when I get out.
(17:54):
Wanting to understand thatreturn on investment concept and
we know there's a much broaderreturn on investment from
college than just the job butthat is foremost on families'
minds today.
So we really looked at this andwhat came out of our strategic
planning process was we weregoing to make career readiness
(18:18):
one of our top priorities and wewere going to put our money
where our mouth was.
So we developed a—we areinvesting now and have made a
lot of progress on a much morerobust career readiness program
at Curry College that supportsour students, which we can talk
about a little bit.
We have made a commitment thatis basically a job guarantee.
(18:40):
We've told students that as longas they meet certain minimum
requirements, we areguaranteeing they'll have a job
within six months of graduatingand if they don't, we will pay
their student loan federalstudent loan for up to a year,
place them in a paid internshipfor up to a year, give them free
credits toward one of our gradprograms.
And we are the only college inMassachusetts to do anything
(19:03):
like this, and one of only ahandful in the country, so it is
a real differentiator.
We just implemented thisprogram.
Basically, we're in the processof doing it and launching it.
Now we hired this great newdirector of our Career and
Experiential Learning Center,who we stole from MIT, who is
(19:24):
doing an amazing job.
We're investing in this, hiringsome career advisors and other
folks to help out, and this isbecoming something that will be
kind of infused throughout CurryCollege and it's a really
exciting initiative.
I think it's mobilized us in alot of ways and it's different
(19:47):
for a college to make this kindof bold of a commitment and with
some actual consequences if wedon't deliver on it.
But it's exciting to be a partof it and I think I feel good
about the fact that we're beingresponsive to what families and
students are telling us theywant to what families and
(20:10):
students are telling us theywant.
Vicki Nelson (20:13):
So I want to come back to talking more about the
program, specifically whatstudents need to do and what the
college is doing.
But I'm curious you mentionedthere are only a handful, and I
tried to be a parent searching ajob commitment program and it's
a really smart idea.
Why aren't more schools doingthis?
Jay Gonzalez (20:35):
Well, as I said, it's really different for a
college to do this right.
Four-year colleges like Curryhave ever thought of themselves
as responsible for the actualjob when a student gets out, and
(20:55):
in recent times there's beenmore investment.
More colleges have careercenters will help provide
supports.
But to say that it's ourresponsibility and if we don't
deliver we will be heldaccountable in some meaningful
way, that's really different andin a way it's kind of scary,
(21:18):
which is why I think when Keithsaid what if we did a job
guarantee, and I said are youserious?
He said oh no, not really.
And when I first mentioned itto my senior team and when it
came out in the strategicplanning process, everyone's
initial reaction was well, whoa,that seems like a lot, that
seems big.
Do we really want to take thaton?
(21:39):
It seems risky, but it's also,I think, what people are looking
for.
What people want is someassurance that we're in it with
them and we're holding ourselvesaccountable to deliver on this
value proposition concept.
There was an article on thefront page of the Boston Globe
(22:02):
just a week or two ago aboutwhether colleges are worth it
getting at this whole pointabout what is the job that
students are getting coming outof colleges across the country,
(22:22):
graduating from differentacademic majors and programs,
and there are new reportingrequirements imposed on colleges
by the federal governmentaround.
What is happening with studentswhen they graduate and what are
the jobs and how much are theyearning and how does that
compare to the debt that they'retaking out?
This is out there.
(22:43):
I mean this is happening and wesaw it as an opportunity to.
Yes, it's different, it's bold,we're taking a risk, but on the
other hand, we should.
We should hold ourselvesaccountable, and one of the
things that I love about it isby doing so, it is forcing us to
(23:05):
mobilize internally is, bydoing so, it is forcing us to
mobilize internally, people are.
We are actively working andmaking a ton of progress to
figure out how we make sure wedeliver on this commitment for
our students, and I'd rather bekind of in the forefront of that
than getting dragged behind anddoing it too late and not
(23:28):
delivering for our students.
Lynn Abrahams (23:30):
You know, one of my kids went to a four-year
liberal arts college and thenwhen he got out he couldn't find
a job and worked at Subway fora long time and then ended up
going to one of those boot campthings.
And you know, so it was alittle strange for us as parents
(23:52):
that you know we paid for thisbig degree and then you know,
then he goes to this sort ofshort-term thing.
How is this different than that, than that short-term boot camp
thing?
Jay Gonzalez (24:03):
Yeah Well, so there are a lot of people who
are just skipping the collegepart and going to the six-month
coding boot camp thing Right,which may not be a good plan
either Expecting to get out ofthe experience.
(24:25):
So how is it different?
We now need to hold ourselvesmore accountable for the job
part and that's what we'retrying to do through the Curry
commitment.
Than Curry or collegesgenerally have done in the past
(24:50):
is a much broader kind of baseliberal arts, whatever you want
to call it, breadth of educationthat prepares students with the
skills they're going to need tobe successful in that job and
any other job they get and justto navigate life.
So critical thinking skills.
Good communicators which I knowVicki spends a lot of time
helping our students with youknow good communicators which I
know Vicki spends a lot of timehelping our students with.
You know, good communicators,you think about it being able to
(25:12):
write an email that's likecritical in a lot of jobs An
email that is cogent and peopleunderstand and communicates what
you want to communicate, letalone giving a presentation or
public speaking or just how tonavigate an interview.
So, communication skillsworking collaboratively with
(25:36):
other people on a team to solvea problem Getting exposure to a
broader world than your personalworld has been.
You know, getting educatedabout different types of people,
different cultures, differentexperiences you're going to run
into.
Our students are going to runinto lots of different types of
people than they grew up withand they're going to have to
(25:59):
work with them and they're goingto have to understand them, and
the more we can do to helpprepare them for the life that
they're going to be engaging andthe career experiences they're
going to be having, the moresuccessful they're going to be.
So you get a lot more thanlearning how to code.
You get a broader educationalexperience.
(26:23):
One of the things we're doingthrough the career readiness
programming that we're standingup to deliver on the commitment
is supplementing what studentsget through the traditional
academic program by providing awhole career readiness program
that includes workshops aroundsome of the key essential skills
(26:44):
.
They're referred to as the NACEskills.
It's an organization that'skind of identified the eight
core skills that employers arelooking for.
It's things like communicating,leadership, equity and
inclusion, working on teamssuccessfully, technology this
career readiness programmingthat we're putting in place for
(27:07):
our students, which studentswill be engaging with from the
day they start till the day theygraduate has those types of
components as well.
And then there are workshops onsome of the nuts and bolts
resumes, mock interviews,linkedin, all these things that
(27:29):
lots of people in their careersneed to do.
There are also going to be a lotof events that students that
will be put on for studentsaround networking panels from
employers who are talking aboutwhat they're looking for in new
employees, young employees whoare coming out of college.
(27:49):
So the programming that we'reputting in place to help
emphasize and provide supportaround these essential skills
for employment, along with someof the nuts and bolts and
opportunities to meet employers,engage with them, network
Networks are so important.
A third of our students atCurry are first-generation
(28:10):
college students.
My daughters and lots of othershad a lot of privilege in the
sense that if they wanted aninternship, I knew some people
and I could make a call and seeif a lot of our students don't
have parents who have thoseconnections or relationships and
networks are really importantUnfortunately too important to
(28:33):
finding jobs and opportunities,and we're going to be providing
those types of experiences andopportunities for our students.
Vicki Nelson (28:40):
So you've talked a lot about all of those things
that we're providing everythingfrom the workshops and the
networks and the panels and allof that.
That we're providing everythingfrom the workshops and the
networks and the panels and allof that.
And I know students are notpart of this commitment Curry
commitment program just bywalking in the door.
It's voluntary.
You ask students to sign up.
I think one of the advantagesof this is even for those
(29:04):
students who choose not to signup they're going to get a lot of
the benefits.
But can you talk a little bitabout what we expect of those
students who do sign up?
Jay Gonzalez (29:22):
We're providing a lot for them.
What's their end of the bargain?
We are providing a lot andwe're making a commitment, a
guarantee, but so they have todo their part too.
This is a two-way street, so itis a voluntary program.
All the investment we're makingin career readiness programming
will be available to all of ourstudents.
But if a student wants toqualify for the commitment, the
(29:45):
job guarantee, then there arecertain requirements that they
need to meet.
First they need to sign up forit.
There's an agreement that theysign that basically says we get
what the expectations are and weswear to God we're going to do
everything we can to meet theseexpectations.
So they need to engage with thecareer readiness programming we
(30:06):
put in place and there aresanctioned events and workshops
that count toward the commitmentrequirement and they're going
to be expected to attend five orsix different career readiness
programming events everysemester over their four years
(30:26):
at Curry.
They also need to maintain aminimum GPA of 2.8 or higher.
So we've tried to set it at avery reasonable, accessible
place for students who should beat least hitting that mark.
They need to do at least oneinternship or experiential
(30:48):
learning opportunity, which wewill help with the placement to
the extent they want and needhelp with that.
But they need to have oneexperience like that and they
need to graduate in four yearsand they need to start looking
for their first job during theirlast semester at college.
(31:12):
So as long as they meet thoseminimum requirements we've tried
to set the bar at a veryreasonable place then they will
be eligible for the commitment,the signing up and the showing
(31:39):
up to the five or six events.
That's a real test of theirwillingness to invest in their
growth and development.
Unfortunately, we all see it.
There are times students whocome to college and don't show
up to a class or to multipleclasses and this is an
investment they're making intheir future the very least show
up to class.
Right, If we're going to bemaking this commitment and
(32:00):
promising to pay federal studentloans if they don't get a job,
or placing them in a paidinternship or whatever they
choose, they need to have donetheir part too, and we believe,
by doing their part, we're goingto be successful working with
them to ensure they're getting ajob that they're excited about
(32:22):
when they graduate.
Lynn Abrahams (32:22):
It's a very exciting program.
Vicki Nelson (32:23):
My goodness, I can't wait to see it unfold,
because it is all brand new itis, and you're not going to just
see it.
Jay Gonzalez (32:26):
V it is all brand new it is, and you're not going
to just see it, vicki.
You're going to be part of it, Iknow the communication
department is actually greatabout requiring internships and
have a lot of greatrelationships in the media and
communication world in thegreater Boston area, in the
(32:48):
media and communication world inthe greater Boston area, and
have placed a lot of ourcommunication students in great
internship opportunities and doa lot.
It's one of the neatest thingsabout our faculty here is how
much they care about ourstudents beyond just the
classroom, and the communicationdepartment in particular has
done a great job about givingour students job opportunities
(33:12):
and helping to make connectionsfor them.
I've met a ton of students whohave benefited and they speak
about Professor Carberry orwhoever it was who helped them
get a job and so you will bepart of it.
But you won't be alone anymore.
The college is investing in abig way to work collaboratively
with our faculty and others oncampus to make sure we're all
(33:35):
rowing the right direction toget our students jobs.
Lynn Abrahams (33:38):
So how do you see the role of parents in this?
Jay Gonzalez (33:47):
Well, parents obviously play a critical role.
It's great that you guys arefocused on this and I know Vicki
has talked with me a little bitabout it.
We're really through anotherstrategic initiative we have.
We're working at Curry on howwe do a better job engaging
families and supporting studentshere.
(34:07):
You know, I think I'minterested in what you guys
think about this, but familiesare the most important advisor
and supporter for students,right?
And you know, the point atwhich a child goes to college is
a big moment for the child andfor the parents.
(34:31):
Speaking as a parent, this isthe child is being asked to take
a big step forward in terms oftheir own agency and
independence and personaldevelopment and growth, and the
parents have to let go a littlebit, but they also need to be
(34:53):
there for their child.
And you know, I think the I meanpersonally my opinion on this
is parents can be extremelyhelpful in making sure that the
student, their child, isadvocating for themselves in the
(35:14):
situations where the collegemight not be delivering on their
end of the bargain in terms ofwhat was expected from the
college in one way or another,but that the student is also
engaging and investing in theirown personal growth and
development and taking advantageof all the opportunities the
college has.
If I was a parent of a studentgoing to Curry College, I would
(35:38):
be advising my child you mightwant to think about signing up
for the Curry Commitment Programand showing up to the five or
six things every semester.
So you know it's as we all know, being a parent is hard.
They don't always want tolisten to you and to whatever
advice you have and how youapproach it is for every
(36:02):
relationship between a parentand a child probably depends but
being there for them andhelping to make sure they're
considering both whether there'sanything they're being
shortchanged on from the collegethat they should be advocating
for themselves for, and whetherthey're doing their part to take
advantage of everything thecollege has to offer.
Vicki Nelson (36:25):
We often talk about the idea of becoming a
coach.
So you know, moving from thatcaretaking aspect in high school
and then you're on thesidelines as a coach.
But any good athlete says I oweit all to my coach, and so you
know.
You don't say let me as a coach.
(36:46):
You don't say let me just runthis play because I can do it
better.
Jay Gonzalez (36:52):
But helping students learn how to do all of
the things you're talking about,yeah, I think it's really good
advice and thinking of it as acoach is a great way to put it.
I have the pleasure of meetingand dealing with lots of parents
and families and I really enjoyit, and I often seek out
parents to talk to.
(37:12):
I had dinner last week with aparent of one of our freshmen
One.
It's great for me to get asense from them of their sense
of what their child's experiencehas been and what's working or
what isn't working.
But with all the families thatI interact with, there are some
(37:34):
who have a harder time giving upthe caretaking part and there
are some who have.
It's been very easy for them tocut the cord and you're off.
You know it is hard becauseit's a big change and you know,
I think the coach model is agood one.
(37:56):
This is an opportunity for yourchild to grow, to become more
confident.
Confidence is such a big thing.
You know, when we talk aboutcareer readiness, what are all
the things that you know, allthe competencies and all that,
just like leaving collegefeeling confident that you're
(38:17):
ready.
That in and of itself is huge,and I've heard from lots of
particularly who've gone throughthe PAL program here, lynn that
you were a part of.
That supports students withlearning differences where but
not just those students wheretheir experience here.
A lot of times when I ask youknow what was your experience at
(38:39):
Courier, what worked and whatwould you love about it?
A lot of times I will hear themtalk about it.
It was the first time I feltlike I really belonged somewhere
and I got the confidence that Icould do it.
It was the first educationalsetting for a lot of the
students you worked with wherethey felt like you know what.
Lynn Abrahams (38:57):
Yeah, I could do this.
Jay Gonzalez (38:58):
I'm smart and they had the confidence to carry on.
Parents as coaches should beencouraging to carry on Parents
as coaches should be encouraging.
My advice would be encouragingtheir students to do things,
engage, advocate for themselvesas opposed to doing it for them,
because they're going todevelop that confidence that
(39:21):
they can and that they're goingto be successful doing so when
they leave.
Vicki Nelson (39:25):
And it's one of the reasons I think we're so
pleased that a number of peoplewho seem to listen to our
podcast are high school parents,because that's the time when
you can lay that foundation forhelping students have some of
that confidence and know how toadvocate and know how to do
things for themselves, and thenas parents, we can be confident
(39:49):
sending them off because we knowthey've accomplished those
milestones.
Yeah, it's a great point.
Lynn Abrahams (39:55):
So I think we could talk all day.
We could keep going all day.
Vicki Nelson (39:59):
I'm trying to think of.
You know, just pulling togethereverything you've told us about
presidencies and what that'sabout, and I think hopefully
parents understand a little morenow about that person as
president and maybe they want toask when they're looking at
colleges who's the president andmaybe have some questions for
(40:23):
him.
And then also that ideacertainly the commitment program
and creating that or making ithappen thanks to Keith team
effort.
What would you like to leaveparents with from the vantage
point of a college president?
If you could just say here's mybottom line message to parents,
(40:49):
whether they're parents ofcurrent college students or
prospective, as they're lookingat colleges and considering, do
you have anything you'd leave?
Jay Gonzalez (41:00):
people with.
I would say there are lots ofgreat colleges and there are
lots of factors that will impactwhich ones might be best for
your child, the academic majorthey're interested in, whether
(41:20):
they want an urban environmentor not an urban environment.
There are all kinds of factors.
One that I think is reallyimportant is whether your child
feels comfortable at whateverthe place is.
In order for them to besuccessful, wherever they end up
, it needs to be a place wherethey will feel comfortable or
(41:46):
they'll feel like they belong orthey feel connected.
And you can't know that 100% forsure before you start, before
the child starts there andactually has the experience
there.
But the child will have a senseof that right when you're
visiting campuses and checkingthings out.
(42:07):
And I would say don't ignorethat part of it.
In fact, really be tuned to it,because it is such an important
factor in whether or not astudent is going to get the most
out of their experience atcollege.
And I would encourage parentsto encourage their students to
(42:30):
be in tune with that as they'revisiting and thinking about
different places.
And then the coaching part Ithink that's the most valuable
role a parent can play and themost constructive role in
helping their children get themost out of the college
experience, grow the most,become as independent as
(42:52):
possible and have thatconfidence that they're going to
need.
Vicki Nelson (42:57):
Great advice to leave people with.
Lynn Abrahams (42:59):
Nuggets of wisdom from the president of Curry and
before we let you go, we haveone more question.
Vicki Nelson (43:05):
And before we let you go, we have one more
question.
So when you came to Curry, oneof the first things you did you
brought a really importantpartner to work with you here,
and I'm wondering if you couldtell us a little bit about
Graham and why you thought itwas important to have Graham be
part of the Curry team.
Jay Gonzalez (43:23):
I'll tell you the Graham story.
So, for those who don't know,listen to this podcast.
Graham, his formal name isAlexander Graham Bell.
He is the Curry dog.
Alexander Graham Bell was achancellor at Curry College way
back when.
When I started, I asked my teamwhat are some quick wins that
(43:44):
we can get with students?
What are things students havebeen asking for that we just
haven't delivered on?
That would be easy for us toquickly do and improve the
student experience.
And one of the things that cameup was students have talked
about could we have a servicedog on campus?
So I talked to my wife aboutthat and she had been working in
(44:08):
the town of Needham where theyhad a service dog that was bred
and trained by this organizationcalled Gofie.
That's based in Walpole.
It breeds and trains Englishcream golden retrievers.
It was part of the police force.
His name was Rocket OfficerRocket and she would come home
from work all the time and ifshe saw Rocket that day I would
(44:29):
have to listen about Rocket forlike a half an hour and see all
the pictures.
So then you know, we starttalking about it and it turns
out my assistant in thepresident's office, amy, who you
might know also volunteers forGofie and has had three dogs
from Gofie.
So at that point there was noturning back.
Lynn Abrahams (44:50):
We had to do it, so, cindy and I got Graham from
Gofie.
Jay Gonzalez (44:56):
He goes to training.
He was going four days a week.
He now goes two days a week.
He's a little over a year oldand he lives with us in the
president's house, comes to workwith me every day, goes to
training a couple of days a weekand otherwise students take him
around campus.
He is you know, he is a rockstar on campus.
He is such a positive presence.
The students love him.
(45:17):
He's amazing with the studentsand it's been a really positive
thing for the community.
I think you know it's kind oflike your team or being a Red
Sox fan if you're from Boston.
It's like one thing that we allshare and Graham is something
that we all share at Curry and,yeah, he's been great.
(45:41):
He's been a lot as a familythat didn't have a dog before
and we haven't had kids in thehouse, so now it's like we're
going to go out to.
No, we can't go out to.
Lynn Abrahams (45:49):
Derek because we've got the dog.
Jay Gonzalez (45:53):
But he's been great and yeah really glad we
got him.
Lynn Abrahams (45:57):
He's beloved.
Jay Gonzalez (45:58):
He is yeah.
Vicki Nelson (45:59):
And you did not list him as one of the
challenges of being a collegepresident, so that's great.
Thank you so much.
We're so happy to talk to JayGonzalez, the president of Curry
College, and to learn a littlemore about presidency, because I
don't think a lot of peopleunderstand who the president is
(46:21):
and what the president does, andthen to hear about the Curry
Commitment Program, which Isuspect right now is one of a
handful, but we'll have many,many more programs following.
So thank you so much for givingus your time, because it sounds
like you keep busy.
Jay Gonzalez (46:41):
Yeah, well, thanks for having me.
This was fun, thank you so muchThanks.
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