Interview With the Host with Dr. Vicki Karolewics

Transcript

This week, while on campus, I had the privilege of sitting down with someone who has been instrumental in shaping Wallace State into what it is today. Dr. Vicki Karolewics has proudly served as President for more than 20 years. During her tenure, she has guided Wallace State to become one of the top three community colleges in the nation, and a recognized leader in student success. Take a look. Aspen Institute Rising Star Award. How proud are you?

– Incredibly proud. I mean, how could I not be? The Aspen Institute is a premier institute for community colleges in the nation, the College Excellence Program. And they’ve done the Aspen Prize eight cycles, and we’ve been nominated in six of those. And so now, to be designated as a Rising Star, is very affirming, it’s very rewarding, because it’s been a very long journey. You know, two decades of work.

– Yeah, tell me about it. I mean, your leadership here and what it has transformed under those couple decades, it’s amazing.

– Well, we started with a 20% graduation rate, and now our graduation and transfer rate is one of the highest in the nation. Come on.

– Right, right. So, you know, we want every single student to succeed, but in order to do that, we had to build programs, we had to build services, we had to reform developmental education. We reformed student services and advising, we built guided pathways at scale, and now we’re working on Community College 3.0 Post-Completion Success. So, it’s been a lot of work to get here.

– Yeah, I can imagine.

– A lot of work.

– A lot of work. Yeah, I mean, since we’ve been filming this episode since being on campus, I mean, it feels like a university, it doesn’t feel like a community college.

– Well, I think it has to be because of, you know, it’s a beautiful campus, we’re 300 acres, lots of big, beautiful buildings, but the quality of the programs that we have here are second to none. We’re starting a new speech and language pathology assistant program next year, and we had to work hard to get that program approved, really with an act of the legislature, to be honest. But you know, we’re known for our health programs, 14 health programs, and we’re known for our athletics. We have 14 athletic teams, just started women’s flag football, they’re undefeated. Just started men’s soccer, they’re undefeated. And we’re starting women’s soccer this next year, but we, you know –

– And multiple national championships.

– Nine. Nine national. And we aim to get a few more this year, this coming season.

– When you look to the future, you know, what do some of these new programs and things look like?

– Well, new programs for sure, because in order to be relevant as a community college, we have to be responsive to the areas that we serve, and North Alabama is growing. The opportunities available to students in the workforce now, or graduates in the workforce, are second to none. So we’re constantly developing new programs, like a new electric vehicle technology program. I mentioned speech and language pathology assistant. We’ve got a couple of programs that we’re targeting in the medical field, like nuclear medicine, that we’re working on developing those now. So, we’re growing.

– [Alex] Awesome.

– We’re at 6,700 students today, and we think that we will reach 7,000 by the end of this semester, and that’s a record for us.

– Something to be proud of.

– Yes.

– It’s incredible, and this institute is very fortunate to have you as their leader.

– Thank you. Thank you. I’m the person that’s fortunate.

– Oh, That’s so great.

– Yeah. Thank you.

– Thank you, Dr. Karolewics. Your passion for Wallace State, and your dedication to improving the lives of students and the communities you serve, is so inspiring. You are a perfect example of how someone who started at a community college can go on to achieve remarkable success. Thank you again.