Lester Rapalo (Rockland Community College) on The Evolving Community College to Build Strong Communities

On today’s episode of the Illumination by Modern Campus podcast, host Amrit Ahluwalia was joined by Lester Rapalo to discuss the evolving expectations of learners and how community colleges can become more sustainable with a student-centred environment. 

Transcript

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Amrit Ahluwalia (00:03):

Lester, welcome to the Illumination Podcast. It's great to be chatting with you.

Lester Rapalo (00:06):

Thank you. Thank you so much for the space. Thank you for the opportunity, and so I'm honored and humble to spend these minutes with you. I know that you have a lot in your place, so thank you for the opportunity.

Amrit Ahluwalia (00:16):

Well, we're going to have a fun conversation and well congratulations. To start off, you were appointed as president of Rockland Community College in July. How's that transition process been over the past few months?

Lester Rapalo (00:27):

The transition has been amazing. I have had the opportunity to work with the board. I have a very supportive board that is helping me. I have the pleasure to connect with faculty, staff and adjuncts, and also with the students. That's the whole purpose that I'm here. I engage what I call the Learning Listening Tour. So basically every week I meet with members of the community. Some of those members are elected officials, some of them are students, some of them are faculty, staff, adjuncts. And that gives me a perspective of what things are working, what things we need to change or modify, and just to have an opportunity to learn more about the county, learn more about the institution, learn more about the D N A to what makes Rockland Rockland. And I can tell you everywhere where I go, people speak very, very highly of the institution itself, and they also speak very highly of the faculty and staff. So I'm very thrilled. I'm honored, and specifically having been the first Latino president to be chosen for this role, it comes with a heavy load. But I can tell you that I have a very supportive team that is willing to help me, and I'm here for the students and we are here collectively for the students. So I'm beyond static and beyond happy.

Amrit Ahluwalia (01:53):

Absolutely. Well, yeah, I mean, you've been a leader in the post-secondary space for, I don't want to age you, but for a few decades at this point. You've led it at a variety of different kinds of institutions. Over the course of your career, how have you seen the higher ed space and more specifically the community college space evolve?

Lester Rapalo (02:14):

I'm glad that you asked that question. I know I'm preaching to the choir, and I know you know this. We have to understand that higher education has evolved throughout many years, and our students are becoming more diverse. Our faculty are becoming more diverse, and yet the funding in some states, it's not where it needs to be. And also there are internal layers in internal politics that play it into effect, especially when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion. And for community college per se, we have to understand that the first community college, if I'm not mistaken, was founded in 1901, and that was Joliet at the University of Chicago. And since then, it evolved and it provided opportunity for the veterans after the World War II when they came back to United States. And that was a huge catalyst to help to create a strong middle class.

(03:17):

And now, obviously many years later, we have transformed basically the landscape of our students, our needs, our employers workforce is becoming more and more present than ever in many states. And I would say across the sector. And ironically enough, when many, many years ago, are you talking about more than 30, 40 years? Some institutions, for example, in cuny, cuny, the tuition was free basically in some instance. Now, tuition has increased a little bit more. And I say ironically enough because our student body is more diverse and we know that they come from very low household income, and we need to make sure that we are here to support them. When it comes to programs, we have evolved tremendously. We have been able to provide really great programs that not only compete nationally but also internationally and also transfer. For example, let's take Rockland as an opportunity right now to discuss this topic.

(04:26):

We have an excellent honors program that we transfer students to M I t, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, at a fraction of what students will pay if they decided to do those two first years at those institutions. So not only are students compete and they have the soft skills and the linguistic skills to compete, but also they actually, in some cases, they outperform some of the students and it doesn't cost the state a lot of money. And that's the kicker, right? So imagine how much we can do with a little bit more support, with a little bit more money if we creating good top quality individuals. I can see it with our alumnis. I can see it with our students, and I can see it where our students go to. These are really good tier one institutions that we're talking about. So higher education as a sector has evolved, and I'm happy with that evolution. But I also think that just like any other sector, we need to speed up that transformation. I think that think about, for example, the business community, the business world, they have involved very fast. I think the higher education needs to borrow some of that speed and be more innovative and more created if we truly want to not only compete, but if we really want to create a very strong human capital for this great country of ours.

Amrit Ahluwalia (06:04):

It's so interesting. Strike that balancing act because on the one hand, the college serves the community. The college has a responsibility to serve the community, and we all know the multiplier effect of every dollar invested in a community college and the impact that has. I think it's sixfold on the community, but we also recognize the reality of the fact that our funding models are based on degree enrollments as a starting point, which isn't necessarily representative of the students that are coming through and

(06:36):

Coming has been in a state of decline for the better part of a decade and a half now. Exactly. I'm curious as a college leader in this challenging environment with the recognition of the need to serve the community, but at the same time the awareness of the realities of the current funding model, how important is it to start establishing a new approach to business management to ensure that the college has the operating funds it needs to serve, the learners it needs to serve when you can't necessarily be reliant on public or state funding to make up that gap?

Lester Rapalo (07:10):

I'm glad that, that's an excellent question. I'm going to answer that question in two segments. The first one to your question, I think that is crucial now more than ever, that community colleges take the responsibility to start generating income, to start generating more income so they can become more sustainable. They obviously will welcome all the help that state, but I think that we have to start being more creative and start thinking outside the box. Thinking about grants. For example, here at Rockland Community College, since 2019 until now, we have received close to $22 million in grants. And the idea is to expand that and grow that. So to your point, it's crucial. It really, really is. Now, if we look at the state level, we have to demand equity funding for New York Community Colleges to empower every student. Just to give you an idea, this is data that you can look up on the website roughly right now from direct tax support for the state, the state of New York funds about $19,000 and $136 for community four year institution.

(08:26):

However, that funding goes down drastically to community college. We only get $5,482 for community college. So $19,000 in change for a four year institution, to your point, to your questionary, and now $5,000 for community college. So the difference is abysmal, right? And I'm just talking about New York. I'm sure that the listeners there, they're probably thinking, whoa, what about my state? And I encourage them to look at this data and look at the numbers, because at the end of the day, this is the only way as you and I know that we can make strong arguments and with data and say, Hey, last year you provided X amount of dollars for the four year institution. What about us two community college? And obviously we're happy with the Pell Grants, we happy with all the help that the local electoral officials provide. But the equity piece gap, it's there and it's palpable. You can see touch it. I mean, I can see it in our students. We have students or R C C that are homeless. We have students and we, we have a food pantry that every day we have students literally go and pick up food. So these are students that are, they're doing great in school, they're doing, they have a really strong G P A, but that is the reality that we're facing.

(09:59):

And we love them. I care for them. Our faculty care for them, our student, our staff care for them. But imagine what can we do if we get more funded? And at the end of the day, we are creating human capital. I always say that.

Amrit Ahluwalia (10:16):

Absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about what learners actually expect from their college. Obviously, we've seen a title shift in the way that learners in their colleges interact. Certainly since covid, how would you characterize the relationship between learners and their community college? How has their expectation as students and as customers shifted over the past few years?

Lester Rapalo (10:40):

Absolutely. I think that from what I can see on what I've seen in my careers, students are demanding lower tuition. And I think that's part of the reason why community college now more than ever, have become more relevant among middle class families. They demanding more scholarships. They demanded better transfer agreements to a four year institutions. They want better technology software that they can use. Programs that are not only help them to get a job, but programs that if they want to transfer, they can continue with a four year degree. Just to give you an idea, our nursing program, R C c, the nclex, it's about 99%. So they haven't even finished the nursing program and they got a job already. Our business students, our business programs are really good. They have great transfer agreement. And actually, as a matter of fact, when I started here at R C C, I wanted to leverage that connection of international outreach.

(11:53):

As you and I know, our parents competed regionally, our generation competed nationally. Our student's generation now, whether they're a four year institution or two year institution, they're competing globally. And I don't think that it's going to stop anywhere. I think that in the near future, we are going to have an applicant in United States, whether they live in California or in Hackensack, New Jersey, or if they live in New York City, and they're going to have to be applying for the same job that someone perhaps in India or Honduras or Puerto Rico is looking at that. And most likely, those individuals and those students are going to have very similar soft skills. So we have to make sure that we prepare students for that international labor market. So for sure, I think that, to answer your question, definitely tuition transfer small classes. That's something that the students want better technology advising. And believe it or not, they want scholarships for us. Definitely. They understand the meaning of what can scholarships can do for themselves and for their life. And that's something that I'm working with the foundation board to increase our allocation to students with help.

Amrit Ahluwalia (13:16):

What fascinates me about this shifting landscape, what learners are expecting is that so much of it comes down to meeting an expectation for transparency. The institution is promising, or at least is

Lester Rapalo (13:32):

Proposing

Amrit Ahluwalia (13:33):

A pathway for an individual to climb the socioeconomic ladder to achieve a level of self-actualization, but then also to get a pathway, a very clear pathway to the labor market. And I think so much of that comes back to, well, how are we displaying our catalog? How are we making it easy for students to access rockland.edu and find the right course for them? It is kind of incredible to me that you mentioned the agility of the business world earlier, and it comes to almost a central question around student centricity. When you think about overcoming some of the obstacles that we've outlined, especially around resource constrained, the resource constrained nature of the modern community college, how do you create a more student-centric environment, both inside and outside the classroom, while navigating the challenges of some of these resource constraints?

Lester Rapalo (14:31):

Yes, it is complex. It's complex because I think that our students know and remember, they're so interconnected. They talk to their friends on Facebook, they use different media outlets. So when they look for college, it is almost like they go window shopping, right? They're like, Hey, let me see what this institution has to offer. So I think that that puts a lot of pressure on us to make sure that we have, to your point, a very healthy curriculum, that we have great agreements for students to transfer. And also it helps the faculty to understand that even though we are preparing students for the future, in some cases, we are preparing students for jobs that they don't even exist yet. So think about artificial intelligence. Think about supply chain management, think about robotics, the chip maker. Think about all these different elements that are coming, the blockchain technology that is about to burst or birds in some cases. I mean, we have to be innovative and we have to think outside the box, and we have to make sure that we don't only prepare students for the current label market, but also help them to explore what is coming because it going to be, it is a revolution, if you will, and transformation of both the employer sector and the academy as a whole. So we have to keep up with the pace, and we have to make sure that we provide the right soft skills so they can become agents of change. Absolutely.

Amrit Ahluwalia (16:16):

So what's your vision for the college as you think about where rocklands going to go over the next five, five years, 10 years, and how do you plan to engage your key stakeholders, your faculty, your staff, and your students to realize that vision?

Lester Rapalo (16:30):

Thank you. I can tell you that having been a tenured faculty member, I understand how to engage faculty from the shared governance perspective. I think that is crucial. I think that help us to understand and have a healthy discussion. It's not them against us. It's all of us together for the welfare of the student. Having chair many committees from assessment committee to diversity equity inclusion committee, I think that it's important to, and you mentioned it earlier, how to foster and nurture a transparent process. I think that when transparency, it's on the table and faculty and students and adjuncts can see it, it holds both parties accountable. It holds me accountable as their leader, and it holds them accountable to say, Hey, he's actually showing us if we have a budget deficit, he's showing us the books. He's showing us what's happening, and be very, very transparent on how to communicate the change.

(17:41):

It's not that people don't like changes or they don't like change, it's that they put them in a very difficult situation where that is related to them directly. So how do we deconstruct that philosophy or that mentality that change is not good. We have to change. We have to be involved. So my vision for R C C, and I always say this to my faculty and our colleagues and staff and our students, is that having had the opportunity to work at the Valencia College when I was there, they won the Aspirin Prize for being the best community college in the nation. And having tracked the work and see the work of Union County College under the leadership of Dr. McManon, having worked in CUNY under the leadership of fellow maths, several four year institutions have been nominated for the as Aspirin Prize. They haven't won, but they have been contenders.

(18:39):

And look at the work of Amarillo College in Texas, I believe they won this year to be the best community college in the nation, and also Imperial Valley College in Southern California. So what did these colleges have in common? They're very, very student centered. They create an entire ecosystem that helps students to get them to the finish line and help them to transfer to a four year institution. I'm not saying that other institutions are not doing it. I'm not saying that we are not doing it, but there are ways and there are mechanisms that we have to put in place to improve. There's always room for improvement. That's something that I would love to do, obviously create new programs. I mentioned artificial intelligence. I mentioned business, Bloomberg, I mentioned expand. Our nursing program. For example, just to give you an idea, our nursing program this semester, we received over 500 applications.

(19:36):

And because our space, we were only able to accommodate a hundred students. So we basically lost about 400 qualified students that could have easily been in our program. So obviously every president will say, oh my God, that is crazy. You're losing so much enrollment. And they're right. Absolutely right. But for me, I'm taking the other approach, right? Yes, it kills me. It's painful that we have lost those students. But I'm also thinking about the human side, the society side. We have a series program in this country about our nursing shortage. And yes, right, we have here, our students are basically banging on our doors and say, we want to be in your program. They're qualified students. And for a space, we are not able to get them. So my role, my mission, my desire, my hope, and what I'm going to do with our faculty and staff and with the board, is to expand our nursing program because it helps with enrollment one, but most importantly, it helps us, all of us, because eventually all of us get sick.

(20:41):

So it helps with the nursing shortage. So those are examples that I can give you. And obviously when the Excelencia seal, the seal of Excelencia, I was actually in DC last week and I felt really proud of some of my colleagues in the circle that won the Seal Excelencia Long Beach with Dr. Munoz and many others, and Arizona, and California, Texas. So this speaks of the commitment that institution have for helping H Ss I institutions and something that I'm really passionate, and I think that we can not only compete, but I think that we can win it, and together we will create those mechanisms in place that will help them to get to that goal.

Amrit Ahluwalia (21:37):

Absolutely. And for anyone who is interested in learning more about the seal of Excelencia, that's the excelencia in education. It's a marker that's provided to highlight institutions that are doing a phenomenal job closing the attainment gap or the completion gap facing Latinx students. So absolutely something to look at, something regardless of your geography, to be very, very aware of. Exactly. Lesser, it's been an absolute pleasure just chatting with you, sort of getting a sense of where you see the space and where it's going. At this point, our interview shifts a little bit,

Lester Rapalo (22:13):

Thank you,

Amrit Ahluwalia (22:15):

Towards more of a dinner oriented space. If someone's looking to go to dinner in your town in Manhattan, Manhattan, New York, New York, where do they need to go

Lester Rapalo (22:27):

If they like steak? I'm a huge steak aficionado, so I like Gallagher as a steak. They get staple. If you like Latin food, I think specifically Peruvian food, as you and I know Peruvian food has been nominated, one of the best cuisine casino in the world, I will say p o P in New York. And obviously if you happen to go to the Boogie, boogie Down right Bronx, I will highly encourage some people to go to, I believe the name of the restaurant is glorious. They have excellent, excellent Puerto Rican food for those that love Ros Chicharone de po. Definitely. So I hope I answer your question to the best of my,

Amrit Ahluwalia (23:11):

I mean, I'm always on board with more recommendations instead of less. Lester, it's been a pleasure, man. Thank you so much for your time.

Lester Rapalo (23:17):

Thank you, my friend. Have a good one. Take care.