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Hello there. This is Terry Denise, a Lansing Community College student and your host of Ripper, an LCC Connect podcast where I interview others and ask about their unique efforts and connections in, around and beyond the community of Michigan's capital city. Oh yeah. All right, welcome back for part two from part one of Fair Weather Friends. I am just going to get into it here. The last portion that I was speaking upon was about fair weather friends. This phrase, the meaning coming out of the weather itself, out of this old, I'm sure sailing phrase that it came out of, I would imagine when the weather is fair, you'll set sail, right? When the weather is fair, you'll go outside and do what you need to do. You go to the beach, run near the beach, boy, you'll have a fun, you'll have a good time. Fair weather, fair weather friends. That phrase then that came out of these. These thoughts of people going like, well, you seem to only be around when the weather's nice. What's up with that?

You seem to only be around when everything's going fine and dandy, when the sunshine is out. What about when it rains? What about when it's stormy out? Where are you then? These people that just seem to conveniently only be around to bask in the sun, to bask in your grandness of good warmth, they only want to be around when things are like that, not when things are cold, sad and depressing. What's wrong with that, Huh? I mean, if one is okay with that, then they should let you know. Maybe. But that's not a real friend necessarily. It's a kind of friend, I guess you could say. But when things are up. I don't even know if that's really counting on a person being around when things are just only in good graces, is it being reliable if you can only be known to be reliable when things are good and going and going strong and going well, certain writings I've seen about fair weather friends seem to say that their fair weather friend is an unreliable source. It's an unreliable thing. It's an unreliable person that just so happens to be around once in a while. They aren't there when you need them. And that's kind of a two way street. If you're not letting people know, though, if you need them, then how is a person gonna know at all? You know what I mean? This kind of works both ways in a bit. So I did find myself having to ask myself if I was being a fair weather friend or if I was simply just making sure That I wasn't the person that was being a bit of a nuisance in another person's life. So that's a part of those therapeutic things that you start to. You start to hone in on and get dirty and you start to unleash your non sunshine side, a bit of the shadowy edges there. You start to ask yourself, so how can I be a better friend? Or how can I be a better person? How can I do this? How can I do that? Very millennial. Let's instead of go from the surface things that are going on and just like, let's get to the nitty gritty, let's figure this out from both ends, from all sides in fact, all ways. Always. Always. What I mean by that, always like coming from many and as many different trajectory points that you can find yourself in. So you can say like there's a vantage point from doing that, but also you don't want to get boxed in, but there is a vantage point from looking at things from many, many different ways. Not to get all enigmatic about it, but if you do have that sense of empathy about you, you can make and allow your empathy to grow in many different ways. And if you have trouble with empathy at all, that is a good place to start is to just legit try to stop putting your own brain and your own thoughts in the way where their viewpoint is coming from. And understanding fully. That's a true active listening action, is being able to truly, truly understand that you might not understand another person's point of view fully 100% because you are not in their shoes, you are not that person. You just couldn't possibly understand 100% where they're coming from. So right there and then you know, that's a place to accept and say like, oh, okay, well that's for starters because you're trying to control what another person's viewpoint is. You're trying to control all these different aspects around you. So with a fair weather friend and everything like that, I think those are people that try to control exactly what they want you to see and they try to control who they want you to be to them, which is a whole nother different psychological area to grasp.

And.

And I don't think that's a conquerable thing, but I think it is definitely an area that needs some healing from many a different earthling. When we go on to the Queens of the Stone Age lyric that I had started out at the very tail end of part two, where this band called Queens of the Stone Age has a song Called Fairweather Friends. And I was really, for whatever reason, this song comes to my mind a lot. And it's from this album called Like Clockwork that came out about 2013, I believe. The song was written by Michael Schumann and Mark Lanegan, who unfortunately passed away in recent years, I should say Dean Fertitta, Joshua Hamm, and Troy Van Leeuwen, all from this band called Quotza, I like to say, for short, or Queens of the Stone Age. And the first stanza of these lyrics are, is there anyone out there? Or am. Am I walking alone? When I turned around and found out that you'd gone before the first rain could fall and what they do with that first stanza is take they old school, take that fair weather and place it along with the phrase of fair weather friend. It's very smart. And they use that before the first rain could fall. What imagery? Okay, going on. It seems every single time I was bleeding Broken promises that never came true well, it ain't so long before the dawn when the sun is gone well, so are you and then repeating that refrain of well, so are you My goodness. Just putting together those lyrical images, first of all, onto music, second of all. And then for the phrasing of A fair weather friend, and then using the old school phrase of it being fair weather out, you know, all of that stuff, Very, very impactful. When I looked this song up when I was just looking through it and when you're on the streaming pages and there's a. An algorithm that follows. There were a bunch of other songs that came too. I talked about this and a few of the ones that poked out were Johnny Gill and then Johnny Cash. And I was like, wait a minute, hold on. Johnny Gill? You mean from New Edition? You mean New Edition, New edition, Bel Biv DeVoe, Bobby Brown, come on with it. I was like, wait a minute, do I know this song? I know, I know this song. I put that song on from Johnny Gill and I was like, fair weather friend. Oh my goodness. Of course I remember this song because this is one of the songs that used to play in the mall all the time when I was a kid. And it was like one of those songs that you would just stop and then start breakdancing. Because that's what we did in the 90s and late 80s. We just. No, I'm not kidding. Like, little kids would just start and then we'd be like beatboxing and everything like that. That's just. I don't know, that's our flow, that's our vibe. We just Randomly start dancing for no reason except that there was music on. There is complete reason. There's all reasons. And then here's some of Johnny Gill's lyrics, which actually, this wasn't written by Johnny Gill. It was written by Kenneth Edmonds, also known as Babyface, Darryl Simmons, and Antonio Reed. But Johnny Gill, let me tell you the way he sings them. His stanza starts out as, you need a love that will not change. You want a lover to remain forever yours. Oh, but you don't have to worry, you never have to fear. Through thick and thin I will always be here. So that's another, like, viewpoint on the fair weather friend. Because Johnny's talking about, I will not be your fair weather friend. I'm not going to be your fair weather friend. These lyrics are coming from that other area of. It's a very romantic area. These lyrics go on to say, I'll be your bridge over and through troubled waters. Once again, we're coming through with the whole weather phrasing there. You never have to face it alone. And when the world seems to treat you unfair. Baby, for you I'll always be there. And then he goes on, I won't be no fair weather friend. I'll be there till the end. Even through stormy weather time and time again. Oh, my gosh, these are geniuses. Everybody's, like, going with the old school phrase of the weather. We're working on the puns and the metaphors here. I love it. So we're going once again with noting how the actual climate is and pulling that in and lyrically tying that in with how you can be with another person with Johnny Cash. Our great Johnny Cash. He wrote the song with Joseph Paul Allen, and he was one of the ones that had fair and weather as two different words. I don't know if that has a specific meaning or if it's just a way, you know, when you write things, you write things. You're not really thinking too much about certain semantics. But I just thought it was very interesting that there's different ways to use this phrase and write it out. So sometimes you have to look the phrasing up in a different way to get multiple different kinds of accounts. So some of the lyrics from the Johnny Cash song of Fair Weather Friends are fair weather friends. Fair weather sailors will leave you stranded on life shore. One good friend who truly loves you Is worth the pain your heart endures. My goodness. Right there. And then Johnny just put both of these worlds together that, like, you've got the coats at edge and then you've got the Johnny Kill romantic edge. And then you've got Johnny Cash just going like, friends, let me tell you, they'll sometimes be there for you, but truly we know that those ones won't be. These ones will be. And he just says, and the love. There's the love there. One good friend who truly loves you is worth the pain your heart endures. We never know which way the wind will blow, nor where it. Or where the next turmoil will be. But he's a solid rock when troubles grow. And he's holding out a. He's holding out a saving hand for me. Oh, my goodness. Just with the whole sailor thing, it hits you at a spot when you really need to look at things in a particular kind of way. When you're forming opinions about who you are and what your relationship with yourself is, it's really, really important. Important to manage how you are portraying yourself to others. And you're like, can I be a better this for anybody else? You don't have to devote all of your weekends to going and saying, like, I'm efficiently here at the soup kitchen line and everything like that. It's not like that. It's just making sure that if there's a part of you that is questioning how another person is doing, then maybe you should lean into that because maybe it is something telling you, you got a brain, you got some sort of intellect going in you. You know, there's a smart portion of you that's going like, hey, wake up here. Maybe you should listen to that. You should go with that vibe. You know, you don't have to be all like, you know, you don't have to go into a whole gossip column about everything. You know, you could just simply ask. And sometimes that's all a person needs. But if you're a fair weather friend, you know, where is that person when you can ask them that? Some of these things that I was getting into, where people were listing what a fair weather friend could or couldn't be or should or shouldn't be, part of that was just this. Are you a person that you can't find reliable? They never text or answered their texts or messages. And I'm like, you mean the entire generation of millennials?

Like, what?

The whole generation of y never answering texts or messages? Like, it's not that. It's just, I believe that maybe the other person might be busy. I don't know. You get anxiety built up. That's a part of why many of us are need therapy, because it's like, hey, break out of that, because we weren't like that. We were very, you know, many of us are very, very vocal because we were coming from and watching what X generation did and do. You guys were loud and we were like, yeah, that's right. We're right here with you. Kid sister all the way. That's me. I'm very much the kid sister to the big older ones. Always the tag along, the one following behind and going like, but can we not do the thing that will break me in half, please? And it's like, no. It's like, okay, sure. I will jump over this gully for all of you because I want to participate. I don't know. I don't know. We're just doing the things. We're outside now. Full on, man. Generation Alpha. They're there. They're there indeed. But for fair weather friends, when they're not there for you, you can't ask them anything if they're there. Only when it's sunshining out. What are you doing? You're having fun in the sunshine, so you're not thinking about things being bad, bad. You're not sitting there going like, oh, okay. You know, like, is everything, everything okay? And they're like, yeah, hey, let's go, you know, to the whatever. We're going to have fun and everything and, you know, not talk actually about things. We're just going to sit here and this is it. And then see you later. And it's like, okay, cool. And then they're not around to deeply bond. Maybe that is the reason why they're a fair weather friend, because they don't know how to bond in another way. But there are the, like, very, very ecstatically toxic ones that are just there to get something from you while you're nice and up. If you have things that you can share with other people. You know, if somebody's a moocher, that kind of fair weather friend, somebody that's always there, that's just there to just graph off of you, Graph something off of you. Graft money, graft energy. Even like energy vampires and stuff like that. People that are there just to. To literally whatever it is that's good from you at that time. And then they disappear when you're like, wait a minute, where did all my great energy go? Where did all my money go? Where did all my, like, good vibes go? And it's just like, yeah, well, I'm pretty sure that the person over there that's not around you anymore, they've got their good vibes still going because they're living off of the vibes that you just fed them and they didn't reciprocate. So a fair weather friend doesn't reciprocate. And I think that's more getting to the nitty gritty of it all. It's not a reciprocating relationship. You're not getting back anything good or bad. You know, sometimes things are not going to be the best with all of your friends and that's fine. The ones that stand out are the ones that are, they're cycling with you, not against you, and they're not cycling you out of your whole world with each other. You are evolving with everyone here. And sometimes there are ones that do need to get cycled out, mainly because they are those toxic things, they just benefit off of you when you're, you're doing well. Unless you have a fountain of some kind that is just always given and it will not make you sick, it will not make you sad or anything like that. I guess do what you will. If it's not sucking your life out of you and you don't care about that, that's you to yourself. But for many other people you kind of need to get replenished. You need to replenish and that comes with yourself replenishing as well. That comes with therapeutic efforts. Getting mental help is not just only for just the mentality of things. It's not only for your brain, it is for your educational pursuits. It's for your knowledge, your well being, your all being, your emotional parts and your physical parts. If you ever see like people put up their pictures of like, hey, this is me when I look this way and this is me when I started, you know, certain kinds of gym efforts and everything like that. And you're like, okay, cool. Your, your physical appearance looks, you look like you feel a lot better. But what people aren't saying is that I also started to go to therapy and my emotional well being also played a big part in how I'm looking because the smile is different. Like wait a minute, you're smiling. Hold on. You're actually smiling that picture. I've never even seen your teeth before, dude. Like, what the heck is going on here? And it's like, oh, I didn't even realize that I wasn't, I don't know. That's weird, isn't it? And then you just move on with your day because you're like, oh, this is a part of what I'm doing now. So it's all of these kinds of different Things coming into play, but the whole being of yourself, it is this, this when you start physically getting into another kind of shape and everything like that, your brain, it starts going like, wait a minute, hold on. What's going on? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Oh, wait, no, keep going, keep going. You know, like, I like this, I like this feeling. This is great. Keep doing this. And everything starts to follow suit. It's a weird thing. It's a great thing. And it's supposed to be that way actually all of the time. You are supposed to channel into those things, those parts of yourself when you are doing that. You are not not being a fair weather friend to yourself. You are actually, you're not fair weathering yourself. I don't know if that makes sense. You're not just being there for yourself when things are good. You're not just saying like, oh, I lost that weight when you look at yourself in the mirror or something like that. Or like, oh, I like the way my nose job looks. And you're not just like taking that part of yourself in. You're going like, wait a minute, how am I mentally feeling about this though? What's this other part of me that you know, the body looks fine, but it's just like I'm not feeling the best though. Why is that? And it's because you've been fair weathering yourself. You've been like, hey, it's the great portions that have been showing up towards yourself. And you're looking at them, you're just like, oh, okay, cool. The sunshine is there and I'm out and I'm walking and everything like that. But like, I don't feel good. I still don't feel like I look good. I still don't feel like the parts of me are aligning and everything. And it's because they're not. So you gotta like kick out that fair weatherness about whatever you're feeling inside and literally hone in on that healing. The full healing of the all being of your full awareness. And when that comes into play, you'll start to realize that the other people around you will start moving along with that kind of alignment. Just kind of like how we are on this bioship in this universe. We gravitate towards our sun. We are satellite to that sun, that big old gas ball in the sky. Because that's what we do. We are, we need to move in proportion with the good and the bad and then take all of those things with us and revolve around each other and move, make sure that we are doing it in the healthiest way possible. That way when the bad times are coming, we do know how to react with it, not against it. And if it's something that we don't need anymore, if it's a bunch of toxin toxic things that we can get rid of or can just transmute a little bit, like change it, alchemize it a little bit, then that's for the better. That's for a better portion of yourself and how you can work with those damaged parts of your being so you can say bye to your fair weather friends. It's just at least knowing that somebody's a fair weather friend. That way that you can prepare yourself for when you're around them or when they're around. And that way it's not being defensive, but it's just that you can have your shield up if you need it. You at least know where your shield is. You don't have to be complete cold hearted or anything like that. But you can truly just say I'm engaged with you, I'm engaging, but I don't have to feel like you're sucking the life and the energy out of me. Because if you want it to be reciprocated, you're gonna have to give a lot more than what the greater portion of you doing has been taking. Be better towards yourself. And that's gonna help you get those fair weather friends out of here or at least let them find their placing in your life. Whether that's in the past, that's fine too. You can congratulate yourself on that. And there's no reason why. I don't know why people feel so down upon themselves sometimes when they're like, you know, this person's not a part of my life anymore and I feel like I should feel bad, but I feel bad for not feeling bad. And it's like you shouldn't feel bad at all. If you're feeling much better then that's okay. You don't have to put it in their faces all like that. But if it's gonna help you and your healing, then maybe it'll help them heal too and maybe they'll be become a better person and then maybe you'll then start being all weather friends. All right, well I'm going to leave it there. Thank you for joining part two about Fair weather Friends. Please check out those artists as well. Queens of the Stone Age, Johnny Gill and Johnny Cash with the same song title. It's really good stuff and I hope you guys have a great day. Please get healthy out there. Thanks for tuning in to Ripper. You can find more about this and other LCC connect podcasts@lccconnect.com.

Sharing the voices of Lansing Community College visit us at lccconnect.org LCC Connect Voices vibes Vision. The Lansing Community College Massage Clinic is open to the public and provides an opportunity for the students of the massage program to gain valuable client experience. Relaxation massages and therapeutic massages are both available at a nominal fee. Visit LCC Edumassage for more information. Thank you for listening to LCC Connect. I'm Paul Schwartz and I host a show called the Safety Plan. The Safety Plan is about the latest cyber scams and how to avoid them. You can catch the Safety Plan here on LCC Connect or listen anytime@lccconnect.org I'll never forget the day I decided to go off for the football team. Mr. Banks, the JV football coach and my history teacher, asked me to stay after class. I thought I was in trouble. He said, hey Darius, have you thought about going out for football? I think you'd be great. Fact is, I never played football. Fact is, I never had anyone tell me I'd be great at something. So with no experience at all, I signed up and a week later I padded up and was running drills on the field. I never was great, but playing high school sports was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I was accepted by my teammates and I learned that when someone believes in you, you can believe in yourself. Encourage a student you know to take part in a high school sport. This message presented by the MHSAA and the Music Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, A seven week job training opportunity is now enrolling and many can participate tuition free. Those who have graduated from high school within the last five years can attend the Electrical Control Technician Boot Camp at no cost, thanks to grants from the Michigan Department of Economic Development. Those interested in the Electrical Control Technician Boot Camp provided by the LCC Job Training center can learn more at LCC.edu.

Jtc, LCC Connect Voices vibes Vision. Hello and welcome to Leading the Way Women in Higher Education a podcast dedicated to celebrating, supporting and advancing women in school high higher education across Michigan. Hello and welcome to Leading the Way Women in Higher Education a podcast that is dedicated to celebrating, supporting and advancing women in higher education across this great state of Michigan. I'm Dr. Cynthia Rooker and I am so thrilled to welcome you to today's episode the Future of Michigan ACE within this episode today we'll look ahead with Dr. Reeva Curry to explore the future of Michigan ACE and how it's evolving, what new opportunities are on the horizon, and how Michigan ACE plans to meet the challenging needs of women in higher education. Now, whether you're a seasoned administrator, a rising professional, or simply passionate about equity and empowerment, this conversation will offer insight, inspiration, and of course, a glimpse into what's next for Michigan ace. Now, before we dive into our conversation, I'd love to give our guests a moment to introduce herself. Dr. Reba Curry, would you mind sharing a bit about your background and your role with Michigan Ace?

All right, well, thank you so much, Dr. Rooker. I'm very pleased to join you this afternoon. And I am currently the Vice President of Instruction and Learning Services at Delta College where I have served for 11 years in that role. And in that role, I am over about 170 full time, 200 adjunct faculty, along with our program, which is around 140. So the faculty and staff, it's my honor to serve and to do this work in helping our students together. So I also represent Delta College as an institutional representative to the League of Innovation and Community Colleges. And I am very pleased that this year began my first year of a two year term as the state chair of Michigan ACE Women's Network Executive Board. And so I'm excited about that, excited to work with a dynamic board. We are a volunteer board. We work very hard to convey opportunities to women in higher education across the state of Michigan. And we are a network, I want to say, of almost 30 public and private universities, four year colleges, as well as community colleges across the state of Michigan that are working together to help advanced women in higher education in the great state of Michigan.

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Curry. It's wonderful to have you with us. Now let's go ahead and we'll jump into our conversation. Can you tell us what is the long term vision of Michigan ACE and how do you see the organization evolving over the next, let's say, five to 10 years?

Well, thank you so much. And what I want to say is that Michigan ACE Women's network, we were formed back in 1970, so that's about 48 years ago. And that was just one year after the National American Council and Education developed a national women's network. And that national women's network helped state networks get formed across our nation. And we're founded on the six principles of the national women's network. And that's called ideals, which are to identify, that's number one, number two, develop Encourage, advance, link and support women in higher education. Now, within that context, Dr. Rooker, I'll answer your question and you're already aware of, as well as many of our listeners, the tremendous changes that are taking place in higher education across our country and how our institutions are reviewing, revising and sometimes restructuring themselves to adapt to this rapid change. So within that context, the long term vision, over the next five to 10 years, the Michigan AC Women's Network is to continue to lean into the work of preparing. If I could put that in bold, I would. And supporting. That's my second word I put in bold. Women in higher education in this state as they help lead their institutions through this unprecedented change. And I do want to give credit right now to Dr. Selina Samuel. She is our Senior Vice President of Operations at Lansing Community College and her team at LCC chairs our Michigan ACE Women's Network Annual Conference committee for the year 2025 and next year with 2026. And our theme for next year for 202026 is elevated with the emphasis on the ED at the end. And that is to ascend and transform your world. And that is a bold thing that signals to our members and those who will be coming to attend our annual conference that this is to help prepare them, that what we want to do is help equip our attendees with some of the knowledge and the tools that they will need to do what I had said before. And that is to help support their institutions through this unprecedented period of change.

Fantastic. Yes, thank you for mentioning Dr. Samuel. She is also on the list to interviewing for podcast as well. So we'll make sure that we have her on and talk about the conference for next year too. So can you tell us, Dr. Curry, how does Michigan ACE measure the success in empowering women leaders across the state of Michigan?

Thank you so much for that question, Dr. Rooker, because we have our annual conference that takes place every June and we have well over 300 attendees, women from across the state of Michigan in higher education attend and we survey them at the end of the conference to see what did they like? Well, what would they like to see more of? And we use those results to help inform professional development opportunities that we will provide throughout the year. So that's one of our data sources. Our second data source is for each of our member institutions. We have two institutional representatives for each of the member institutions and what they do every year is they write a report of the work that they have done with their colleagues at their member institution and how that works, supports the state Network and what we can do to help provide them with additional resources. So we take the information we learned from the state conference survey, we take the information we learned from our institutional representative's annual report, and we cross reference them. And that helps guide us into the professional development work that we need to go ahead and continue to pursue to make sure we're staying relevant and we're meeting the needs of our membership. I can tell you, for instance, that our Last survey for 2025 listed our top two sessions at our annual conference. 2025 was one session was Own youn the Secret to Influence Impact and Unstoppable Competence. Another session was Leading for Impact. And so we know that the information that was presented there that our attendees really like and that helps us to be able to keep what our attendees like as well as to add to the things that they would like to see us add more of. And we know that helping our membership to be able to take care of their own selves in the midst of helping their organizations adapt to change, but not losing sight of their own mental health health and their own self care is something that we make sure that we frequently address as well.

That's fantastic. Yeah, those are very effective data sources. Absolutely. And I'm very familiar as I am one of the IRS for Lansing Community College. So I also.

So you can see that we're actually paying attention to the reports that you write.

Absolutely. Yes. That's. That's fantastic. Yeah, that's great. And yes, it's good to know our contributions do definitely help and make a difference for other women in higher education. Absolutely. Well, thank you for that. So are there any emerging trends in higher education or leadership development that Michigan Ace is preparing to address?

I'm going to say, Dr. Rooker, one of the things that we are just inundated with is almost at a breathtaking pace. I mean, we almost have enough time to catch our breath is just the change, the tremendous change that is happening at each of our institutions. And each of our institutions, depending on what type of institution they are, public or private, university or college or community college, is impacting them differently. So what we want to do is to be able to be nimble enough that we can present professional development opportunities for our members, that they can help them, their institutions, adapt to these external changes and still keep students in the center of what we do, which is our institutional mission. So how can we still do that and at the same time help our institutions adapt to the change? But we want to make sure we're keeping students in the center. We want to make sure that emerging trends that we see in higher education, that we make sure that our members are aware of them. But at the same time, Dr. Rooker, what might be an emerging trend this year might all of a sudden change. And so we wanted to make sure that we're able to keep in front of that. I'll say one emerging trend, for instance, is AI. And how is AI impacting our institutions from a leadership level? So we have begun to have professional development in that realm, but knowing that there will be other changes that are taking place in addition to the changes that are happening externally as regulations are changed. That what we want, Dr. Rooker, is for our members not to be afraid, not to be inundated with so much change that you almost say it's just best for me not to do anything but just stand still. We want to equip our members to have the support to have the information, to have the knowledge to know that no one has all the answers. But we want to reassure them that they need to be in the room, that as they're in the room, that they can help their institutions move forward. And we're excited to help our members see that as well as we work with the presidents of each of the institutions, because we want to convey to them that you have here in Michigan ACE Women's Network, an organization that's working very hard to make sure that members of your institution are able to come back to your institution and help your institution.

Oh, excellent. And as we all know, change is constant. Right. And your leaders within Michigan ACE are certainly prepared to address all of those changes and the impact that it affects on our future leaders in higher ed. That's great. Thank you so much. So could you share a recent success story that reflects Michigan ace's evolving mission?

Sure. And remember that I had said among our ideals were to develop and also to support women in higher education. I would think that that's one of the things that we do that happens when we're able to come together, be it by zoom or be it in person, in our different professional development opportunities for women. And so there was, I'm going to say one example was I have a colleague from another institution, a faculty member, was interested in moving into administration. And based on our ideals, those national ideals, I was able to encourage her, support her on her journey, give her practical advice. And this is advice that she received. And when I give it to other members or at our institutions, some gravitate to it and embrace it. Others look at me like I want to do that right now. But this is the advice that I told her, Dr. Rooker. I said, if you really want to get into administration, this is what you do. You go to the administrator that you have access to and you say to that person, the next time that there's an opening on an institutional level committee, I'd like for you to consider me. That's an open ended invitation. You don't know what's going to happen behind that. But so when you say that, what you're signaling to that administrator is, I'm interested in institutional level work and I'm willing to contribute towards a committee. Now, you and I both know that that is one of the things that's like gold at an institution. Finding willing committee members.

Absolutely.

That are willing to engage, that are willing to do their homework and to help at the institution. And I can think of two institutional committees that everyone groans about, and that is strategic planning and also accreditation. But if that person comes through and says, you know what, just think of me when there's an opening for institutional committee, and I'd be interested. I gave this faculty member that advice. She took me up on it. And within two years he was, I'm going to say within the same year she was working on institutional work level committee. The following year she was able to get a position in administration. And now she is preparing to apply for senior executive position. But it got to start not just giving her that advice, but for her listening to say, okay, now what can I do to separate myself from everyone else? And this can be a pain point for a lot of our women leaders that are saying, reba, you mean I have to do this and I'm already doing everything associated with, with my job already and you're asking me to do this additional thing. But if you think about committee work, most of the time is once a month, sometimes biweekly. Those committee meetings last like an hour, maybe 90 minutes. The homework that you have to do, maybe time on task, 30 minutes or 45 minutes. I'm not trying to minimize it, but I'm trying to say the signal that it sends to an administrator that you are ready for institutional level work cannot be underestimated. And so I am so pleased with that. I consider a real success story. And I'm going to say also, she in turn is paying it forward and helping other women at her institution and coaching them and mentoring them in the same way. Oh, that's what I like about Michigan ACE Women's Network is that it is truly a network is not about One person. It's about how we can lean into what our dreams are, what we hope to be able to make an impact at our current institution or even another institution, how we can make that happen. And there's One thing that Dr. Helena Samuel says that I really appreciate. She says, Michigan ACE Women's Network, we help you, boom, where you're planted. I never heard that term before until she said that. Meaning that if you're not interested in moving to the next level position, that's fine, but we can help you be more effective at the position that you're at, be able to have greater influence. And for those that are interested in moving to the next level, up in their career path, then we're interested in helping you as well.

Sure, absolutely.

I hope I answered your question.

Oh, yes, yes. What a success story. And how, how intriguing, how exciting for you to have the opportunity to touch, you know, people's lives like that. And especially when they're right. When they're ready, right, Absolutely.

Yeah.

That's.

Wow.

When they're ready and yes. And at the same time, the Dr. Rooker being cognizant that for some, that's not in their pathway. So there's no shame to that. But how can they continue to grow in their current position and help influence others along the way? So we're all influencers and how can we do that? And do that with enthusiasm, especially as we have a new generation of leaders coming up that are not as seasoned as we are, but they're going to be in the seats that we're in within the next 5, 10, 15 years. So how can we help them?

Right, absolutely. Well, that's fantastic. So can you tell us, Dr. Curry, as State chair, what legacy do you hope to leave behind?

You know what, I appreciate that question. I've been thinking about it really for a long time and I'm just going to say I hope that my legacy can help convey to the women across the state of Michigan that they belong in this space, in this higher ed space. And I would want them to have the confidence that as we work together that they can meet these changing needs of our institutions. Because our institutions are encountering something at such a rapid pace that no one could expect, no one could anticipate, and no one has all the answers for. And they have a right to be in the room and to be co problem solvers along with the rest of the. So first of all, what I hope to leave behind is the legacy of you belong. And second, that the things that we as women bring to our problem solving, which is we bring a global perspective. We also bring an empathy to the issues that we are dealing with and we support one another. So I would like for us to, as members, to see, as part of my legacy, that first of all, we're reinserting students into the dynamic. We're helping our institutions do that, and we are bringing hope to our students and the public that higher education is still a public need for the public good.

Yes. In all our communities. Absolutely. Education is the key.

But, yes. And you know, Dr. Rooker is one thing to say it, it's another thing to actually role model it and do it. And that is where I see that we, as women in Michigan, ACE Women's Network, we can role model confidence. And it doesn't mean we know all the answers, because I'm saying sometimes as women, we tend to be a little timid because we say, well, I don't know all the answers. I can't meet every part of this position description. So this position I'm interested in, well, you don't have to, but bring what you have. And then if there's an area in which there is a shortcoming, and believe me, I have many, then you identify those areas and you put together a game plan to address them.

Absolutely.

And then you still move forward. But just in doing that, Dr. Rooker, we are setting an example. And that's what we want the leaders that come after us to know that there's nothing that they can. So it's not a matter of can I do it or can I not? It's a matter are we willing to put the work in, and are we also willing to not put a timetable on it? Because it may take me longer to develop a particular skill set than it takes you. But that doesn't mean that I should just give up. And that's a legacy I really would like to instill in our membership. And that's a legacy, of course, and we're being smashed in terms of that. Higher education no longer has a place. The public is becoming increasingly disenchanted with us. Well, I think that we can begin to push back against that kind.

Well said. Well said. Thank you so much for sharing that. So what advice would you give future leaders of Michigan, ace, who will carry the torch forward?

I would say to future leaders. And I'm thinking of the generation that is coming up that are probably, I want to say, 10, 15, 20 years behind us, as well as those that are just entering college right now. So that's how I envision the future leaders and the trajectory that they have, first of all, to encourage them to. Higher education is a profession that they can get satisfaction from. It's not a burnout profession. They can get satisfaction from it because you get the thrill of helping to lead your institutions, to help students. As long as we keep our students in the center of what we do, then that's going to help us and reinvigorate us. But I also would ask that future leaders begin to build a personal team of two or three. Doesn't have to be a big group, supportive women and men who will tell you the truth and help you grow to achieve your professional goals. So this one. So when I say two or three supportive folks, they can be women or men, this is someone that's not going to tell you that everything is coming up roses and we just. And, and oh, you're just the best thing since life bread. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about they will tell you the truth, they'll tell it to you gently, sometimes not so gently, but you trust them, that they have your best interest at heart, that they're not trying to tear you down, that we're trying to build you up. And if you develop that personal team that can carry you through the next decade or two of your professional journey, and then should you end up swapping them for someone else? Because as your journey continues, then there is someone else that can help you as you continue to move forward, then that's okay. So I'm saying you don't need a huge team, you don't need five, six, seven or eight, but two or three that you can keep coming back to to say, okay, this is what I'm thinking about. What do you think? What do you think my skill sets are and how do you think I need to improve upon that? Because iron sharpens iron. Notice I said personal team. I didn't really use mentoring because people tend to shy away from that. But you still have those supportive people, people that's going to tell you the truth, help you grow so you can achieve your professional goals. So they're not afraid if you say this is the goal that I have, they don't immediately come back to you or give you a non verbal or verbal that says I don't really think that you're ready for that. Well, yes, you are, because you don't know over the course of how long it's going to take for you to reach that. But it's okay if it takes you five years, if it takes you seven or eight or nine or 10. We want our future leaders to know it's worth it. The journey is worth it. And it's not just achieving the goal at the end. The journey in itself is valuable and teaches you to become the leader that you're ultimately going to be. So leadership is not just something we reach at the end of the journey. We're gaining leadership skills all along the journey. What I also like our young leaders to know, in addition to building that person of two or three supportive people that's going to tell you the truth and help you grow, that I would say to our teacher leaders, first of all, you can do it. Don't put a timetable on it. You can do it. And I would also say that Michigan ACE Women's Network needs you. We need your enthusiasm, we need your new ideas. We need your willingness to look at things over time and to help us as we look at we're going to celebrate 50 years of the network in 2028, and we're depending on our future leaders and the next generations after them to take us to the next 50 years. And so I am hoping and I am excited and I am cheering our future leaders, many of whom we haven't even met yet, cheering them on. And I just want us as Michigan ACE Network to have prepared things in such a way that we can hand it off to them and know we'll be in good hands in the state of Michigan.

Fantastic. That is priceless advice for our future leaders who I'm sure are listening today. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yes, me too. Well, thank you, Dr. Curry, so much for sharing your insight and vision of the future of Michigan ace. It's been so inspiring, inspiring to hear how the organization has grown, how it's adapted and leads the way in empowering women across Michigan's higher ed landscape. Now to our listeners, thank you so much for joining us on Leading the Women in Higher Education. We hope that today's conversation sparked new ideas, offered encouragement, and reminded you of the power of community and leadership. So until next time, I'm Dr. Cynthia Rooker. Thanks for tuning in to Leading the Way Women in Higher Education. Until next time, keep leading, keep learning, and keep lifting others along the way. For more information, please visit lcconnect.com or our webpage at lccwomen Network. Thanks for tuning in to Leading the Way Women in Higher Education. To listen to this episode and others, visit lcconnect.com until next time. Keep leading, keep learning and keep lifting others along the way.

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LCC Connect voices, vibes, Vision Lansing Community College Performing Arts invites you to the Music Faculty Concert and scholarship fundraiser Friday, March 6 A special evening showcasing LCC's music faculty, this concert also serves as a fundraiser supporting the endowed Music Scholarship Fund, helping future students pursue their musical education. Seating is limited. Join us for a dessert reception at 6:30pm followed by the concert at 7pm in the Gannon Building at LCC's downtown campus. For more information, visit LCC.

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