Dr. Patricia Ramsey, Medgar Evers College

The latest Building Black Business podcast episode features Diamond Cooper in conversation with Dr. Patricia Ramsey, President of Medgar Evers College. In Partnership with @DriveToyota

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to this week's episode of Building Black Business Podcasts
with your host Diamond. I am so excited to be
here with doctor Patricia Ramsey, the president of Mega Evers College.
I'm so excited to have you here because I went
to Mega Evers College preparatory school, which is the high
school not too far away, but we also were able

(00:23):
to take college courses. So this is like a full
circle moment for me. I don't even know where to start,
so let's jump right into it. How did you get
started at Mega Revers.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, I was nominated for the position and contacted by
the search firm and that ended up being a two
and a half hour conversation. Following that, I received a
call saying, well, my lead wants to speak with you,
and I will never forget the day. It was January
sixth of twenty twenty one, and.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
So and so. Anyway, following that, I was selected.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
For an interview, and then I was selected as a finalist,
and then I was selected for the position.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
I love that he stood out clearly for good reason.
I guess so, and okay, so we know where you
are now. I want to take it a step back
a little bit to ask you what you studied in undergrad.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
In undergrad, I was a biology major biology pre med
major until I discovered that physicians have to actually work
on dead bodies in medical school before they become physicians.
That was the deterrent for me.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Okay, and then from there, how did you end up
in education?

Speaker 2 (01:44):
After I decided I did not want to do the
medical feel including dentistry, because they too had to work
on dead bodies in dental school.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
I shifted to education, to biology education.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Because I knew that I wanted to have some type
of backup if the plan, which became the plan to
go to graduate school did.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Not happen, And so I became a biologed.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Education major, did a student teaching, finished my program early,
and then took the National Exam for Teachers, pasted it,
received a teaching license in Virginia where I was in school,
and never have been in K through twelve, But do
understand K through twelve As a result of that.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
I love that did you have like a backup for
if this didn't specific like this specific area didn't work out,
even teaching didn't work out. Do you know what you
would have done? Is there something that you had in
the back of your mind, like maybe I could do this.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Actually, no, because since I was in the fourth grade,
I decided I wanted to be a college professor. And
so all though you don't need to actually go into
education to be a college professor, I think that it's
great if college professors have the pedagogical experience because it
helps us to become better professors. So I never did

(03:13):
K through twelve because I actually did go into becoming
a college professor after I went to graduate school.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
I love that. Can you think back now to something,
some type of advice that you got early on that
has stuck with you on your journey?

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, I mentioned that I finish early, finished college early
basically because my advisor and we were all assigned advisors
in the department. I ended up finishing college early, which
is helpful because it gives you an opportunity to start
your life earlier, if that life is taught graduate school,

(03:49):
or if it's taught the world of work.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
I love that. Would you give that specific advice to
prospective students?

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Absolutely what I tend to tell students that I have
as a college professor. Had students that I advised, I
always would advise them take the maximum load that you
can take without having to pay extra. And my students
at my institution, the last institution where I actually taught,
which I stopped teaching in twenty sixteen, I would tell

(04:21):
those students that, and so my majors would finish their
programs in three and a half years because they did
exactly what I suggested that they do. And the students
that I had were the same type of students that
I have at MegaR Evers College.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
I love that I was one of those students.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
I'm so excited.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
I'm excited too, because we had about seventy five students
from that program last year and we had them to
actually get their degrees in May of this year.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, so I was probably my senior year was the
first semester or year that it started, so I was
already like on my way out when the program started.
But I took a few courses and I was very
excited about that, and I almost finished school semester early
at Saint John's because of that. So I'm like, I'm

(05:10):
just related.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
So that's great to hear, and it doesn't surprise me
because our students.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Do very well, very well. Oh, this is just exciting, Okay,
so you are the first ever president female president of
Mega Rivers College. Is there extra responsibility that comes with
that role in knowing that you're the first?

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yes. I didn't really think about it much prior to
physically arriving on campus. I was hired during the pandemic,
and so therefore I never saw the campus until after
I had.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Already been hired.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
But when I came and we started in person events
and I would be introduced and people from the community
would be there, I had so many women telling me
how it was so exciting for them to have a
woman in the role. And I didn't know that it
would mean so much because I came here from Maryland,

(06:10):
where my count administrator was a woman who is now
running for Senate, by the.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Way, and my neighboring.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
City because I'm in the what they call the DMV
SO DC, the mayor was a woman, and the HBCUs
in Maryland women.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Presidents with the exception of.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Maybe one, and so I had just been accustomed to
women being leaders. I love that, and so coming here
I didn't think anything about it. But after hearing from them,
I realized the importance and the thing that's important for me,
and that being that first is making sure that I'm
not the last.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
You just couldn't make this any better by the way
I'm there. I mean, come on, because even if it's
a man, some people are more focused on themselves. So
the fact that you said that really means a lot
because or it'll and it will mean a lot to
people listening to this because a lot of people have
been in situations where it's not always the case that
people care about the other people that are coming behind them.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
So love that well related to what you just shared,
it's not just words because my first year we are
a member. The institution is a member of the American
Association of State Colleges and Universities, and they have a
program called the Millennium Leadership Initiative where they prepare people.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
To be presidents.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
I went through the program when I was living in
Maryland years ago, and because I had a president that
said I think you should go to the program, Well,
they contacted me uh and ask if I would be
willing to be a mentor UH and to some of
their Millennium Leadership Initiatives proteges, and so I said yes,

(07:58):
And so I had my first mentee in the fall
of twenty twenty one, and so the next year they
asked me again if I would serve as a mentor,
and I said the fall of.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Twenty twenty one, I mean the fall of twenty twenty two. Sorry.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
And the next year I was asking if I would
be a mentor, and so my mentee came. My first
mentor was from the State University of New York, from
one of those campuses. My second mentee was from Illinois.
And I just received an email within the last two
weeks asking if I would serve as a mentor a
game for another person who is interested in the road

(08:35):
to a presidency. So I agreed to do that. It
takes time out of your schedule.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
I don't get paid.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Anything for it, but it is this whole idea I
have of making a difference and me not being the last.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
All of the people so far have been women.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
I loved this.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
And by the way, one of them just got a
presidency and she started in July first.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Oh, I love that. Congratulations to her. I know that
that probably makes you so like, brings you so much joy.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
It does, it does, And she was the dean of
a law school.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
And so now she's the president of an institution that
has a law school.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
I love that. Okay, listen, we're learning a lot more
about you than I thought we were going to, tod
and I really love this.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
I am so excited.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Anything else that you want to add before we I mean,
I feel like we could chat well.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
I never like to have any talk without saying something
about MegaR Evers and how it was founded.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
I always because I feel that people need.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
To know the importance of the institution and how it
was actually established. But MegaR Evers came out of the
black community of Central Brooklyn, and it was founded with
social justice in its DNA, named for MegaR Wiley Evers,
who gave his life for the social justice cause. And
the season that we're in now, this man died for

(10:04):
the right of people to vote in Mississippi, and so
we are trying to carry on that legacy. And I'm
really excited that our students had the opportunity to participate
in the tribute to MegaR and marily Evers down in Jackson,
Mississippi last year, and he will be one hundred years

(10:25):
old next year, and so we have a lot planned
for that celebration.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
Wow. I love that I have to thank you again
for stopping by. Thank you so much. This was doctor
Patricia Ramsey, President of Megavers College.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
Thank you, I appreciate it. Diamond, it's been great talking.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
With you and thank you for tuning in. Find more
episodes of Building Black Biz podcast at Building Blackbiz dot
com