Student Success & Equity with Dr. Mordecai Brownlee

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Learn how to address student success during this historic and volatile time. 

In this episode, I interview Dr. Mordecai Brownlee, President of College of Aurora, Colorado. 

(Scroll down to access the transcript.)

We discuss the following topics:

4:48:20: Three lessons learned since March 2020 that we need to take to a highly uncertain future.
- We took for granted what could be provided online, and found out that we actually could implement it. We realized we had what it took after all.
- A renewed commitment to student success and equity.
- The ethical responsibility to serve beyond our enrollments. Educators need to think beyond enrollments and think about humanity.

11:20:04: Serving a Historically Black College that is a Hispanic-Serving Institution.
- "Servingness" (See podcast with Dr. Gina Ann Garcia.)

15:06:07: The power of data disaggregation followed by action.

24:27:20: Recalibrating for the future of student success.

29:37:17: Three tips for educational leaders.
- Take care of yourself.
- You're only as good as your ability to make impact.
- Always remember, students first.

Select Dr. Brownlee quotes:

"We're in historic times. So our commitment to student success needs to be historic. It needs to be unprecedented. And if we can keep that at the forefront, we'll make it through these times."

"We should take it to be a privilege that in the midst of a pandemic and uncertainty, that students have found a way to still entrust our institutions with their academic pathways and career aspirations."

"The mission drives strategy, and the strategy drives action."

"As educators, we give so much of ourselves, but we don't do the best job of pouring back into ourselves. Our students and community are depending on it. It's critical to take care of ourselves during these times."

About Dr. Mordecai Brownlee
Dr. Mordecai Brownlee is an inspiration to college educators around the country. His blend of optimism, messages of kindness, and relentless focus on student success has garnered close to 30,000 Twitter followers!



He's currently the president at the College of Aurora in Colorado. Prior to Aurora, he served as the Vice President for Student Success at St. Philip's College, the only public community college in the nation federally-designated as both a Historically Black College (HBCU) and a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), located in San Antonio, Texas. In addition, he has served as a lecturer at Morgan State University School of Education and Urban Studies and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Charleston College of Business and Leadership where he taught business management, human resources, social justice, and community college leadership.

About Dr. Al Solano
Al is Founder & Coach at the Continuous Learning Institute. A big believer in kindness, he helps institutions of higher education to plan and implement homegrown practices that get results for students by coaching them through a process based on what he calls the "Three Cs": Clarity, Coherence, Consensus. In addition, his bite-sized, practitioner-based articles on student success strategies, institutional planning & implementation, and educational leadership are implemented at institutions across the country. He has worked directly with over 50 colleges and universities and has trained well over 5,000 educators. He has coached colleges for over a decade, worked at two community colleges, and began his education career in K12. He earned a doctorate in education from UCLA, and is a proud community college student who transferred to Cornell University.

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