Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Live across the Great Lake State. You're connected to Michigan's
most engaging and influential radio and television program, Michigan's Big
Show starring Michael Patrick Shields, presented by Blue Cross, Blue
Shield Michigan and Blue Care Network.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm producer and creative director Tony Cuthberts.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Now in the shadow of the Capitol Dome and Lansing.
He's heard from the beaches of Lake Michigan, to the
halls of power and behind closed doors. Here's Michigan's Michael
Patrick Shields. Michael Patrick Shields is on their Good Morning World.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Welcome back to Oakland University. Michael Patrick Shields with you
in Rochester and we just got done speaking with the
Dean of the Honors College, Graham Harper, and now comes,
as they say in the legal business, the president of
the university you've come to know on this program or
a Hirsch Peskovitz, Doctor Peskovitz.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Lovely to see you again, So great to see you,
Michael Patrick. I'm delighted to be here with you. I'm
so glad that you're here at Oakland University.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I'm glad to be admitted, even if it is just
for a few hours because otherwise I have no shot.
You have three names. And as we look out the
window here at the campus, you'd like to see a
lot of names out there, wouldn't you.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I sure do. I want to see as many as possible.
But we've just named our first school, actually our honors college,
just earlier this fall, and I'm so very proud of it,
thanks to Donna and wal Young. They gave us an
extremely magnanimous gift, a ten million dollar gift to name
(01:39):
our fantastic Honors college. And I understand you just interviewed
the dean.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah, he told me that it's possible to get a
five point three grade point average.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, we have some amazing students, as you know, I
hope that's not great inflation.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Though obviously some very amazing donors. What possessed them, what
inspired them to do that?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Well, they've been giving to the Honors College for quite
some time, and their prior gifts were mostly for global
experiences for students, to send students overseas to have opportunities
that they previously did not have, and that's been very
rewarding for them, and students come back and talk about
those incredible opportunities. Most of those have been honor students
(02:21):
and the youngs have been inspired by that and they're giving.
And in a conversation that I had with them, I
challenged them and said, what more can you do to
leave a legacy for you that will make a difference
in perpetuity for students? And wanted to leave an incredible legacy.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
What are some of the places you mean? They didn't
want to spend too much money to buy a swimmer
or something like that, like people are giving the money
to schools now for athletes.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, athletics is very important obviously, and it does really
change the culture of a university. So that's very important too.
But in their criteria, what mattered and what was important
to them, really promoting the Honors College was one of
the things that they saw as one of the most
valuable ways that they could really make a difference.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, I was being a little sarcastic because I find
it the whole name image and like this NCAA athletics
distasteful in my own opinion, it's not college sports anymore
to me. But let's not wander too far off. Let's
go back to these international destinations that you talked about.
The Honors students were traveling to on foreign studies or
(03:35):
some sorts of experiences. Where do they go and how
do you vet where they go and what do they
come back?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Saying, well, our students can go all over the world
very often it's through programs that the faculty are promoting
and engaging. So I'll give you an example. Our School
of Music, Theater and Dance take our corral students to
eat Eastern Europe where they perform in some of the
(04:02):
most amazing venues. These are performance venues and they're incredible.
Our theater students go to Greece where they perform Greek
plays in the original locations where these Greek plays were performed.
We have students that go to Costa Rica where they
do studies on sustainability, so they go all over the world.
(04:26):
We have students that go to London to study the
royal family, and they go with faculty who have a
particular interest and knowledge and expertise on the countries that
the students are studying. So these are just amazing and
incredible experiences for our students, some of whom have never
even been outside of Michigan or even been on an
(04:47):
airplane before. So the support that donors provide to help
make these opportunities possible for our students are really extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Do you remember an experience you had early in life,
I've an international experience that inspired you.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Well. I had a number of really interesting experiences. I
actually traveled overseas. I did an elective when I was
in medical school in cardiology at a hospital in Jerusalem,
and I saw patients from all over the world have
some of the most amazing surgical procedures that I had
(05:24):
never seen done anywhere else in the world. And they
had diseases that I had never seen in the United
States before. So this was a really amazing impactful experience
for me, both to see diseases that didn't exist in
the United States and then to see the procedures and
the therapies that were offered that we didn't have at
(05:45):
my medical school.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Were you always a young, driven person.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Maybe I would have to say probably.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, then that leads to the question we were talking
about with the Dan a few minutes ago. Is it
nature or nurture? Are you born smart? Or can you
learn to be intelligent or to speak?
Speaker 3 (06:02):
First of all, I didn't say I was born and smart.
You asked if I was born and driven, yes, and
those are not necessarily the same thing. But I do
think that there is a component of both nature and nurture,
and I think people do have elements of both. I
was very fortunate to grow up in a remarkable family,
with two parents who nurtured a lot of really incredible opportunities,
(06:27):
and in my family, education was something that was rewarded
and appreciated and promoted and expected. I think I did
grow up with a lot of remarkable opportunities because my
parents promoted it.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Not everybody's that fortunate, and some of them find their
way here to.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
College, that's true, and some of our students grow up
as first generation college students. I am a first generation
college students on my mother's side. But I think that
the students that come to own Oakland, who have incredible
amounts of social mobility, because many of them do not
(07:05):
come from privilege and from opportunities, get these extraordinary opportunities
because they've been exposed to things that they never saw
in their childhood. And then that causes them to have
ambition and want to go out and do great things themselves,
and they do. And that's one of the things that
(07:27):
we're so.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Proud of That must be very rewarding, even at the
level of president, to be able to understand or experience
it is.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
It's one of the things that drew me to come
to Oakland University was knowing that we would have the
opportunity to impact students' lives in that very way.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
They keep in touch.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yes, so many of them do keep in touch. It's
so exciting to get a letter or an email or
Facebook from a student who graduated a few years ago
and to hear what they're continuing to do. And occasionally
they tell me that I've inspired them and that I
can't tell you how much that means to me and
how much it touches me.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, I can only imagine. By the way, we're near
your office and I saw a picture of you in
a hammock with a bunch of students and it was
the sweetest thing. The president of the university and Brian
Bearley took the shot. You might have to get a
Pulitzer Prize or something for that one.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
That's one of my favorite photos. When you go in
my office, I'll show you another one there.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, I bet it was one of your favorite moments too.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
It was.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
It's not too often that I wouldn't think that you
get to see the university president in a casual setting
like that. But you make your way around this campus,
don't you.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
I do. I'm with students all the time and they
all call me Aura. They do, and they do, and
they all know who I am. And I'm very proud
of that.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
You're doing the nurturing.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Now well, I feel like, you know, I have about
sixteen thousand children.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Thanks Mom, That's how I feel. Ora Hirsh Paskowitz, who
also just recently became the board chair for the American
Association of State Colleges and Universities here at Oakland University,
Live across the Great Lake State. You're connected to Michigan's
most engaging and influential radio and television program, Michigan's Big
Show starring Michael Patrick Shields, presented by Blue Cross, Blue
Shield Michigan and Blue Care Network.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm producer and creative director Tony Cuthberts.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Now in the shadow of the Capitol Dome and Lansing.
He's heard from the beaches of Lake Michigan, to the
halls of power and behind closed doors. Here's Michigan's Michael
Patrick Shields. Michael Patrick Shields is on their Good Morning World.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Welcome back to Oakland University. Michael Patrick Shields with you
in Rochester and we just got done speaking with the
Dean of the Honors College, Graham Harper, and now comes,
as they say in the legal business, the president of
the university you've come to know on this program or
a Hirsch Peskovitz, Doctor Peskovitz.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Lovely to see you again, So great to see you,
Michael Patrick. I'm delighted to be here with you. I'm
so glad that you're here at Oakland University.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I'm glad to be admitted, even if it is just
for a few hours because otherwise I have no shot.
You have three names. And as we look out the
window here at the campus, you'd like to see a
lot of names out there, wouldn't you.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I sure do. I want to see as many as possible.
But we've just named our first school, actually our honors college,
just earlier this fall, and I'm so very proud of it,
thanks to Donna and wal Young. They gave us an
extremely magnanimous gift, a ten million dollar gift to name
(01:39):
our fantastic Honors college. And I understand you just interviewed
the dean.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah, he told me that it's possible to get a
five point three grade point average.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, we have some amazing students, as you know, I
hope that's not great inflation.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Though obviously some very amazing donors. What possessed them, what
inspired them to do that?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Well, they've been giving to the Honors College for quite
some time, and their prior gifts were mostly for global
experiences for students, to send students overseas to have opportunities
that they previously did not have, and that's been very
rewarding for them, and students come back and talk about
those incredible opportunities. Most of those have been honor students
(02:21):
and the youngs have been inspired by that and they're giving.
And in a conversation that I had with them, I
challenged them and said, what more can you do to
leave a legacy for you that will make a difference
in perpetuity for students? And wanted to leave an incredible legacy.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
What are some of the places you mean? They didn't
want to spend too much money to buy a swimmer
or something like that, like people are giving the money
to schools now for athletes.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, athletics is very important obviously, and it does really
change the culture of a university. So that's very important too.
But in their criteria, what mattered and what was important
to them, really promoting the Honors College was one of
the things that they saw as one of the most
valuable ways that they could really make a difference.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, I was being a little sarcastic because I find
it the whole name image and like this NCAA athletics
distasteful in my own opinion, it's not college sports anymore
to me. But let's not wander too far off. Let's
go back to these international destinations that you talked about.
The Honors students were traveling to on foreign studies or
(03:35):
some sorts of experiences. Where do they go and how
do you vet where they go and what do they
come back?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Saying, well, our students can go all over the world
very often it's through programs that the faculty are promoting
and engaging. So I'll give you an example. Our School
of Music, Theater and Dance take our corral students to
eat Eastern Europe where they perform in some of the
(04:02):
most amazing venues. These are performance venues and they're incredible.
Our theater students go to Greece where they perform Greek
plays in the original locations where these Greek plays were performed.
We have students that go to Costa Rica where they
do studies on sustainability, so they go all over the world.
(04:26):
We have students that go to London to study the
royal family, and they go with faculty who have a
particular interest and knowledge and expertise on the countries that
the students are studying. So these are just amazing and
incredible experiences for our students, some of whom have never
even been outside of Michigan or even been on an
(04:47):
airplane before. So the support that donors provide to help
make these opportunities possible for our students are really extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Do you remember an experience you had early in life,
I've an international experience that inspired you.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Well. I had a number of really interesting experiences. I
actually traveled overseas. I did an elective when I was
in medical school in cardiology at a hospital in Jerusalem,
and I saw patients from all over the world have
some of the most amazing surgical procedures that I had
(05:24):
never seen done anywhere else in the world. And they
had diseases that I had never seen in the United
States before. So this was a really amazing impactful experience
for me, both to see diseases that didn't exist in
the United States and then to see the procedures and
the therapies that were offered that we didn't have at
(05:45):
my medical school.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Were you always a young, driven person.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Maybe I would have to say probably.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, then that leads to the question we were talking
about with the Dan a few minutes ago. Is it
nature or nurture? Are you born smart? Or can you
learn to be intelligent or to speak?
Speaker 3 (06:02):
First of all, I didn't say I was born and smart.
You asked if I was born and driven, yes, and
those are not necessarily the same thing. But I do
think that there is a component of both nature and nurture,
and I think people do have elements of both. I
was very fortunate to grow up in a remarkable family,
with two parents who nurtured a lot of really incredible opportunities,
(06:27):
and in my family, education was something that was rewarded
and appreciated and promoted and expected. I think I did
grow up with a lot of remarkable opportunities because my
parents promoted it.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Not everybody's that fortunate, and some of them find their
way here to.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
College, that's true, and some of our students grow up
as first generation college students. I am a first generation
college students on my mother's side. But I think that
the students that come to own Oakland, who have incredible
amounts of social mobility, because many of them do not
(07:05):
come from privilege and from opportunities, get these extraordinary opportunities
because they've been exposed to things that they never saw
in their childhood. And then that causes them to have
ambition and want to go out and do great things themselves,
and they do. And that's one of the things that
(07:27):
we're so.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Proud of That must be very rewarding, even at the
level of president, to be able to understand or experience
it is.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
It's one of the things that drew me to come
to Oakland University was knowing that we would have the
opportunity to impact students' lives in that very way.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
They keep in touch.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yes, so many of them do keep in touch. It's
so exciting to get a letter or an email or
Facebook from a student who graduated a few years ago
and to hear what they're continuing to do. And occasionally
they tell me that I've inspired them and that I
can't tell you how much that means to me and
how much it touches me.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, I can only imagine. By the way, we're near
your office and I saw a picture of you in
a hammock with a bunch of students and it was
the sweetest thing. The president of the university and Brian
Bearley took the shot. You might have to get a
Pulitzer Prize or something for that one.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
That's one of my favorite photos. When you go in
my office, I'll show you another one there.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, I bet it was one of your favorite moments too.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
It was.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
It's not too often that I wouldn't think that you
get to see the university president in a casual setting
like that. But you make your way around this campus,
don't you.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
I do. I'm with students all the time and they
all call me Aura. They do, and they do, and
they all know who I am. And I'm very proud
of that.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
You're doing the nurturing.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Now well, I feel like, you know, I have about
sixteen thousand children.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Thanks Mom, That's how I feel. Ora Hirsh Paskowitz, who
also just recently became the board chair for the American
Association of State Colleges and Universities here at Oakland University,
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