Inspiring the Next Generation of University Leaders with Dr. Cheryl Green
Dr. Cheryl Green, the sixth president of Governor State University, discusses her journey and vision for the institution. She emphasizes the importance of diversity in leadership, noting that only 30% of university presidents are female and 5% are women of color. Green highlights her focus on engagement, transparency, and community relations, and her commitment to serving all seven stakeholder groups. She also discusses the challenges of crisis management and the 24/7 nature of the role. Green has rebranded GSU as the "jewel of the Southland" by enhancing academic programs, community engagement, and alumni relations, and measures success through morale, revenue, growth, and student experience.
Transcript
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
diversity in leadership, higher education, women in leadership, minority women, university president, student engagement, crisis management, community relations, alumni support, educational access, lifelong learning, servant leadership, pandemic challenges, academic programs, faculty dedication
SPEAKERS
Joi Patterson, Cheryl Green, Amy Vujaklija
Cheryl Green:Presidents have to be driven. They are passionate, and they are fully committed to the university.
Amy Vujaklija:This episode was originally released under the podcast titled teaching and learning theory versus practice. This rebooted episode has been migrated to teaching and leading with Dr Amy and Dr Joi I am Dr Amy Vujaklija, Director of educator preparation, and I
Joi Patterson:am Dr Joi Patterson, Chief Diversity Officer. Our podcast addresses issues through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion, along with solutions for us to grow as educators.
Amy Vujaklija:So join us on our journey to become better teachers and leaders. So let's get into it.
Joi Patterson:Good morning. Dr Amy, good morning.
Amy Vujaklija:Dr Joi, how are you today? I'm good
Joi Patterson:and kind of excited. Well, I'm way excited and a little nervous about our conversation today, because we're going to be interviewing our boss, our boss boss today. So a little bit have a little generous this morning. Of course,
Amy Vujaklija:I'm hoping our listeners have tuned in to previous episodes where we've talked to teachers, administrators and school psychologists, teacher educators, and we've talked about the higher administration roles of a president and a provost, but we haven't talked to either one. So it is exciting,
Joi Patterson:too. This is exciting. And this position is viewed as the pinnacle of higher education. This is the benchmark. This is the highest achievement that anyone can get in academia. You know, when you're working in higher ed. And despite women's achievement and their status in higher ed, there's still very little movement of having women as university presidents. And not only that, there's very little movement in having minority women as university presidents. So that's why it just makes this interview so very special, because albeit that we've had some movement, we typically still hire older white males,
Amy Vujaklija:and we know that diversity in higher education is really important. We need to see and be what our students can see and be. You know, I always say
Joi Patterson:you can't be what you can't see, and I was certainly a product of that growing up. What's really strange to me is that women are the majority of students in higher education, and we have kind of taken leaps and bounds, like yourself, as being faculty and doing some of the research, but then when it just comes to those higher level positions, we're not making the same leaps and bounds. So yes, not only are we having this conversation with Dr green, governor, state university president, but we also get to venture into why that's the case.
Amy Vujaklija:So Dr Cheryl green earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Manchester University, a master's degree and a doctorate in counseling from Southern Illinois University. Dr green served at the University of Wisconsin, but prior to that, she served as Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs at Tennessee State University for five years, and had previously enjoyed a 22 year tenure at Chicago State University there, Dr green held a variety of leadership roles and achieved tenure as a professor of counseling. Dr Cheryl green is Governor State University's sixth president. She is an experienced higher education leader with a broad knowledge base across academia, and brings more than 30 years of leadership, accountability and expertise in roles focused on Academic and Student Affairs. And I think that's what is so beautiful about what Dr green brings into this role. She has a background in teaching and research, faculty and staff, governance, experience and financial management and fundraising. The full package. Welcome to our show. Dr green,
Cheryl Green:thank you so much. I'm excited to join you this morning. I appreciate the invitation to talk about these important. Topics, Good
Joi Patterson:morning, doctor. Amy and I were just talking about how we have the jitters. We're excited for a number of reasons to have you with us this morning. So I'm going to jump right in okay with some questions. I know that you're very, very busy. So my first one just really about you being in this position, despite the fact that women we dominate enrollment in higher education, and there's a rise in female faculty, but yet only 30% of presidents are female and only 5% of university presidents are women of color. The significance of seeing someone like you is just amazing, and it has such an impact. I did not experience my first African American educator until I was in grad school. Growing up, elementary school, high school, I didn't know that I could become a teacher. I'd never seen an African American teacher. I wanted to become a nurse because of Julia, yes, yes. And I wanted to become a nurse because I saw that image. So as an African American female president, what do you see as the impact on the university, the impact on future leaders?
Cheryl Green:Well, I think psychologically, it's important for children to see a diverse representation of who can lead, so that they can see themselves as you referenced, we want all adults, young people, older people who are matriculating through our colleges and universities to understand, to know and to envision themselves as change agents and leaders, and that that does not look like one profile that that includes multiple ethnic groups, specialties, backgrounds, cultures, languages and so on and so forth. And so I'm really proud to be in this role. It's been a long journey, and you gave the statistics on women in leadership, in higher ed and women of color, I'll add one more slice to your cake, and that is women of color who lead non HBCUs, because GSU is not an HBCU, there's an even smaller percentage for that group. So I can imagine, yes, I am very excited to be in leadership at GSU and work with the people that I've met who love this university and who want to serve our students.
Amy Vujaklija:You've been in this role for a year now. So what would you say is the hallmark of your new presidency at GSU? Well,
Cheryl Green:you know for the first six months, that answer was becoming a president during an epidemic that turned into a pandemic. I'll just let that hang out there. It is a unique journey in and of itself, to have a first year as a president, but during the pandemic, it is very, very unique, very challenging, but very rewarding as well. I think we did an amazing job this year, keeping the university moving towards its mission, its values and its educational goals for our students. But if I had to identify what I have been busy doing for the last 13 months as of yesterday it would be engagement, transparency, accountability, inclusiveness, achievement, innovation, wellness, sustainability, continuous improvement and strategic planning, those have been the 10 tenets of my daily existence at GSU for the last 13 months.
Joi Patterson:For months, people were asking me, tell me about your new president. Tell me about your new president. And I would say, Well, I haven't met her yet. I haven't, you know, I haven't seen her face to face yet because of the pandemic. So such a very strange time, but I have had the opportunity to meet you in a number of town hall meetings, which I think is spectacular, and I think it's a great way to pivot. And actually, I think that I've gotten to know you better during the pandemic than I ever would have been able to know you had we had the busy face to face, because I feel like I've gotten to know you intimately. I've gotten to see your home. I've gotten to see your surroundings. And in previous conversations, you spoke about having seven masters students, alumni, faculty, staff. Community legislators and the board, which I just thought was fascinating. How do you so I want you to talk about those seven masters, but I also want you to talk about, how can you be your authentic self and still please these seven masters? Well,
Cheryl Green:let me just say this all presidents. I just gave a lecture on this at a conference a couple of days ago, but all presidents have these same seven masters, not just me, not just at GSU, any one of these groups can greatly enhance your presidency and the university and any one of these groups can derail the progress of the university if they are focused on negatives and counterproductive or conflict oriented behavior. So it's critical for presidents to know who they serve, and I believe in servant leadership, I serve all seven of those groups. The university cannot exist as an island, so we must build a sense of community on the campus and off campus. As it relates to my authentic self, I have to be who I've grown and known and developed to be over the decades, and I am really clear about who I am and who I am not, as it relates to pleasing all seven groups or balancing the needs of all seven groups, I know that there's a common thread among those groups, common themes, common goals and common needs, and that's what I tap into, to unify those groups, to build community support and to get the work done, because I can't do it by myself. I can't do anything that the university needs to do as a sole individual, it will take 123456, or all seven of those groups to get the work done,
Joi Patterson:Standing and speaking of authenticity. Who is Cheryl green,
Cheryl Green:that's an interesting question. I would say she is, well, she's beautiful. I don't want to sound argue that. Let me just say she's hard working, she's dedicated. She is fun loving. If you ask the people who meet with me on a regular basis, they will tell you, I have a great sense of humor, and I try to find humor every day in what we do. I think that's important, but I am a person who is driven to empower others. I think that would be the core of who I am. I do it at work. I do it with my family, and I do it with my friends. I think that I'm also driven to provide educational access opportunities for as many people as possible. I really believe in the whole philosophy from the cradle to the gray we you can go to college at any point and achieve and succeed, and I believe in lifelong learning. So Cheryl Green is a person who has worked since she was 14 to help people realize their full potential. And that was something I was doing prior to earning a PhD in Counseling Psychology. Is something I did in high school, is something I did in grammar school. So I was thrilled to find out that I could enter a profession and earn a living doing what I love to do, doing what I think is the essence of who I am.
Joi Patterson:So you know, in my short time of knowing you, I want to add a couple more things to Cheryl green. Cheryl green is real. You
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are real. And
Joi Patterson:I also want to say that you're supportive, because in the Early Childhood initiative and our fight with legislative to take that initiative on, to build early childhood teachers, I really felt like you had my back. So you are supportive, and I thank you for that. Well,
Cheryl Green:I really love getting that feedback, because in my role, you just do what you think is best, and you don't always get immediate feedback or concrete feedback. So thank you for that. I thank you and Amy for this podcast, opportunity to talk. I. About the authentic Cheryl green, because I don't know that people seeing photos or hearing public speeches reach those same conclusions. So thank you for this opportunity.
Amy Vujaklija:I want to tap into what you were talking about, being driven to empower others. Tell us more about how that happens. How do you empower others?
Cheryl Green:Well, I think that I believe in the goodness of all people. That's a fundamental belief I have about humankind. That's number one. Number two, I've already talked about creating opportunities for everybody to go to school. Education is a tool for empowerment. Education is a key to social, political and economic change for any and everybody who participates in that process. So that's kind of the essence of how I believe that I work to support others and lead others and serve others. So, and
Joi Patterson:I want to bring up another town hall meeting. See all these town hall meetings that that's, I hope that that's something that you continue to do because we all can't reach you because of your busy schedule and our busy schedule. So I hope that that's something that you continue to do post pandemic, but you were discussing participating in the community, and on top of everything else that you have to do, you found time to tap into the community, and that's something that Amy and I are extremely passionate about, is building our partnerships. We understand that that's vital, and what was normally kind of a one way, relationship between teacher education and working with P 12 schools is now more collaborative, so we pride ourselves on building those relationships and increasing diversity amongst teachers. So why is community relations just so important to you?
Cheryl Green:Well, the community is a source of support to the university. Let's be really clear the community are our future students, and they are a pipeline to enrollment for the university. So when you look at the sustainability and growth of the institution in terms of not only students, but revenue, legislative bills, service, that's the community. So that's number one. Number two, I would just say that, as I stated before, we cannot exist as an island. There must be a mutual exchange between the university and the community, even employers who recruit our students, that's a part of our community, employers who mentor or train our students, that's a part of our community, employees who serve on our advisory boards. Those are our alumni. Those are non alumni who just care about the growth and the operational excellence of the university. So I have been busy joining boards, because I believe in doing that, I've joined the President's Council of the Association of Governing Boards, which is a national organization. I've joined locally CMAP, Chicago metropolitan area Planning Association Will County Center for Economic Development, Chicago, Southland Chamber of Commerce, top ladies of distinction. The list goes on. All of these organizations are designed to focus on growth, change, the future the community needs and just making our environment more dynamic, more vibrant and more tailored to serve the members of the community at I am as well.
Joi Patterson:I think our previous president was very instrumental in getting us a stoplight for our university, which was important to get that stop light, I'm looking forward to you getting a grocery store and University Park.
Cheryl Green:You know, I actually have some meetings coming up with University Park. I got a Community Service Award several months ago because of my willingness to talk and meet and collaborate on the growth of the immediate regional area, and I will continue to do that. And so I agree with you, because when you leave campus, you should have some amazing options to shop and to spend. Time and to hang out and to donate dollars to the local economy. All of that helps GSU and so I will continue to work with University Park and other local leaders like the south suburban mayors and managers group, which I've connected with on multiple times to hear about and to participate in activities that grow this area. I love
Amy Vujaklija:hearing about the organizations that you choose to involve yourself in and to lead. I know all of us, every fall, we update our CV, getting it ready for if we're tenure track, or if we are just kind of up for promotion, or whatever the case might be, we're looking at our service organizations or our professional organizations, and really taking a deep dive to See which ones have lasted. There are some that don't fill our souls and some that we stay involved with for many, many, many years, because that's exactly what they do. There are some organizations on on my list that I make sure that they have priority. Is there an organization you want to speak about that just fills your soul and that you've been involved with for a number of years. Because,
Cheryl Green:yeah, I can talk about two. One is called the gift of adoption. It's a national organization. They do fundraising, and their sole purpose is to raise money to donate to families free so that they can pay for the expenses to become parents and adopt children from anywhere in the world. I was a founding member of the Tennessee chapter. I was very active in the Wisconsin chapter, and I have yet to become involved in the Illinois chapter, but I do write checks so organizations that I believe in, of course I donate money to, but it is very near and dear to my own heart, because my own children are adopted, and so it's something that I talk to them about, that they Have a tremendous sense of pride that I work with this organization and that they have volunteered. And you know, it's something to get young people to volunteer that's not attached to school credit, and so they have volunteered with this organization. Another organization would be my sorority, Alpha Kappa. Alpha Sorority. It is an international organization with over 300,000 members, and contrary to popular myth, they do an incredible amount of service. They're always donating time and dollars and looking at areas of change needed in the community. I'll just give one example, and then I'll stop my chapter president is personally responsible for getting over 80,000 people vaccinated. She has a health mission, and she has become a force in the state of Tennessee, and so I'm very proud of that, and it connected with the pop up clinics that we had here at GSU. We had five of them, and we got close to 2000 people here at GSU. I'm very proud of that record,
Joi Patterson:yes, and GSU has been really instrumental in getting folks vaccinated. I know Amy and I, we both volunteered and happy for that opportunity going back to the agency for adoption that you work with. I am the stepmom of four adopted children. My husband adopted all four of his children. Ah, okay,
Cheryl Green:he needs a father of the year. Yeah, organization. So that just doesn't happen on a regular basis. So yes,
Joi Patterson:so that organization is very meaningful. We're starting a new organization here of working with aged out foster youth. Amy and I had the opportunity to interview someone who works with aged out foster youth and what the need is, and we found that only 3% of aged out foster youth matriculate through the university, and so there's just a poor retention rate of aged out foster youth. So here at GSU, we want to put some resources in place so that we can increase their chances of matriculation, so that is an outstanding organization.
Amy Vujaklija:Now I want to ask you this, what might surprise people about the responsibilities you. Taken on as the president. We talked about the seven masters. But are there some other roles or Respite that might surprise people?
Cheryl Green:I will say two things. One is crisis management. I think that when I went to college several decades ago, I don't know that the presidents were directly involved in crisis management. It was more maybe the police or the fire or external groups, but today, presidents get those phone calls. Presidents have to make decisions about safety and wellness and infrastructure and so on and so forth. And we had a situation where a power outage happened on campus. We had to do some emergency purchases to get our power restored on campus a few months ago. Presidents have to do a lot of crisis management. The other thing I would say, and I don't think it's a surprise, but it's worth mentioning. It is a 24 hour a day, seven day a week job. There is no I'm not available. There is no give it to somebody else. If it's about GSU, I'm taking the call. I'm showing up and I want to know, and my whole team knows that they can call me anytime. I would say that it should surprise people to know that presidents have to be driven. They are passionate, and they are fully committed to the university. So between their commitment the 24 hour job and the crisis management associated with the job, I think those may be some things that people don't hear about a lot.
Joi Patterson:As a GSU grad, I often refer to GSU as a hidden gym I have because I love GSU for a long time, and always shocked when I run across someone that says, Oh, I've never heard of GSU. Say, Have you never heard of GSU? We we do wonderful things. So talk about your vision for GSU as the jewel of the Southland.
Cheryl Green:Well, I don't like the reference hidden gem, and I am working very hard to change that moniker for GSU. I rather us be referred to as the jewel of the Southland. I believe we are a jewel because we have dynamic academic programs that are accredited. We have faculty who are so dedicated that everywhere I go on campus and off campus, when I ask students what brought you to GSU and what keeps you here, they talk to me about the faculty who serve them, who instruct them, who mentor them, advise them, and support them in multiple ways. We are very affordable as an institution of higher learning, and we have a great location. I think we have the best of both worlds. We're in very close proximity to one of the top cities in the world, but yet we have somewhat of a traditional campus, because we're in the south suburbs, and we have over 753 acres. So we have our own entity. But we have, you know, the train station, the metro station, there's a connection to anything and everything culturally that you would want to do in a great metropolitan city. And of course, we have our CPA, we have our sculpture park, we have our student services and activities. There's so many great things that we have, but I want to spend this year in my future years and hassling that further,
Amy Vujaklija:I will have to say with those that number of acres, the view from the cafe in the lounge area is spectacular. Yes,
Cheryl Green:it is, yes it is. I'm a water person, and so any view of the water is just greatly appreciated by me, and we have some fantastic locations on campus. In fact, I have been in discussions about how we can bring more people to campus to generate revenue to take advantage of our daily campus. We have all this greenscape, we have water, we have plants, and we have the sculptures, and we just have this amazing outdoor landscape that people will pay premium dollars to have events on. And of course, we will be having events as we are permitted, also this year.
Amy Vujaklija:Well, I'm looking forward to those of. Vince, because it is such a beautiful place to be. Until into work,
Cheryl Green:I talked to the VP of Marketing and Communications almost daily, and I know that the alumni are one of our greatest resources. We have over 54,000 alumni at GSU and I have visions and plans of engaging them and developing their contributions and organizing them and making sure that alumni support us. Now, they already do. They serve on boards, they donate money, they show up at events. But for example, this year, I am having an alumni dinner connected to homecoming. I want our outstanding alums to come back and tell their story, tell their journey and influence our current students. So alumni are unlimited and what they can bring to the table at GSU, and I'm terribly excited about that. I have to say this during the podcast. When I first started at GSU, I would go out into the community to shop on my own time. On the weekends, I would usually have some kind of GSU, something on a t shirt or cap, a pin or something, and people would come over to me and talk to me about GSU, and there was so much pride, and I loved it as the new president, because I wasn't meeting people in great numbers on campus because of the pandemic. So as I moved through the community, and people would gravitate to me, and they would tell me all these wonderful stories about their time at GSU and wish me well in my presidency, I was elated, but there are hundreds of 1000s of people in the surrounding area who are very vocal about their love of GSU, their years spent at GSU, and I want to re engage those people, because as We increase the visibility and we market the university, and we tell what the gems are about the university, more students will choose to enroll here and be retained here, and create a greater sense of community for the university.
Amy Vujaklija:All right, you're entering year two. What will you use to measure success for your second year at GSU?
Cheryl Green:Well, I would just have to say very simply, I would have to look at morale, I would have to look at revenue streams, and I would have to look at growth and expansion of academic opportunities, and I would have to look at maximizing or optimizing the student experience. These are four things that will keep me very busy this year. I talked about the 10 things that I spent the first year on. Those don't go away. Those are continuous. So be the 10 things, then it's about that engagement. It's about that holistic experience for faculty, staff and students. One of the things I talked about when I interviewed was, oh, three are important. We can't leave one group out. We have to address the needs of all three.
Joi Patterson:You know, we are excited that you're here, and we want you to be here through your retirement. I want to know, how can we all support your leadership as faculty and staff? How can we best support you and your leadership.
Cheryl Green:Supporting me, I've gone around campus saying to people, if you love GSU and if you give your best to GSU, we can work together. So supporting me means supporting our students, it means giving them excellence. They deserve it, and they need it. And it also means creating a sense of community among the faculty and staff, because no one group is more important than the other. The staff support all of us, the students and the faculty. The faculty directly serve the students, and the students are the reason why we are all here. So if you want to support my leadership, give your best to the university in your roles. To be constantly thinking about how you can improve what we do as a collective community. And I think the last thing I'll say, and I'll just be real honest, is trust that I want the best for GSU, trust in that that is very, very true.
Amy Vujaklija:It has been an amazing conversation with you. Dr green, thank
Cheryl Green:you for creating this time for me to share what I love, which is talking about GSU and its future, and all of the great people that we have on campus, and some of them are on this screen. So thank you. Thank
Joi Patterson:you. Thank
Amy Vujaklija:you for listening to teaching and leading with Dr Amy and Dr Joi. Visit our website at G, O, v, s, t.edu/teaching, and leading podcast to see the show notes from this episode,
Joi Patterson:we appreciate Governor State University's work behind the scenes to make publishing possible. Stay tuned for more episodes with Dr Amy and Dr Joi you.
