[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - Hi everyone, Steve Adubato, welcome to a very compelling program.

we welcome the president of Rowan University, one of our longtime higher education colleagues and partners, Dr. Ali Houshmand.

Good to see you, Ali.

- Good to see you Steve as well .

Thank you, sir.

- So hold on one second.

I was teasing you before you came on the air, that you just signed a long-term contract to be the president of Rowan for how long?

- Until 2029.

- And how long have you already been president?

- 12 years I think.

Well, interim president and president, 12 years.

- That's unprecedented.

That does not happen in higher ed.

Well, A, why do you think that's happening?

B, what's the biggest challenge you've faced in 2024?

- Well, it's happening because I think we have assembled a community, I would say, a faculty of a staff of the leadership and of the board especially, that really are in total tune with each other, and they're working for a common good.

And as a result, we have managed to build an institution, and grow it so fast and so extensively, that it's exciting to continue seeing on this success for everybody's sake.

And I really, every morning that I get up, I feel that I have a purpose, and everybody else also has a purpose.

And that's really what I think a good environment for work should be.

- I wanna talk about medical education in a second, but I wanna also clarify something.

When I say Rowan's a higher ed partner, they're an underwriter of our programming.

And along those lines, I wanna follow up on this.

Medical education, huge issue.

There's a shortage of physicians, shortage of nurses, healthcare community, post COVID, whatever post COVID means, lots of changes going on.

You're getting more directly involved in medical education with a hospital in Northern New Jersey.

Holy Name.

Talk about it.

- Well, we need, we are growing our school of osteopathic medicine significantly.

Currently the class size is just under 300, and it can still expand.

And this has made that school the largest medical school in central New Jersey in terms of enrollment.

And in order for us to send these students to do their their third year rotation, we need to have hospital partners throughout the state of New Jersey.

Therefore, we reach out to anybody who is willing to work with us, and provide opportunity for our students to go and get the experiences that they need in order to be a good doctor.

And hopefully stay in this state and practice.

And what is amazing about this (indistinct) medicine is that close to more than 60% of the graduates actually are staying here to do their graduate medical education, and end up actually practicing in state of New Jersey, which is, which is very rare.

And that's really is wonderful.

So that's the reason that we are, we are collaborating not only with, you know, one hospital, but any hospital in North Jersey, throughout the state of New Jersey.

Because we need that as we grow this, the side of the school.

- Lemme go back to the question of being president.

The graphic will come up, "the future of higher education."

We've talked to your colleagues in public institutions, and private institutions, universities, colleges.

The future of higher education.

Big story in the Sunday, New York Times magazine.

I know you read.

Yeah, you're smiling 'cause you saw the cover.

And it really questioned in the cover, whether higher ed is worth it, whether the investment is worth it, whether the loans later on are worth it, whether the savings that parents have to engage in is worth it.

Make the case please, as to why it's worth it.

- I think that there is a, there is a strong point.

This is a perfect storm where the pandemic, and the lack of fit in that what we produce is not necessarily what the industry is who hire them are.

That is one issue.

So there is this disconnect.

And then the cost of education is out of reach for a lot of people.

And a lot of students go and get a degree and end up getting a job that may be totally unrelated to their grad, to their degrees.

So the whole issue of these micro credentials have come about, that big industries are offering them and give a good job to you.

And it makes the parents to wonder whether really higher education is a good investment.

I do believe, Steve, that higher education is gonna go through a massive transformation.

It has to, we have no choice.

There are gonna be losers and there are gonna be winners.

At the end of the day, I hope that the country wins, because what I do believe is this, every 17, 18-year-old has to be able to leave home, and have a safe landing somewhere to grow up and to become a good decision maker.

I call that a college experience.

The mode of delivery, the credential, the living, the learning, and all of that is gonna change.

The whole notion of professors being sage on the stage is gonna change, because the knowledge is everywhere.

AI is going to blow everybody away in- - Okay, but stay on that.

Ali, sorry for interrupting.

- Sure.

- AI it's not gonna play the good or bad game because it is what it is.

Technology isn't just good or bad.

It's how people choose to use it.

The impact of higher ed, excuse me.

The impact of AI on higher ed, is it unimaginable at this point for you?

Or are you excited about it?

- Imaginable.

It's going to be massive.

Let me just put it that way.

So in a few years, AI is gonna be so powerful, that it has probably the entirety of the human knowledge at its disposal.

And that, AI is not available to every citizen around the globe.

Then the question is, who is the professor and who is a student?

Everybody has access to the same knowledge.

The key to the education then becomes, how do you bring these 17, 18 year olds and tell them, "Given that you have all this information, what can you do with it in order to make a good decision?"

That to me is the role of a future professor.

And that professor does not necessarily have to be a PhD.

Could be somebody like Steve Adubato, who wants to actually go in the classroom, and tells about his experiences in life.

But as a retired CEO, as somebody who is, who is working a bank, I think all of those individuals are gonna come and teach our people, guide our people to become good decision makers.

Maybe education becomes that.

But the notion that colleges are gonna go away, I don't think that should ever happen.

Nor should it, nor would it happen.

I think the colleges are necessary.

I think kids need to leave home.

They need to have a soft landing for three or four years, to learn how to become good decision makers, good citizens, and they go out there and be a good citizen.

That's why education is very important.

But the AI is going to change everything.

- And PS, as Ali mentions, let me also disclose a few years ago I did, in fact it was on the faculty at Rowan, excuse me.

I was honored to teach a course in communication and leadership.

Ali, last question on this.

The role of higher education, the role of Rowan as it relates to climate change, environmental responsibility, please.

- Oh, it's monumental.

You know, I'm a strong believer that there is definitely, the human, humankind has really damaged the environment, and we are doing serious damage to it.

And all we have to do is just look at the, what's happening around the globe in terms of heat and everything else.

This past summer, around Middle East was, reached 158 degrees.

I mean, think about that.

People cook at that temperature.

So, the role of environment at the universities are huge.

We need to really, first of all, practice it ourselves in everything that we build.

It starts with ourselves.

Because we have spent massive amount of money to build massive infrastructure that lasts for a hundred years.

And we better really make these things environmentally responsible and in every sense possible.

That's the first thing.

Second thing, we need to encourage everybody in here, as much as possible, go to, you know, the kind of electrical car, electric cars and create parking lots with, with charging systems available so that people are encouraged to do that kind of thing.

We need to really be responsible in the way that we teach our students where does food come from, and how do you keep the environment clean, and getting our students involved in the design, and in the planning of our campuses, so that the future that belongs to them, is developed by them.

And I really think that those are the kind of things that we need to do to teach our students, but more importantly, to practice it, to show that we genuinely are responding to, to these challenges in a, in a very, very positive way.

And if we do that, I think the students will benefit from that hugely.

And the society would.

- That's Dr. Ali Houshmand, the president of Rowan University.

Ali, look forward to our next conversation.

We always learn when we talk to you.

Thanks, my friend.

- Thank you, sir.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato Is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Holy Name.

PSE&G, Johnson & Johnson.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

New Jersey’s Clean Energy program.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

And by Wells Fargo.

Promotional support provided by ROI-NJ.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

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