ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Last July, a new president took over the helm at Bay College. Now, President Dr. Nerita Hughes is reflecting on her first year in office, her accomplishments, and her goals for the years ahead.
As she approaches her first anniversary at Bay College on July 10, Dr. Hughes says there is one achievement she is most proud of.
“Coming here and trying to change the culture,” she said. “I come from a mindset that’s really—you all have heard me use this word before—‘radical imagination.’ So how do we really go back to our ‘why’? What happened when you got that phone call from Bay and they said. ‘We want to hire you’? How do we maintain that mindset?”
At her inauguration in November, Dr. Hughes emphasized her focus on increasing enrollment by 3% over the next three years. Eight months later, says Bay College is trending in that direction, thanks in part to Bay’s efforts to strengthen relationships with the local workforce.
“One of the things that I knew very quickly is that we didn’t have a lot of strong connections with our business and industry partners,” said Hughes. “If you look at why people come to community colleges, [there are] three reasons. They’re coming because, one, they want to transfer to a four-year institution. Two, they want to be able to say, ‘I’m working but I need to level up,’ and they’re going to do it from a career laddering perspective. The third reason is because, ‘I need to get into a job, so I need my educational attainment in order for me to move to the next level.”
Dr. Hughes said faculty and staff presented Bay’s top ten programs to the board, allowing them to review data regarding enrollment, student retention, and student completion. One way she says the college is growing enrollment is by making education more accessible for certain types of students.
“We’re focusing in on our adult learner population because that’s kind of a missed population,” Dr. Hughes explained. “We are also looking at our programs. Are these the right programs that we should still be offering at Bay? Or what are some programs that we should be offering that, for whatever reason, we haven’t done that in the past.”
Other initiatives under Dr. Hughes serve to make processes smoother for students. As of July 1, an administrative restructuring is in place. Rather than having two academic vice presidents, administrators have taken on new titles including, vice president of academic affairs and educational equity, vice president of workforce innovation and strategic partnerships, and vice president of student affairs and enrollment management.
Earlier this year, the names of Bay College’s campuses were also changed from the “Main Campus” and “Bay College West” to “Bay College Escanaba” and “Bay College Iron Mountain.” Dr. Hughes says this makes identifying each campus simpler for students, particularly incoming freshmen.
“There was a lot of conversation though,” she said. “I wanted to make sure that this wasn’t just Dr. Hughes’ idea. It was really, ‘How do we get the community to buy into why we want to make these specific changes, and what will that do for our students?'”
Dr. Hughes and administrators also recently completed Bay’s strategic plan, which will be revealed in the fall.
“I’m super excited to basically say, ‘Here are the five pillars that we’re looking at for Bay College,'” said Hughes. “It’s going to help us move to the next level.”
Dr. Hughes spent her first 90 days on the job on a listening tour, during which she developed important relationships with faculty and staff, students, and community members. Although that 90-day period has ended, she says her efforts to listen and learn have not. She continues to discuss important issues with the Bay College community as she looks forward.
“I’m still hearing information around communication and transparency,” Dr. Hughes said. “We’re trying to be transparent about any changes that we’re making. The reason why I am making some of those main changes, specifically on the student services side, is because the same thing that I heard from students is the same thing that I heard in these four walls—our streamlining process did not work. They didn’t know who they should be talking to. How do we make it so it’s more like a one-stop?”
In the years to come, Dr. Hughes says she is dedicated to furthering the improvement of communication and transparency, as well as continuing to listen and learn in order to help Bay College be the best it can be.
“I’m constantly going to listen,” she said. “I’m constantly going to make changes because change is constant. In order for this institution to grow, we can’t stay stagnant. As we’re hearing what people are saying, we’ve got to make sure that we can make that change so that we are moving down the right path of a growth mindset.”
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