Meet Dr. Steven R. Gonzales, Recipient of the 2023 Diverse Champions Award

David Pluviose:

Well, first of all, congratulations on being named a 2023 Diverse Champion.

David Pluviose:

You may have had a chance to look at profiles of our past winners. And I know, of course, through the Roueche Leadership Program that you've been involved with for so many years, the number of our winners really has spanned the spectrum of people really being pioneers with regards to the community college movement.

David Pluviose:

My first question to you is, from your perspective, what's the significance of being named the 2023 Diverse Champion by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education?

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

This is very significant. As you said, given the previous awardees, and Dr. Roueche being the first, who is-

David Pluviose:

Exactly.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

... a mentor of mine. He was also my major professor on my dissertation when I was attending the University of Texas at Austin and his Community College Leadership Program.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And to see the others that are listed, these folks are people that I've always looked up to in higher education and continue to look up to. I consider them mentors. Some I consider good friends. We've become colleagues over the years. Just very honored and humbled by this.

David Pluviose:

And I was wondering if you could talk about your own journey through higher education. Of course, you received your own doctorate from CCLP. But I was wondering if you could just take me through your own journey through higher education.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Sure.

David Pluviose:

As you know, Dr. Roueche, one of the things he's most noted for is the amount of underrepresented minorities, African Americans, Hispanic women that he shepherded through the CCLP.

David Pluviose:

And really nothing like that has been done before in terms of someone really championing underrepresented minorities, women, and training them in particular to be community college leaders. And so I was wondering if you could talk about your own journey.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Sure.

David Pluviose:

When you became interested in this work and what ultimately got you interested, of course, in community college leadership overall.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Sure. Let me go back to high school, going to a bachelor's degree. Additionally, I started off as a civil engineering major. I thought that's what I might want to do.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And after a year of spending time and taking some courses, you don't take many as a first-year student in an engineering program, I just didn't feel like it was something that was fitting what I wanted to do. Some of the students in class seemed a little more excited to engage in the things that we were learning than I was. So I started to rethink that.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And what I liked about... And I've always liked math. That was always my favorite subject. That's what I liked about the courses that I was taking at the university at the time. And so I switched to a pure mathematics major.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And then I got an internship while I was in college and interned with the Central Intelligence Agency. So I lived out in Washington, D.C. for a summer and a spring semester. And then it was there that I realized a couple of things. One, I felt like they were turning me into a computer scientist, and that's not what I wanted to do.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And number two, I learned that family was a value of mine. And I wanted to be closer to home. I was born and raised here in the state of Arizona. And I learned that I didn't want to live far from home.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So with that, I came back with a clear idea of what I wanted to do. And I decided I wanted to become a teacher. So I went back and I finished my degree in mathematics secondary education. And then I went back and taught at the high school that I graduated from just five years before.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So that was a real interesting dynamic to go back to high school and teach side-by-side with the teachers that I had while I was there.

David Pluviose:

Really?

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

That was interesting. Growing up in a small town, I had relatives that lived in the town. So it was not uncommon to have cousins that were in my class. I was their teacher. In fact, my younger brother was in two of my classes that I taught while he was in high school.

David Pluviose:

Wow. Wow.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

[inaudible 00:06:59]

David Pluviose:

That's interesting.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Parent-teacher conferences are really interesting-

David Pluviose:

Exactly.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

... in that dynamic.

David Pluviose:

Wow.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Anyhow, and so education was something that I realized quickly that I felt like I was born to do in many ways. I just really like being around students, especially the extracurricular part of education.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

I was a wrestling coach too. I did that for seven years. I stayed at that high school for two years. And then I had an opportunity to move out to Central Arizona College and started there as a developmental education specialist in mathematics, which essentially meant all I could teach were the dev-ed classes and not any college transfer courses because you needed a master's degree to do that.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So I immediately went back to school and, for the next two years, worked on a Master's in Mathematics and a Master's of Arts in Teaching Mathematics. When I finished that two years later, there was a professor who retired, and I essentially just rolled into that gentleman's position.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And so that was the start of my higher-ed career. And for the next 15 years at Central Arizona College, I started to move up the organization. And I can't necessarily say that it was something I ever aspired to do. I just found myself in positions of wanting to expand my reach of the types of decisions that I think I could make that could impact students that I was hoping to impact.

David Pluviose:

Definitely.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And so at some point in there, I had a couple of faculty members who were... they were math professors too. And they were mentors of mine because they'd been there longer than I had been.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And the advice that they gave me is they said if you're going to go for more education... Because many faculty will do this, to move across the educational pay scale, they'll pursue additional education. The advice that they gave me is pursue it for a reason. At the end, have a doctorate, something to show for all these credits that you're going to take just to move across a pay scale.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And they said, "You're young, and that's something that you should think about." I was in my late 20s at the time. And that was the first time walking away from that conversation that I ever even thought about pursuing a doctorate. Because I was the first in my family to go to college.

David Pluviose:

College.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And completing a bachelor's and a master's was already so significant for the family that anything beyond that was really icing on the cake. We already made the family proud. And by this time, my younger sister and younger brother had also gone to college and become teachers as well.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So I decided to pursue my doctorate. I actually started at Arizona State University. And after two years... I'm sorry. After taking two classes there, and the way that I was taking them, I had sat down and penciled it out and said, "This is going to take me a good six or seven years this way. I just need to go all in."

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And at that time, I had a president at Central Arizona College who was a CCLP grad. His name was Terry Calloway.

David Pluviose:

Okay.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

He said, "You ought to think about this program in Texas. I think the program would be good for you and I think you'd be good for the program." That year, I won an [inaudible 00:10:34] award in teaching. And it gave me a chance to go to the conference and to also visit the campus. And I fell in love with the place. I said, "I got to do this."

David Pluviose:

UT Austin?

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Yes, UT Austin. A year later, I was moving to UT Austin. I took a sabbatical from work and I spent almost 18 months living in Texas to do all of my coursework.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And then I came back and finished the internship and the writing of the dissertation after that. So I finished that program in two years.

David Pluviose:

In two years.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Just under two years. I needed to get through it as quickly as possible. I had two little kids-

David Pluviose:

Yeah, I can imagine.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

... at the time. And I wanted to get back to family life as quickly as possible. And that was the last time that I was in the classroom teaching. I went into administrative roles after that, from associate dean to a dean to vice president, and then I became president at GateWay Community College in 2013.

David Pluviose:

Now, you mentioned that you are a first-generation student.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Yep.

David Pluviose:

And it's just so interesting in this area and so many other parts of the country. Community colleges in particular are serving quite a large number of first-generation students. I was wondering if you could talk about the perspective you gained as a first-generation student and how that has influenced your leadership today.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

I think I gained a bigger or perhaps better perspective of what it meant to be a first-generation student when my own kids became of age to think about college. And I began to think about how much I was able to share with them about the going-to-college experience and what to expect and what the classes would be like, and how to make decisions as to where they should go, etc., etc., etc.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And for me, well, my parents were hugely supportive of education. And it was always that conversation, not if, but when you go to college. That was really the extent of the conversation.

David Pluviose:

Okay.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

If you don't know... You don't know what you don't know.

David Pluviose:

[inaudible 00:12:47]

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

In fact, I can remember my dad dropping me off. And his parting words were, "I know that college must be harder than high school, but I'm not here to finance a party. So get in there and get this done. You got a brother and sister coming up behind you, and you need to take it seriously." And I did. My dad didn't play around. When he said something, you better do it.

David Pluviose:

Wow.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So that's it. And now as I think about that, it helps me be a better... It's always helped me be a better professor, better administrator, and a better chancellor today. I just talked with two groups of students this past Friday. While there's a difference in age, I can relate to some of those fears and unknowns as a first-generation student when you just don't know what you don't know.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And so when I began to share my story and some of the fears that I had and some of the questions I had and some of the mistakes that I made, you see a lot of heads shaking. And they'll come up afterwards and say, "Thank you. Because I had no idea. I thought maybe something was wrong with me." And I said, "No, you're just a human being that's never gone to college."

David Pluviose:

Exactly.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

It's all good.

David Pluviose:

I was wondering if you can talk about leadership when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Across the board, we always hear that it's when a student sees themself in a position of leadership or in industry.

David Pluviose:

When they see the possibility of someone like them making it, that actually gives some inspiration to them and some understanding that, hey, if you did it, I can do it as well. And of course, across higher education, we talk about best practices in terms of fostering a climate of equity, diversity, and inclusion, but some institutions really struggle.

David Pluviose:

I was wondering if you could talk about, from a leadership perspective, what you've done throughout your career to really foster the environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion that, in particular, both speaks to a diverse faculty and giving students the vision that, hey, you can make it.

David Pluviose:

And given the headwinds, of course, we talk about being first-generation, being a minority, being under-prepared, being under-resourced. The community college population, of course, has so many headwinds. But what does a diverse climate do for that type of student? And how have you fostered that throughout your career?

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Well, I think it's important to have our employees reflect the communities that we work in, and for the reasons that you described. And this isn't just my opinion. Research has proven that when we have people in the classrooms that look like the students that are attending our classes, somehow that helps give clarity and focus and inspiration to these groups of students.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And it helps with levels of engagement. They may be more apt to participate. And so with that, we have to find ways, as administrators, as college presidents, as chancellors of organizations, to put that into practice beyond talk and beyond statements.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So it really is this multi-pronged approach to that. And the multi-pronged approach here in Maricopa includes, first and foremost, if we look at it from the student perspective, that's our future, and those are potential future employees for us. Because we have many stories of Maricopa where someone started off in one of our colleges as a student.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And so we want to make sure that we close all equity gaps in the completion of degrees. So we have a wildly important goal in our system where we're going to increase the number of credentials earned and have a focus on closing any equity gaps.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

A lot of times, our equity gaps exist among our Hispanic males and African American Black males. Those are the two groups that will almost always show up. So we need to make sure that, as the boats rise for others, [inaudible 00:17:10] for these students that I just mentioned.

David Pluviose:

Yes.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And so if we can get them on that journey of completion, then there's a greater chance that we may see them come back to us and eventually be employees here in the leadership roles. The same goes anywhere they eventually go and work in a professional setting. The better educated you are, the more opportunity you're likely going to have from that.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And then from our employee perspective, we have what we call employee resource or employee affinity groups that are specific to our Latino employees, our African American, Black employees, our Asian and Pacific Islander employees, our LGBTQ+ employees, and our veterans. These are groups that have decided to... I'm sorry. There's one more; disability. Employees with disabilities.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

These groups have come together and organized around this thought that they will be there to support one another, ensure that there's opportunity to grow in an organization, to be supported in an organization, and also look out and be allies for others and students that are coming here. So we have to preserve the ability for the organization to support that endeavor.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And then the other part is we're in the throes of developing a leadership program right now that would help us really do this concept of growing our own. A lot of organizations say they like to grow their own, but how exactly do you do that?

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

In Maricopa County Community College District, we have nearly 12,000 employees across 10 colleges. That's a lot. That's a big organization.

David Pluviose:

Absolutely.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So the opportunity to grow our own is really dynamic. It exists. And in fact, there are many people today who are college presidents that started off in different positions in this organization a long time ago, or even more recent than that. So we want to make sure that we help foster that growth.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And then the other thing that we have formed recently, we could go the real traditional route around diversity, equity, and inclusion and hire a chief diversity officer. But sometimes I feel, in that model, that the organization looks to that one person or that one office as their sole responsibility to ensure diversity. And they're either a success or a failure. But in an organization this large, it's too much to ask one person or office to do.

David Pluviose:

Definitely.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So we have created this Center for Democracy and Inclusion. And it's a larger umbrella that has some categories under it that focus on free speech, academic freedom, shared governance as a way of working together.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And then there's the work around diversity, equity, and inclusion so that we build this solid foundation of that and that if any of these arms weaken in some way, that the whole thing doesn't collapse. And working in concert and unison and cross-pollinating the membership of these groups, it really helps to grow and foster that ability for our diverse employees to grow in an organization and to be supported.

David Pluviose:

Your time as interim chancellor was a pivotal time for this institution, of course, for many. Because it's interesting. It appears that you came in right as the pandemic was starting or right around that time.

David Pluviose:

So it was kind of a baptism by fire, I feel, in terms of what you had to deal with. So many institutions, I'm sure institutions of your own, were dealing with massive, of course, enrollment declines. And particularly among the community college students, one of the things that has been talked about in higher education is, quote, unquote, "lost generation." Kids who had to struggle or students who had to struggle to get to the starting line, just to be told, "You need to go home. You need to have high-speed internet access. You need to find space to study."

David Pluviose:

And so many of them, particularly in the community college space, are saying, "We have employers offering $18 an hour, $20, $22. I could do better just to take one of these retail jobs and to train for a trade because the opportunity is there to make an income. I've got kids or I have to take care of kids. I can't go to school."

David Pluviose:

I was wondering if you could talk about this interim chancellorship and the challenges that you faced in the pandemic. Because in looking at the statements made before the permanent appointment, many had said you had done so much really to shepherd the district through a really pivotal time.

David Pluviose:

And so I was wondering if you could talk about the experience as interim chancellor and some of the challenges you faced around the pandemic and even now as you look to build for the future, coming down for the downturns of the pandemic.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So I became the interim chancellor in January of 2020. And you're right, six weeks later, the world changed as we knew it. We went on spring break in March of 2020 and things have never looked the same since then.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Originally, coming into this role, I had been asked if I had applied for the job because there was actually a national search going on at the time. And I said, "No, I haven't applied." And then I was asked, "Do you intend to apply?" I said, "No, I don't intend to apply."

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So he said, "Well, we'd like to ask you to step into the interim chancellor's position." And I said, "Sure." And they said it'll likely be for six months with the conclusion of the search.

David Pluviose:

Sure.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

"Sure, I'll be a team player. I can go help our organization do that for six months." I thought it'd be a great experience. In and back out, doing my regular job as the president of one of our colleges.

David Pluviose:

GateWay, right?

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

GateWay. Boy, but of course, March changed things. And April and May came around, and the board had made a decision to stop the search and some things that were going on related to the search. And then it just left things unknown for a while.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And so I took the advice that I give anyone who ever steps into an interim role that just says, if you ever think you want the job, your interview started the day that you started the interim position. But more importantly, I don't know what interim really means.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

In my opinion, to become an interim person and if you just accept it as such, then it's really just status quo. Some will say, "I'm just here to keep the boat afloat." Well, I had challenged the organization. I went on a six-week listening tour to all... I got to nine colleges before we went on the pandemic, nine of the 10.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Got an opportunity for me to listen to whatever the issues were and for me to talk about how we were going to set this table for the next chancellor. I said, "Look, we've got six months to really make some differences here. We can begin to change the organization in a way that a new person coming in, it's going to be hard for that individual to just come in and turn things on a dime, so let's build this culture in six months."

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And people went along with that. I can't say everybody was excited about it. And I don't think they would ever tell me if they weren't. But the six months came and went. And I got asked on a daily basis, "What's happening with you? What's happening with the organization? What's happening with the search?"

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And I said, "Look, we're in a worldwide pandemic right now. The world has turned upside down. I don't have time to focus on what our governing board is planning on doing or going to do with the search."

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

"But I do know that every day I wake up, I'm the interim chancellor and we have 150,000 students that are waiting for us to make decisions to ensure that we have services, continuity of services, and that we're meeting them. If we say we're going to meet them where they are, then we're actually doing that."

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Meanwhile, we moved 22,000 classes that had been in the schedule that semester from face-to-face to online. And we also transitioned all of our employees from face-to-face to online. So one of the greatest professional challenges that I ever had, and I'm sure every leader faced this across the country, I don't care if it's higher ed or not, was trying to lead through a pandemic from the confines of your home, through a computer screen, using some of the virtual technologies that were available.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

What was especially challenging for me, however, was as I began to realize that I'm in this not as a sprint anymore but for a marathon, and I need to begin to work on changing this culture, doing it in a virtual environment has been the hardest thing that I've been able to do.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And if there's been anything that has set back my ability or the organization's ability to accomplish what we want to accomplish in a shorter amount of time, I think it's been that very fact. I rely on relationship-building. I rely on the meetings in-between meetings. I rely on a lot of things that typically happen in a face-to-face environment that weren't happening anymore.

David Pluviose:

Absolutely.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So I could see the effect that that was having on our employees. I could see the effect it was having on my own ability to lead. But it was a constant change of your style and approach.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And I think in the end, looking back on it, I don't know if I would've changed much of anything. But everything was moving so fast with so many unknowns that we were just, decision after decision, acting on things as quickly as possible, making the best decisions that we could.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So through that time, I tried to build this approach using shared governance where you get as many folks to the table as possible to have their voice inform the decision we're making and try to take all the political things that were wrapped up in and around the pandemic out of our decision-making as much as we could.

David Pluviose:

Definitely.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

But we weren't always, I guess, not impacted by that.

David Pluviose:

I was wondering if you could talk about the workforce training piece of the work that you did at that time, even to now. Because nationally, we have seen a significant downturn in community college enrollment.

David Pluviose:

And part of that has been, from what I can tell, the value proposition not being fully realized by potential students. What is the value of earning a credential, a degree, as opposed to doing what you've been doing, which could have been retail? But of course, with the labor shortages, a lot of the retailers have been very aggressive with their pay.

David Pluviose:

And it has disincentivized, from what I can tell, so many from saying, "All right, the value proposition of a community college is something that I need to opt for rather than the quick payday."

David Pluviose:

And so I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the workforce training piece of what you have done, partnership with employers, but also this whole question of what you have done and are doing to boost enrollment, to put before the students the value proposition that this is worth it long-term.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Sure.

David Pluviose:

Yeah.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Well, Arizona is a little different from the rest of the country because even through the pandemic, Maricopa County is one of the fastest, if not the fastest growing county in the country. I think I heard some staggering number that we had over 200 people a day moving [inaudible 00:29:31].

David Pluviose:

Wow.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

That's a lot of people.

David Pluviose:

Yes.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And then every other week, there's a major announcement of a major company coming in, adding 1,000 jobs, 5,000 jobs, plus the small companies that would be formed to support that larger company, another four to seven jobs per one job that that company was going to offer.

David Pluviose:

Wow.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So these things start adding up quickly. And I'll give you an example of a couple of things that we did through the pandemic. One is we worked with Intel to develop the country's first artificial intelligence program.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

You can earn a certificate or degree through three of the Maricopa colleges that are now offering this certificate and associate's degree in artificial intelligence. Our faculty sat down with their programmers and engineers and technicians to develop this curriculum. And you can go through that now. That's pretty amazing to be able to do that through a pandemic.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And the other thing that we did this past summer, maybe a little bit further back, definitely within this past year, Intel again and TSMC, which is a Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company who does a lot of what Intel does, so we have two of the three largest semiconductor manufacturers in the world located here in the valley.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Both of them came to us around the same time and said, with Intel's expansion, they were going to need an additional 3,000 to 4,000 semiconductor technicians. Intel said, "We're going to need probably around 5,000 to 6,000 semiconductor technicians."

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

You add this up really quickly and we're talking 10,000 people who need to be trained very quickly to fill these two large organizations. And if you think about what's happening in this country around chip manufacturing, that was the priority of the administration.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And then through the bill that was passed, the legislation that was passed around chip manufacturing, to bring that back to the United States mostly for security reasons. The production of chips is what slowed down a lot of manufacturing in this country. It's why you couldn't get the car that maybe you wanted.

David Pluviose:

Exactly.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Or maybe the number of phone... I mean, microchips are in so many things today.

David Pluviose:

Yeah.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And both companies said, "We need this workforce to go up in a hurry. And we are given care and attention to the diversity of this workforce for these two organizations."

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So we turned around and developed this, we call it a semiconductor manufacturing boot camp, where, in 40 hours or two weeks' time, a student can go through our program. It's in a classroom, and there's also some hands-on experience. Earn three credit hours. And they're guaranteed an interview with either place.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And they're likely going to get a job if they've been successful. And they're going to start probably on upwards of 25 bucks an hour. So for some people, this is a really life-changing experience.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And in terms of addressing diversity around it, of the 500-plus students that have already gone through this program since we started offering it earlier this semester, or I'm sorry, late last summer, we've had two cohorts go through that are all female. 70% of the students are students of color and first-generation. So we are helping Intel and TSMC not only build a workforce but diversifying the workforce.

David Pluviose:

That's fantastic.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So let me [inaudible 00:33:09].

David Pluviose:

Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So you talk about the value proposition.

David Pluviose:

Yes.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

The value proposition is such that we compare ourselves and what it costs and the time it takes to finish a certificate or degree with us compared to some of our university partners. And there's just really no comparison. We are a fraction of the cost.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And we have programs like the one that I just mentioned with the TSMC and Intel semiconductor program where, in just two weeks, you're on your way to a better career opportunity with some small training, quick training. And then on the back end of that, during the pandemic, we were successful in this state of getting our state legislature and our governor at the time to support our ability to offer bachelor's degrees.

David Pluviose:

Yes.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So our bachelor's degrees will focus on areas that are working on workforce gaps. There's some of the... I'm thinking the liberal arts types of degrees. You're probably not going to see us offer a bachelor's degree in history.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

No offense to anybody that has a degree in history. But you're going to see us offer a bachelor's degree in technology, people that want to go into IT. We're going to offer bachelor's degrees in elementary education because we have a serious teacher shortage here in our state.

David Pluviose:

Absolutely.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And we've developed a bachelor's degree for first responders. These are EMTs and firefighters and police officers who are looking to advance in the organization and haven't completed a bachelor's degree. They'll now be able to do it.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And the wonderful thing is they can do that associate's degree with us and then move into the bachelor's degree and not have to go anywhere. We have 10 colleges around this system in probably 25 to 30 different locations where we deliver education.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So you could literally walk... This is how I always say it. You can walk, bike, maybe take a bus or train to a place where you can earn a bachelor's degree for a fraction of the cost with the same quality of the universities, and we're here to do that.

David Pluviose:

Thank you so much for your time. I just have one last question really. This award, this Diverse Champion's award, as we talked about earlier, of course, John Roueche was our inaugural winner because he did what was really unusual.

David Pluviose:

He did not have to champion underrepresented minorities and women, as a Caucasian scholar heralded. There are many like him who could have had just great careers without championing the careers of those who were considered less-than.

David Pluviose:

But as you know, to this day, the number of his students who have gone on to some successful careers, leading some of the largest community college systems around the country, even the association, [inaudible 00:36:12], I'm sure you know him very well.

David Pluviose:

And we speak to so many of those alums so often, and they speak so glowingly of what Dr. Roueche built in Austin. And he continues to do it to this day. I think you still teach for the center now, of course, out of Kansas.

David Pluviose:

And so I was wondering if you could talk... And this is just my last question. And you getting this award, it speaks to you championing diversity both by your own story but also in practice. And there are so many other leaders who are seeking to make a difference, who are seeking to not only diversify their leadership teams, their faculty and staff, but also to allow students to have the vision of what they can accomplish.

David Pluviose:

And of course, your story, and I'm sure you've heard this before, is so inspirational to so many. I was wondering... My last question for you is what advice will you offer leaders who are trying to make a difference but are covered up against headwinds? Be they political in terms of trying to diversify.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Sure.

David Pluviose:

Be they the fact that they themselves are not minorities, but they say, "Hey, look at all these Black and Hispanic males. I want to do something here, but I don't know what to do. My efforts are not working. These students are not making progress."

David Pluviose:

My last question to you... Of course, as I mentioned before, this award speaks to you championing diversity both in practice and your own story. What word of advice could you offer to leaders who are not making progress when it comes to diversifying their faculty and staff, seeing the numbers of completion for their most underprivileged students rise, but are wanting to make a difference?

David Pluviose:

Any word of advice for those who are struggling on a diversity front from your own experience?

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Sure. My advice would be you can't rely on one method to increase your talent pools. All right? And what I mean by that is if you think that by just posting a job in some publication somewhere, that that's going to reach out to the masses and encourage people to apply to your organization, you've got to do so much more than that.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

As a senior leader in this organization, I've got to make those personal connections and contacts. I've got to be the face of this organization.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

As you mentioned, I teach in this community college leadership program. I mentor in other programs that are developing future leaders within organizations. I do it for the National Community College Hispanic Council.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

I'll speak to any of the groups that ask me to come and speak to them because I want them to see who I am and the type of leader that I am so that they know what we're looking for here in Maricopa.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

And with that, the senior priority there is to attract the best talent that we can get because we have some serious big problems to solve in society here. And we have a huge reach through Maricopa to be able to do that. With 12,000 employees, 150,000-plus students, there aren't many other organizations across the country that have that sort of footprint.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

So it's taking this, again, multi-pronged approach to attracting talent. And that's what I would encourage other leaders to do is to say you have to put yourself out there too. You need to mentor. If you can teach, go teach. If you can join a local, statewide, or national organization, be a part of a commission at AACC for example, a board of directors if you're a president, to put yourself out there and see what that landscape looks like. And then begin to develop those individual relationships.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Word of mouth remains still one of the best ways to market and to communicate what you're looking for. And so if you've got all of these folks out there who are familiar with you and your leadership style and what you stand for, they're either going to come and work for you, or if someone's thinking about coming to work for you and you don't have that connection, you've got all these people that can speak to you. And so that's the power of the word of mouth. That's what I would highly recommend that leaders do.

David Pluviose:

Well, Steven, again, I just want to say congratulations.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Thank you.

David Pluviose:

I know that it's a busy day. You have a lot going on. I appreciate your time. Looking forward to spending some time with you in Denver, hopefully, in a couple of months here at AACC-

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Same here.

David Pluviose:

... where we'll do the former presentation and get to speak to a number of your colleagues. And I'm just looking forward to that process. Again, appreciate your time. I may have some follow-up questions maybe-

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Absolutely.

David Pluviose:

... if anything comes up between now and then. But looking forward hopefully to seeing you in Denver.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

I will be there. Thank you.

David Pluviose:

Thank you so much. Appreciate you.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Good to meet you in person.

David Pluviose:

All right. [inaudible 00:41:33]

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Thank you for coming out.

David Pluviose:

My pleasure. My pleasure. And thank you for your work on the Roueche Center column. I think that you're doing at least a couple for me. Yet again, really helping our readers see how to move the ball forward. So I just appreciate your work.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

Oh, you're welcome.

David Pluviose:

Thank you so much.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

I think there's going to be one or two or more of those submissions coming soon.

David Pluviose:

Oh, listen, man, we look forward to it.

Dr. Steven Gonzales:

All right. Thank you.

David Pluviose:

Appreciate it.