Episode Transcript

Jay Lemons:

Hello, and thank you for listening, I’m Jay Lemons. Welcome to Leaders on Leadership, brought to you by Academic Search, from the American Academic Leadership Institute. The purpose of our podcast is to share the stories of the people and forces that have shaped leaders in higher education and to learn more about their thoughts on leadership in the academy.

I’m delighted to be joined by Ron Rochon today. Ron is the President of the University of Southern Indiana, a post he’s held since July 2018, after serving USI as provost previously for eight years. Prior to that, he held academic and administrative appointments at Buffalo State, in Buffalo, New York, the University of Wisconsin Lacrosse, Texas A&M University, and Washington State University.

Ron earned a bachelor’s degree at Tuskegee University, and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois. His doctoral work was in educational policy studies with an emphasis in educational history and policy analysis. Ron’s academic and professional career is focused on advocating for educational excellence, access, equity and equality. It’s been my great pleasure to have had the opportunity to share a number of experiences with Ron over the past few years. We discovered among other things that we both shared time at Aggieland at Texas A&M, and in fact while not concurrently our wives both were members of the same team, just not together. It is indeed, as David Blotch noted in his wonderful novel, Small Worlds, higher ed, the academy, is a small, small world.

I’m also delighted that Ron is being recognized as an important national leader, as he was recently elected to the AASCU, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities board of directors. He’s a leader whose influence is already significant, but I know is going to grow in the years ahead. Ron, my friend, welcome, it’s a great pleasure to have you here.

Ron Rochon:

Jay, thank you. I’m honored, I’m excited, and also very thankful for this opportunity. So, thank you in advance for the invitation, sir.

Jay Lemons:

Well, you are most welcome, and thank you for this as a gift. I think of our AALI participants in the BAPA Program, and the Senior Leadership Academy, the Executive Leadership Academy, these are all folks who I know will value and benefit from this, along with other listeners. So, I want to begin by asking you, as I do everyone, to reflect and to consider your own pathways to leadership, in part so that others can learn from your story, and I know in your case that they will be inspired. So Ron, share with our listeners some of what I know you have already shared with me about the [crosstalk 00:03:02] events, opportunities, challenges that have helped forge you as the leader you are today.

Ron Rochon:

That’s a huge question, you know, and as you know, all of us can go on for years kind of describing that path, because you really want to pay tribute to the individuals that touched your life. But, I’ll give you a very executive synopsis of something that touched me immensely. I’m the first one to go to college in my family, to go to Tuskegee was a big deal for my mother and father, and it was something that-

Jay Lemons:

You were raised in Chicago, and your dad was a cop as I recall, right?

Ron Rochon:

That’s right, right. My father’s still living, he lives in Arizona now, retired. Served as a peace officer in the City of Chicago, and my mom is in heaven, she’s looking down on me every day. In fact, yesterday, December 12th was her birthday, she would have been 80 years of age yesterday. And I tell you Jay, both of them, my parents, but my mom in particular wanted me to go to Tuskegee and wanted me to learn more about myself, about the academy. But also she wanted me to understand more about African American history, know more about the kinds of rich advancements that black folk had engaged in throughout the South, and migrated to Chicago and beyond. And I’ll tell you, one of the things that happened to me my freshman year, I recall vividly, I had, as many freshmen do across the nation, had a big brother, or a big sister, someone who was serving as a mentor, an upper-class person at the university.

And I remember I was invited to go to commencement that May, and Jay, the thing that touched me, that just really hit me hard, is they had these students in these amazing apparel, what I now know as academic regalia. And they were all lined up, and they had these bars on these sleeves, now I know as chevrons. And they were being adorned with this cloth around their neck, and I didn’t know what that was, but it was an academic hood. And each one of those students had something read about them, it was the title of a study, their dissertation. And I was learning so much about this body of people that I knew nothing about. But Jay, I walked away from that event calling my mother, saying, “Mom, I don’t know what just happened, I don’t know who these people are, I don’t know what they just received, but I’m getting one.

“I am going to get one of those degrees.” And I found out these were students that were receiving their degrees from Tuskegee, in multiple areas of academic study. And the thing that really hit me is that exposure says so much about our ability, our promise, our potential. So I will tell you that I pay respect to the faculty and staff at Tuskegee University that opened my mind to Ron Rochon, who came from the south side of Chicago, understanding what he could potentially do with his life one day. I’m seeing people that I’d never, ever seen before, African American professors, the city being governed by African Americans. There was just so many different aspects of black life that were being celebrated at Tuskegee on each and every day that I knew nothing about, that I took for granted as a young kid.

And so I will tell you that when I think about leadership, I’m thinking about the individuals who may not necessarily held the title of dean, or provost, or president, but these were leaders in my life, leading me to understand what was expected of me, leading me to understand what was possible for me. Also leading me to understand that I had a life in front of me that could potentially touch the lives of other people as well one day. And so I tell you right now, when I think about my development from Tuskegee to Illinois, Janis Barr, James Anderson, Ralph Noble, these are individuals who led me to understand what possibility really looked like. And I’ll tell you right now, I’m in touch with these individuals to this day.

These are my mentors, these are individuals who open doors, and actually Jay, I will tell you, pushed me in ways where I became very uncomfortable, sometimes a bit angry, a bit frustrated, with them and myself. But individuals who expected nothing less but my best from me each and every time, and I tell you what, one last thing as I describe this with regard to the foundation of understanding about leadership in my life, the members of the south side of Chicago, people who are my reason, I am a proud product of the south side. And I will tell you, there are men and women on my block, in my neighborhood, in my schools, who actually are responsible for making sure that I kept my nose in the right direction, who told my mother if I was even thinking about going in the wrong direction.

But these individuals, Mr. And Mrs. So And So who loved me in unconditional ways, and provided me good sustenance, cultural, social, even physical sustenance to make me believe in the well-being of people, and also the well-being of myself.

Jay Lemons:

Oh, Ron, thank you. I can’t help but not reflect on a similar moment in my own life where I came away from orientation at Nebraska Westland, driving 425 miles home with my mom, and I said, “Wow. If I could ever have the ability to speak, like Judge Warren, whatever this education is going to cost us it’s going to be worth it.” And wow, this was one of… A very distinguished jurist who I got to say thank you in my commencement speech to, because it was, it was this moment when I saw somebody behave in a way I’ve never witnessed. It’s so similar to your own story, thank you for sharing that. And I love the people that you heralded and raised up, and beginning with your dear mother and father.

Ron Rochon:

Thank you.

Jay Lemons:

No doubt there’s extraordinary pride in who you are.

Ron Rochon:

They’re proud, but I got to tell you, I’m more proud of them. I’ll tell you, the older that I get, I begin to understand the significance of their sacrifices. As a father now, as a kid you walk around and you don’t understand that people made intentional decisions for you to be safe, emotionally, physically, socially, culturally, intellectually safe, so that you could develop, you could do something with your life. These were strategies that they initiated on each and every day, with each and every paycheck. I love my family, so probably much. And I think for the teachers they brought into my life, and I mean this, the institutions that they provided for me to have access to. My mother took the library, the public library was a great institution to my mother.

She said, “Listen, this is free. And oh, by the way, quite often it’s empty. Get there, make sure you occupy it.” So, I could go on and on Jay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get…

Jay Lemons:

I said it right back to you, and now again, we have the space, we’re not on a tight production calendar, but I know you’re a very busy person. So, let me move this towards a subject that I like to… I like to frame this question this way. Tell me, Ron Rochon, in your own words, what makes a good leader? And I want to always clarify, I don’t mean grade B. I mean a leader that is good, virtuous, effective, and at the end of the day successful.

Ron Rochon:

Yeah. Well, I’ve been blessed to have had some amazing leaders as my mentors, my teachers, and also my bosses. And I’ll tell you right now, as I think of individuals who I loved and respect, each of them were kind, each of them were accessible, they were very empathetic. These were smart people. When I say smart, I need people to understand that they became smart because they worked hard, they studied, they studied an issue, they studied the situation, they reached out to seek guidance and counsel, that’s what made them smart. They didn’t sit in a vacuum with the blinds drawn, they had the blinds open wide to receive intel from other individuals who had access to really important, factual information. These individuals that I believe became great leaders because they were humble people, extremely humble.

Knowing that they were not the smartest in the room, there were other individuals both older and younger that were smart, that could contribute. These individuals also, Jay, for me, were not afraid to be challenged. Being told they had, in a very respectful way, that, “Listen, this is wrong, this is not the right way for us to go. This is something that I’m hopeful that you will reconsider.” And not be an individual that would create fear, great leaders are not feared, they’re respected. And quite often we get that confused, we think that great leaders are individuals that we are fearful of. I don’t think we should ever fear a leader, I don’t believe that, Jay. I think we should walk to the leader, that the leader should welcome us to his or her space, and provide us with the opportunity to convey what we’re thinking and how we’re feeling.

And how is it impacting constituent groups that quite often are overlooked? But those are some of the fundamental characteristics that I believe great leaders hold within their daily repertoire. And it’s exercising policy, it’s developing policy, but most importantly Jay, living it, living it as well.

Jay Lemons:

Awesome. It makes me think about Linda Bleicken, our distinguished President of AALI, former President of Armstrong State in Georgia. Linda, in working with all of the participants in our AALI leadership programs last year, at the end of the year began to ask people to do some reflection. We’d all made it through thus far, this pandemic, this incredible period of challenge that is sort of unprecedented, or it goes back in our lifetimes, there’s been nothing like it. She asked the participants to talk about, what had been their superpower, what had gotten them through? And Ron, so much of what you describe wound up in that answer about what a good leader is. She said, “Jay, it was all the soft stuff, it was all emotional intelligence.

“It was not technical or scientific knowledge that got people through, it was the balance of the rest of that.” And just in the way that you described, so that really connected as well for me. And I think it’s true, it is all the scientific, technical, legal, medical expertise has got to be bound up in these other human qualities that too often are under-appreciated. And you’re right, how many of us grew up with notions that Machiavellian was the ultimate guide to leadership? And you’re speaking a different language.

Ron Rochon:

Thank you. I’ll tell you right now, it’s interesting as I think about the conversations you and I have had about leadership, and also about individuals we have witnessed. Accessibility is so key, because our job as leaders, Jay, to me, is to inspire as well, it is to help people understand what potential and promise they hold within their bodies, no matter what their identity is we all have a gift. And I’ll tell you, I sat there at Tuskegee as I told you before, and folks helped me discover something that I did not even knew resided within me. So leaders, this is our job, this is our promise that we must live to and live by.

Jay Lemons:

Absolutely. Well, I believe strongly that leadership is not an individual event, but a team sport. When you, President Rochon, are creating and building a team, what do you look for in the leaders that serve with you?

Ron Rochon:

You know, Jay, I’ll tell you, quite often without question I’m looking for the same kinds of things you and I just articulated. But I really am looking for someone who is interested in serving, I want to know that they understand the significance of the power, the beauty, and also the potential of a public institution that I’m working at, that I am currently working at. I tell folks over and over again that when you look at universities both public and private, I think that overwhelmingly we get into the space of thinking that we own a lab, we own an office, we own a classroom, we own a department. Because quite often I hear people talk about mine, mine, mine. And I’m always trying to challenge that notion, to help people understand that it does not belong to us.

This university belongs to the people, they pay taxes, we go to the general assembly, we are always seeking both public and private funds to serve the common good of the citizenry. And so, I’ll tell you, I’m looking for people that believe in this philosophical understanding and methodology when it comes to working with us as a team, someone who believes in the pronoun we, someone who really underscores the significance of wanting to run to students. And I mean that, run to students with joy, with enthusiasm, with empathy, with a listening ear, someone who is wanting to serve students because they are our reason for having a university. Listen, I remember, I met a friend of mine who worked in corporate America.

And it was interesting that the concept that he hit me with, that it was about butts in seats, and how important butts in seats are with regard to the survival and bottom line of their organization and institution. Well you know, listen, I won’t pretend that universities are not very different, we need butts in seats. But, I don’t want that to be our driver. I really want us to be driven to understand the significance of a student who is coming to us to say, “Listen, I want to become a physicist.” Or a student who says, “I want to become a poet.” And our job as faculty and staff is to reach both of these students with these very different, different desires intellectually, and help them to get there. So, I want a team around me that’s going to be committed to that endeavor.

Someone who’s going to recognize that students, no matter if they come from urban, rural or suburban communities, that they deserve our attention, they deserve our honesty. That’s what I want from the team that I’m working with. And last but not least, be able to be vulnerable with students, make sure that they know that Ronald Rochon was not born with a Ph.D., was not born President Rochon. I’ve had a long trek to get to this point, and guess what, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I’ve had tears, as well as joy within my life. And students, they have a right as far as I’m concerned, to hear from my team and myself included about what that road was like, Jay. So, let me stop there.

Jay Lemons:

That’s wonderful. I want to invite you to provide advice to those who aspire to leadership in higher education.

Ron Rochon:

Okay. Well, let me just say this right here, there’s so much question right now as you know about the worth of a university degree. And I would tell you that going to Tuskegee, going to Illinois, and then being part of academic communities throughout my entire career, has transformed my life, it has transformed my thinking, has transformed my introduction to people around the globe, it’s transformed my ability to understand how much I don’t know, as opposed to how much I do know. And it’s been exciting to be in that space. I would advise our colleagues to take your time. A lot of folks, and myself included Jay, I was running to the Presidency, I couldn’t wait. And then all of a sudden you get there Jay, and you find out how ill-equipped you are, and how much more you need to learn, and how much more development you need to engage, and to become effective, and to become promising to serve people.

Not to become some kind of great, iconic voice at a university or a college, but to serve people. To learn how to do that takes time. And so, I would encourage my colleagues to engage… You mentioned several leadership opportunities and seminars Jay, I participated in each one you identified, each one. And to meet people from around the country, hear their stories, to learn from them, to build a network, to build a Rolodex if you will. My daughter calls it a contact list, she says every time I say Rolodex, I age myself. But to have that available to you at your fingertips, to be able to call people and talk to them about what’s on your desk is such an important piece. So, I want to say take your time and learn. And then the other piece, though, too, is become…

You may think you listen well, but I will tell you, I thought I was a good listener, and I’m becoming more and more of a stronger proponent of one, becoming a student in the listening space. And I’m not just talking about listening though, listen to everything, walk around campus and listen to the conversations, listen to students, listen to faculty, listen to our staff, listen to community members. But, make sure you are listening. And then the last thing I would tell you that I really think is important, is that… And this is, I’m not asking people to be slow about change, because we need change. But, be patient. The kinds of policy changes that are going to impact the lives of people will take time, and they demand us being patient.

They demand us learning how to compromise, they demand us understanding that you will not win all the time. In fact, presidents rarely ever win anything with regard to debate and argument, or even positioning. And to me, that should be the outcome. If you’re serving the people, it’s not about you, it’s about the people, it’s about the community, it’s about the students, it’s about the faculty and staff, it’s about the outward constituents that believe in our institutions. So, I would argue that patience is such an important component as well. Let me stop there, Jay.

Jay Lemons:

Wonderful, wonderful. Ron, if I ask you to name two or three top challenges facing leaders today in higher ed, what would they be?

Ron Rochon:

Wow. Well you know, you and I know this over and over again, I don’t care where you go, I don’t care how big or small the institution is, or the location. But budget is huge, we are always trying to reconcile the pie that does not shift in size at all. The pie shifts with regards to prioritization, so trying to find ways in which we reprioritize the pie’s important. And how we do it is important, making sure that we are being inclusive with our discussions, and helping our colleagues who come to us for guidance understand why we’re making decisions, and how we’re deriving those decisions. I mentioned one other earlier during our discussion Jay, and that is, the discussion right now about the worthiness or the worth of a college degree troubles me in so many ways.

Jay Lemons:

Way bigger than demographics, isn’t it?

Ron Rochon:

Oh yes, oh…

Jay Lemons:

… about populations, yeah, yeah.

Ron Rochon:

Without question. And it’s interesting, because as I listen to some of my friends and colleagues around the country who are living in amazing communities, and doing well financially, and have been exposed to phenomenal kinds of attributes within their life, and I hear them talking about this, and I’m always asking, “Did your son and daughter go to college?” And immediately, not only did they go to college, but they went to some of the best colleges and universities the globe has produced. And so, I want to just convey to people that listen, when we buy that new car and it depreciates immediately after we drive off that lot, it’s real, it depreciates immediately. I can promise you this right here, as you walk across that stage and receive that diploma from the institution that you have committed your life to with your hard-earned money, that moment appreciates.

It gives you greater access, it gives you greater opportunity, it gives you the ability to do things that many, many folks around the globe will never, ever be able to do. But I’m asking you though, with that degree, don’t stop there. Find ways in which we can bring greater access to those individuals who also deserve to walk across that stage, that should be our job as graduates of any institution. And so I’ll tell you right now Jay, if you ask me what is one of my greatest callings as a President, this is it. I am whetted to find ways of creating access to students and communities that are under-served, communities that are in rural areas, rural ZIP codes, urban ZIP codes. And also, ZIP codes where kids are finding less confidence in themselves because of not being exposed to teachers like you and I have articulated during our discussion today.

Those individuals behave with the confidence, the wherewithal, and also the introduction that we should do no less. And so, I think that we should find our way back home in that regard to open the doors for additional people to enjoy the same kinds of fruit that we have so, so taken in such a joyous and respectful way, Jay. I’ll stop there with you.

Jay Lemons:

Well, thank you. It’s hard for me not to want to jump in and build off of that, and probe a little further, but I will discipline myself this time knowing, and hoping that we’ll have another chance somewhere down the road for you and I to have that conversation, and perhaps even to find a venue in which we could share it with others, as we do through Leaders on Leadership. But, let me move into a little bit of a lightning round, where I ask you fairly short questions, a quick series of questions, and I invite maybe a little shorter answers. But, you’ve got the freedom to take it wherever you want to go.

Ron Rochon:

All righty, all righty.

Jay Lemons:

So, who most influenced you?

Ron Rochon:

Oh Jay, my mother. Oh, without question. Listen, I talk to my mom every day, I wake up and I give her thanks for her commitment to my life. But without question, she is my angel, she is my person, she is my lightning rod, and also she is my example.

Jay Lemons:

Awesome. What book has most influenced you?

Ron Rochon:

Oh my God, Jay, not what book.

Jay Lemons:

Or books, you can use multiple.

Ron Rochon:

Wait, you know what? I can tell you two immediately that came to mind. When I was in graduate school, my mentor, many people know, is Dr. James D. Anderson, the great historian at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He serves as Dean at the College of Education. He wrote a book entitled, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860 to 1935. And I’ll tell you right now, during my graduate years of study in the College of Education, this book was so important to me for lots of different reasons. But one of the main reasons, Jay, I left animal sciences to go into education. I did my undergrad and my master’s degree at Illinois in animal sciences with an emphasis in reproductive physiology, and going into education, I swear to you, it just opened up another set of doors for me.

And Dr. Anderson’s book was just so pivotal in my thinking, in my understanding, even as it pertained to Tuskegee, and intellectual growth for African-Americans post-slavery, and during Jim Crowe. So, that book is so important to me. Can I mention one other book too real quickly?

Jay Lemons:

Absolutely, please. A wonderful one, and it is such a part of your story. And from Janis Barr, to Dean Anderson.

Ron Rochon:

Yeah, without question, without question. There’s another book, I got to talk to this amazing scholar once before he died, Ronald Takaki. And Dr. Takaki wrote a book entitled, A Different Mirror, A History of Multicultural America. And I remember being a young professor, and this being an assigned reading that I provided my students at Texas A&M, and at Washington State. And this book was so important because it talked about our nation in such an inclusive way. It provided us with a clear understanding of the struggles of people across race, across class, across geography, and it talked about the building of this nation. And Takaki’s work is so pivotal with regard to my development as a teacher, as an administrator, as a researcher. And I’m just so appreciative of the work he did while he was with us.

Jay Lemons:

One more time on the title of Takaki’s…

Ron Rochon:

I’m sorry, A Different Mirror, A History of Multicultural America.

Jay Lemons:

Fabulous. Sounds like a book whose need is greater today than ever.

Ron Rochon:

Yes sir, I would agree, I would concur.

Jay Lemons:

I’d love to hear a fondest memory of your time at Tuskegee.

Ron Rochon:

Wow, one of my fondest memories. I’ll tell you, I was a student worker in the library, I was a work study student, and I will tell you that I was working in the archives. And, I did not recognize the significance of the archives, I wasn’t an archivist myself at all, I wasn’t really all that interested in history. But I came across some works by people throughout the South, and I began to see pictures of Dr. King, and I saw pictures of Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, I saw these amazing pictures of people that my mother talked to me about. I’m like, she would always drop these names on me, Jay, when I was a kid. And I’m like, “Mom, these are old people, some of them are already dead.” But Jay, all of a sudden I’m in there, working as a student, and I’m opening these boxes.

And I’m seeing all these pictures of people that my mother talked about. And I’ll tell you right now, these individuals just came to life. Reading primary stories about them, seeing actual pictures of them… These were candid shots, these weren’t these shots with distinguished people. These were shots where they were at home, or with their children, within their community, they’re doing amazing work to advance our nation. So I’ll tell you right now, now that I am where I am in my life, history means so much to me. And at the age of 18, I had at my fingertips all of these archival materials that I did not know the significance of. And so, I kind of laugh at that now, thinking back, and I always kind of wonder, what was God trying to do to me, or teach me, or convey to me where to go to my future?

And it just kind of goes back full circle to an understanding of these ancestors and others who still live with us now, and their significance and their gifts to my life. And, I’m just very thankful for that.

Jay Lemons:

Awesome. Well, I ask about memory-

Ron Rochon:

Yes, sir.

Jay Lemons:

… and the preservation, and the sharing of memory is what you describe, that’s beautiful. Favorite campus tradition? Some place that you attended, or have served.

Ron Rochon:

You know Jay, we started something here when I became provost, I don’t claim full credit for it but I was part of the initiation of this idea. But we have this thing called freshman convocation, and we were bringing the students together in our arena. And one of the things that we were doing was actually having them recite the student creed. But, I felt that we were missing something, and so I wanted the students to actually pin themselves. And so, what we started to do, we have a lapel pin that’s given every year. And what we have done, though, is that our student body, the students who are in creative art services, majoring in creative arts, they actually compete to find out which pin will be the pin for the following year for the freshman class.

And I love this tradition. We have a student who has celebrated, this pin, it goes into the university archives, has a year on it, the student’s name is whetted to it. And it’s a tradition that I think really speaks volumes about a student, how they see the University of Southern Indiana, and how they see this incoming class, and what this piece of art will mean as they walk across that stage, and they’re reciting that creed, and they pin themselves for their duration of this university. I love that tradition, I really do.

Jay Lemons:

That is fabulous, that’s wonderful. Well, one of our traditions here on Leaders on Leadership is we like to close by asking our guests to share with our listeners the distinctive qualities, if you will, the organizational DNA that makes the University of Southern Indiana such a very special place for you and your family over now a period of, oh, what, 11, 12, 13 years.

Ron Rochon:

Yes, sir.

Jay Lemons:

So, tell our listeners about USI.

Ron Rochon:

Oh, thank you Jay, I really appreciate… Well, we’re located in the southwest corner of the State of Indiana. USI is a special place, it has just about 10,000 students is the number of students that we’re serving at this institution. But I will tell you that the thing that’s most unique about this place for me is, it truly is a campus of care and concern. And so I mentioned to you earlier that we care about students with regard to their physical spaces, we care about them emotionally as well, and socially, and culturally, intellectually. We are always finding ways in which we can connect with our students. I’m asking people to make sure you are welcomed across the campus, and make sure that you are touching our students, shaking hands and speaking with them.

I tell you that coming from a campus… I’m sorry, coming to a campus that is relatively young, 1965 it was established, and 1985 we became independent from Indiana State University. So, we are a young institution, but one that is to be reckoned with in the Great State of Indiana. And I love this space, because we are finding ways in which we are bringing students from rural communities and urban communities from across the country, across the globe, to a small haven where they discover themselves, and also discover each other. So, I’m always pushing students to make sure you find someone who speaks a different language, practices a different religion, has a different last name, and different-sounding surname, and a different language, and a different way of being.

Make sure that you are leaving here with an understanding of yourself because you are engaging other people. And our faculty and staff do a great job of this Jay, our faculty and staff are working hard, even discovering themselves as we bring in new cohorts of students each and every semester. So, it truly is a special place within a special part of the state, with a very special agenda, and also a very special identity that I’m very, very proud of.

Jay Lemons:

Thank you. And I love the notion, and I could not agree more. None of us are finished products-

Ron Rochon:

That’s right.

Jay Lemons:

… we’re all still becoming.

Ron Rochon:

Yes, sir.

Jay Lemons:

Well, I’m grateful for the privilege that I had to walk your campus with you, and to see that commitment to engaging, and to, as you said, touching your students, and impacting their lives. I know full well, I watched students swell up with energy as they encountered their President.

Ron Rochon:

Oh, thank you.

Jay Lemons:

Bless you for that, and thank you for joining us on Leaders on Leadership, really grateful to have had this time together, and for your sharing your thoughts and your insights and your wisdom, Ron. Let me say to you, and the others that we welcome suggestions and thoughts for leaders to feature in upcoming segments. You can send those to leadershippodcast@academicsearch.org. You can find our podcast on the Academic Search website, and wherever you find your podcasts. Leaders on Leadership is brought to you by Academic Search, and the American Academic Leadership Institute. Together, our mission is to support colleges and universities during times of transition, and through leadership development activities that serve current and future generations of leaders in the Academy. It’s been such a special joy for me to host President Ron Rochon on our show today. Ron, thank you for joining us, and please have the final word.

Ron Rochon:

Oh Jay, let me just say one last thing, and that is thank you also. But I should close by your listeners understanding that it is truly an honor for me to be here with you all today. Your time is so valuable, your time is so relevant, but it’s also an honor and a privilege to serve as President of this university. I don’t take this for granted, this is truly an honor to be able to serve people, to serve our students so that they can go out and serve additional people. So, thank you for allowing me to be here today, sir, and thank you also for highlighting the University of Southern Indiana, an institution so deserving. Thank you, Jay.

Jay Lemons:

Wow, Ron, thank you, and thank you for serving as you do. And, I know that our listeners will be benefiting from your wisdom. So with that, thank you, and we look forward to another episode of Leaders on Leadership. I’m Jay Lemons.