Hey, hey, hey. This is Lisa A. And you're listening to Who's That Star? On LCC Connect at Lansing Community College. Who's That Star is a behind the scenes show where I sit down and talk with the employees at the college. This is an inside look at LCC where you have a chance to learn about their passions, projects and what inspires them both in their work and personal lives. I'm your host, Lisa Alexander and I'm so excited to get a chance to talk to all the people who make LCC great. This show is for you to get to know the people that work at Lansing Community College a little bit more and see what makes them tick. Are you ready? Okay, let's find out Who's That Star. I'm really excited about today's guest. I have known her since kindergarten. She is a Lansing native and a proud product of the Lansing School District. She attended Lansing Sexton High School and went on to attend at Michigan State University. After graduating from MSU, this star began her career in service as an outreach worker for Ingham County Health Department. She also worked for the Lansing School District as an at risk youth counselor. This was the ignition point for her to start her life for empowering students to succeed. After a while, our star returned to school to earn a Master's degree. After graduating, she went to work for Olivet College. For more than seven years, she served as an Associate Dean for Student Resource Center. She joined LCC in 2015 as an associate Dean in the Health and Human Service Division. In that time, she was a leader in starting the Medical Assistance Apprenticeship and Neurodiagnostic Technology programs. Member of Becoming Visible, a partnership between Sparrow, McLaren, Greater Lansing MSU, LCC and the Lansing School District. The purpose of the program is to draw young women of color into a healthcare career through community events and mentoring programs. In June of 2018, she was appointed as Interim Dean of Student Affairs. In December of 2018, she was officially appointed as Dean. This Star possesses over 23 years in education experience, 12 at the post secondary level. Are you ready to learn who's today's star? Drum roll please. Our star is Rhonda Miller, dean of student affair. Rhonda, it's so great to have you on the show.

Thank you.

I want to know about Rhonda. I know about Rhonda, but I want other people to know about Rhonda. Can you tell me a little bit about who you are and what is important to you in your life right now?

Absolutely. So you heard in the intro that I am from Lansing. I graduated from JW Sexton. I grew up on the west side.

West side. It's the best side.

Yes, it was. It still is. I have, I guess, never liked school, which is surprising that I work in education. I have wonderful teachers. We had some of the same teachers growing up in elementary and junior high. Even though you went to Everett.

Yeah. I had to make that switch from Dwight Rich and went to Gardner. But you got to blame my mom and them for that. Yeah.

I'm so sorry for you, but I just. I have wonderful teachers. And I'm sure you did, too, once you went your separate way. But all of them made me feel like I mattered to them. And even though I didn't like school, I did well because I didn't want to let them down. I also didn't want to let my parents down.

Right.

So, yeah, I had a great K12 experience. Made a lot of friends. Friends that I still have now, like you. What's important to me is my family. I have three children. I have three grandsons. Love them to death. I want the best for my kids and my grandkids, just like everybody else does.

Right.

And then my job. I feel totally blessed to have this position. As you mentioned in the intro, I was an interim dean. And I remember when they asked me about it, I had goosebumps. And that is. That's a true story because I've always liked working with students, and student affairs would be, like, the perfect place for me. So when they asked me if I would serve as interim, I was so excited. And then to be appointed was a great, wonderful opportunity. And so the passion that I feel for this job, it lives in me 24 7. I wake up every day excited to come to work. Every day is different, and I just enjoy what I do well.

That's cool. I definitely get an opportunity to see you, you know, shine in regards to your care for our students here at LCC. You want them to have the best experience possible, and you're trying to do things to make that happen. And so I really appreciate that. As someone that works for you, I'm glad to follow you as a leader. So I'm thankful for that.

Thank you.

How do you find your passion and advocacy playing a role in your positions at LCC?

So my passion is found when I interact with students. So a lot of times during high peak, when we have a lot of students in the star zone, I just go out and start talking to them.

Just happy to be out there.

I don't tell them who I am. I Just want to know how, how are they doing, what are they here for? You know, just finding out if they have children with them, what their kids names are. I just love that. That is so empowering for me. And so that is my passion, the driver and then the advocacy role is me taking back what I hear from students, what I hear from staff, and taking it to senior leadership and finding ways that we can implement initiatives or policy changes that will impact positively, of course, students. So that, that's kind of where the passion and the advocacy are in my life.

Well, you can also hear too from your experience when you were coming up, you didn't like school, but you want people to like school now, you know what I'm saying? So you make a. That's a good experience, I think, to carry with you so that way you can be like, oh, I remember why I didn't like this and what can I do to change? You know that. I think that's cool.

Yeah, I try to see things through a student lens all the time instead of an administrator's lens. It just gives you a different perspective. And also the way that we communicate with students, sometimes we get caught up in our own business speak and our own words. Yep. Alphabet soup of acronyms. So, you know, I really try to look at it from their vantage point so that we can make well rounded decisions, but also asking them, not just deciding, like, I think this is what students want or need.

Yeah, no, I agree. I think that's cool. My next question is what really lights you up and makes you excited in your life and what does that look like in your life? And I can see when you talk about students, that's one of the things that light you up. I don't mean to take it from you, but you can see it visually that that's important. It is.

So yeah, that's what lights me up is just dealing with students and that is my excitement. I mean, obviously my family does the.

Same thing because them grandbabies excite. Excite you too.

Love the grandkids.

What, don't you have two new ones?

I do. I have a 10 month old and a soon to be eight month old.

And then you're.

And then I have a 12 year old.

Yeah, your 12 year old. That was your first one around.

I call him og. He's the original grandson.

That's right. Yeah, I know that those are things that light you up. One of the things that light me up is Julian. That Julian worked for us in academic advising. And that's Rhonda's son. And he is a super great guy. So I wanted to shout out Julian.

And today is his birthday.

Happy birthday, Julian. Okay, Rhonda, do you live by any piece of advice or a motto?

I do. Maya Angelou has a quote that goes, people will forget what you say. People will forget what you do, but people will never forget how you made them feel. And that's me all day long. People are always gonna forget what I say to them. I mean, I hope not, but, you know. But they won't forget how I made them feel. Listened to, cared for, engaged, all of those positive attributes. And that's basically my model, my creed.

Right, yeah. No, I agree. I follow that, too. I think that sometimes with students, they may not get it the first time, but they know, they feel comfortable to come back and talk to me. And so a repetition works, just getting them coming back. So making people feel good is definitely a good thing. So I know you do a lot as the dean, and I'm gonna ask you, like, what does a day in a life look like for the dean at some point? Because I think that's interesting and people may not necessarily know. I pretty have. I have an idea of what it is. Probably a whole bunch of meetings. But I just want people to hear that. But what's your favorite way to unwind?

My favorite way to unwind is I love to read and usually fiction. It's just a good escape for me. I enjoy, like, over the holiday breaks, finding a great book and just reading straight through. Yeah, I also enjoy baking, which is like my love language.

Okay, so I don't know about this love language. I must have been missing out, because how do I not know that you enjoy baking? And, I mean, I work with you all the time. I don't see any baked goods. Are you just giving them to the grandkids?

And I just. I haven't really been baking a lot since the pandemic. I mean, other than Christmas cookies. But for whatever reason, the pandemic kind of threw me off. And if I bake a lot means I'm going to eat a lot of sweets, which means I'm going to put on extra weight.

You can share, you know, that's a good thing. And with Christmas coming up, holidays, that would be so nice to have some sugar cookies that have frost in there. And I'm just throwing them out there, you know, in case that's your way to unwind. I want to help you.

Okay.

I want to help you in wine.

You're going to help me?

Yes, I do so what is some of the best advice that you have learned in your life so far?

That it's okay to make mistakes, that you learn from mistakes. I mean, obviously, killing somebody, right, that's not a mistake that you should be learning from, but it's okay to make mistakes. And sometimes you have to start from the bottom and work your way back up. And people who know me know that I had my first child when I was a junior at MSU, and I dropped out, not only because I had a kid, but because I was doing terribly academically. I just. I didn't care about school at that point. And so at some point in my life, you know, when she was maybe a year old, I started thinking, this is just not what I was designed to do. And I also wanted to be a role model to her. I was a single mom. I just didn't want to check all the boxes. Like that was what was expected of me to be uneducated, to be a single mom. And I decided to go back to school and finish my degree, although because my grades were so crap, they had suspended me or recessed me, and I had to write a letter to whomever explaining what I was going to do differently. And I did. I thought about what I was going to do differently, and I was different. When I went back, when it happened, I went to every class. That was a change. I asked questions. I went to office hours. I met with my academic advisor for the first time. My junior year, I was determined to finish school, and I also had to work at nights cleaning buildings at MSU. So I worked on a cleaning crew from 9 to 1 in the evenings. And then I would get up and take my daughter to daycare. I live with my parents, so I get her to go to bed, and then I go work and then come home, sleep, get up, take her to daycare, go to class, pick her up from daycare. I was just like, yeah. So when I graduated, my particular college used Wharton center for their commencement. And as I was walking across the stage, I heard her. She was maybe three or four, and she's like, yay, Mommy. And I just thought, yep, this is what I did it for.

Yep. Made it worth it. And, you know, in that story. Thank you for sharing that. It just lets people know that things can happen, but you can bounce back. And that's what it sound like you did turbo bounce back. Because, you know, once you have go. You go through something and then you think about it and you make a decision, and that's what you did like. And you can see those steps and how what someone could call a mistake. We don't. I don't think children are a mistake. I don't think. I mean, maybe the timing wasn't the best, but it just. It worked, you know, it helped you to do what you needed to do.

Yeah, it did. Absolutely. And so when I meet with single moms or mothers in general here at school, I always talk to them and let them know, like, I was in your shoes at one point, and if I can make it, you can make it. Because there were times when it was just like, I didn't see success or an end in sight. It seemed like every time it was finals week, my daughter would be sick and I'd be up all night with her. But thankfully, I had professors at MSU who basically took notice of me. And, like, I have one come up to me and say, you look like crap. But he didn't say crap. He like, you need to go home. You can take this test next week.

Wow.

Yeah. Yeah. They were really good about helping me, and I'm so grateful to that particular college and their instructors because I was tired. She was, like, I said, sick, you know, sick every time it was finals. Any other time, she's great, right?

No, but that. That empathy for you, you know, that your instructors had, that was like, okay, it's. It's a week later to take that test, but how much better you could have done in that week, you know what I'm saying? So I think that's great, and I think that's a story that should be told. Right?

Yeah. I actually, the former provost of MSU was at an event that I was participating in a couple years ago, and I walked up to her, she was my advisor, and I told her how she made a difference in my life. And she just looked so touched. And I feel like if I want to acknowledge people and thank them for what they've done for me, and I pretty much wanted her to know that she had changed my life.

Yeah, man, that's a great story. And sound like. And look at you today. So what is your favorite quality about yourself and how does that quality show in the day to day?

Well, I think I'm funny.

I think you're funny, too.

But my kids will say, mom, you're not funny. But, you know, I just try to not take everything so serious. Like, you know, there are some serious issues and there are ways to address them, but sometimes it's okay to see the lighter side. And I know there's been situations not just Here at LCC. But in some of my other jobs where it's just been really stressful and co workers are stressed and, you know, I'll say something like, you know, sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. And then I try to say something to try to change the mood. You know, I just try to find joy in the things that I do because it's easy to always look for the negative and complain for sure. But you gotta look at what's in front of you and all the things that you have that are positive.

Yeah. And you are funny. And I do think that that is a good quality about you. I just remember you making me laugh from. We went to the same church and I would laugh at you or you would say something and you would pick with my mom. My mom loves you a lot. And you would always come up to her and say her first name back when we weren't supposed to say it. And, you know, you just. She liked that they used to tickle her too. So definitely your humor is a great quality that I see in your day to day. Thank you. So I know we kind of jumped around, but I know that you're the Dean of Student Services, but is that.

Your official title, Dean of Student Affairs?

Okay, Dean of Student Affairs. And can you explain to me like in one sentence what your job is?

My job is to make sure that the college provides support services for students to be successful inside and outside the classroom.

All right, good job. Now can you tell me what you really do? Like, what does it look like in a day to day.

Oh, man, let's see. Day to day, it is a lot of meetings. You know, it's really about figuring, determining where we need to go as an institution. So not just staying stagnant and doing the things that we've always done, but looking forward and finding those new best practices to bring to the institution, making sure we have appropriate staff, training, students. So the pandemic has made enrollment wonky, Right. Not just for LCC, but for most nationally.

Yeah.

Yes. So trying to get out and ahead of what that looks like. And just for me, honestly, as being a Lansing native and never coming to LCC, for one thing, when we were growing up.

Right. Me neither. And that's funny, that's crazy because we.

Did not live far away from here at all.

No, I know.

So I remember when I came here for my job interview, I'd never been in a building at LCC that I can remember. And I was blown away with the facilities.

Right. It's beautiful.

Oh, My God, it's better than a lot of four year institutions.

Yeah, no, a lot of people, when they come to our campus, that's one of the first things that they notice. Just how nice it looks, how well taken care of it is. It's just groomed. It looks good.

Yeah, it does. And so part of my job too is to make sure that the community is aware of not only our presence, but what we have to offer in terms of certificates and degrees and transferability. So that's really my job in a nutshell.

Yeah, I know you talked about, you had, I think in the beginning when I introduced you, it talked about like what jump started you, your passion for empowering students. But you had worked in healthcare a little, didn't you?

For the health department. Yes.

But also you were a doula.

I tried to be a postpartum doula. And that was based on understanding that women need help after they have children. There is no instruction manual that is specific to each baby that's born. And especially for first time mothers, you don't know what to expect. And one thing that they don't teach you, or maybe they do now, but it takes nine months to build your body up to sustain a life inside of you. So this hormone and whatever else that is sustaining that life and then within 20 to 44 to 48 hours after childbirth, all of those hormones drop. And that's why some women experience postpartum depression, or the blues as they were called when we were growing up. Nobody talks about the fact that your breasts hurt when you're trying to breastfeed on TV and the movies that look.

Like, or if you can or can't, you know.

Right, that too. In the movies they just hand you your baby and it latches on and everybody's all happy. It's not like that. So. So I've always wanted to work with women to support them. So a postpartum doula can come into the home, help out with chores around the house, can do grocery shopping, but also support the mom. Like helping with positioning when they're breastfeeding. Now, not to take place of a lactation consultant, but you know, just helping a mom, having that person for her to talk to, also bringing in information, pamphlets or leaflets, whatever, connecting them to resources in the community if they have other children, helping them to balance their time out, allowing them to get that daytime nap if needed. So yeah, that was something that I was very passionate about doing. My oldest daughter would be great in that. She works in healthcare. She works on a mother baby floor that would be a great role for her. But unfortunately, insurance companies don't pay for.

It and gotta have private pay. People that can do private pay or.

Do it voluntarily, which I did not have a problem doing at all.

That's cool. I just think. I thought that was so cool. And I just thought that that also plays a part in your background of providing care.

Oh, yeah.

And then you provide care now in just maybe a macro sense as far as with our students and the whole college, but it's still providing care. And I can see that connection has been through your life where you've wanted to help and serve people. Well, we're almost done, Rhonda, but I got one more question for you. And I want to know what you would like your legacy to be at LCC.

That is such a good question. Because I think, honestly, when I'm gone, and hopefully I just mean gone from the institution, like retired, not right. But I'd be, you know, maybe when I'm dead, too. People that remember me as someone who was just real and approachable and caring and willing to do whatever was in my power to make something happen. Yeah, I just. I don't know. I think that that would be the most important thing to me is, I mean, it'd be great to have like some program that I came up with and have it named after me.

That'd be cool, right?

But it's like that Maya Angelou quote. It's like, how did you make people feel? That's what people are going to remember.

Exactly.

And so my legacy is that I hope my legacy will be that I was a dean who cared about the students, the staff, and the institution as a whole.

I think you will be remembered as that. And I appreciate you taking time out of your day because I know you're busy for coming on Who's That Star? And I just. I'm excited. I'm glad I could talk to you more, but I won't drag it out and they'll be like, oh, my gosh, this is going on forever. But no, I think you're a great person. I think that you care about LCC and the students here and the staff. So thanks, Rhonda. I just appreciate you taking the time to come on here.

I appreciate you and you're a wonderful person and you've been a great friend for 40 something. We don't want to say that.

We don't tell our ages, but. Yeah, no. You've been listening to Who's That Star? I'm Lisa A. And you can listen to this episode of Who's That Star? and other shows from LCC Connect anytime online at LCCconnect.org thank you for listening. Catch me next time to find out Who's That Star.