Woods:
Good to see you. Okay, so, Sesquicentennial. A big milestone coming up. Tell us about what's happening with it.
Vargas:
Well, first of all, Sesquicentennial is a difficult word to pronounce. Many people have difficulty with that. So, our 150th anniversary, it's since the University was first established, and we're very excited about that. We really are. It's something that we want to celebrate. March 22, 2023, is going to be essentially our birthday, and we have a few activities planned for that particular day, starting at 11:30 a.m. We just want to take a little bit of time, a moment, and reflect on what this institution has done over its lifetime, which is 150 years. Great successes.
We started with being a very small institution with a few faculty members, I believe something like 57 students or so. And now we have about 10,000, and we have a staff and faculty contingent of about 1,000 people. So, it's just really, really impressive, and our programming, our academic programs and activities that we have going on are just really impressive. So, I'm excited to be the president at the time like this and look forward to seeing what more different activities we're going to have to celebrate this particular year.
Woods:
And this event on March 22. So, of course, open to the campus, but open to the community, as well, to be a part of this big celebration, right?
Vargas:
Right. This, this is where…we’re members of the community, so we want the community to feel that they are included in our celebration. And really the meaning of this celebration sort of resides on the impact and the meaning that we have for the community. That's how we measure our success.
Woods:
And, so, the celebration is going to go on for the whole year and going to culminate on a very special date.
Vargas:
Yes, we planned, we decided that we wanted to have an eclipse take place that day. So, we programmed it. So, April 8, we're going to have an eclipse. It happens to be one where Cape Girardeau’s going to be in the path of totality for the eclipse. I think we're going to be in total darkness for about four minutes or so. And that's going to be even more so than in 2017, when we had the previous eclipse. So, we thought it would be a great event to to use as a final celebration of a year of celebrations that we're going to have for the University.
Woods:
And, so, there’ll be things throughout the entire year, too, and I guess there'll be more information about that as it comes along on the website with all the different things that are listed. So, it's just, it's a big event. One hundred and fifty years is something to celebrate, for sure.
Vargas:
Absolutely. I think, as I said at the beginning, I think it's important to take some time and reflect on what this institution has done and what it can do in the future. Talk to the students and the faculty who are here and the staff and, you know, reflect on what it means for this community for the state of Missouri in general and what this institution being here represents. I think it's really impressive when you look at the accomplishments that we've had in academics and, you know, in the lifetime of the community. Even athletics, you know, we've been extremely successful in the last 10 years or so. And so, I think that all contributes to highlight the importance that this institution has for the for the community.
Woods:
Think about it. 90,000 students have graduated over these 150 years. And think of all the things that those students have done and all the successful careers that have been made and all the fields they've impacted. It's almost too much to imagine, right? It’s a lot.
Vargas:
Yes. I think that's why it's exciting that part of the celebration involves actually interviewing a number of individuals who have been here for a long time, alumni and former faculty and staff, with them talking a little bit about what it means for them to celebrate this this particular milestone. It puts our success in context. It highlights how powerful this lifetime has been for this for the community, for the state of Missouri.
Woods:
You've been here since 2015. I know you talk a lot about creating lifelong learners and people who are problem solvers. And so, the graduates who leave or go into a business and are able to solve a problem, that's what makes the difference, right?
Vargas:
Yes, that's what makes a difference. That's where we measure our success. Are we able to help students, boys and girls, male and female, go out there and really make a difference in the world and really represent this region with pride and accomplishment. It’s what we need to always be focusing on…to make sure that we are able to produce individuals that are going to contribute to the economic development of not only the region, the state, and the nation in general.
Woods:
Let's talk a little bit about…part of that success has been programs and some of the programs that are offered… the Apple Distinguished School award. That's something that's it's a very impressive designation, evidence that our education students are able to take part in, right?
Vargas:
Right. We have been recognized these last few years, and recognitions have come over the decades to the University. But in the last few years, we've been recognized by being an Apple Distinguished School. We have, now, Yamaha has also identified us as very unique institution. In Cybersecurity, we have recognition by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency. We have many programs where we have made a mark at the national level, international level, too. That's something to be proud of. Absolutely.
Woods:
We're always looking at ways the University can meet the needs of employers, looking for programs that will meet the needs. The pilot program comes to mind. We know there's going to be a pilot shortage—it’s started or coming soon—but that's one of those areas where we looked and said, okay, we need to be here. And I guess we'll continue to do that for the next 150 years.
Vargas:
Absolutely. As I say sometimes, you know, we have to follow very often. But sometimes we have to lead, and I think lead is what we have been doing academically in a very meaningful way in the last few years. This program, the professional pilot program, is one of them. We are about to present to the Board a new program in aviation management, and we're looking at other programs that are going to be equally interesting and relevant for students these days. So, you know, technology's advancing in a very, very significant way. There's…Thomas Friedman talks about living in the “Age of Accelerations.” So, you know, the speed that we are moving with is actually increasing and technological developments are coming faster and faster and faster. And, so, we need to adapt to them. And we need to figure out, as a society, how we handle those new technologies. Social media is an example of the technology that now is…we have to as a society react to it, and how do we handle, how do we manage that? So, all in all, what we need to continue to be is innovative. We need to develop programs in the University that are actually of interest and that are addressing the needs and the expectations of our students and the community around us.
Woods:
Is it hard to get…it is it hard to know where to be in two years, three years? I mean, how do you sort of look ahead? Do you talk to other institutions? How do you sort of find that place?
Vargas:
We look at what's happening in the world. We continue to look at the news. We look at what the business sector is doing, what the industrial sector is doing, and really, we sit down, and the academic side of the house they sit down, and they figure out where are we going and what does it make sense for us to do. Again, thinking that we need to be innovative, not just follow what somebody else has done, but what is it that we can do. How can we integrate? How can we look at the intersection of different disciplines and try to think of what is going to come out of it and put together programs that are going to be preparing people to deal with those new interdisciplinary disciplines that are coming out.
Woods:
Has it changed a lot in your years in higher education? It used to be that there was always just sort of a standard of things that always happened and we really can't do it the way you always used to do it because of how technology is advancing and changing so quick. Has it changed the mix?
Vargas:
I think it has. I think when you think about the fact that one of the very prominent fields of study these days is Cybersecurity. It just lets you see that 40, 50 years ago, that was not something that you worried much about. These days, you know, industries, businesses, nations are attacked in ways that are almost invisible. You can only realize that by electronic means. So, how do you prepare yourself? How do you put in place business processes that allow you to continue to operate and be successful in an environment that is actually very different now from the one that where our ancestors were exposed to.
Woods:
A lot of change.
Vargas:
A lot of changes going on, and we need to not only be reactive, but we need to be proactive. That's when I talk about being innovative as an institution. So, our students are…we need to prepare students who understand the value of creating new ideas, creating new jobs, as I tell students you know, you need to create your own job. Don't just rely on somebody telling you this is what you're hired to do. You need to think about how you can improve. Always think about changing or improving what you're exposed to. That's what I think is important. That is the habit that we as an institution need to help students develop.
Woods:
So, when looking ahead to see what programs we’ll be offering in two, three, four year, what if we look ahead and get this all planned then it doesn't work out? Or that field just doesn't pan out like we thought. What happens then?
Vargas:
Okay, so your question sort of makes me think of a conversation that I had with the owner of a company a few years ago, a plastics company. And he said to me one time, “Carlos, sometimes I call the university." Not Southeast, of course. “Then I called the university with a question. And they form a committee.” And I said, what do you mean? He says, “Yeah, they don't…they just always want to have a committee, because they feel that they have to do a very thorough analysis of every problem. They want to analyze it from every single angle and so forth, and sometimes they just don't have time to give me an answer.” He says, “In my company, when we are trying to decide what to do in the future, we get in a room with a few people. We have…we look at the information we have, and most of the times it's incomplete, right? But we look at the information we have, and we make a decision. And we say this is the direction we need to go in. We come out of the room, and we implement it. If it doesn't work, we go back into the room and we change it.” And so, I thought that's very interesting. Sometimes, we take too long to make a decision because we want to get it right. And there is the other side of that, that sometimes by doing that, you never really get to the point of making a decision. So, what you need to do oftentimes is get in the room, make a decision, get in with some people, and then come up and implement it. And if it doesn't work, you change it. You adapt it. You, you refine it. You improve it. But it…we need to not just be sort of held without movement because we are doing too much assessment of what direction we should we go in. So, that's really what I think is the way to go. We need to look at…we need to rely on and trust our intuition. That's why we need to educate ourselves. We need to have education. We need to learn before we actually go out there and change things. But once we do that, we need to rely on that information and that knowledge we have and then make a decision, predict what's going to happen, implement it, and if it doesn't work then you change it.
Woods:
But don't, don't we all have this fear of making a mistake?
Vargas:
Absolutely.
Woods:
Does that hinder progress?
Vargas:
Oh, absolutely. I think, I think it does. That's why we spend so much time sometimes analyzing a problem over and over and over, because we're almost like afraid of making the wrong decision. You just can't do that. So that…we need to move forward. And that fear, I think, is a real fear. I think it's in everybody's mind, everybody. We all feel that way. And I, you know, I talk about the fear of failure, and that happens in organizations. If there's such thing as a CEO creating a fear of failure. And when you create a fear of failure in an organization, people don't become innovative because they're afraid of what can happen to them, to the job if they make a mistake. You just…you know, you cannot do that. So, there's actually in the literature, in organization leader literature, they talk about their CEO sometimes creating this fear of failure that makes the organization not move in an agile manner. And so, that's something we need to always be mindful of, and I personally, try to avoid creating fear of failure in the people that work with me. Try some things, and if they don't work, we just change it.
Woods:
You adapt.
Vargas:
Yes.
Woods:
So, let's talk about this University itself. There are so many things we've talked about and pride in all the things that have been done. Think about the River Campus. That comes to mind as we think about the Sesquicentennial. There didn’t use to be a River Campus. That was one of those things that the region needed, and now we have it. That’s just one of the many examples, right?
Vargas:
Yes, we need to continue to do that. One of the things that we have been placing a lot of effort into and interest in recently is developing partnerships. I think it's becoming increasingly clear that the institution needs to connect with the community. And so, we have been…here in Cape, we have a number of partnerships that are very successful, and they've been many of them have been in place for a long time. And we continue to come up with new partnerships. Most recently, we have our students taking classes in the event center that is adjacent to the casino. They have a beautiful commercial kitchen, and our students are going there, and I think we're offering four classes this semester in there. They're benefiting from having the opportunity to work in a place like that. And so, when they come out, when they graduate, they actually go out there and can take that learning that they did and their experience that they did and apply it in a job. So, we always have to be figuring out a way to connect with the business sector, with the industrial sector, and the nonprofit sector, and with every entity out there where we see our students benefiting from being exposed to it, so that it's not just a classroom experience. We need to have experiential learning opportunities for our students, and so that should always be part of it. We should not just rely on the classroom learning to produce our graduates.
Woods:
This makes me think of something else that we both attended was a Cape Chamber event, where they talked about the quality of life in Southeast Missouri and Cape Girardeau area, because the big discussion was keeping graduates here, involved in the community, involved in these jobs. That's something you keyed in on, so that students that graduate, stay here, take these talents and all these things they've learned, and that it stays here in Southeast Missouri.
Vargas:
Yes, and you know, the other side of that is that students at that age, when they graduate, it's a traditional student, they're excited about seeing the world, their excited about seeing different places and being in different locations. And so, I don't think that our effort should be to prevent that from happening. I think what we need to do is make sure that these students, when they graduate, when they leave, they feel that they would like to come back. They leave, and then there's this idea that, hey, that's a nice place for me to maybe eventually go back to, this region, Southeast Missouri. I think it’s wonderful for families. I think there are plenty of opportunities in a very safe environment to come back here, too. And so, we should just make sure that the students know that there is an opportunity to come back. Now of course at the same time, we need to continue to be attractive to industries and businesses so that they locate themselves here, which are the ones that are going to be offering the jobs. It's difficult to keep somebody here if you don't have the jobs available. So it's a little bit of…
Woods:
Right. Let's talk a little about this Grow Your Own Teacher. I know that is something that we talked to Dean Joe Pujol about this, that we're trying to keep these teachers here at some of these area schools and where they can grow their own, another help for districts in Southeast Missouri. And of course, this is a large service area that the University serves. That's another way we're here in this region trying to help things grow.
Vargas:
Sure, that's an example of jobs that are here, are available here now. What we have observed, is that to hire, say, a teacher from a location that is outside of this region, sometimes is difficult because they didn't grow up here. They're not comfortable with this environment. And so, they come here. They spend maybe a few years here, but then they're not quite comfortable because they're missing something perhaps from where they grew up. So, that's why I think it's important to help grow your own teachers, meaning taking people who grew up here, who are comfortable in this environment, and then help them develop the expertise that allows them to get these jobs. I think that's the best-case scenario.
Woods:
So, we have about four minutes. So, in these last few minutes, all the success, 150 years…What's next?
Vargas:
150 years more. So, we’re going to continue to be innovative. We need to redouble our efforts to make sure that we continue to be relevant for this region, for in general, to offer our students access to opportunities, that they don't have to go very far away from here. We have international students at the University that come from thousands and thousands of miles away. So, I sometimes say to people locally, not because we are close, are we any less valuable and less interesting than other institutions. So, there are many students will come here from very far away because of what we bring to the table, because of the opportunities that are here. So, I think what what's important is to continue to provide our students here with experiences that really prepare them to be competitive and to go out…that whether it's in a job, whether it's establishing their own business, which is increasingly very critical, very important, or continuing with advanced education in some other location. I think we need to prepare them to be competitive and successful in their personal and professional lives.
Woods:
And continue with hands-on, real-world experience. So, the pilot program, one of the things that amazed me about that is the students get up in the air the first semester, I think I understand it. So, it's not one of those things where you have to read about it for a semester or two before you get to fly. It's a pretty quick transition.
Vargas:
Yeah, that's one of the criticisms, sometimes, that universities have which is, you know, students feel like they get to the first year or so and they take many general education courses and all that, but they're really interested in, say, accounting or chemistry or so on, and it takes a long time before they get there. So, those are things that are learning experiences for us as an institution. How do we keep the students engaged, once they get here, to make them feel that they're that they're advancing in their knowledge of the fields that they are interested in? At the same time, general education is a very important sort of curriculum, because it gives the students…that it allows their education to be rounded, so that it's not just a single discipline that they come experts at, but it's really it rounded education that allows them to interact with others, to communicate, to be able to interact with other individuals, to work in teams. All those are skills that are required in the business world, and so, we cannot ignore that. You need to make sure that you provide the students with the experience and expertise in that discipline, but they need to be able to live in an environment where they need to show others their value in more than one way.
Woods:
Okay, we’ve got one minute. So, in 60 seconds, with the Sesquicentennial, the 150th, with all the celebrations and all the things that are going to happen, what do you want people to come away understanding better than they may right now about the University?
Vargas:
I would like to see people increasingly understand the value that the University has for this region. Sometimes you take things for granted, and I am hoping that with this celebration of this 150th year, that people will, again, I use the word reflect on what this University represents for this community. And sometimes you can do that by looking at what would this community be like if the University wasn't here. I think that you start realizing then that you will be missing quite a bit.
Woods:
Dr. Vargas, thank you so much for being here today.
Vargas:
Thank you, Danny. It's good to see you again.
