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♪♪ >> Jeff: Hello, and welcome to an HBCU Week One-On-One special.

I'm Jeff Salkin.

We visited the campus of Coppin State University for a conversation with school president, Dr. Anthony Jenkins.

Dr. Jenkins, thank you so much for having us on campus.

>> Thank you for being here.

It's always a pleasure to see you and talk with you.

>> Jeff: In person, no less, after all these years of Zoom HBCU Week interviews, this is great.

>> Well, you said, during one of our last interviews that you wanted to come to campus, you were going to make that happen and here you are, so thank you.

>> Jeff: Talk about that for a second.

It's been years, frankly, since I've been on this campus.

It's beautiful, and it's completely different.

>> It is, it is.

You know, we have evolved over the last several decades, and you know, one of the things, one of the many things that I'm very proud of is that we continue to reinvent our campus, but making sure we stay true to that student-centered approach regarding everything we do on how we have designed our campus, how we have built new academic buildings.

It's about how we make sure our students experience remains our top priority.

>> Jeff: We are standing in front of the statue, fairly new statue.

>> Yes.

>> Jeff: Fanny Jackson Coppin, tell us about her.

>> Fanny Jackson Coppin was an extraordinary woman.

And we are honored that she is the namesake of our beloved institution.

Fanny Jackson Coppin was the second woman in American history, African American woman, to earn a degree.

She was born a slave.

Her freedom was purchased by her aunt.

She then went to Philadelphia, and she earned her degree from Oberlin College.

She then traveled the world, just talking to as many people as she can about the value and the importance of education.

She became the first African American principal in our country and became the first African American superintendent in our nation.

And as you see at the base of the statue, there's a statement that says, "It's within your reach."

That is what she believed, that is what she always taught and said, "Whatever you want is within your reach if you're willing to be transformed through a quality education."

And that speaks to the mission mission of Coppin State.

>> Jeff: Interesting.

She had tremendous impact while she was alive.

>> That's right.

>> And continues to have tremendous impact every day as people walk by here.

>> Her accomplishments, her commitment to education has cast a long shadow, and I'm honored that Coppin is in that shadow, because what she believed, who she was, we embodied the very spirit and core values of Fanny Jackson Coppin, and we look to fold that into every corner of our university and into every aspect of the student experience.

>> Jeff: People may be able to hear that there's a little construction going on.

It's actually in Ms. Coppin's line of sight, there's always construction here.

What are you working on?

>> We are very excited, we are building a new residential facility, which will bring an additional 350 beds to our campus.

When I arrived in May of 2020, I quickly realized that we had a bed shortage on our campus.

Students were coming to us, but we were running out of housing very quickly.

Our housing is at 100% occupancy, and so I am proud that the state legislature, that the USM system of Maryland, worked with us to make sure that we could start construction on this new facility here at Coppin.

>> Jeff: We saw a tour group go by a minute ago, and we had talked last year, I believe, about your initiative regarding out of state students who don't necessarily have access to an HBCU.

And we just saw a whole group of people, wide eyed young people looking around here at this beautiful campus, and that's working out for you.

>> It is working out wonderfully.

That is our expand Eagle Nation program, which I created for the simple fact that I wanted to do a couple of things.

One is, I wanted to create the opportunity of exposure for students who lived in states that did not have an HBCU, but wanted that HBCU experience.

I also wanted to make sure that the program helped us expand access and opportunity and lower the cost because students who come through this program also receive in-state tuition.

And so it saves them if they're paying for it on their own, or their families a lot of money when you look at in-state versus out-of-state tuition.

And then finally, I wanted to make sure that the program was designed to enhance retention and increase student completion and graduation rates.

And I'll tell you, the program has done all of that.

Prior to the program, we were enrolling somewhere about 65 out of state students To date, that number is north of 300, and I am excited about the number of students who are coming to us through that program.

Now, that's 300 in the last incoming cohort, not the entire institution.

Across the university, we have students who are coming to us from nearly 40 states, the District of Columbia and 32 countries.

>> Jeff: A number of things college presidents love to do.

Greet tour groups... Hand out pieces of paper, in terms of diplomas at graduation.

What's better than that?

>> That's right.

>> Jeff: There is one thing that maybe is a close second for college presidents, and that's getting pieces of paper that say, Pay To The Order Of Coppin State University.

You just got a big check from CareFirst.

>> I am so excited about our partnership with CareFirst and CEO Brian Pieninck has been a tremendous friend since I've gotten here.

We've built a very strong partnership, and we see our two organizations as anchor institutions in West Baltimore.

And together, we are committed to nurturing and transforming lives, and we believe that through healthcare, education, job workforce creation, that we can do tremendous things together and really transform generations.

So, I am proud that just last week, we officially unveiled a $2.625 million gift from CareFirst that's going to help us expand healthcare workforce opportunities.

It's going to help us expand our academic portfolio here at the university.

And it's also going to allow us to expand the work we do in our Community Health Center, because we're the only institution outside of our medical schools in the state that allows outside entities to use our health center as their primary point of health care.

>> Jeff: Feels like the last few years, coincidentally, the amount of time you've been here, have been an outstanding period of time for HBCUs here, nationally, for a number of reasons, nothing but sunny days.

Now, seems like some clouds are rolling in, coming out of Washington -- anti-DEI administration.

What's your perspective on that?

>> You know, Coppin State University will always stay true to its core mission and purpose.

I understand some of the misinformation around DEI nationally and what those things look like, and some of the actual narratives.

Listen, Coppin State University, as I noted earlier, we have students who are coming to us from nearly 40 states to District Columbia, 32 countries, diversity and multiculturalism is a part of who we are.

It's a part of our foundation.

It will remain a part of our foundation.

If we're going to prepare students to be successful in a global world, we have to educate them in a global multicultural society.

And so we are not going to be distracted by who we are and what we do and why we were founded and the investment in the thousands of young people and not so young, who are coming to us to help transform their lives.

>> Jeff: Coppin is a part of West Baltimore.

We're just off North Avenue, and Coppin doesn't isolate itself.

I notice you're part of the community, the community is part of campus.

How do you think about that?

>> We are intentional about making sure that the education that our students receive extend beyond the boundaries of our campus, into West Baltimore, and into downtown Baltimore, and into Washington, D.C., and the DMV area.

But with regards to West Baltimore as an anchor institution and as a leader in urban higher education, we have a responsibility to make sure that we're not that we're not only transforming our campus community, but our community around us.

And that's why I'm proud that we just recently opened the Mill on North, which is a food court, which is next to our campus which includes seven eateries.

All minority-owned female black eateries that helps us address the food desert situation that West Baltimore finds itself in.

It's also an opportunity for my students, faculty and staff here at Coppin to have another outlet to go get a great meal.

We are honored to have partnered to bring resources to make that opportunity come to fruition.

To me, that's what it means to be an anchor institution.

It's about solving the problems of the community while also preparing the students for the future.

>> Jeff: Before we go, I know a big focus of of yours from the beginning here has been getting students across the finish line, completing a degree.

Talk about your emphasis on that and how it's going.

>> I could not be more proud of where things are, where we're headed and the trajectory of Coppin's path.

When I got here, our retention rate was about 52, 53%.

We built our Eagle Achievement Center, which is a one-stop shop that creates a wraparound support system for our students, whether they have a 4.0 or they are students who need some additional academic support, and everybody in between, Through those efforts and being more intrusive and more proactive, we've turned that 53% retention rate into a 75% retention rate.

That puts us higher than the national average for public institutions, and higher than the state average for public institutions with regards to first year to second year of attention.

We've also seen our graduation rate increase, and to me, that's what this is all about.

Getting students in, transforming their lives, moving them from student to scholar, And getting them on that stage so that they leave here and go on to the next great phase of their incredible life.

So to me, I'm excited about what we are doing and how confident Coppin is going about doing it.

When I arrived, I said our pace would be brisk and our trajectory will be north.

Over the last five years, that promise has been kept.

>> Jeff: Dr. Jenkins, pleasure speaking with you as always.

>> Thank you, the pleasure is mine.

>> Jeff: MPT's Nancy Yamada explains how Coppin State students are learning to procure, protect, and analyze patient health records.

>> It's traditionally been known as managing patient records or patient data.

You may become, you may understand medical records, but over the time, it's evolved.

>> Coppin State University is the only school in Maryland to offer an accredited baccalaureate and Masters degree in health Information management.

Chairperson Dr. Mona Calhoun says, it's a multifaceted degree that gives students lots of options in the job market.

>> It's evolved into more than just managing the information.

Our students learn skills in data analytics, research, reimbursement, billing, coding, privacy security.

>> The interesting challenge for students is that the industry is constantly evolving and is influenced by federal and state regulations.

>> There is regulations around the standards of how data is used, how it's maintained.

That goes into the informatic side of our profession.

Information is what the patient brings, what they are when they come into the hospital.

It's the information we collect on them, but how it's used, how it's collected, how it's stored, that's the informatic side.

So our students are getting the best of two worlds with this profession.

They can go into the management of the information or the informatic side, which is more of the technology and electronics and systems analysis, data analysis, how we use the information to make decisions in our healthcare industry.

>> Currently, there are 56 students.

Jacqueline Carina, a native of Kenya and mother of three, is a senior.

>> I like it because it has it It has opportunity, careers, whereby I can choose to work in any field.

>> Beyond collecting the data, students are also learning how to protect patients' private information.

It's one of the greatest challenges in the industry.

>> You should secure the information of the patient because you don't want it to be leaked out.

It should be safe.

>> When we talk about cyber security, when we talk hacking, we have to stay in front of that, even AI, how AI is evolving and used in healthcare to do surgeries, to help with diagnosis.

So we have all of that incorporated within our program to help prepare our students for not only what currently is here, but what is to come.

>> Coppin students are learning how to adapt as technology evolves, legislation passes, and new diseases are discovered.

There's pride in knowing that the information they collect and protect is being utilized in a meaningful way.

>> Without accurate coding of the records, hospitals are not receiving the reimbursement that they should receive, without taking the data and analyzing it to determine how that information can be used to bring resources into a community.

Perhaps there are a lot of children who need immunizations.

That information is captured when they come into the hospital and we see that that's a resource that's needed.

>> At Coppin State University, I'm Nancy Yamada.

>> Jeff: Coppin's youngest student in memory is just 14 years old.

Wes Muhammad joined us live for MPT's "Direct Connection."

>> Let's get the story straight.

You're actually almost 15.

>> Yes, sir.. Well, I've turned 15 in October.

>> So you're going to turn into a college sophomore.

>> Yes, sir.

>> -- when school begins, so how was freshman year?

>> Freshman year was amazing.

I definitely appreciated the experience of being on campus.

also having that first year, I would say, just adventure of exploring college.

>> Not too many people get to do that at age 14.

>> Right, right.

>> You feel like you missed out at all, I mean, when you were speeding through,... elementary school, middle school, whatever.. >> I feel like I honestly have mixed feelings about that, since some things did have to be sacrificed.

But at the same time, I feel the end result was very worth it.

So if there was anything I could change, I really don't think I would, honestly.

>> When you walk through the beautiful campus at Coppin these days, do you get looks?

Does everybody know that you're there?

>> Maybe not everybody, but I've definitely been given an a lot of support from the campus, the administrators, the staff, so I appreciate all of the love that Coppin State University family has extended to me.

>> Jeff: I would bet everybody is really friendly.

>> Wow, definitely.

I can definitely say that.

>> Jeff: What's your relationship with teachers like?

We get a veteran professor that looks out in the class and there are a bunch of 18, 19 and 20-year-olds and the young man with a bow tie.

Is that a thing?

>> The bow tie, not every day.

Some days it is just Polo shirts and khakis.

But every now and then, yes.

>> How did the teachers treat you?

>> The teachers, definitely been given a lot of support from my professors as far as in class, and also checking to see if there is anything I may need help with.

The professors have been a great Help, definitely.

>> I guess people who succeed in life have either some great inherent natural ability, or, some major drive and ambition.

Are you one of those more than the other?

>> I definitely feel like I am.

My drive is really just to be all the best I can be.

I've been instilled with a lot of drive from my family as well.

A lot of my mentors and supporters throughout the years.

So for me, it is just trying to reach the sky and go beyond That, definitely.

>> Your mom is with you who is terrific.

Didn't want to be on, steal the spotlight.

When did you start accelerating your academic track?

>> That's a great question.

So you mentioned my mom.

My mom is definitely responsible for where I am today, so when I was younger, I would say, honestly, maybe even since Birth, I've been put on, what She calls an accelerated learning program.

So that's consisted of a lot of different opportunities, different educational, just Advancements throughout the years.

>> You didn't get summers off.

>> Not usually even over the summer, I was still practicing, studying on things I may have missed throughout the school year.

Preparing for the upcoming school, yearbut I still had a lot of fun throughout the summers as well.

Jr. did you have a favorite course?

A topic that you like?

>> Favorite course?

My heart has always been into writing and also in math as we even though those are the essentials, I feel like, the essentials get you very far.

So those two have been my, they've had a close place in my heart throughout the years.

>> Any suspicious looks from the English professor who thinks that maybe young Wes was the first one to figure out A.I.

And wasn't actually writing all of those great papers.

>> That's great question.

Since my introduction to AI, I've definitely experienced some questions about integrity, but I can definitely say that I've never used AI on schoolwork unless I was instructed to do so, but I've been blessed to, Just the ability.

>> Jeff: I didn't mean to Question your integrity at all.

I was making a joke.

Okay, so math and English.

From your time in elementary school in Baltimore city to now.

Do you have a favorite teacher?

You don't have to name names.

>> Okay, okay.

>> Jeff: Somebody you thought this person really gets me.

>> Definitely, I've had a lot of great teachers over the years so even in elementary school, all the way up to college now, there have been some different teachers such as I believe my math teacher in fifth grade.

I'm also I guess that would Be my home room teacher all the way up to kindergarten and second grade, I believe, that have helped me out along the way.

So I definitely appreciate them if they're watching or whatever they are, for the amount of support they've given to me.

I definitely appreciate it.

>> Jeff: What else is important in your life?

Are you into music, Sports, either playing or as a spectator, religion, what's important to you?

>> Definitely, religion, definitely comes first.

Also music as well.

I do listen to a few different artists every now and then if I get a moment.

Sports, sports, I definitely.

I feel like I have to get more into sports.

I don't know.

But also just staying active, for me, going outdoors, you know, taking a ride on my bike, just taking a walk in nature.

That's something I do in a consistent basis.

So I definitely prioritize that when I do have that time to, you know, just get a moment.

>> Jeff: I was thinking that you've missed some parts of education.

I guess a couple years of middle school, you probably didn't miss much in middle school.

Nobody has great memories of middle school.

But high school, so many people have, you know, the time of their life in high school.

>> Correct.

>> Jeff: And you entirely skipped it.

>> Not entirely.

So, like I said, it has been a journey throughout the program.

The acceleration, but I will say that throughout my journey of being in school, I've definitely made a lot of friends along the way.

I'm a lot of memorable experiences still stick with me.

So some things, you know, I did have to let go, but I do think I still had a sufficient amount of just pleasure over the years, definitely.

>> Jeff: Coppin as you know has this great little fraternity sorority area up near the athletic.

>> Exactly, the PC.

>> Jeff: You're probably too young for that >> The sororities or fraternities?

Yeah, right, right.

I've been familiarized with some different fraternities, and I do like the things that they're doing for our community.

I think it's wonderful that people can join a brotherhood or sisterhood and meet a lot of different people and still stick with those people for the rest of their lives.

I think that's amazing.

>> Jeff: How did you choose Coppin?

I know family legacy.

>> Right, definitely family legacy.

So my mom is a Coppin alum so that did play some, well, that did have some influence over my decision to go to Coppin, but even still, I think it's a great school for sure.

>> Jeff: I remember a high school teacher talking about the curse of the high aptitude, and he wasn't talking to me when he said it, but the idea was that, you know, some people who say are really good at math, And it just comes naturally.

I mean, they blow through it getting straight A's.. Algebra, geometry, even calculus, but then they reach a point in college where suddenly it's hard.

And unlike you, they don't know how to work hard because they never had to, so you're not too worried about it.

>> I feel like hard work definitely plays a role.

So even though I do think my math abilities have gotten me pretty far, studying, practicing, asking for help is definitely not something I'm afraid to do, because when there's something you don't know, somebody out there has the answer.

So I've definitely reached out to a lot of the different resources on campus when I may be experiencing some difficulty, and I'll definitely had that help.

>> Jeff: Was there a point that you wouldn't do it.

Like, I'm Wes Muhammad.

I'm supposed to know everything.

I'm not asking for help.

>> I would say that my mom did raise me to ask for help when necessary, but there was that moment where I had to realize that for myself that, you know, I can't do everything, but definitely.

>> Jeff: The other curse of high aptitude is that when somebody's on an accelerated path like you, there's a presumption that you're going to do something phenomenal with the rest of your life, just as you've done with the first 14 years.

Do you the feel that?

Do you feel like I have to be the one to cure cancer or whatever it is?

>> Right.

>> Jeff: Or walk on the moon or maybe, maybe do you have any career ambitions?

>> I definitely do.

For me, it may not be walking on the moon.

It may not be curing cancer.

What I've had my eyes on is really advancing the community that I live in Baltimore.

So sometimes I tell my mom that even when I am blessed in the Future, hopefully to make a name for myself, I would still like to pour into the place that raised me, Baltimore.

So I am thinking of starting a company, maybe in the future years that would allow some of students that have a similar story like me, and then also just different people that are interested to put their skills to work and try something new.

>> Jeff: What kind of company?

>> What kind of company?

It may be in the realm of cybersecurity, but for now, I'm still giving it some thought.

>> Jeff: Well, the world moves very fast, but I think Wes Muhammad moves faster.

Delightful to talk with you, and we're all rooting for you.

Wes Muhammad is a rising sophomore, a rising 15 year old at Coppin State University.

Thanks for stopping by.

>> Thank you for having me.

>> Jeff: This is HBCU Week on MPT.

Stay tuned to MPT for more primetime content about the important roles that our nation's historically black colleges and universities play in our nation.

Coming up next, learn more about how HBCU's student change makers help to shape the future of their campuses at Morehouse and Morgan.

Thank you for joining us for this HBCU Week special.

This is MPT's sixth season of exploring the legacy and future of the region's historically black colleges and universities.

More information can be found at MPT.org/ HBCU.

Now, for all of us at MPT, thank you for watching.

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