President Greg Crawford
Hello. I'm Greg Crawford, president of Miami University, and welcome to "In Such a Place," the podcast where we explore the future of higher education and the vital role colleges and universities play in shaping our world. Today we're with Dr. Ande Durojaiye, vice president of Miami Regionals and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Applied Science. Dr. Durojaiye has been instrumental in driving ground-breaking initiatives like the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Hub, partnerships with organizations, and opening new pathways to education and college success. Welcome to the podcast, Ande. We're glad to have you here today.

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
Thank you for having me here, President Crawford.

President Greg Crawford
Let's begin with an introduction, Ande. Can you share a little bit about yourself, your educational background, what you do, and how long you've been at Miami?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
I'm originally a Southerner from Atlanta, Georgia. My educational background, it actually began at Tennessee State University, which is a historically Black college in Nashville, Tennessee. From there I went and got a master's degree from Loyola University Chicago in higher education and policy. Went from there to Georgetown University, where I got my law degree. So I was a practicing attorney, and then came back and finished my doctorate at Vanderbilt University in higher education, leadership, and policy.

President Greg Crawford
That's great. How long you been at Miami now?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
I've now been in Miami for a little bit over three and a half years.

President Greg Crawford
Great. I just, well, just a curiosity, what was your thesis in for your PhD in higher ed?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
So my thesis was specifically looking at retention for adult students. So really looking at what are the best practices for retaining adult students who are working as they pursue and matriculate through higher education?

President Greg Crawford
Well, that's actually interesting in today's world, because we know the number of sort of adults that haven't finished their degree who started them, and I bet you have a lot of strategies in mind to actually pursue that in the future.

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
Definitely, definitely.

President Greg Crawford
Why don't we get started with the big question, what strategies do you use to foster meaningful partnerships between Miami Regionals and the surrounding communities?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
Well, you know, the strategies I use are really simple, but oftentimes simple ways are ways you find the answers to tough questions. The first is being present. You know, since I've been at Miami University, I actually went back and looked and I've had over 100 external engagement meetings where I'm going out and meeting with various members of the community, whether that be our industry partners, our local elected officials, our K-12, our community college partners are nonprofits, and so the idea of being there and being present is big. Secondly, the big thing is listening. You know, one of the things we have to deal with in higher education is, how do we make sure we're listening to what the needs of our students, of our communities, of our partners? And then, thirdly, I think the thing that's most important is when we think about strategies and the purpose of partnerships, making sure they're mutually beneficial. You know, we've got needs in higher education; our community have a number of needs as well. Of needs as well, and so if I follow that kind of three step framework, we've seen a lot of success, and we've seen a lot of engagement from our community partners.

President Greg Crawford
And for those listeners that may not be familiar with Miami Regional campus locations, can you say a little bit about those locations, please?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
Definitely. So we've got three locations for Miami University Regionals. We've got a location in Hamilton, Ohio. We've got a location in Middletown, Ohio, and we've got one more additional location in West Chester, which is at the Voice of America Park. And so all three communities within Butler County, all three very different communities, but all three very, very engaged communities with Miami University Regionals.

President Greg Crawford
When you think about these sort of partnerships with the cities and the communities where you live and work, how do you measure success?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
From our standpoint, you know, we measure success by enrollments, by engagement, by how many students would bring but you know, we're also looking at things such as, you know, what's the engagement from the community? Our public programming, how many individuals are engaging that? You know, what businesses are coming in, using our faculty and our staff to really be a resource and support them? You know, we'll talk a little bit about our advanced manufacturing hub, but that's a perfect example where we look at what the community is looking for, what the community is willing to invest in, and then finding ways that we can mutually support each other as we look for long term goals and initiatives.

President Greg Crawford
Yeah, that's great. So let's talk a little bit about workforce. We hear this from families and students, how they're really focused on sort of not just graduating, but also graduating into a great career opportunity. Can you tell us a little bit about your strategies at Miami Regionals and how they play in bridging the gap between education and industry and how they meet the workforce needs?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
Oh, no, thank you for that question, President Crawford. You know, the first thing I would say is workforce is going to be a big driver for higher education across the board as we go forward. You know, when you think about the national landscape, workforce continues to be the number one issue that we have in all of our communities. You know, how are we developing our talent? How are we getting more individuals in that talent pipeline? You know, parents are asking, what are the jobs my students are going to get when they come out of school? Students want to understand, you know, when they start calculating that ROI, it's the cost they pay, but also what they're going to earn when they come out and work. And so we start to think about bridging that gap. A big thing we've got to do is we've got to find ways to be better engaged with industry early in the process. And so on the regional campuses, through our community advisory committee, we're working very closely with our industry partners to make sure we're developing graduates that are ready to go out into those jobs they're looking for. One of the things that I'm always really excited about. Is the fact that over 93% of our graduates from the regional campuses go and work within the region. And so when you think about that, from a standpoint of building that talent pipeline, that's what we do, that's what we do really, really well. And so it's gonna be important for us as we go forward, continue to build stronger industry connections, strong community connections, and really strengthen that workforce and talent pipeline that we know is so vital within our region, within the state of Ohio as well.

President Greg Crawford
Well, that's fantastic. I wanted to sort of congratulate you on attracting the largest external grant to Miami University. That was just fantastic news. And with this large external funding that you've received, Miami Regionals are creating an Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Innovation Hub in partnership with our career high school, Butler Tech, a fantastic career high school, of course, both known here in Ohio and nationally. Can you tell us a little bit more about that hub and what inspired its creation?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
So, you know, I'll start with what inspired with and then I'll go into more detail about the hub. You know, the inspiration is what you asked in your previous question. It was, how do we bridge that workforce and talent gap with higher education. You know, one of the things that we know is here within Ohio, we have a growing, growing manufacturing industry. It's one of our biggest economies, and we know that with the intel behind us, with Amgem and companies that are relocating to Ohio, that's only going to increase. And so one of the things we said to ourselves is, how do we build an ecosystem? How do we build a community where, when those companies are coming here, we can build that talent pipeline they need, whether it be from the entry level folks all the way up to their senior level and leadership c-suite individuals. And so that was the real impetus behind it. You know, you mentioned being in Butler County, we were so grateful that the Butler County Commissioners were the ones who really supported this initiative. You know, when we went and pitched the idea to them, they loved it, and they really got behind it, and that's been really great as well. Butler Tech as an amazing partner. You know, they've been doing innovative things across the region for quite some time. And when you think about a career tech high school, and what was traditional career tech, they've been breaking the mold for some time. And so being able to partner with Butler County, with Butler Tech, and really thinking about the future of higher education, but the future of this region around advanced manufacturing for all of us was a no-brainer, and so we're super excited about it. We really think when we go to attract more companies and we go to attract more residents, we go to try to really build up this community, this will be one of the shining stars and things that lives for a long, long time. It's a real hallmark of Butler County in southwest Ohio.

President Greg Crawford
that's very exciting. Let me dig down a little bit. Use the word ecosystem. And let's just take, for example, a student that's at Butler Tech in high school, and just give me an example, like, follow me through the ecosystem of what that student can achieve and what credentials they may have access to in the Innovation Hub.

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
No, it's really exciting, and that's the thing that's so exciting about it. You know, when you think about a butler tech or a career tech high school student. They're doing a great job with a lot of microcredentials and entry level work to get those folks into those roles. You know, we look at this as really expanding opportunity. You know, while a student is getting their high school diploma, while they're getting those credentials that are gonna support them, we're building in pathways for an associate's degree and a bachelor's degree, and even beyond the graduate work in the advanced manufacturing space. And the idea behind this is that if a student comes to us, we know they're not a finished product. What we want to do is we want to build pathways so that when they leave us, they can go on and do even more. We had a really exciting conversation around the hub with a local employer, and the CEO talked about the fact that when he came in, he started out as a high school student, got his an associate's degree, got his bachelor's degree, and really moved up the ladder. And he said he had to figure out on his own. And so what we're doing is we're building the pathways into the hub so that as students are growing, as opportunity is increasing, students are able to get the skills and really have what they need to advance throughout their careers.

President Greg Crawford
Let's go back to workforce. There's a lot of gaps in workforce, especially in Ohio. There's a lot of companies coming to Ohio. It's a very attractive place to set up shop. They're reshoring and onshoring all types of products here in our great state. I was just wondering if you can sort of address the current gaps that we see in the workforce, and maybe how the manufacturing hub will address those gaps?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
No, it's a really, really good question, and it's a really big challenge. You know, we think about workforce and talent pipeline, my biggest fear and biggest concern is oftentimes that we're not addressing all of the various workforce needs. And so what we see the hub being able to do is really look at our entry level needs, because we know we're gonna have to get folks into those entry level jobs. Level jobs. But also, when we think about folks with advanced credentials at the associates level or even a microcredential, up to a bachelor's degree and beyond, we want the hub to be a place where we can fill in all of those gaps, so that when Greg Crawford is saying, I'm bringing a company to Ohio, and he's trying to look for a talented workforce, we can say, not only do we have your entry level employees. We've got your mid level employees and your senior level employees, and the hub can be the way that you really supply that talent to you as an organization. And so we're really excited about that. And I think that's what's different about what we're doing than any other model. One of the things we've been able to do is go out and look beyond Ohio, and we haven't found a model like this. So that tells us we're doing something good. We're doing something novel, and we're doing something really, really innovative.

President Greg Crawford
Yeah, and I know the Butler County Commissioners really embraced this project, and Butler Tech did as well, and it's really doing great things in Butler County, but it really caught the attention of the state as well, and so they're very excited about it. And so we're just delighted that it's going to be in Hamilton. But when you think about various sort of opportunities that are coming our way. How do you think the hub will create more innovation and collaboration in Butler County and and maybe think, if somebody's listening this podcast and they're leading a company, an industry in Butler County or in the state, how might they engage with the hub?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
So you know, I'll first start with, you know, one of the things that's really excited about the engagement across Butler County is we started this idea of the hub. We engaged every single community in Butler County. So we talked about our large municipalities, our small municipalities. We engaged with all of our chambers. We engaged all industry partners. And so we've got a community of people together who are really excited and engaged around this opportunity. So the biggest thing is, if anybody comes to this region, all the different partners already here, and they're already really, really excited about it. And so that's just for starters. You know, I think the next thing is, when we start looking at companies, are saying, Hey, how are we going to source our talent? And what does that look like? The thing about it is, you've got Miami University, the finest institution in the state of Ohio. You've got Butler Tech, which has a great national reputation in the career tech space. You've got our county commissioners, our local chambers, who are all active partners. We've got over 25 companies that are going to be co located in hub already there. And so for a company that's looking to say, how will I engage with the hub? Well, I think, How can you not engage with the hub? The hub is going to have everything you need to really build your company out, to really build that talent pipeline, to really grow what you're doing. And so what I would say is, you know, if a company has a novel idea or a piece of equipment. Bring it down to the hub. Let's engage with it. Let's get our students working on it. Let's get our faculty doing research with it. Let's really think about it and use it as a test case to really, you know, showcase the amazing things that you're doing. So we see the hub not only building that pipeline, but opportunity for companies to showcase what they're doing as well, so they can be on a broader level as well.

President Greg Crawford
This is awesome, like we always, often say the whole is bigger than the sum of the parts, and I think you've really captured that with this new hub model. So Andy, these partnerships sound great, but how does having Jobs Means Ohio as a partner in the hub enhance its ability to connect students and job seekers with real world opportunities?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
You know, it's really amazing to have Ohio Means Jobs there for the simple fact that Ohio Means Jobs purpose is to engage job seekers with opportunities. We talked about the fact that the advanced manufacturing hub will really drive innovation in the advanced manufacturing field here, which is one of the biggest growing economies here in Ohio. And so again, individuals who are coming in Ohio Means Jobs will have opportunities to go, be trained, be up, skilled, and really go into those jobs that are really going to drive going to drive economic mobility for them and social mobility for their communities.

President Greg Crawford
So we've heard a lot about the Work+ Program at the Regionals. It's been in the media and the press quite a bit. It's a very attractive program to students to be educated at the Regionals and also have a work opportunity. I think first, if you could explain Work+ so that everybody that's listening really knows about that program. And then also, how does the work plus play into this hub model that we're discussing today?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
So first, I'd like to you know, first, say thank you to you for starting the Work+ Program here at Miami University, President Crawford was the driver behind that. But our Work+ Program is a program, we find a way for students to gain work experience, but also the opportunity to cover the cost of their education while doing so. Currently, our students work part time, and while working part time, their employers are covering the cost of their tuition as they're continuing to matriculate. Now you might hear that and say, Well, that sounds like tuition remission, but in fact, it isn't. One of the things that we know is a general tuition remission program, an employer will look at the course you've taken, decide if they like the courses, and then decide if they're going to pay that portion of tuition. The Work+ model turns it on his hands where the employers are covering that tuition. And when students finish that and finish those programs successfully, they're able to continue to matriculate on and so really excited, because in my humble opinion, I think the Work+ Program is the future of workforce and higher education. As we go forward, more entities are going to look at ways that we can build higher education and work experience together. And so the Work+ Program is a great example of that. You know, the thing that's exciting about the hub, and what I see the future of the hub is we want to get more of our manufacturing companies engaged with the hub and becoming work plus partners. Imagine a model where a student, a learner, could come into the hub. They could work for a number of dead employers, and employers can cover the cost of them up, skilling themselves, re skilling themselves, getting advanced education or training, and then being able to take that training and education back out to the employer to really grow the company, a build going forward. So again, I think the hub will just be a catalyst for us really expanding that model to a broader audience.

President Greg Crawford
Well beyond the hub, you have a laundry list of things you're working on at the regional campuses, Early College Academy, Miami-Hamilton promise and the Miami Middletown rising scholars. Scholarship programs that are helping expand access and opportunities for students in the community. Can you expand upon those programs a little more for our listeners today?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
You know President Crawford, the biggest thing from any of these programs is to emphasize the fact that at the regional campus, we truly believe higher education is about taking someone where they currently are and putting them in a better position. And so the way we look at these programs is, how are we promoting economic mobility and opening social mobility for those communities? You know, Early College Academy program as a siting program where students are coming to their last two years of high school and their first year two years of college simultaneously on the regional campuses. I will tell you that this program has grown like wildfire. We had a plan to get to capacity at five years. We were at capacity in two years. And so that just shows how important this was the community and how amazing our students are doing and will continue to do. You know, our scholarships both in Hamilton and Middletown, the idea was that we wanted to make sure that finances and affordability was not a barrier to access for students to gain a Miami quality education. And so working with those two communities, we were able to get community buy in. That means the community were the ones who supported this effort. And now for our students who have any demonstrated financial need from those two communities wherever, to cover their cost tuition at the regional campus. So when a student says and when someone says to you, I can't go to college because it costs too much, we're telling you no, in fact, these communities are supporting you, so we're going to take that financial barrier away from you. And so really, when you look at everything that we've done at the regional campus over the last few years, we want to improve access. We want to make sure that finances work. All those different things that are sometimes barriers for students taking advantage of it are no longer barriers, and students can engage and really grow and get the benefits of amazing Miami quality higher education.

President Greg Crawford
No, it's fantastic. The Work+ program is great because students get their tuition paid for and they also graduate with a four year resume. Early College Academy, you get a high school diploma and an associate degree, and that comes at little or no cost. And then, of course, the Miami team, my Middletown and Hamilton, those scholarships are just amazing, so students can focus in on their education and not have to worry so much about their finances. So you've done a great job with opening access and opportunities for our local students. I want to return to workforce for a moment, and let's kind of broaden the scope to higher education as a whole. But what do you believe the future holds for higher education and our role in workforce development?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
You know, I think in the coming years, our role in workforce development is going to be at the core of what we do. I think we will continue to see a big push for workforce development as we continue to grow our economy across the country, and higher education is going to be asked to make sure that we can accurately talk about and provide metrics of how we're really pushing workforce in the right direction. I think when we start looking at funding and support at the state level, it's going to be tied to workforce and workforce development. And so we're going to have to think of so we're going to have to think about it from that standpoint as well. I think parents are going to continue to say, you know, what are the jobs my students are going to get? And how are we making sure we're driving that as we go forward? You know, as we know, we talk pretty much in depth about the affordability crisis of higher education, we've got to be able to tie it to say, not only are students paying for higher education, but they're coming out, they're going into these jobs, and these jobs are the jobs that are critical to moving our workforce together. So workforce and higher education have always been connected. I think it's going to be intertwined even tighter in the coming years, and it's really exciting, because I think we've got some amazing things that are going into Miami University that will really support that effort and really make us not only state leaders but national leaders in this work.

President Greg Crawford
Great, so what are we missing? Are there opportunities that Miami should be leveraging within our community?

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
You know, what I would say is our community has a lot of respect for Miami's rich tradition. Our community is very much committed to Miami's success, and so I think Miami just has to continue to understand and appreciate there is a community surrounding us that loves what we do, sees value what we do, and recognizes that we elevate not only southwest Ohio, the state of Ohio, but the nation at large. And so I think we've got to continue to get out and be in those spaces. I think we've got to continue to get out engage in those conversations. I think we've got to continue out to be a partner for mutually beneficial partnerships. And I think the sky's the limit for us as an institution.

President Greg Crawford
Well, thank you, Dr. Durojaiye. I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us today, and we know how much work and effort you put in to student access and student success, and we all greatly appreciate it. And we really appreciate all your great work in the communities through your partnerships and engagement with so many of our citizens here in Butler County in the great state of Ohio. So thank you very much for being here.

Dr. Ande Durojaiye
Hey, thank you all for having me.

President Greg Crawford
Thanks for listening to this episode of in such a place from Miami University. Stay tuned for more great episodes with more great guests wherever podcasts are found.