should be. When the day comes to an end, you should be just as excited to go home and be with your family. It’s a holistic approach to living that makes you a good employee. If you hate to go to work or hate to go home, chances are you’re not doing a good job.


Eastern: How do you account for your record of success at Grand Valley in obtaining external funding?


Joseph: Te people who supported and mentored me helped me understand how to write good grants, so what I have done is taught others and mentored others as they have been writing grants. I hope I can help the faculty at Eastern, if they want me to, to recognize that this is something that requires perseverance and good preparation and, like most things, strong marketing. It’s about convincing people that I’m going to do what I’m doing anyhow, but I’ll do it beter and reach more people and help more people if you give me money.


Eastern: What’s your vision for this job?


to get good alumni as well; good alumni are really people who were connected to the institution as students. We need to be in that mindset that we’re not just educating a student but a future colleague. Tat’s the kind of respect we should give to the students and that’s the kind of respect we should expect from the students.


Eastern: Your comments in a press release about EMU doing “more with less” alarmed some folks who were concerned about what you meant; could you elaborate?


One of my goals is to really look


at our alumni so we can support


Joseph: What gets me excited, what keeps me excited, is that I want to focus on the qual- ity of our teachers. I think sometimes we get so bogged down on the quantity of teachers we produce that we forget to go deeply into a review of who we have already produced, what they are doing, and how we can reach out to them to be leaders in their schools and keep that name of Eastern as a premier College of Education in the public eye. So one of my goals is to really look at our alumni so we can support them where they are. With our current students, we need to be asking how we are preparing them to be leaders when they go out to be teachers, and to be the type of teachers who will be lifelong learners. Te foundation for pursuing knowledge, that’s what a college degree gives you. What I would like to share and my leadership to represent is a college where our students come out with that understanding. It’s not done when they leave us. I would like faculty to be united in reminding students constantly that this is not the end, that we want to work with them throughout their lifetime. Tat helps


them where they are. We need to reach out to


them as leaders in their schools.


Joseph: I was just trying to compliment Eastern when I said that, that universities are being asked to do a whole lot more with less and Eastern was trying to step up and answer the call. What I mean is that, with less funding, we are trying to sustain and improve the quality of educa- tion for our students. Tat’s the “more” I see, asking ourselves how we can sustain a progres- sive education agenda, how we can advise our students to take courses that are meaningful and really help them build the best foundation for their education. I never meant that sud- denly we’ll put 50 students in a class instead of 25. It’s about quality. People get worried that somehow they’re going to have to work differ- ently to get the job done. It doesn’t mean you have to work harder. It means you may have to work more effectively, more efficiently. Of all the things we do, which do we believe are


the most impactful for our students, and how we can do those beter with what we have?


Eastern: Tese are tough times for public education, from every perspective; how do you stay positive?


Joseph: I am by nature an optimistic person. I truly expect the best from people. I don’t go into any situation expecting that something bad is going to happen and that a person is going to react negatively. I expect people to bring their best because that’s what I do. I like to be in my moment, fully engaged where I am. I don’t live in a world of what-ifs and regrets. I’m fully where I choose to be, and I choose Eastern. 3


Eastern | SUMMER 2011 13


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