[Music] Lakeland Currents, your public affairs program for north central Minnesota.

Closed captioning is made possible by Bemidji Regional Airport, serving the region with daily flights to Minneapolis - St Paul International Airport.

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Welcome to Lakeland Currents, I'm your host Todd Haugen.

Our guests on this edition of Lakeland Currents are from Bemidji State University and Northwest Tech.

And we have the President of both schools here, Dr. John Hoffman is here and AJ is here.

And AJ has a title which is much longer than the name she goes by.

You are the Vice President of University Advancement and Executive Director of the Foundation as well.

Right?

Yes, I am that is right.

It's good to be here Todd.

Nice to have you both here.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Good times at Bemidji State University isn't it?

I mean as a person that loves the university as I do being an Alum you know says well there's never a bad time at BSU but it's been a particularly good year at BSU correct John?

We've had a great year in terms of enrollment.

So overall our enrollment was up about 3.5% this year but within that number we're up 11.5% for new students.

Wow.

You know that's our future and so this was an incoming class that was similar to the size of the classes that we were bringing in before the pandemic so if we can maintain and build on this we can get back to some of those pre-endemic or pre-pandemic enrollments.

Also one of my favorite pieces within this is we're seeing more of our students are being retained from year to year.

We're seeing success from students.

They're staying, they're finishing their degrees and those are exciting trends for us.

At the tech college, those numbers are frankly they're off the chart over the last two years.

Enrollment is up by over 35% at the tech college and so we're seeing some great outcomes there and in both places.

That's, you know, that's our future workforce here in Bemidji and so we're excited about the trends.

Wow.

What's...why is that happening?

I'm sure you've done a lot of analysis and you know obviously a lot of people work hard to be sure that BSU and Northwest Tech's enrollment increases but how have you done that?

Well, there's no one single answer but it's a convergence of a number of key pieces.

One, I think we've hired some really strong folks in our Admissions and Enrollment Department.

They have changed some of our practices, aligned to best practices in the industry, really focusing on the North and students.

We also see this expansion so we've got growth in our traditional students coming out of high school.

We also have growth in students coming to us, adult learners who are coming back to college to finish their degrees.

And so our faculty have and this has been a huge lift on their part but they are changing the way that they're delivering instruction so that it is more flexible for students in person and online.

In some cases going back and forth between the two within a semester so that every student can have the most flexible option to get to their degree.

I think lastly we're doing a better job of connecting with our local businesses and industries.

The workforce demand for students with 2-year and 4-year degrees is just off the chart in Bemidji and across northern Minnesota and those opportunities for next level jobs, higher salaries, better benefits, greater stability.

I think a lot of folks are seeing the value in higher education that for a little while folks were starting to question 'Is it really worth it?'

I think folks are saying 'Yes!'

It really can make a difference in the lives of families.

Some are a bit skeptical of online learning but it's a critical component if you're going to operate a university today, isn't it?

I mean you have to be able to at least offer that to folks too because their lives sometimes require that flexibility.

Absolutely and I would say you know for your traditional student coming out of high school whenever possible and there's exceptions but whenever possible I love to see those students having at least some in-person experiences.

That's where they learn how to give feedback and receive feedback, to work as a team, to communicate with their peers.

There's just so many formative core skills, career skills, that they develop through that in-person experience.

And now we also see for some of those students who are doing online, our faculty are requiring them to be engaged in the community in different ways as a part of their courses.

So you may be online but you're still going to be engaging with others.

And then for adult learners, you know, my wife finished her doctorate, you know, while the kids were in late Elementary.

You know, she did, the kids would go to bed at 9:00 and then from 9 to 10...11...12... Joy was working on her online, on her degree.

It's something she couldn't have done otherwise.

But that online option for her gave her an opportunity to earn a degree that changed her career.

And I'm biased but she's made a pretty big impact in the world and the lives of others.

So like...I'm happy to see us replicate that at Bemidji State and at NTC.

Allyssa Joseph, we've not had a chance to chat with you before on this show.

You've been in Bemidji a couple of years now or...?

Yeah, over just about a year and a half now.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

Where, what's your story?

Where were you before that?

Yeah, before that I was actually in Denver.

I was working at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

I was there for seven and a half years as a fundraiser at every level of fundraising, from Annual Giving, which is just $50, all the way up to Director of Development, millions of dollars.

I got a call from a head hunter that they were looking for a Vice President for University Advancement.

I had started my first semester of nursing school.

I was a busy working mom, juggling night classes as well at the local community college to go back to school to be a nurse and this woman, Chris Kachenko, was very compelling and just asked me to look at the packet that President Hoffman had put together for this position.

And I thought it was an opportunity for me to learn from this community, from this University and to make an impact and to do something in my career that I never dreamed of being able to do.

And so I'm glad that I'm here.

So what does a Vice President of University Advancement do?

Yes.

It is a glorified title for Fundraiser and the higher you go in your title the more dollars you're expected to raise.

So that is pretty much it.

(laughing) It's not, that is not just it but the other components outside of fundraising which is a really important part of the job alongside John's job too, I mean president's fundraise, that's what the modern president does and we are their right-hand person, man or woman, and so the fundraising piece is very very important in the job.

But outside of that it's strategist, making sure that there is a healthy marriage between what donor intent is, what donors are wishing to accomplish at our institution, and making sure that it's in alignment with our strategic plan, mission and vision.

And so it's really that strategizing around how we can package our fundraising priorities and ensure that healthy marriage exists so that when we look at the end of the day or the end of the year we've actually made an impact on the institutions many organizations fundraise but are they making an impact and that's what we want to do.

The other part of the job is really just ensuring that I am helping people to dream and to distill those dreams down.

We've got faculty that are incredibly talented.

John is constantly dreaming about what this institution could be, our donors are dreaming, our students are dreaming, every day.

When they're stepping into the classrooms.

They're thinking about where they want to go.

And so it's my job to distill those dreams down into dollars and cents so that we can figure out how we take healthy and good proposals out to our donors.

They want to know at the end of the day when we're fundraising 'How much do you need from us?'

So I have to take all of those dreams and distill it down.

And so that's that's probably my favorite part of the job, outside of again shaking a donor's hand and saying thank you so much for your support to BSU.

So that sounds closely related to what you must do as Executive Director of the BSU Foundation as well?

Yes, yes.

The vice president role is related to BSU and NTC being that chief strategist and that culture of philanthropy that we're looking to instill at the university, something that John really wanted.

But the executive director is very prescribed and it's working.

We have a foundation board that I report to so we have a governance structure in place at the foundation ensuring that we are within IRS standards making sure that we are upholding best practices for our nonprofit.

There are many laws and rules that regulate nonprofits and so I have to be up-to-date on those standards as well and make sure that we're within those standards.

So BSU is not the only university or educational institution that has to fundraise but why do we have to do that?

I think people understand that we have scholarships that we have to offer but also there's a lot more to it isn't there?

Let me get us started on this.

You know, you go back for 40 years, the funding that has come to public colleges and universities over the past 40 years has steadily declined.

And there's a number of reasons for that and I'm certainly one, I believe in the value of colleges and universities and what we at Bemidji State and NTC do here in northern Minnesota.

I think it's a worthwhile investment of the state but I also recognize those trends.

If we're not offsetting fewer dollars coming into us from the state we don't want to do that just through tuition because that is a threat for our students.

Over the past 10 years the rate of inflation has increased on an average about 3.2% per year.

Now more recently than previously but that's the average over the last 10 years.

Our tuition rates have increased by 1.3% so the actual cost of college is going down for our students and the work that AJ and the foundation that is doing in terms of fundraising is helping to make continue to make college a reality for students.

92% of our students come to college on financial aid, a third received Pel Grants, another third or so are come from families that are surviving from paycheck to paycheck.

Without the investments of our community, alumni and others, we simply couldn't do what we do today to prepare the work for the future.

And as we heard a few minutes ago in terms of enrollment numbers you're doing something right pretty clearly so having checked on out educational costs with we have a daughter that's now a junior in college so I know a little about tuition costs and I know that as we spoke last time John, Bemidji State University's tuition cost is very competitive and you kind of have to be don't you?

Even with the state university system?

We have to be, yes, and that is a priority for us.

I mean there's there's always going to be adjustments that occur over time with that but first priority for us is always going to be taking care of students.

And because so many of our students are coming from those low-income families they're coming, in many cases, they're the first generation in their families to go to college.

Those types of investments make college a possibility and it's...I've been really impressed at the work that AJ has done, folks in our financial aid office, our enrollment office, in helping students to understand, 'Wow college really can be affordable!'

An investment of their time and dollars that will lead to that transformational change for the future of their family.

And so it's an important part.

So even though we're talking about higher enrollment numbers, I don't know if it's highest ever but it's getting close, if not there already.

But incoming classes are looking pretty good.

I will say we're still about a thousand students short of where we were before the pandemic so it's going to take us a few more years to get there.

Now at NTC we're getting pretty close to those pre- pandemic numbers and a little continued growth there, we may be looking atleast in recent history, the past decade or so, getting to the to peak types of numbers.

But before anybody thinks 'Well they, their enrollment is way up, I guess we were thinking about that donation they don't need it now because they have all those students!'

But I mean that tuition only pays a part of what you have to do right?

Yes that's true.

Cost of attendance for our students is still a very real barrier and what we're trying to do in the foundation is again enhance even beyond what the state allocation gives us.

That may be great but to enhance the opportunities that students receive when they're on the campus, to enhance the classrooms, right, to enhance the technology and their ability to have a great outcome in their education and also to be prepared when they leave.

So we want students working on the newest and latest technology.

That may not be something that's available through the state allocation.

We want students to be able to have, you know, scrubs and to be able to have child care when they're on the campus.

There are things that are not met through Pel and the scholarship dollars that we're providing in the foundation; our equipment within the music department.

I mean we've got donors that are giving so that students are playing at a high level, some of the best instruments because they're worth it.

And that's really what we want to do in the foundation, is look, scan the environment, look at what exists and make it better and ask folks how can we make this institution the best that it can be for northern Minnesota.

That requires dollars.

You know Todd, I would say this, you know, you work at a business here in town or you're thinking about opening a business in town, you're going to have to work with everybody in Bemidji and in the region and there's a number of colleges and universities within the larger geographic area where they only accept, you know, a small proportion of students, really high GPA or test scores.

Most of those students are coming from families that have been more successful financially.

I love the fact that we're discovering talent in this region and it runs the full gamut.

So we've got students who are coming from well-to-do families, we've got students who are coming from poor families, surviving from paycheck to paycheck.

They are learning together and as they learn together they're preparing to work in businesses and industries and organizations with everybody in our community, not just with, you know, a so-called elite sector of the students.

I think that's a little bit of a challenge for some of these other universities.

We've got the advantage here because we work with everybody.

And you have great diversity in your student population, don't you?

Yes.

Half of our students come from families where their parents do not have college degrees.

9% of our students at the university and 15% at the tech college are American Indian.

In fact, if we were one university we would be the largest higher-ed provider to American Indians of any institution in the state.

And that includes that great, big maroon and gold institution down in the Twin Cities where I got one of my degrees.

So we work really hard to make sure that the demographics of our students look like the demographics of Bemidji and of the region.

So last time we talked John, on this show a little over a year ago, BSU had just gone through some necessary budget adjustments.

Are we in pretty good shape now?

Is there any more of that coming anytime soon?

We have a balanced budget for this year, budget plan and we've got a path to a balanced budget for next year.

I'll be the first to say we've got some big variables, as folks know, our elected officials are, you know, getting ready to gather down in the Twin Cities.

They've got big decisions about how they're going to fund higher education for the next two years and what types of tuition rates that are going to be set for our institutions.

Those are two of our biggest variables.

So there's going to be, I'll be spending a little bit of time down in the Twin Cities and working with some of those folks.

But we are doing the things we need to build for the future but we've got real work ahead of us.

I would say I don't know a public, regional campus like ours across the country that wouldn't say the same at this point in time.

But I do...I like our momentum and I recognize we've got some significant work yet ahead.

As time goes by the number of programs and majors and programs at Bemidji State have changed over the years many times.

Is that going to continue?

What sort of direction are we going in terms of majors and programs at BSU and Northwest Tech?

We always need to be evolving.

If we're teaching today what we taught five years ago, we're [it's not relevant] more than five years behind.

We've got to stay at the front end.

It's part of the reason I try to spend a significant amount of time out meeting with business and industry leaders to hear what are the skills that you need?

What's, where are careers going for folks?

To make sure that we're gathering those data, bringing it back to our faculty so that they're able to make adjustments to their curriculum.

I think our faculty, they love to teach and so that currency is something that our folks do I think particularly well in moving forward.

And yes that also means at times some shifts in our programmatic mix.

They're not dramatic but they do occur sometimes.

Those are some hard decisions but then there's some exciting pieces.

For example we are rolling out a new program in forestry management.

It's a partnership with Minnesota North.

So students will complete their first two years over at the Minnesota North College campuses, Itasca and Vermilion and so forth and then they'll come and finish their last two years here at Bemidji.

And I mean it's kind of long overdue that we're spending some time preparing students for that work in forestry.

And so there's some other types of changes that we're working on to make sure that we're at the front end of the needs for the region.

Are the students at BSU...I mean, are most of them involved in programs where they're going to get their bachelor's degree and then move into the professional world?

Or are they still pretty focused on grad school?

Oh I would say we certainly prepare students for graduate school, pre-law programs, pre-medicine programs.

Students who are advancing into...out of our psychology program and going on for counseling degrees and whatnot but when you look at the demographics, so out of our alumni, we've got 48,000 plus alumni, 3/4 of them are in the state of Minnesota and a very high concentration are within that 150 mile radius of Bemidji where they came from.

And so we're seeing a lot of students who are going from college directly into the workforce.

Honestly we're seeing a lot of folks who are in the workforce and completing their degrees while they're working.

Yes.

AJ your time in Bemidji has been probably a little chillier than what you experienced in Denver?

Definitely, definitely chilly.

I've had to buy a brand new wardrobe and that's okay!

Yeah, yeah warm clothes are really important.

Yes!

But what's your impression of the area honestly overall?

Have you enjoyed your time here?

It's quite a bit different, not just climate wise but I mean a whole different thing than a major city like Denver.

It is so different and I've deeply enjoyed my time I think.

I worked in Iowa for a while after I graduated from college just getting my feet wet in this industry and then went to Denver and I always missed the rural community.

The tight-knit, you walk into a coffee shop, you see somebody, you have a 10-minute conversation and you're like 'Oh my God, I'm going to be late for work!'

I miss that.

I miss, you know, learning people's stories and just having opportunities to engage in a tighter-knit community.

So it has been really great.

I love how folks embrace the weather.

I love how folks are really resilient and they're not afraid to get outside.

They love the outdoors but also just like the grittiness of folks in northern Minnesota.

Us city slickers we are not ready!

But no, I just, I think this is a really good culture and I would not have moved my family here if I didn't think that we would be able to find community here.

So it's been really fun.

I have tons of memories.

I'm going ice fishing next weekend.

Really?!

Yes I am, very excited!

Excellent.

Have you tried that before?

I have not.

My daughter cross-country skied on Sunday with Joy Hoffman.

And there's ski school, everybody was there but she only saw Joy.

And so yeah, it was, it's been really great to get out and to learn kind of what northern Minnesota has to offer.

We went fishing this summer.

It's been amazing.

In your work with the various donors to BSU and NTC, are you generally dealing with private individuals or companies or other public institutions or who?

Yes.

We are definitely dealing with more individuals and the primary demographic of our donors are alumni.

They're BSU alums.

NTC is actually flip-flopped.

So, majority of the donors to NTC are actually corporate or nonprofit donors.

I see.

And does that in...I mean I realize you've only been here a short time but does that change over time?

We are hoping that it will.

And so in the foundation just a few months ago we created a team called Discover 3.

That team consists of alumni relations, Career Services and we brought on a new leader for Industry Giving and Partnerships, Abby Randall.

I'm sure you knew her through her work at the chamber.

That team is working collaboratively to ensure that we are bringing more companies into the fold to really engage with Workforce.

Workforce, they have to give away so much money too but it's more transactional when we're dealing with Workforce.

They want to get their...some publicity right?

They want to get marketing for their companies to be able to get students, to have brand recognition so that they will say 'Hey when I come out of school as an accountant I want to work at X firm.'

Well, they want to get in front of them sooner rather than later and so they're willing to pay and give, to be able to have that level of exposure.

We also want Career Services to be working to ensure that when they say 'We want this level of exposure and we want interns or co-ops or apprenticeships,' that we can deliver.

So it's really this trifecta model that we're trying to create so that we have folks engaging philanthropically but we can also meet that transactional need.

Yeah.

And when you approach a potential new donor what do you tell them about BSU and NTC?

I... it's very ingrained in...I came here because I want to work for state institutions.

I believe that my former president said that state institutions are holding the line on the American dream, making education and continuing to make education accessible, affordable and transformational.

And I really believe in that, having come from my previous institution and being here.

And so that is what I talk to donors about.

That's how I level set with them, is if you believe in economic mobility, access to education that is nonpartisan, you will engage and you will give to institutions like ours.

We are continuing to level the playing field for students as John mentioned of all backgrounds, right and that's what this is about.

Giving to our institution is about making education accessible.

And so that's how I start and then they'll go right talk to me about their passions, their grandkids.

You know, what they did a couple weekends ago.

All those things.

But that's really how we get to "the why and the ask", the financial conversation.

I would just love to brag a little bit too, boast about some of the work.

Because one of the pieces, you know, you go back to where we were at five years ago, what AJ and her team, what they were able to raise for Bemidji State more than tripled where it was at, you know, five years ago.

And so real significant accomplishments.

But I want to go a little deeper.

In the three largest asks that we've made in the last year and a half since AJ arrived, each one of the donors was moved to tears by the opportunity to give, and give in a way that was meaningful to them and in a way that they saw an impact for an institution that they love.

To me, that is a real measure.

It is about bringing together, you know, an individual who has some opportunity, something to give and in a way that's meaningful and tied to something that's going to make a difference.

Yes.

Well, we only have less than a minute left in our show today, any final words?

We're excited about the coming semester.

We've got some great things that are going to be occurring.

We'd love to see folks, whether it's at athletic events, Beaver hockey and basketball and so forth.

Our choirs and bands are going to have concerts here.

Some great opportunities for folks to get involved with the community.

Just remember that Bemidji's a college town.

It's a great college town and we're working on rebuilding those relationships between students and alumni and folks here in town.

And that's what makes this community special for our students.

I think it's part of what makes it just special places to live.

AJ, nice to have you on the show today, glad you're here with us in our town.

Thank you Todd and I thank you for being a great representation of our alumni base.

You're amazing and thanks for the opportunity.

Thank you.

Thanks for watching this edition of Lakeland Currents.