Episode 28 - Academic Leadership

[00:00:06] Speaker A: Welcome to Kendall speaks. I'm Dr. Brian Stewart, Kendall campus president. And today we have a very special podcast. Our guests are from our academic leadership part of the campus. First with us is our dean of Faculty, Dr. Jorge Michael Cuellar. Welcome. [00:00:26] Speaker B: Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be part of this podcast. I think that this is my second one with you, so I'm excited to come back. [00:00:34] Speaker A: It's glad to have you. And with him is his sidekick, our associate Dean of Faculty, Dr. Clarim Diaz. Welcome. [00:00:40] Speaker C: Thank you for having me again, Dr. Stewart, a pleasure to be here. [00:00:43] Speaker A: Well, it's great today because we're going to focus on the academic side of our campus. I know before we've had some other conversations with different parts of our campus, but let's first talk about your journey. I know you said it before, Dr. CoIar, but talk a little bit about your journey to Miami Dade College and maybe share something different that you did in last time. [00:00:58] Speaker B: Just to summarize it, every single time that you're driving through Day county and even, you know, outside of Dade county and you see those cars with the sticker that it says I am in D.C. i connect with that because I, I started as a student in the 90s, started working at the college in 98 in different, you know, capacities and I never left. So basically I am from that old school of trying to learn your trade. So I went through different position led me to dean of academics or dean of faculty at this point. So I was a chairperson, grant manager, lab manager, I taught mathematics. So basically all of the aspects inside of academics to prepare me to get to the point that I am right now. So pretty much that's my path through Miami dade college. [00:01:52] Speaker A: Great. Dr. Diaz, tell us your path, your journey. [00:01:57] Speaker C: Well, as Dr. Cuellar, I would like to say born and raised in Miami Dade College, specifically Kendall campus. I'm an immigrant. I mentioned it in our previous podcast. But when I came from Cuba, this was my home. Not only was I able to just get the opportunity of education at Miami Dade College, but I was also able to get the opportunity of growing as a professional. I started as a student assistant and eventually I became a part time graphic designer. And then I had an opportunity to join the academic family as a full timer and from then on, the rest is history. [00:02:28] Speaker A: That's a great story for both of you. Tell us a little bit about what inspired you to get into academic leadership because not everyone wants to come to the dark side as they say. Dr. Cuer, what inspired you to. [00:02:39] Speaker B: Well, the dark side that keeps the lights on. [00:02:41] Speaker A: It does. [00:02:42] Speaker B: That's the way that I see it. In my case, it's about providing support to the. Of the students and the faculty. The impact. How big the impact of the work that I can do. Because when you're working in isolation with cohorts or in silos, you're concentrated on that and you're part of the whole thing. But how do you influence policy? How do you change things in terms of the campus or the college? So that's what pushed me to pursue the career in academic leadership, and always with the mindset of giving back to the place that gave me a family, like Dr. Diaz said, and a place to grow as a professional and as a person when I got here from Cuba as well. So it has been always about that. It's about my alma mater giving back, knowing the population, knowing the needs of the students, and addressing those needs in the best way possible. For me, it was to become a dean of faculty. [00:03:38] Speaker A: That's great. That's great. What inspired you, Dr. Diaz? [00:03:40] Speaker C: In my case, our same professors that we lead today, like I mentioned, I was Miami, the college student. And through my time here, I had many amazing professors and also mentors. And one of the things that I've learned and that I teach my students today when I have the opportunity, is that you really need to select a journey, a professional journey, that matches really who you are and your abilities so you can feel fulfilled every day. And I just feel that academics resonates with me. It's very analytic, very prescriptive. There's a lot of room for creativity, believe it or not. Everything has to be fine tuned so we can run the courses the way they are. We have a lot of policies and procedures that we have to abide for, and I'm just naturally very good with those things. So I feel like it's an opportunity not only to shine and to enjoy what I do with the daily operational aspects of my role, but also to give back to the students at a larger capacity. I spent some time in student services, and I loved it. And I miss that a lot, because in academics, I majorly deal with student complaints and with challenges between faculty and students. But I learned that through academics, I was able to impact way more students than the ones that I was seeing on a daily basis. And advisement, perspective. [00:04:55] Speaker A: Well, you kind of touched on my next question. Talk a little bit about how you compliment and support the dean as the associate dean of faculty, because I know a lot of people out there don't understand what our academic roles are and talk a little bit more about how you support the Dean and what the day to day looks like for you. [00:05:11] Speaker C: So for me, first I wanted to say really what academics is at Miami Dade College. The division functions very differently from other divisions because not only do we have to make sure that things get done and that we comply with the many policies and procedures that we have, we have a contract with our faculty members as well that we had to abide for. So there are many points that we have to touch upon every day to make sure that the faculty has the best experience possible, that the classrooms are safe, set in a way that students have the best experience possible and in the same way with the curriculum. So the inquirer is in charge of everything that has to do with innovation, with creating, with the vision for our division and carrying it out. In addition to that, the deans of faculty are tasked with many other college wide initiatives to advance curriculum. So in my role, what I do daily is just to take care of the operational aspect of academic affairs and the different departments that we oversee here at Kendall. So that's what I do. [00:06:10] Speaker A: Very good. Let's talk a little bit about technology. One of the questions I get a lot of times in the community is AI and how we're adapting to it. So for both of you, let's talk a little bit about AI and how you help prepare our faculty and students to adapt and thrive. [00:06:25] Speaker B: It is multi venue or avenue approach that we have to address. That one for us it's important that at the program level we have programs to respond to the need of the community and the businesses that are in the area. So for that we have created a lot of degrees, Associate in sciences, cccs and bachelor degrees in technology, data analytics, AI in order for us to address those needs at the workforce level. However, in the day to day operation we also have had many trainings with the faculty and driven by faculty in order for us to address concerns that, you know, some of them have with the AI and also how do we enhance the learning experience of students using AI in the classroom. So you know, our faculty and you know, you can attest to this Dr. Diaz, that they have been spearheading many of the present innovation funds. I think that we're in the third iteration. In every single of those iterations we have a strong representation from, from Kendall campus of faculty not only from technology, but mainly like from business, social sciences, other disciplines that are not technology per se, but they have ventured into the use of AI in order for them to be more efficient and engage with the students in a better way. So the way that I see that response is, like I said before, at the program level and also at the service level that we do teaching and learning, what's happening in the labs in terms of some of the cues that we have for our tutors and the way that students interact with supplementary instruction as well. [00:08:05] Speaker A: Okay, good. Dr. Diaz, any A.I. thoughts? [00:08:08] Speaker C: Yes, I just think that at this time, it's a duty for an academic affairs division at any university and any college, any higher education institution in the states, and I believe, like, globally, it's a duty to train the students and how to not only be aware about AI, but also use it in a way that expands their ability to learn and learn quicker. As we look through curriculums and we see how faculty is teaching nowadays, more and more, they're using technology more and more, there's an opportunity to just use AI to do the wrong thing, but we also see an opportunity for students to maximize their productivity and to maximize that potential that they perhaps weren't taught how to expand in the K212 system. And also I feel like we have really a duty to just teach them how to use AI for the advantage. I don't think anything wrong with that. [00:09:02] Speaker A: And I think what both of you do well is you're around faculty to allow them to be you, to be a sounding board to them, because a lot of times they don't know how they want to use it. And I think both of you do a really good job of listening to faculty and doing that. What about any new programs or initiatives that we have out there that we want to help improve student success or retention or completion? Dr. Cuellar, anything on the horizon that you see out there? [00:09:26] Speaker B: We. We submitted to the state as a college, two bachelor degrees, one of them in business and the other one in architecture. So those are two new things that we're crossing our fingers and praying that they happen. And that's going to help us tremendously here at Kendall campus, because, as you know, we're a big hub for architecture. We have really talented faculty, and they're really driven to help students transition to other universities. But now, if we get this, we don't have. We have to just keep them here, keep them engaged, because they do really enjoy our facilities, our faculty, in terms of other initiatives to improve students, retention, success. Like I always say, retention is everybody's business. It's not only academic affairs. We want the students to stay here and complete their degree. So we're kind of like trying to overhaul the whole supplementary instruction and see how we can create a hub for tutoring learning inside of learning commons in order for us to kind of like have a place that naturally has a lot of traffic of students, and students gravitate to study in groups and all that and kind of like place the supplementary instruction there in order for us to tackle some of the gaps or the learning deficiency that students have in terms of the classes that they take, especially some of the gateway courses in mathematics and English and the sciences as well. [00:10:47] Speaker C: So, yeah, piggybacking on that, we learned through surveys that we conduct here at the college that our students really aren't not aware, or at least they report that they're not really aware about the supplemental instruction and tutoring services that we had on campus, even though we had advertised it. So what we did is that we launched a very robust social media campaign to make those spaces interesting and appealing to the students. So we're promoting that to bring the students into the center, and then once they're with us, then we have amazing tutors that are going to be able to make sure that our students are retained and succeed in their courses. And in addition to that, in partnership with other academic chairs and under the leadership of the Inquirer, we were able to submit a Title 5 STEM grant proposal to support students in that way. And that proposal, in my opinion, is one of the most innovative ideas that I have seen, because we are just venturing, if approved, into providing students with that extra supplemental instruction, but in an AI environment where X our reality, in which students can experience learning and they can immerse themselves into learning, and in that way, we would hope to engage them more. [00:11:55] Speaker A: You know, supplemental instruction's been around a while. SI is. Can either of you think of what. What makes it different at Miami Dade? Obviously what you just mentioned, the Title 5 grant would. Would do that for us. But are there any things that we're maybe doing uniquely compared to other institutions you. You're aware of with SI in terms. [00:12:12] Speaker B: Of supplementary instruction, I think that everybody's just providing tutoring. I know that we have embedded tutors as well in classes, but the idea also of creating those labs or lab components that we have inside of Mach 1105, it has helped us tremendously serve the students and meet them where they are. As we know, based on different policies and how students come out of high school. Many of them are not, you know, going into the remedial mathematics in order for them to remediate. Now they're going straight into the college algebra. So rather than seeing that as a roadblock, what we have done is supplement that with a lab component. Usually, traditional students used to take three credits of intermediate algebra and then go into the college algebra. Now we have a college algebra, and with one extra credit instead of six, it's now four. Students are able to supplement the content that they need in order for them to be successful inside of college algebra. And we have seen tremendous success. Last fall, which was like, kind of like the metric that we use, we were able to go, I think that 12% above the prior fall in terms of passing rates of students in that cohort, which is of pride for all of us. You know, the work that we have done with that. And then the other part of it is the way that we also use our publishers, and some of them have adapted the terminology and how students are able to interact with that adaptive technology in order for them to get the content that they need for them to be successful. [00:13:42] Speaker A: Very good. Dr. Diaz, talk a little bit about the biggest challenge today for our faculty as you see it. [00:13:48] Speaker C: Well, we have two present challenges that come to us, I would say, at this point on a weekly basis. And it really has to do with where the heart of our faculty is and also with the longevity of our faculty here at Kendall campus. It's not a secret that we have the most senior faculty in this campus. Some things, some institutional policies have changed through other times, and faculty sometimes has a hard time adapting to those. And just to give you an example of a specific challenge, right now the college is moving towards protecting not only the personal information of our students, but also our personal information and the information of our faculty members through this IT awareness campaigns. So they have placed some constraints to guide everyone to complete this much needed training, and then in a way affects how the faculty responds to certain campaigns and how everybody is getting educated about this. So faculty has had a hard time because when they get flagged for a reason of another one, and they learn throughout the process that it has in place for us to just basically be in compliance, they lose access to their student rosters. They lose access to teaching a specific class because they have a specific timeline to complete these trainings. So they have been very frustrated. But what happens with our faculty is that their heart is in the right place. So they're really. Most of the faculty members who are here with us really care about Miami Dade College and really care about our students. So once we present to them the facts on how this breach in, the potential breach in it, security can impact them and also our students immediately. They understand and they pivot. So I feel like a lot of the challenges that inquire and I encounter when faculty is missing something to feel adequate can be easily resolved once we open up. And I think that he does a great job at it as being transparent with the faculty, and that's how we get there. But that's one of the challenges. We're adjusting through it. And the other one is budgetary restrictions for other experience and learning opportunities for the students, and that includes, of course, traveling. They know our student population, and they know that a lot of our students would only get that opportunity with us because of the different walks of life. So they're concerned about that. It's a challenge that they feel, you know, that is affecting them. But it's the same thing once we sit down with them and they understand the priorities of the college and what we need to do at this moment to help our institution thrive and then have these opportunities later on for our students, they agree and they work with us. So every challenge is overcome. [00:16:24] Speaker B: And if I can add to that another challenge as well, mentioning what we talked before about, AI, how they interact with students, because as we know, AI is a big, big helper when it comes to education, but also it is perceived as something that students can venture into academic dishonesty. So now more than ever, faculty have to stop sometimes their teaching. It doesn't matter what discipline to explain to students the importance of having that ethics inside of using the technology. It doesn't matter what career, it doesn't matter what discipline, it doesn't matter what course. It is something that all of the faculty have in their back of their mind, and they have to address that at some point in the class. So it's something. I don't want to call it a challenge for the faculty, but it's also something extra that they need to think of when it comes to assessing students learning. [00:17:13] Speaker A: Yeah, they need to pay attention to it, and. Yeah, that's good. Let's talk a little bit more about adjuncts. Adjuncts teach a significant number of our courses. What are some of the things we do to help support adjuncts and keep them connected to the campus? Dean Cuer, you want to start for. [00:17:29] Speaker B: Us is kind of embed them not only in the culture of the. The department, but also the culture of the campus and the college? Now more than ever, there's a lot of opportunities for our adjuncts to give back to the campus outside of the classroom. You know, sometimes we have had plays here, music, theater, with the AI trainings. And we rely heavily in those agents in order for us to support those events. So that way they feel more connected. Also, you know, inviting them to the activities that we have on campus for them to consume and feel part of the campus and the college. And the other part also is how do we integrate office hours in some of the spaces that we have in the different departments so that the students have an opportunity to interact with them? Usually full time faculty are the ones that are mainly here on campus and students have an opportunity to go pass by the office hours. So we have equipped the campus with specific areas for them to be able to teach MDC live courses, for them to be able to advise students, sit down with students when they need help or guidance, and also when they have to retake a test or anything like that. So we have very well equipped every single department with different areas in order for them to be able to address that. [00:18:43] Speaker A: That's great. Let's talk a little bit about the future. If you both would look in your crystal ball a little bit here, tell us about what you see at Kendall campus, what's the future of academics and any new developments that are on the horizon. Dr. Diaz, we'll start with you. [00:18:57] Speaker C: Well, I definitely envision a learning hub in the learning resources second floor where students just gather around and go from one service to the next. And then of course with this, pass rates improve retention, improves faculty satisfaction with students performance, just, you know, encourage them to be more innovative in the classroom and so on. But beyond that, like I said, I would hope we get that Title V grant so we can see some of the spaces in Building 3 transformed in addition to the STEM building that hopefully we will get. And just, I just hope that students not only in the Kendall area, but across the county are able to see Kendall campus not as the only choice, but as the choice in terms of academic quality. [00:19:42] Speaker A: I love that. [00:19:42] Speaker B: And if I can add to that, one of the things that we have seen happening organically, that growth within the different disciplines, is that interdisciplinary collaboration. That's what I would like to see the future more and more happening. And it's happening already. But our students right now, they're venturing to many things. Sometimes they're in music arts, but they want to have a business in order for them to sell those and they venture into business. So our students are not as linear as we were when we went to school. We specialize in one thing. Now our students are venturing in different things. Marketing. They want to learn a little bit about data analytics. So it is important now more than ever that our faculty collaborate and discipline collaborate together in order for us to keep our students engaged and for them to see a connection every single class. And then the other part is the growth that we're going to have physically with some of these areas that we're building in Building 6 and the new building that we're trying to design together. Usually they say build a Kindle and they will come. We already have the human resources here. We have the expertise, we have the faculty. And throughout the years, they always wanted new places, places that they can really, you know, meet the expectations of the students. And now we're going to bring those. So the future is really exciting for Kendall Campus. [00:20:58] Speaker A: That's great. What's a teaching gadget that each. Or an app that each of you can't live without? [00:21:04] Speaker C: To me, it's one that we learned recently, actually, from one of our faculty members. And it's NotebookLM. [00:21:09] Speaker B: I second that. [00:21:10] Speaker A: Notebook. LM love it. Tell me about that. [00:21:13] Speaker C: So NotebookLM pretty much consists of a bot that not only I can create for my class, where students can access all the resources in the same way they do for ChatGPT, but with a controlled content that I add to it. But I could also teach my students to create their own and be able to study for courses. Just to give you an example, and quickly, I want to mention this is something powered by Google and is free and accessible to all for now. But basically you can choose get a book, a PDF, document, your professor's syllabus, an ebook, a link to a digital textbook, and you can just dump it into the sources in NotebookLM. And immediately from that source, it will create a virtual assistant that would answer any questions you have, not only in English, but in any other language. [00:21:58] Speaker A: Wow. Wow. [00:21:59] Speaker C: In addition to that and the inquiry could talk to you about this, it can also create a podcast for students. So as they drive. [00:22:06] Speaker A: How did you learn about this? [00:22:07] Speaker C: Dr. Lee from EdTech was the one who trained. [00:22:10] Speaker A: That makes sense. [00:22:11] Speaker B: We were preparing for a presentation that I was doing in Washington state, and I wanted to bring, you know, some of the innovations and the things that we can do in education. And it's something that, you know, we have so much fun. One of the things that you're going to enjoy is that I put one of my syllabus for mathematics in the notebook Lm and the podcast they started talking about, let's talk about the grading stuff. You know, policy of Professor Cuellar. He says here that after three absences, the professor might drop you from the class. It feels that it's a little bit restrictive, but the students need to understand that they need to go to class like that. And they were talking. And then you can also interrupt. Not interrupt, but go in and ask questions. And they stop and they say, okay, we have a caller. There's a question here that you can ask questions. But everything's more interactive. Yeah. And everything is within the environment of what you give them. [00:23:03] Speaker A: How cool. [00:23:03] Speaker B: I have extended that. I have it on my phone now. And whenever I have to read something from the college, I get a PDF or I guess a policy from the state or whatever. Just dump it there. I'm driving and the podcast is going. And then if I have a question, boom, I ask a question. And I said, can you repeat this? Or can you tell me a little bit more? Or what is this policy? This and that? And then, you know, they stop and they answer the question. So it's a new way to see audiobooks. You know, I started, and you know this as well, we started enjoying audiobooks, a lot of together, and we shared some of those audio books. But now this is a different, total different way to interact. And then how do we allow students to know about this? Like in my classes that I'm teaching right now, I already talked to the students about this. I told them, put my syllabus there, put all the assignments there, and just listen to it. And it creates also quizzes. It can create a lesson plan for you or a study guide. It gives you a lot of opportunities. And it's free. As long as you have a Gmail, a Google account, it is free. [00:24:00] Speaker A: Well, how cool. Thank you for sharing that. And I need to put a shout out a thanks to Dr. Diaz here because I'm teaching a class this semester and I couldn't do it without your help. So I want our audience to know how grateful I am for all you've done. [00:24:13] Speaker C: It's been a pleasure. [00:24:14] Speaker A: Go above and beyond so that I'm able to teach the class. So thank you for that. [00:24:17] Speaker C: Always a pleasure. [00:24:18] Speaker A: Let's talk about what each of you enjoy most about Miami Dade College. What gets you up in the morning? Dr. Cuellar, you go first. What do you most love about Kendall. [00:24:25] Speaker B: And Miami Dade College to me is three things. One is part of my upbringing, my history, my growth. So it's part of my life. So every single day, I'm thankful for everything that I have been able to accomplish personally and also for my family. Thanks to Miami Dade College. You know, first as a student and then, you know, also as a professional, also the responsibility. And this is something that I tell everybody every single time that I get out of my house, put the suit and get here and park. I feel the responsibility in my shoulders of an entire campus and in some cases an entire college in other roles that I have college wise. So don't taking things for granted. You know, I don't take it for granted because those are lives that are walking our holes and they're coming to class and we're responsible for their future in some way as well. So that's something that I enjoy as well. I don't take that as a burden. I. I see it as an opportunity for every single day for me to make a difference. [00:25:22] Speaker A: That's great. Dr. Diaz, what motivates you? [00:25:25] Speaker C: I'll keep it down to three things too. First of all, really seeing the students walk our halls is just so powerful to me because like I mentioned, I was also a student. So I know the power that this place has to change students lives. So anytime I see one of them, I know they're going to amount to something great. Because they had the opportunity to attend Miami Dade College and choose. Just feeling that I'm part of it somehow in the shadows, it just gives me a wealth of, you know, intrinsic gratitude. But in addition to that, we have an amazing team. Academics of affairs is like the dark side and people for some reason think we don't have a lot of fun. But we do because our team is made out of experts in disciplines and people who are educated and people who are longtime learners. So I learn every day from our chairs, from my dean, who's also my mentor. And also at the campus level, we have an amazing partnership with student services. They're great. They're strong advocates for students, which is something I haven't seen in any other place but Miami Dade College and your office. I mean, we're so grateful for the campus leadership and the way they support us. So that definitely brings me a lot of joy. [00:26:33] Speaker A: Those are great answers. [00:26:34] Speaker B: Back to family. [00:26:35] Speaker A: Family, yeah, it's a real family. [00:26:38] Speaker B: When we go outside and we interact with people in different venues, they say that the way that we are built here at Kendall Student Services, Academic affairs, your office, athletics, you can see it inside of the cabinet. You know how we are like a family together. [00:26:55] Speaker A: Yeah. And I have to say also, not that I'm asking myself the question, but just walking around the campus these last couple of weeks with students back and even MDC day we had yesterday, it's just this place is alive and students are happy to be here the first day. I know. Dr. Diaz, you're in your tennis shoes, running around, and Dr. Cuerr, you were running around. We were all running around. But those are such great days because students are so excited to be here. We're excited, and, you know, I think we're blessed to be at a great, great place right now at a great point. So for each of you, give me one sentence of what excites you most about the future here at the Kendall campus. Who wants to go? Dr. Diaz, you. Looks like you're ready. You have your sentence ready. [00:27:33] Speaker C: I just feel like I'm excited to be in this living experiment for innovation and learning in higher education. Our president has mentioned many times and even at the campus leadership you have mentioned and Dr. Stewart and Dr. Cuellar, that, you know, the. The opportunity of education in college is. It has been under a dark narrative recently, and I just know that a kendo campus is not like that. We're innovating. We're trying new things. Our faculty is not really afraid to fail. So, yeah, we're like a living experiment of innovation. [00:28:04] Speaker A: Dean Cuellar, what do you think? [00:28:06] Speaker B: One sentence. [00:28:07] Speaker A: One sentence. You have two. [00:28:09] Speaker C: I know. I win. [00:28:10] Speaker B: No, you got three, so I need to subtract one. [00:28:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:14] Speaker B: To me is to continue being the dream factory that, you know, that we have been through all these years. And what excites me the most is also representation. We have a lot of our students that they come back and they give to the college in different ways. You know, they interact with our students in the Arnold College. They interact with their athletes when they come back. They interact with us in different ways. And to see that community giving back to the college because the college have given the community so much is what keeps me excited about the future. [00:28:44] Speaker A: That's great. As we wrap up our podcast today, I'd like to end with a little piece of advice that each of you might give our faculty or students or anyone listening. Dean Cuerr, what would you tell someone who's maybe thinking about Kendall Campus or Miami Dade College? What would be the advice you'd give them? [00:29:00] Speaker B: The advice for somebody that might be thinking about Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus, is that once that you give us a chance, you will never leave, because you will breathe it, and you're going to leave it in every single hallway, in every single classroom. We have amazing faculty, we have amazing chairs, we have amazing student services. Our facilities, thanks to our director of campus administration. We're kind of like A traditional campus. We have athletics. You can come and walk in the fields. You can feel the grass, you can see the animals. And we're kind of like in the heart of Kendall campus and a breathing heart because we have every single component for a student to experience a traditional college, but in a community way, in a family way. [00:29:43] Speaker A: That's great. And when you say animals, you mean cats. [00:29:45] Speaker B: And cats. [00:29:48] Speaker A: And everything that makes Florida Great. [00:29:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:51] Speaker A: Dr. Diaz, what would you say to our audience? [00:29:53] Speaker C: My advice would be for. For a faculty member, just make sure that your heart and the. Your life's purpose really aligns with our mission. Because otherwise serving on a public institution is. Comes with many challenges. So that's all. Just make sure that you align with what we're trying to do here. So, like, that you're going to be happy every day because it's just fulfillment in this profession and specifically at Miami, the college comes from what we can do for others, not what we can do for. For ourselves. [00:30:20] Speaker A: That's great. I appreciate you both being here today. We like to close our broadcast with turning the microphone around and let you asking me a question. So if you'd like, I'll answer anything you want. [00:30:30] Speaker C: I'll go first. [00:30:31] Speaker A: Okay, hit me. [00:30:32] Speaker C: Dr. Stuart, what has been the most exciting day that you have had at Kendall campus? [00:30:36] Speaker A: Wow. Most exciting day. That's a tough question. I have two answers. My first day here was the best because if you two remember, the very first thing I did was greet our new honors college students at the time. And I told them when I walked in, I said, you guys are. I'm more excited than you guys because I've been on this job less than you've been on campus. And so that was such a great day. You know, that's what I love about the job, is every day is different. You wake up and every day you have a different challenge. There's been so many fun days. Graduation's fun. But I think my favorite day is the first day of class. I love to see students face. I love to be walking around and helping students because you can see in their eyes they want to be first one to class, but they're lost and they're worried about the professor being upset. So it's really hard to pick one. I'll have to think about that. And maybe that's maybe the first time I've been stumped. Christine. I don't know if I've ever been stumped. [00:31:31] Speaker C: This is good. I know that now you're going to have your most exciting day every Academic year. [00:31:35] Speaker A: That's right. [00:31:37] Speaker B: In my case. How does it feel to be part of academic affairs now? Because you're teaching, you're going back to the classroom now after a while. And I know that you're like me. Even though I do this job in administration and leadership, I bleed and I feel the classroom and I call it my skateboard for me sometimes that I can teach a class. So can you tell me how that coming back to the classroom feels, especially at this campus? [00:32:04] Speaker A: Well, first of all, you're also teaching a 7am class. I just learned. Yes. So we have that in common. I can't tell you how excited it is to be back in the classroom. After the first day of class, I went home and told my wife, say, I'm retiring. I'm going back to the classroom. And I've always. That's always where I felt the most comfortable in every role I've ever been in. I've always looked at it from the faculty perspective. And being back in the classroom after several years for the first time, it really makes me appreciate our students and what they go through. And I just love walking in that classroom. I loved it when they didn't know who I was. Now they know who I am and I hate that. But it's okay. But it's such a great way to start the day. I wake up every morning that morning on Monday, Wednesdays about 5, 10, because I can't wait to get here to teach them. So it's made my week, to be honest with you. Well, I want to thank you both for being here today. I want to thank you both from the bottom of my heart. Your customer service is incredible. So one of the things I prided myself on wherever I've been, and I don't ever have to preach that here because you two are leaders in that. So thank you for what you've done for academics. Going to be great here at Kendall. And I think the three of us are going to keep this going. So thank you for spending some time with us on Kendyl Speaks. And I know this won't be the last time we're together. [00:33:15] Speaker B: You're welcome. It has been a pleasure for us. [00:33:17] Speaker C: Thank you for the opportunity, Dr. Stewart. Thank you. [00:33:19] Speaker A: I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our head writer, Christine Saenz, Paul Klein, our executive producer, and Alex Bellows, our producer. Thank you all for being here today. And goodbye for now. That's a wrap. [00:33:33] Speaker B: It.