Q: What effect has the pandemic and the marches for racial justice had on Historically Black Colleges and Universities in terms of their visibility?
A: This time in history has been a tough one, but it has been a time that has cast a bright light on needs of this country and the shortcomings regarding racial justice and equality. Simultaneously, a bright light has been cast on these individual bright stars and where the country is making progress and a cadre of heroes and change agents. Where you can find many of these bright stars is on the many HBCU campuses around the country including our own. In a time where the nation is struggling to right itself around issues of race and equity and moving beyond disparities, people can look to HBCUs that have had a long history of overproducing excellence with minimal support. And now across the country, organizations, and the federal government, have been forced to look at why they have not supported HBCUs in the ways they should have, and we can see much is starting to be done to rectify historical neglect. People are looking at NSU and saying this is a place I want to invest in because this is a place that makes a difference in the lives of young people and that they have access to an education which will help them to achieve a better chance in life.
Q: In what ways have those calls for racial equity and justice possibly caused corporations and companies to look at themselves and their diversity and/or recruitment to improve their efforts?
A: There are many specific ways in which corporations are making changes and reaching out to NSU and other HBCUs to partner with us to create the pipeline that has not been there in the past. For example, with Netflix and 2U, a boot camp for our students and our faculty are engaged in the partnership. The students are also highly engaged in the partnership and they are learning the things that they need to know to be prepared for employment at Netflix, IBM, or another corporation. Coding and other activities that they are learning provides them with the tools that really changes their trajectory in life, and equally important is that our students are making real connections with others through these opportunities. There are so many other entities that have appeared and stepped forward to say we wantto be your partner, we want to engage with NSU, and engage with your students. And we also want to share what many other students in other institutions receive because they are always engaged with those organizations. The opportunity to be identified by MacKenzie Scott as an institution thathadthe leadership that she felt could be trusted to create transformational opportunities with a major gift of $40 million speaks volumes to who we are at Norfolk State University.
Q: Norfolk State University has entered a number of partnerships over the past several months. What are the advantages for our students, faculty, and the corporations?
A:We’ve had $5.8 million in partnerships: Apple, Netflix, 2U, Microsoft, IBM, Dominion Energy, Virginia Natural Gas, Diageo, Sandia National Labs, United Negro College Fund, etc. What they do is they transform the experiences of our students through financial assistance or experiential learning; that is really important and substantive. These organizations are helping to open doors that otherwise would not be available. If you are new to a system, new to higher education, or may be first generation, you need to know some things that others who have had continued experiences already know. Sometimes, students do not know how or what questions to ask because they have not had those experiences. Our responsibility is to ensure that our students have the access and the tools so that they know what questions to ask, but also what ways to demonstrate that they have had experiences outside of these walls and have experienced the real world and are a top candidate for whatever they want to accomplish next in their lives. To me it makes sense that corporate America is starting to recognize the challenge – that a significant segment of our population does not have the opportunity to demonstrate how they can contribute and that this can hurt corporations unless they take an active posture in helping students to be career ready in the occupations needed. Corporations must invest in the talent and there is no place better to do that than HBCUs.
Q: How can Norfolk State University continue to maintain as well as expand its visibility among corporations as time goes on?
A: One thing that I know for sure is that corporations are always looking at is return on investment. So, we must maintain a standard of excellence and we must support our students in their excellence because they are going to be our product. They are going to be visible representatives and representations of what NSU can and is producing. That representation will be a large part of the success of these programs which will only compel these corporations to keep coming back to NSU and the NSU pipeline of talented students.
As we continue to develop and support our brand and highlight the strengths of NSU, our excellence, the programs that we have, the students that we have, the faculty that we have, the staff that we have, then we will be identified as an institution that is on the move. When Pharrell Williams comes and says I am getting ready to implement the Black Ambitioninitiative, thatis important for us because that tells people that NSU is a place you might want to look at. We have many new things on our horizon, new opportunities, and new ways of being. We’re leveraging our contacts all the time. The more corporate partners we have, the bigger our portfolio of opportunities and development. That is how we frame the hard transformation work that we do every day.
Dr. Adams-Gaston’s thoughts on the $40 million gift from MacKenzie Scott
The first gift from MacKenzie Scott started with conversations with her representatives. We talked about who we are and what we are about. They were looking at 6200 organizations of which 340 actually received funding, so it was not just happenstance. I loved that she looked broadly at the HBCU world. For us, this was a pivotal event because it showcased the type of higher education organization that we are. As a result, you saw the interest, care, and the investment into this institution and all that we are doing to support student success. Equally important is you saw their belief in us that we will be the greatest stewards of these funds and use them to support our students’ academic and professional endeavors.
It is an important time in the life of Norfolk State University, to be one of those institutions selected, and to be recognized as having the ability to have the tools and effort to move the University forward. Ultimately, I want for our students to get the most out of their own investment of money and time. I want their tuition to ensure that they had a successful experience at this institution and that they are prepared for whatever they are going to do next be it graduate or professional school or a job. And if a job is the next step, I want to ensure that they are first-day ready when they walk in the door – and they need to be ready. We want our students to have internships to help them to be first day ready. No student should leave NSU without an internship or an international experience which adds significant value to a college experience. It does not have to be a full semester abroad as there are many ways to have quality international experiences that are life altering but something that exposes them to other cultures and systems. Such experiences widen their gaze and vantage point. We are looking at the ways we can transform the experience of students so that they are competitive, that they are excellent, and that they are exposed as they go to the next step. That is our underlying mission at NSU.