The Lion's Roundtable (Guests: Alexandra Babin and Dr. Eric Skipper)
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Todd Delaney:Discussing topics of interest to the university, Hammond, and the surrounding communities, this is the Lion's Roundtable. Now here's your host, Doctor. Amber Narro.
Amber Narro:Good day, good day. This is Amber Narro on the Lion ninety point nine FM. I am here with one of my friends from this summer's program. Alex is gonna tell us a little bit about some of the work that she's been doing with North Oaks this summer as an honor student who is pre med, and she is working in the hospital this summer, learning a little bit and and and moving around and and having a great time with that. And in just a few minutes, we're also gonna be talking to the provost as well.
Amber Narro:Alex is here to preview a little bit about her program and what she's been up to because she's gonna join me for a show next week, and she wanted to know about what this was all about this morning. So welcome, Alex. I'm so glad to have you.
Alexandra Babin:Hi. I'm happy to be here.
Amber Narro:Alright. So tell me who you are, first
Alexandra Babin:of all. My name is Alexandra Babin. I will be a senior this fall. I'm from Gonzales, Louisiana. And as you said, I am premed.
Alexandra Babin:So I actually just applied to medical school, so I'm in the process of working through all that. So I know it's kind of a foreign language for anybody that hasn't gone through it, but with being premed comes with a lot of different tasks, including shadowing, volunteering. You take a giant eight hour exam called the MCAT, and you also have to MCAT. Have MCAT. Yes.
Amber Narro:Do you even know what that stands stands for?
Alexandra Babin:Medical College Admissions Testing.
Amber Narro:Atta girl. That's better girl. I love it. I love it. So tell me a little bit about you you are you're you're studying for this.
Amber Narro:You're working with North Oaks. What has been the advantage of doing that before we get into all the particulars, which we will do on the show next week?
Alexandra Babin:Yes, ma'am. So I will say for sure, for me, when I was doing a lot of my shadowing, I got to work a lot with attending physicians. I had never really seen how a residency team functions, which a residency team is obviously it's a big part of your training. It's how you get trained as a physician. Whereas my program this summer with North Oaks, I'm getting to work very hands on with the residency team, see what that looks like, so I'm able to get to see what my future training will look like.
Alexandra Babin:And also, I'm getting to experience a lot of both of the different kinds of practicing physicians that we work with, doctors of osteopathic medicine and allopathic medicine as well, and getting to see the differences in the two practices and the two different schooling, and it's been a really, really fun experience for me.
Amber Narro:Now you know I'm kind of selfish about this because I am very close to North Oath, and absolutely adore that relationship that we've got going there, but this is a program that was kind of built out of Honors, North Oaks, the strong relationship between Southeastern and North Oaks and kind of derived out of that awesome partnership already. We've got the Athletics building going up, we've got nursing clinical stuff happening, we've got shadowing and all kinds of other things that are happening that are just a beautiful partnership between the two. Mhmm. And now we're doing this this new thing. Has it been eye opening for you?
Amber Narro:Has it been confirming? Do you think that process
Alexandra Babin:has been for you? It's definitely been confirming.
Amber Narro:Oh, good.
Alexandra Babin:I I was actually just telling my parents yesterday. I was like, I leave there so inspired, and I leave there just more in touch with what I want to do. I don't feel like I'm I go there every day excited to learn, and that's something that I really value. Obviously, applying to medical school, I love to learn, and I love to grow as a person, and I feel like that's exactly what this experience has been for me. Also, getting to kinda learn the language of how hospital runs and the different things that goes along with it just makes me more excited for my future, and that's been something that I'm really excited for and really proud of.
Amber Narro:Very good. If you had to say, I know you've got some time ahead of you. Right? So what does the process look like from here on? You've been at North Oaks for a little bit.
Amber Narro:You're graduating when?
Alexandra Babin:I graduate in May.
Amber Narro:Cool. And then you go on to what? What happens at school? Okay.
Alexandra Babin:So I just finished my applications. So what that looks like is that I will have that submitted during the summer. Usually, throughout the summer, they get verified. You work on secondary applications. And then anytime from around September until December, you can hear about interviews.
Alexandra Babin:So you go in for interviews, and then from there you'll hear about acceptances. And then school can start anywhere from the very first week of July to the first week of August depending on the
Amber Narro:program that you're at. Fantastic. Yes, ma'am. So big, you know, what's the specialty right now? Because I know these things change.
Amber Narro:Right? While you're in medical school, things can be a little different. You start figuring out something else. But today, you know, I'm not asking you to commit for life. Uh-huh.
Amber Narro:You know, if you listen to this thing five years from now and you're like, oh my gosh. I really wish I wouldn't have said that. It's fine because you're a student. You haven't been exposed to everything yet. We're just learning.
Amber Narro:Right?
Alexandra Babin:Yes, ma'am.
Amber Narro:What what do you think that specialty would be if you had to make the plan today?
Alexandra Babin:If I had to make the plan today, I would definitely do family medicine, which is actually a surprising one to most people. I really value the fact that they are a full they're full well rounded doctor. There is nothing that they are not trained on. Obviously, you know, surgery and things requires a different specialist, but they know the entire body inside and out. They can treat anything.
Alexandra Babin:They can treat kids. They can treat adults. They do OBGYN things, and that's something that I really like. I have a special heart for kids, so I definitely want that in my future having working with pediatrics and things. But I also love working with the older population as well.
Alexandra Babin:There's just nothing I don't like, and I feel like family med is the perfect specialty for that when you don't have something that you're completely in love with, it kinda gives you your dip in the water at everything.
Amber Narro:Fantastic. Family medicine. Wonderful. So that's like infant to, like Yeah. Like, life a is 152.
Amber Narro:Yeah. That's excellent. That's excellent. The experience with North Oaks was kinda brought on by the want from students, and this is something that you guys came to us and said we need. Right?
Alexandra Babin:Yeah.
Amber Narro:Other students in the program, what are you hearing from them as far as their experiences? Are they confirming as well? Are they starting to explore other opportunities? Are you being exposed?
Alexandra Babin:I think all of us, and I mean, there's six of us totaled here this summer. I think all of us have been pretty much confirmed in our experience from what I understand. I mean, there's three of us that are already applied, and so we're set on that stone. The other three that are
Amber Narro:applied Do you wanna say where?
Alexandra Babin:Oh, I don't mind. Yeah. Okay. So I applied to LSU New Orleans, LSU Shreveport, William Carey in Hattiesburg, and VCOM in Louisiana.
Amber Narro:Oh, y'all. This sounds like a lady who knows she wants to stay south. I love it. Yes. I love it.
Amber Narro:That Which means she's gonna be taking care of us Yeah. Because we are getting old people.
Amber Narro:Alright? So we need people who are gonna take care of us and stay at
Alexandra Babin:home. That is definitely a big part of my why medicine. Like, if anybody asks me about it, and, you know, you get a lot of people, especially going into the medical field, like, I've seen a lot this summer. People are like, well, this is your time to get away and to go somewhere else, but, like, that's just never been for me. Mhmm.
Alexandra Babin:I definitely feel like I've worked really hard up until now to get to where I'm at, and that I want to be able to give back to the people that got me here. Nice. So definitely staying in the South, staying in Louisiana. I mean, I'm sure you know, but we are a very, very, very medically underserved state. Mhmm.
Alexandra Babin:So I would love to be able to give back to that, and being from Louisiana is a big part Yeah. Of
Amber Narro:I love the language around this. This is fantastic. Mhmm. Talk to me about this the what you've seen in the hospital as far as the people who are at North Oaks and and that experience. Let's let's talk if anybody's thinking about doing something like that.
Amber Narro:And, again, like I said, we're gonna get into the specifics Mhmm. Of some of your requirements and things like that on the show when you come. But talk to me about in the fall suggesting this for other people Yeah. To come and do.
Alexandra Babin:So I would obviously definitely suggest it. It's a really, really, really great opportunity. I will say that I it's really good for people that are a little bit, you know, older or going into their junior year, going into their senior year that possibly have some prior health care experience. I definitely think that it could be a little bit shell shocking for somebody who maybe had never been in a hospital setting before. So definitely, if you are for sure interested in that, you're for sure interested in medical school.
Alexandra Babin:You've seen how a hospital runs a little bit. You've worked in some sort of health care. That way, this just really takes it I would say this experience for me took it a step further. In my I work at a hospital also. I've had tons of health care experience hours.
Alexandra Babin:But this experience for me kind of took it a step further because you're truly working you're working with the residency team. So you're there early hours in the morning. You're there decently long hours whenever you're shadowing for the day and things like that. And your the attendings, they want to ask you questions, and they want to see that you're listening, and they want to see you're engaging. So definitely, it's an amazing experience, but it definitely one that should be taken seriously, and, like, you can put your all into for sure is what I would say.
Amber Narro:Wonderful. Wonderful. Would you suggest that I know you and I kinda talked about some of the things that people should know before they do it. And I talked to doctor Peltier who is the chief medical officer at North Oaks who's helping to run this program the other day, and he reminded me that they want kind of sophomores as well as juniors in this program to kind of start exploring the things that they wanna know. Mhmm.
Amber Narro:I mean, as this moves forward, we were even talking about maybe having like a beginner group and then like an explore like a group. You guys are really doing it at top level, you know. And like I said, I don't wanna spoil our show for next week, but you guys are really kinda doing that top level of experimenting and understanding what's happening our partnership here. But when you're looking at the future of this program and being where you are, what would you suggest maybe, like, the beginners should know before they do they experience what you're doing?
Alexandra Babin:I definitely think that the idea of having two separate groups, like, beginner's group versus people that are more set on the like, set on medical school for sure would be a very good thing. And here's my reasoning for that. I definitely think that us going in this summer and you're talking to residents, you're talking to people who just got out medical school. And so I think a big talking point in the way they come to trust you and, I mean, I'm spending three days a week with these people, so I'm with them a lot. And the way they
Amber Narro:come is more than it's required. I'm just gonna say.
Alexandra Babin:Yes. But
Amber Narro:They're getting addicted.
Alexandra Babin:Yeah. I get it. We never we never wanna leave. They're they're like, y'all don't wanna go home yet? We're like, no.
Amber Narro:But Good. I love it. Yeah. Makes me happy.
Alexandra Babin:Yes. So I definitely will say what get what gets you to establish that trust with them is they like to have something in common. So obviously, you're talking about they the first thing they ask you is, oh, well, where did you apply to school? What did you write your personal statement about? What's your MCAT score?
Alexandra Babin:So I think for the more, advanced people, people that are set on it that are going to be there more time and really spend an extended period of time with the residency teams and the attendings, that that would be a good thing to keep in mind. But then for more of the explorer exploring group, there's certain aspects that I feel like if you don't have prior health care experience, might go a little bit over your head. And if you're just gonna dip your toes in the water, maybe doing a little bit more of just the shadowing rather than having to go to a morning report and having to do other things.
Amber Narro:Yeah. We'll talk about that morning report next week and figure out what that is. Another little teaser. Thank you
Alexandra Babin:very much. Yeah. So I definitely think that, like, if you're just truly exploring, doing a little bit more of, like, shadowing and things like that is awesome. Now if you're truly in it and you really wanna, like, learn and you're for sure set on medical school, I think the extra meetings, like morning report and that and all of that are super, super helpful.
Amber Narro:Very good. When you are so separate it for me. Tell me what the beginning group should be exposed to versus what do you think that y'all have gotten everything that you needed as the senior quote group, or were you do you think some things could be changed about that? Would you like to see more?
Alexandra Babin:I think the only possible thing that could be added towards, like, the more senior group would be maybe trying to dabble in a little bit in other specialties. So we are currently with on wards is what they're called. So internal medicine. Mhmm. Your hospitalists, your people that take care of you.
Alexandra Babin:Overall, while you're at the hospital, they oversee your care no matter what other specialists are called on, and I think that would be a really good place to start for that beginning group because you're just you're seeing overall. But I feel like for the advanced group, what you could add on would maybe be some different things going into different specialties. Like, we're in morning report, and we see, you know, doctor Parker, a cardiologist, doctor Rabb, he's a nephrologist. Like, they're all in there talking to us, so I think that it could be beneficial for the ones that are for sure set on going to med school to dabble in different specialties. So as they do go into med school, they have, like, a true good idea of where they want to be at.
Alexandra Babin:So I definitely think that could be beneficial. And then, yeah, just really, I think that would be the only thing to add for your more, I guess, older, advanced group would be looking into shadowing some different specialties and seeing what their days are like, rather than just internal medicine.
Amber Narro:Wonderful. Yeah. Where do you see this program going in the future for students who are who may be in the beginning stages? What could they be exposed to?
Alexandra Babin:I definitely think that, like I said, being with the internal medicine team would be awesome because you're working in hospital medicine where you're just seeing you're seeing the overall care. So as an internal medicine physician or a hospitalist, they oversee the care of everybody. So that's a good like generalized place to start. There's nothing that you're not really handling, you're getting to see a lot. So I think that would be a good general place to just see if you're even interested because that's a good place to see.
Alexandra Babin:Not even super specialized, but are you interested? I also think some morning rapport would be helpful, but I would say definitely for those young like the younger kids just starting out, truly just getting the shadowing aspect would probably be the most beneficial because I for me, even at first, morning report was a little bit hard to understand. In the beginning, it's gotten better as the summer goes on, but I also know a lot of health care terminology already. So definitely, I would say mainly focusing on the shadowing for the younger kids, and I think they would really benefit from that because that's where you truly get the option of if this is something you're even interested in or not.
Amber Narro:What are some of the classes that you feel kinda prepared you for that and some of the professors here who have give have kinda poured into Let's brag on some of them for a second and and and give them a little bit of highlight.
Alexandra Babin:Yes. So I definitely feel like organic chemistry, which you hear that a ton going into medical school. Everybody wants to talk about your grades in organic chemistry and everything like that. I worked in research for two years now under doctor Shonda. He is amazing.
Alexandra Babin:He also was my organic chemistry professor, but that definitely prepares you for the, one, the late nights, the early mornings because you're constantly studying, but also the discipline that it takes to want to have your high grades since you have to have a high GPA. Also, physics is another one. You don't really think about how much physics connects, but when you think talking capillary flow and blood volume and things like that, like that already those really tie together. Doctor Coleman was my physics professor for physics one and physics two. One of my favorite people.
Alexandra Babin:I still see like, talk to him every time I see him. So and then definitely the organic labs teach you a good critical thinking skills. Doctor Foti was my organic lab professor. He's awesome. He's helped me so much getting through medical school and, like, applying for medical school.
Alexandra Babin:And I'm very excited to take biochemistry in the fall. That's one thing. I'm graduating a year early, so my schedule kinda got pushed around a little bit. If you could take biochemistry before this, I would say it's helpful because you're talking a lot about, you know, processes in the body, whether it be the Krebs cycle or things like that that I didn't really have a ton of exposure to. Thankfully, it.
Alexandra Babin:Thankfully, I learned it through the MCAT. So when the attendings were asking me about it, I knew. But I'm excited to take that in the fall, and I'm hoping that'll be, like, another little help.
Amber Narro:Wonderful. Well, we're gonna explore that next week when we talk to you Yes. About your experience and and really kinda dive into it and what you've seen and and the things that you've done so that you can inspire other students to also follow in your footsteps of really exploring a career before you go and dive in. Right? And I've been getting you to talk about some of your professors and some of the classes that you've taken in front of our provost here who has who's been sitting next with to you listening so that we can brag on some of our faculty and all the awesome work that they're doing.
Alexandra Babin:Yes.
Amber Narro:But we're gonna shift this show over and talk to our provost for a minute and about his first year here at Southeastern. And Alex Babin, have you ever met our provost?
Alexandra Babin:I don't
Amber Narro:think I have. Eric Skipper. Very good. Nice to meet you. Very good to have you, doctor Skipper.
Amber Narro:Thank you for coming today to share your first year with us and and how you all the things that you've accomplished. We're gonna brag on you a little bit this morning even though I know you're probably not gonna brag on yourself.
Dr. Eric Skipper:We're gonna
Amber Narro:do it anyway. Okay. And we're also gonna make sure that that that we talk about some of our plans for next year as well. So thank you for joining us. I'm so happy to have you.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Yeah. My pleasure. And, Alex, great meeting you.
Amber Narro:Very good. Yes. Indeed. Indeed. We'll be talking to Alex next week as well about some of her experiences at North Oaks.
Amber Narro:So y'all stay tuned to listen to that. But doctor Skipper, thank you for thank you for being here, and thank you for sharing with us some time this morning. I know you're a super busy man, so being here is just is an absolute gift to KSOU, to Southeastern, and we appreciate your time. Tell me about your first year. What has this been like for you?
Dr. Eric Skipper:It's been great. We've had a wonderful run of productivity and being surrounded by people who are so committed to this university, who are so committed to our students, people who get up and the first thing they think about is how do we make this place better, how do we improve accessibility to our students, how do we, once we get them in, how do we improve outcomes. We always think about retention, progression, graduation.
Amber Narro:Sure.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Every year this institution moves the needle on all those fronts and being part of the big ecosystem that makes that happen is a lot of fun.
Amber Narro:Very good. You have accomplished a lot while you've been here in this first year. It has been wonderful to have someone come from the outside and take a look at our university and say here are some of the things that we could change a little bit, maybe tweak a little bit, maybe even overhaul. And some of those things that you brought to the table include our wonderful Pecha Kucha event that happens where we celebrated faculty research, I have to say thank you for that because I got a nice little list of people who are doing things that have been coming in here. I just talked to Gerard Blanchard.
Amber Narro:Oh, yeah. I'm gonna be calling Chris Beechey, several other people who have done who are doing some fantastic research, and and they are they're great interviews. I'm just gonna say, I'm enjoying those. But you've also done some work with some of our academics and and making sure that there's a four year plan so students can understand what's coming in the next several years. And we we had some of this in place.
Amber Narro:Right? And it wasn't organized. Like, you'd have it you could go to some departments and see what they were offering for the next four years, and some some undergraduate coordinators would keep a list and things like that. Mhmm. The benefit of having it all in one place, though, is super helpful.
Amber Narro:So I appreciate just some of those little tweaks. Mhmm. Talk to me about some of the little things that you feel like have been big adjustments for us as faculty that have helped us along those ways.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Yeah, thank you for bringing up all that. It's been a wonderfully productive first year, and you mentioned somebody coming in new from the outside, and that's great, and I appreciate people that come in new from the outside too, but it really does take a mixture. You also have amazing talent inside the university, talent that's been here for a long time, even decades perhaps, we learn a lot from those individuals, from all that institutional history, then you have the mixture of outside perspectives coming in, what's new, what can we see differently, how can we approach this challenge or this problem, and so the mixture's the best of both worlds. But I appreciate that. The four year plan, and you're right, this is something that existed and existed departmentally, mostly.
Dr. Eric Skipper:And so what we try to do is bring that in, house it in one place, which is now in the registrar's office. So you go on one webpage and comprehensive list of all the courses that the university offers, and then the next four years out, fall, spring, summer, you're able to see and plan your curriculum. We want to be as predictable as possible for our students. We want to leave as few question marks out there as possible and make sure that they have the ability to plan even four years in advance, know that these courses are gonna be offered these semesters. And so that was a big that was a shift, not an overhaul, but simply a shift of something that we were already doing and we were already doing programmatically and departmentally, in many places, but wanted to sort of bring it all together to make it very useful for people in honors, like yourself and people advising honor students, but people in the registrar's office, people in advising especially, sitting down with students, our faculty advisors, anybody can go on this list and project forward.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Pecha Kucha was an amazing, event, and Pecha Kucha is Japanese for chitchat, right? So you have this different model of presenting, a very distilled way of presenting. You have 20 PowerPoint slides and you get twenty seconds per slide. So all this makes a six minute and forty second presentation, and the idea is to have people from the outside come in and see what our faculty are doing. We're really good organizationally, working within the box, within the parameters of what is a university.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Well, how do we turn that inside out and get as many people outside the university understanding what's happening inside the university in terms of our research, our productivity, our scholarship, sometimes that seems very mysterious to people outside the university. So how do you open that up and bring people in to see?
Amber Narro:Very good. I'm super sad. And I told you this last time that I wasn't gonna be able to go because I was at an honors conference with our students, so I missed it. What was the feedback from the public and what was the attendance like? Tell me about the event itself.
Amber Narro:Sad I missed Yeah. So make me be there.
Dr. Eric Skipper:You'll be there next time.
Alexandra Babin:You'll be
Dr. Eric Skipper:there next time. So we did this at Black and Brew, just outside of town, and we worked with them months in advance, And, surprisingly, and to our pleasure, we absolutely packed the spaces. We had people say, Well, you gotta look at a new spot next time. And so, it was great having people from outside the community. We sent to all of our constituents, to people outside of the university, and, that was really good, but it's sort of an indirect benefit, something that we were not anticipating as a benefit, but is that faculty seeing what their peers are doing?
Dr. Eric Skipper:So you had 12 presentations that were selected. We had a lot of we had more than a couple of dozen that submitted, but 12 of those were selected. And then so you have all these individuals and all their departmental peers and colleagues and so forth coming, getting to see all this in a very distilled way, very lay person's terms, what it is each of them are working on. And so if you wanna be a truly advanced university, you wanna tackle challenges that are relevant, right now, improve quality of life on a region, you gotta approach it from an interdisciplinary standpoint. There's no way to be interdisciplinary if you don't know what colleagues are doing down the hall across campus.
Amber Narro:Double duty on this goal.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Was love a great benefit as well, being able to have that camaraderie, and it was absolutely a raucous event in that it felt more like an open mic night, and that the applause, again, was raucous. People were very supportive of their peers.
Amber Narro:Love that.
Dr. Eric Skipper:I
Amber Narro:absolutely adore that. And the conversation, it went through Center for Faculty Excellence for the most part, And doctor Rebecca Davis did a fantastic job kinda organizing it and making sure that everyone was given their due, and and we appreciate this. This is also something that kind of arose out of our university research Council, right? So talk to me a little bit about University Research Council. This be new too.
Dr. Eric Skipper:This be new too. This is something that, my first month that I was here, President Wainwright, institution achieved a new level of Carnegie classification, is that of research colleges and universities. And, with that comes all kinds of benefits, but also challenges around intellectual property and ethical research and prioritizing and awareness of what's going on, a complete different element of the university that has been there, but we've not put all the focus that we can. And so with the University Research Council, we're able to, with this group of faculty members, one faculty member representing each of our academic colleges, You, as Director of Honors, are on that group. We have the Library Director, we have the Dean of Innovation and Research, we have the Director of Sponsored Research and Programs, so we have this Center for Faculty Excellence.
Dr. Eric Skipper:You have all these people that come together periodically twice a semester in the academic year to talk about, okay, what does research mean for our university, but more importantly, what does it mean for our region? And this goes back to what I was talking about in turning the eyes of the institution outward to say, okay, what are those challenges in the community that we are not addressing? We have all this intellectual capital. We have these amazing talent within the walls of the university. How do we orient and unleash that outward to the public?
Dr. Eric Skipper:And so, a big part of this is fashioning our efforts in such a way that we are achieving maximum public benefit. And, so an arm of this, of this University Research Council, will be an advisory board. And we are crafting that advisory board already. We've determined who those public and private players are that need to come in and put eyes on the university. A fresh look from without, almost like you were talking about at the beginning.
Dr. Eric Skipper:But people outside the university looking in and saying, okay, how they best help us to understand the directions that we need to be going to to enhance quality of life, to problem solve, to advance knowledge in our region for the benefit of our citizenry.
Amber Narro:I appreciate the effort from the provost's office right now to go get that information. Right. Okay? So I I think as faculty members and people who have been here for a really long time, we are we just kinda we're really bad about talking good about ourselves, you know, and and sharing that information. Center for Faculty Excellence, since I've been here, has been putting out research that people are doing, where have you gone and presented at conference.
Amber Narro:I know good and well some of these people have presented at other places, and they're just not turning that information in. Right? But as a university research council, we come together cross disciplinary, right, about things that are going on in our departments, and you're putting those people in the same room and saying, tell me what's going on in in in your pocket of the university, and then sharing that with other people as well. So I do appreciate that effort from your office to go get that and put people together so that they're forced to talk good about themselves and their and their departments so that everybody knows, again, like what you're saying with Petra Coochia, everybody kinda knows what's going on, can talk about it outside, and start spreading that word a little bit.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. You know, the amazing thing about this university and our faculty here is they do the research, they engage in amazing scholarship, but so many of them also bring our students along in that research and that scholarship. And you, you know, you, leading honors, you understand what that is. But I always, always say, and it's only partially true, but it makes the point that doing all the work is only half the battle. If nobody knows about the work, then you're sort of limited in where that work can go.
Dr. Eric Skipper:And so we've also developed within the university and working with marketing and communication a semesterly, and this is a three times a year publication, an electronic publication that goes out
Amber Narro:I was gonna ask about that.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Many constituencies, thank you, that has all of the research, the accolades, the enterprising novel advancements of knowledge that happen within the university. And then who does this go to? Well, of course, there are many peer institutions, over 100 that are peer institutions to this university that we'll send those out to. And of course, those universities look and their leaders look at their peers and say, okay, this university is leading in first year experiences. This university is leading in the writing curriculum this university is leading in different ways.
Dr. Eric Skipper:So, in terms of being innovative, you want people to know what you're doing. But then there's all the elected officials, parents group, prospective students, any of our donors, alums, all these groups, all of them receive this information and what it can do is assist and help change how you perceive the university. Many people left the university decades ago. They have no idea the magnitude of scholarship and game changing research that's happening here at the university. And so this is a way, yet another way for the public and our peers, to understand the types of things that are happening in the university in terms of the academic enterprise.
Amber Narro:I gotta imagine that sending these things out, you get some unexpected results in these as well, like unexpected feedback that's very positive. Right? And it can only be positive at that point when you're sending this information out about the scholarship that's happening at the university and sharing all of these good, wonderful things that our professors and our students are doing and where they're going and how they're sharing the story of Southeastern. It's you gotta think about it economically as well as, you know, from a from an enrollment standpoint at Southeastern. Also just from the accolades that we get from this.
Amber Narro:I gotta imagine though that you have gotten some unexpected phone calls back from these and things that you wouldn't even have known were out there but for sending out this messaging and going to see what you can get when you go get people and bring them back.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Yeah, absolutely. So it's part of the big flywheel of the university, right? One action spawns another, which spawns And so as you're going out there and you're seeking opportunities to engage, interact with the public, you're seeking grant opportunities, any type of funding, and you're building this reputation of what, not only what the university is, but how the university can interact with the public, how the university can interact with our citizenry, it awakens people to the possibilities that are there if we have a true town and gown, a very symbiotic town and gown relationship where we are truly one and forming the other, and each of us, benefiting the other mutually and collectively.
Amber Narro:I love that you said town and gown. When I was working on my PhD at Southern Miss, I had this wonderful professor, his name was Doctor. Mayo, and he had our entire class on public opinion do a town gown relationship study for University of Southern Miss and Hattiesburg. Mhmm. I can't remember the results of that study right now on the spot, but it's I always get to think about one of my favorite professors when somebody says town gown relationship, and that means the relationship obviously between the place where the university is housed and the university itself, graduation gowns.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Doctor Mayo, got it.
Amber Narro:Yes, indeed, So big wins for this year. If I had to ask you, what is your biggest win for this first year in your position as head of academics here at Southeastern?
Dr. Eric Skipper:Well, if I think of it as a win for Eric Skipper, it's very limited, right? So what I think about is in terms of, okay,
Amber Narro:Of do course. We
Dr. Eric Skipper:Evolve with the university, all these amazing things are happening. But I will tell you, when I interviewed, there was a lot of, you know, the dynamism of the faculty and the staff comes through clearly, their keen interest in the advancement of student outcomes, their love for the university. But one of the things that came up frequently was around salaries. And various ways, various parts of the university that could benefit from a closer look. And so, I listen to that and I think in terms of what are tactical measures that we can do to bring about these increases in the way that people are talking about.
Dr. Eric Skipper:And some of these are through achieving efficiencies, right? Being incredibly good stewards of the resources that we have, and this is not just the buildings and the financial resources, but the human capital that we have. And so, working with Doctor. Jeff Temple, who is our AVP for Academic Affairs, working with our academic deans. We had several meetings with the department heads.
Dr. Eric Skipper:We've been able to achieve considerable efficiencies just within the work we're already doing, just within the policies that we already have, to really go in and take a closer look in terms of teaching loads and course caps and the four year plan and making sure we're aligning with that efficiencies in terms of the number of courses we're offering. What are we doing during the summers? How are we approaching online? What are we doing during the evenings? All these things factor in.
Dr. Eric Skipper:It's a very complex thing and we're not there yet, but we've achieved enough in tandem with tremendous financial stewardship from our Vice President for Finance and Administration, Sam Domiano, our other VPs, our President, everybody playing a part in this, but I'm pleased that academics have been able to contribute from an efficiency standpoint, and we will have increases. In mid April, the president announced this to the university, not just increases to our salaries, but being able to lift up some of the lowest paid academic disciplines, being able to create a new tier for instructors. So this idea of instructors being an instructor decades and decades and never having a chance to advance. So what happens if you then have, the ability to move to a senior instructor or another level beyond that even? And then our adjunct pay, I think, has been the same for a couple of decades, and so we're able to elevate to increase that as well.
Dr. Eric Skipper:So that has been one of the big wins and sort of the fundamental changes that we've been able to go after is that of faculty and staff salaries. This is not just faculty, is across the board because everybody plays a role.
Amber Narro:Right. And I know that you have had to answer lots of questions along the way from faculty and other people. Do you feel like you've gotten the right people in the room and the right people to ask the questions and and we've we've covered all of our bases with that as we're moving forward? You're talking a lot about efficiencies. Yeah.
Amber Narro:Sometimes that word is scary, right?
Dr. Eric Skipper:Yeah. Well it could mean different things to different people.
Amber Narro:Yeah, so chat with me a little bit about getting through that and bringing the people into the room that you needed to make sure that this goes through and is positive for everyone.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Well, know, I will say that the collaborative nature of this has been incredible. There are questions along the way that's just gonna happen, that's just part of being the university But we all have this collective aim of how do we elevate the university? And one of the ways to attract more people to the university of high caliber, and we can talk about that a little bit because we have some amazing new hires coming, is to be very competitive with the salary, right? So within the state and nationally. And so, once you talk about that, and I think from this role, and from the President's role, and from other leadership, the consistency of messaging helps a lot.
Dr. Eric Skipper:So you're not constantly changing, you're not constantly chasing after new things. Doggedly after increases, this is what we're gonna do, this is how we're gonna get there. We did department head training around course scheduling, We met multiple, multiple meetings with our deans, meeting with faculty, talking to entire departments, and that consistency of messaging, when you're consistent, can take you a long ways towards a goal. So, there are questions, and that's part of being in a university environment. You gotta be comfortable with that tension, right?
Dr. Eric Skipper:There's always gonna be that. There's always gonna be people
Amber Narro:So can't questioning not agree, right?
Dr. Eric Skipper:That's Yeah. Also the thing that, you know, it enhances the whole overall perspective, is you have people asking questions. We're constantly questioning ourselves. I come in and I question models. People can also question me, And I will be questioning them in turn.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Mean, we're all, that's how we get better.
Amber Narro:Right, amen. Thank you. Absolutely. I appreciate that very much. And from a leadership standpoint, I've gotta imagine that sometimes you can see, especially like we said in the very beginning, coming from that outside perspective, you've seen it work other places.
Amber Narro:So you can kinda see something that has worked at another facility or another organization and bring it into this organization and say, this is gonna work, and have to pull the trigger. And And seen know it's gonna work.
Dr. Eric Skipper:And we've seen it not work well, too. Seen universities not making the decisions they need to make, and they get in trouble. Several years down the line, you don't make the little incremental changes you need to make five, ten, fifteen years down the line, you have to make drastic measures, do drastic cuts, drastic things all at once, and then with that comes great consternation and people's lives are affected. And so you really, literally, you have to be on it all the time.
Amber Narro:Right, and I got a, from a faculty standpoint, somebody who has been here for a couple decades now, when I look around and I'm like, I don't know about that, and then I love it though, I'm a say this, and I do think I speak for more people than sometimes it might feel like from a leadership standpoint, but I do love it when I see our leadership take take a measure and say, we're gonna do this. Right. And then on the other side of it I go okay I just learned something. So thank you for some of those moves that have really kind of given us an opportunity to see how it could be done and be efficient and for us to actually get more out of that efficiency and also the possibility of salary increases and things like that. So thank you for that vision, I appreciate that and communicating it as well while you're going along
Dr. Eric Skipper:Well, you're a communications person, so you understand the importance Yes, of love that. Thank you for that.
Amber Narro:Thank you. I got a report this morning from the University Research Council. Tell me about some of the, I haven't even looked at it.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Yeah, yeah.
Amber Narro:So tell me about some of the things that we have accomplished in this year as faculty members, and I'm gonna let you brag, just like I let Alex earlier brag on some of our faculty members about some of our faculty and some of the things that you're real proud of from that research team. You know,
Dr. Eric Skipper:it's just a roster of faculty doing amazing things, and you have the Petrocucha roster, which is a dozen, and then the roster goes just so, that's sort of the top cut, and then there'll be another dozen next year. But that's a big thing, turning the inside out the university, and then the advisory board, which will be an extension of the University Research Council, the Excellence in Action, all these things, the University Council has some hand in, but there are all ways that we are connecting the university to the outside world, right? So those have been great. We're also, in terms of, our intellectual property, artificial intelligence, strategic planning Oh,
Amber Narro:that's a dirty word sometimes, All of these things.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Which one's that? Artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence, yeah. Well, it's one of these things that's a reality and we also have an AI plan for the university, a master plan for the university with four pillars, which are the student success pillar, the research pillar, the university operations pillar, and then the pillar that connects us to industry and governmental agencies. But then an overarching theme of ethics and integrity around that.
Dr. Eric Skipper:And that's where people could get trapped. You think that artificial intelligence gonna solve everything and we can trust all of our thinking and our spatial reasoning and everything to artificial intelligence, that's where you get in trouble. So we always have to think. Human at the center, human at the center, human at the center. All this is designed to enhance the human experience, right?
Dr. Eric Skipper:So, often our new technologies evolve so quickly, we don't anticipate the human consequence and often there are very real human consequences. And I will say our Student Government Association President, Maria Nachiva, asked me about a statement heading into the new academic year because there's a lot of uncertainty, and Alex is probably one of those that could speak to this as well, among our students about what is this, how does it fit within, my plan and my academic major, how are my faculty going to approach it, what is my responsibility as a student, all these things, all these questions. So they just want some direction and some guidance and some affirmation from the university that we're all in, but we're not so much all in that we forget why we're here. That's the important thing.
Amber Narro:Absolutely. For next year, what
Alexandra Babin:do you
Amber Narro:think your big goal is gonna be in this coming year? Even if it's maybe building on something that you accomplished in your first year.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Yes, a big goal, so we have literally probably 15 different things going on. Literally, I can say right now that we have, you know, are priorities that in large or small ways moving the university forward. So a big part of this endeavor across the university and being tactically focused on what you're doing is making decisions about what you're not going to do as well. Prioritizing is as much about what you're not gonna do. So as we move forward, I'm really excited about this new, we have a lot of new leadership coming into the university.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Just in your college alone, is you have three new department heads coming in.
Amber Narro:That's the College of Arts, Humanities and Social That's my home college.
Dr. Eric Skipper:That's your home college, yeah, exactly. In music, in visual art and design and theater, and communication. You have three new department heads coming in there. Just amazing. It's amazing the level of talent and experience in terms of academic prowess but also leadership that we're able to bring here.
Dr. Eric Skipper:A new dean for College of Science and Technology is coming in as well. We have a new marching band director, and this is one of the things we said we're gonna, we put our heads together and said how do
Amber Narro:we Please, please.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Do we really, really bring more students in, give them this amazing opportunity, this very front facing marching band so much, it's a front porch Spirit of the your Southland, absolutely. And so it's gonna be, one of the big things, we're bringing along this amazing new leadership talent. In addition, in addition to all the amazing faculty that have been hired throughout this past fall and spring that will start in the fall, and, being able to build upon the infrastructure that we have firmed up in the last academic year, the department head training, all the instances of enhancement of infrastructure and design to be able to orient and turn these people loose and make the university better.
Amber Narro:Right. And when you say department head training, that's new department heads as well as existing department heads on things that are happening at the university from an infrastructure kind of standpoint, but also software development Oh, yeah. Processes. And Yeah. Again, get them all in the same room Mhmm.
Amber Narro:With the leadership and say, and here's what we're doing across campus That's right. And and talk to each other and share some of the things that you've got, going on in your areas.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Yeah, the real ideal is new department. If you're a new department, you had a new academic leader coming here and there's a lot of learning, a lot of learning to happen, and so how do you help people learn faster what the things are to make them successful as an apartment head? And so we did, in planning this program for next year, we did multiple modules of that program this past academic year, but instead of just new department heads, we asked all department heads to come. Because we can learn from the people that have been here, what are they seeing, we can learn from the people who have a relatively fresh perspective, beginning everybody in the room, and they, by experiencing this and by providing feedback, have enhanced what that program would have been, beyond what would have happened if they had not been involved. And so that training is for new department heads, but we'll certainly welcome people who have been through it before, but we got, this is simply a model to make us better and to help people, become more successful quicker.
Amber Narro:Mark, a great leader, always pointing to somebody else and saying how wonderful they have been in the process. We appreciate that very much.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Thank you.
Amber Narro:Doctor Skipper, when you are, looking forward to next year and kinda looking to work across leadership as well here.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Mhmm.
Amber Narro:And I promise this will be my last question. Okay. But tell me about because I love having you here, we gotta get you here more often because I feel like we're we're hitting things from abroad with a broad brush. I wanna talk about some of these things a little bit more specifically. But tell me about what what improvements we can make from some of the initiatives that you put in place already.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Mhmm.
Amber Narro:Because I I just feel like and from talking to you, you're always looking to better the thing that was in there before. How do we better from last time? How do we better our our research council? What can our faculty do to help you better that and to and to really just kinda increase that? I know there's a lot of questions It is.
Amber Narro:In one in one box, but how can we make your job easier and what are you looking to improve from last time?
Dr. Eric Skipper:Thanks for framing it that way. We are always looking to improve, and so sometimes this means something new and sometimes it means something existing and how do we improve things that's already there. So, in terms of that part of it, while you're going forward, as a new leader, come in and see things, right? See things and some things are great, some things can need improving. But part of it is you have to recognize all the things that are either already in place and working or already in place and simply need to be better implemented.
Dr. Eric Skipper:And so you're not coming in with everything new. That would be a hazard for new leaders. I'm changing everything, right? You have to embrace, there's so many great things. We determined as a university, prior to my being here, that we're gonna focus on transfer, that we're gonna quality enhancement plan for our accreditation.
Dr. Eric Skipper:We determined advising. That was gonna be another big ticket item. Growth of the Honors Program. There's just so many amazing things. We understand also the areas where we can improve.
Dr. Eric Skipper:Southeastern Online is an area where we can get in and improve, but that process had already been underway. So it's not something that Skipper came in and said, hey, let's get this up and running. This is something people, very diligent people, had already been working on to get us up to a certain point and then I come in and say, well, how can we continue moving this forward? So many of the things may seem new, but they are existing parts of the university, existing initiatives that we've picked up and moved forward.
Amber Narro:Love that. And how can we help?
Dr. Eric Skipper:How can we help? Eye on the ball. We're always looking, first and foremost, students. I like to tell people, whether they're at the university or outside the university, that we are here for, the university exists for two groups of people. The university exists for our students and it exists for our citizenry.
Dr. Eric Skipper:The university is not for the faculty. The university is not for the staff. The university is not for the administration. We get to be the architects of this thing. We get to build this amazing thing.
Dr. Eric Skipper:But it's not for us. So if we could keep our eyes on who it's for, for our students, for our citizenry, then, that helps to clarify things and solve solve a lot of the other problems.
Amber Narro:I can tell you this. I know, just from living here, and and being in the community and from my show, that that is a very appreciated message from our community. I think that when we talk to faculty and staff a lot, they're like, why are you here? It's for our students. It's for our students.
Amber Narro:It's for our students. When you hear that you also exist for the community and you appreciate that economic impact, that that potential to to drive partnerships and communication and conversation Mhmm. Across the city, across the region and the state, I mean, we didn't even get into some of the legislation that's happened this go round, which there's been some of that as well. I appreciate you mentioning our community because that's but for them and the respect and the encouragement and their support both in just talking about us, that's number one, please talk about us, but also giving giving of time and dollars to the university. We couldn't be here without them, so thank you for putting them on that same line as our students because we need everybody
Dr. Eric Skipper:Absolutely. To
Damon Sunde:make this place
Dr. Eric Skipper:Every bit of focus that we have on them comes back to university.
Amber Narro:Indeed.
Dr. Eric Skipper:So, very organic relationship we have.
Amber Narro:Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate you. We've gone long today and that's I love it. I love it. I appreciate you.
Amber Narro:KSLU, you exist in that public radio form and this is just the purest of it. Right. So I appreciate you coming today and spending some time with us. I'm sure I'm running into another meeting for you, but I grabbing you while I could. So thank you so much for being here.
Amber Narro:Thanks, Been talking to doctor Eric Skipper. He is the provost here at Southeastern and definitely a fantastic interview. I look forward to having him back. And I also talked with Alex Babin a little earlier today. We're gonna dive deep into some of the things that she is doing with some of her program with North Oaks on a show next week.
Amber Narro:So make sure that you tune back in and listen here at KSLU. Thank you for joining us at 09:00 on Thursdays and Fridays on ninety point nine, The Lion at the Lion's Roundtable. I'm Amber Narrow. Y'all have a great day.
