Mayra Olivares-Urueta: So it’s, , the biggest misconception is that you can be a. Classically trained student affairs person and think that you can go to a community college and do the same things you were doing, plan the same events, do the same things, and that it’s gonna work there. And it’s absolutely not. , that is the most tone deaf way you can, and this is, if this is what you’re saying in interviews, by the way, that’s why you’re not getting to the next interview also. Mm-hmm. If you are not going to the American Association of Community Colleges infographic that I pulled up right now to give you some stats. Mm-hmm. And checking out that, you know, the average age of community college students is 27 and the median age is 23, and that 58% of students are women and 42% are men. And that 67% of students are part-time. And 33% are full-time. And let’s see, what else? , 32% are first gen, 23% are students with disabilities.

Mamta Accapadi: Hello friends. Welcome to Student Affairs now, the Online Learning Community for Student Affairs Educators. I’m your host, Mamta Accapadi. Student Affairs now is the premier podcast and learning community for thousands of us who work in alongside or adjacent to the field of higher education and student affairs.

We release new episodes every week on Wednesdays. Find us at Student Affairs now on YouTube, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. This episode is sponsored by Evolve. Evolve helps senior leaders release fear, gain courage, and take action for transformational leadership through a personalized, cohort-based virtual learning experience.

Stay tuned to the end of the podcast for more information about our sponsor. As I shared earlier my name is Mamta, aka my pronouns are she, her and hers. And I am broadcasting to all of you today from Austin, Texas. Austin is situated on the unseated ancestral homelands of the Anos Gu Decon, Comanche, Lipan, Apache, and Tonko people.

Friends, I am so excited about this this episode. This has been worth the wait and I, I’ve just been so excited about where we are going with this conversation. And what we’re gonna be talking about today, and hopefully with many more episodes coming is what does the student affairs work really look like at a community college?

In this episode, I’m so thrilled to hear from the wisdom and love of two cherished colleagues, friends, and mentors. If I might add Dr. Edward Martinez, associate Dean for Student Affairs and Campus Senior Student Affairs Officer at Suffolk Community, Suffolk County Community College, and Dr. Maira Olivares Luta, senior Director for post-secondary success at the Economic Mobility Center.

So from helping a first generation student find their footing to supporting a working parent, juggling classes in life. Community college student affairs leaders and teams really set the standard for meeting students where they are. The work is hands-on, so deeply relational and shaped by a commitment to removing barriers and opening doors.

As I see it, it’s truly love, justice, and humanity work. And if you’ve ever wondered what makes community colleges feel so connected and so responsive, I’m so excited because this is the right conversation for all of us, and it will offer a window into the educators who really make that work happen. Eddie and Mayra, I’m so grateful to have you on this episode of Student Affairs now, and welcome to the podcast. I wanna start with, happy here. Yeah, it’s super exciting. You’re just, both of, you’re just such a gift in my life. So I wanna, it’s so important. We are beyond the roles that we carry, right?

And your stories are just so meaningful. I would love to hear, before we get into the conversation, or as we get into the conversation, I would love to hear a bit about who you are how you entered into higher education and community college leadership. So with that Mayra, why don’t we start with you.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: Sure. I love to joke and tell people that I’m a reformed community college snob because I knew as soon as I started to learn about college culture. So I migrated from Mexico when I was 10. I didn’t really know about college culture in the us but knew that college was a thing that I was doing.

My mom I just knew it, you know how you grow up and there’s things, that you just learn in your family. But as soon as I learned about college here, I knew that university was a way, not community college. That community college was like 13th grade, and it just wasn’t a place that I wanted to be, which was, it’s ironic now because I could like tattoo, I love community college on my forehead.

If my 12-year-old wouldn’t make fun of me

Or my husband. But yeah, I migrated. I am the daughter, the eldest daughter, which carries a lot. Just saying that eldest daughter of a widowed mother. My mom became a widow when I was a baby. My sister was in utero, so all of that. My mom is the youngest of nine who cared for her mother.

So just take all of the things that come with that. And so I’m an English language learner. I successfully completed ESL developmental ed. I was. A graduate of a high school in San Antonio who was in the top 25% of my graduating class, which meant I was not in the top 10%, which meant I was automatically going to a community college in Texas, which meant I was going to University of Oklahoma because I was not going to start at a community college.

So I went to OU because I still was a good student. I went to ou. I was automatically admissible there because of my grades and my test scores. And I was a low income student, went to ou, was a work study student, and my work study job was in the student life office and I never left student affairs.

That was the entryway. And I am in my first non-campus job as of December 15th, 2025. But student affairs is my life and I. We can talk a lot more later or people can come find my LinkedIn. We can, be friends later and talk about everything that’s happened between, August of 2000 and now.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah,

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: I was a freshman at OU in August of 2000. But yeah, essentially that was the beginning of student life for me, and I haven’t left since. But the entryway for me to community college was in my doctoral program at the University of North Texas. I eventually find, found out that was where, as a little Mermaid would say, where my people were.

I wanted to be where my people were, and my doc program helped me see that community colleges were the place. And I had a, an epiphany in my first community college job that was, it was a full circle moment. Community college was a place my mom could be a student. She was a student there because she had a student visa when we came to the us So it was the only campus, it was the only institutional type that she could afford to be enrolled in so she could fulfill her visa requirements.

So I just was in tears. It was a mess. My student went to that same, my student, my sister went to that same community college and is still a community college advisor now. And so we love community college. I will forever be a community college advocate no matter where I go. And I’ve had the privilege of teaching, being able to teach about community colleges and yeah, fierce defender and champion for community colleges still.

But yeah, I’m a mom, I’m a spouse and I am a just so happy to be here. So thank you for having me.

Mamta Accapadi: Thank you so much, Mya. Eddie would love to hear from you.

Eddie Martinez: So I’m a boy from The Boogie Down Bronx, New York. Have you ever met me? You’ve heard this many times. I always say the full thing of The Boogie Down.

I’m a Bronx boy and a New York City boy only. I had never left New York. And really it was about, I knew I was going to college. I think my story’s similar in that way with from, is that just knew that college was gonna happen for me. I think my parents really supported that. I’m a first generation college student and yet I just always knew I was gonna go to college.

But community college was not on the radar. I don’t think back in the eighties, that’s just you’re gonna go to college. You’re gonna go to college. And so college to my family was four years and nor did I even consider it. And I’m glad I did. I’m glad I went to where I went. I went to Dominican University and Rockland County.

Which was about 40 minute drive from the Bronx. And it was really there that I became a student leader.

And it was there that I got involved in the SGA and the peer mentors and I started to do some choreography for the school plays. And I got really involved. And at the time, the dean of students took me under his wing because he was the advisor to the SGA, the advisor to all of these things.

And did the whole RA thing. I’m a textbook case.

The student who’s involved, who gets mentored. This is back again when mentorship in 1989. 1990 was not the big word at that time, but I was mentored. And I think as a result of all of that. It gave me the opportunity to realize this is the work.

I was trying to be a teacher. I thought I wanted to be a teacher, a business owner, or a professional dancer. There were very different prongs of life and I wound up in student affairs, and I gotta tell you that I did 20 years in the four years sector, loved all of that. And for the last 12 years now I’ve been in the community college sector and I have no intentions on looking back.

So there, it’s,

Mamta Accapadi: that’s amazing. I would argue in our work there is dancing, business owner and teaching, so you may accomplished all of those things.

Eddie Martinez: There you go.

Mamta Accapadi: My friends, oh my, it just I’m just so inspired every time, even as we prepped for conversation, just hearing both of your clarity, and I think what I really have admired is.

Your clarity for the access and opportunity mission. It just, it’s not, it’s of course it’s in your words because those words are clear, but just in the way that you interact with the world. And so just even hearing both of you share your stories just affirms that. So just again, thank you both so much.

I’m really, anytime I get to spend with you is exciting in a more focused lens. I’m excited. Whenever so both of you co-edited the winter 2026 issue of the NASPA Leadership Exchange publication, that, that focused on the transformative power of community colleges and student affairs.

As soon as I saw that publication I I, not, I was online, but I was like, oh my gosh, like soaking all of this up. And then I immediately reached out to y’all by email because I was like, oh my gosh, we need to do more. And just this volume that you co-edited, the, the educators and scholars, all just the collective wisdom that both of you led, curated, just really strategized to move forward.

Just a beautiful volume, I think just was really inspiring because it really highlights the role of innovation and access that happens in the way that we do student success work within community college. So I would really love to hear from both of you about your vision. So when you were developing this volume what did you want us as readers to learn to better understand or even challenge within ourselves?

What was that process like for you? Eddie, I’ll start with you and then, let’s move from there.

Eddie Martinez: Sure. First I think just getting the invitation that in itself was pretty monument. To think that NASPA was ready to do a special issue on community colleges.

NASPA being, one of the biggest premier, organizations that’s helping to lead student affairs to dedicate an entire issue to community colleges that had not happened before. So there was a commitment on a national stage to do that. And I need to honor that. Yeah, of course. Then I find out that MAA is gonna be the CO and we’re like, yes, MAA and I have worked together for years and, we have an alignment of thought.

And that was really important when you’re trying to do this type of work. And it was new, by the way. I had never served in this capacity before, so I think that was also a little scary. Let’s keep that real. There was a, there’s a fear of can I be a guest editor for something like this? Anything else, you just go with your lived experiences and you ask questions along the way and you had a lot of support.

So we had a lot of support. So Maa and I had a conversation like I’ve never done this before. She’s I’ve never done that, but what are we gonna do?

Mamta Accapadi: What,

Eddie Martinez: here’s what we knew. We knew we needed to be inclusive of our voices. We knew we needed a variety of people, we needed diverse people, we needed different voices for to give them the opportunity.

The leadership exchange typically is for senior student affairs officers. Our argument and our conversation was that, wait a minute here, mid levels. Are gonna truly benefit from this opportunity. Entry levels will benefit. Yeah. And how do we focus on our vice presidents, not just hearing from other VPs, but from presidents.

Mamta Accapadi: If

Eddie Martinez: you’ve noticed in that article, in that, if episode excuse me, volume of community college, we had about four college presidents. Four or five.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: And we did that intentionally. We really sought out presidency so that we can say, look, the presidents provide the vision.

Everything, wherever you are on the spectrum of hierarchy within higher ed, you could benefit from that. So I think that there was that. And so we also challenged naspa.

We asked naspa, can we get some entry level and mid-level voices in here, not just seniors. And they said, yes. And so you’ll, we gave a lot of new people.

Opportunity.

And in the end, community colleges is about access and opportunity, and we wanted to provide that same thing to our colleagues.

NASPA is really great. I think higher ed is really great. Professional organizations provide space for leadership opportunities, professional development opportunities.

And while Maa and I have been around for a little while, it was our responsibility to provide an opportunity for others. So those are some of my thoughts. I thought it was an opportunity to share the good work that we’re doing at a national scale to make sure that we’re getting voices from the west coast to the east coast and in between.

Yeah. We were very intentional about who we’re selecting so that regions were selected, states were selected, diversity and people and authors were selected. So I’ll let Mya give her perspective, but those are some of my.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: Yes, we first of all, he’s underselling himself. I think the combo of network, because we know Eddie dances his way around the network.

He’s adept at connecting with folks from all around the national student affairs scene, and not only within community college but obviously diversity of institutional types. So I was honored to be paired with him because it matters that we connect with folks at a variety of levels.

When Eddie and I started working together within the community colleges division, we had folks working within the division that were not community college folks. And that’s a tribute to, again, some of the. Connections that Eddie has, right? And so I think let’s not undersell our ourselves.

Dr. Martinez. But, I also have the privilege of coming in after having been in a clinical faculty role. So after having been in administrative role at the community college, I took a position I was in teaching positions. And so having had that enabled me to come in and be able to participate in writing and research ways, which never would I have ever thought that after achieving the dream that was becoming a VP of student affairs at a community college, which was not the institutional dream I had, but man, when I, when that became the dream, it was wonderful that I reached it.

Then achieving this. Having NASPA and president Parnell choose to focus on community colleges for an entire edition and then get to play with my brother over here to do it was wonderful. The other thing that we were very intentional about and I’ll circle back to, the faculty member that was on the ccc d at the time that I started to play a role there.

We had Marisa Vasquez, who’s at San Diego State. She was the faculty and residence for the community colleges division at the time. She’s one of the people that came to write for this edition, and the really neat part of that was that she came in as a university rep and co-authored with grad students about work that they are doing with community college students.

So they’re creating a research pipeline with community college students at the university level because it’s so important that we help community college students see themselves as scholars, right from the community college because they are, there’s faculty who are fabulous, that are doing scholarly work with community college students, and there’s so much power in having.

The brotherhood, the sisterhood, the sibling hood began to expand to where we have faculty working from the university and the community colleges together to help to build that bridge of scholarly work from the university through the community college. So that was one of the pieces that I was really proud of that we were able to showcase in there.

Another thing that we were very intentional about is ensuring that our student affairs colleagues could see the, could see themselves at the policy and state level. So inviting Dr. Katie Lanius, who has also been very involved with the community colleges division, specifically within the Policy kc, and talk about how we are not as student affairs practitioners, people to whom policy is done unto right.

Like we are active participants in policy work, whether we realize it or not. So she did a really beautiful job in helping us to understand how policy, how we are actors in policy policies happen. And then what do coordinator of student Affairs. Coordinator of Student life. Resident life coordinator, how are you then?

Actively living the policy.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah,

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: it’s so important. And so I think in our day-to-day, we don’t think about how, you doing your work is policy impacted. So she did a really beautiful job, heating the call when we called her and said, we want you to talk about how student affairs work is policy impacted.

And then another colleague who I wanna shout out is Brian Merritt from North Carolina, who is another one that is at a state level. And he’s a student affairs state level representative. Impacting the work of community colleges, student affairs at a state level. So how does he, what does he do and what does that look like at a state level?

So helping our colleagues in student affairs also see all the different ways that their work can impact. Not just at the campus level, but community colleges and university systems as well. But I think people don’t see that community colleges have this level of hierarchy and this level of grandeur around the country.

And that was one of the super neat pieces I think that Eddie and I got to have people be able to see the very, very detailed, very campus focused ways with the campus voices that we were able to feature, again, from around the country. And we’re so thankful to our colleagues that were able to give those answers and those snippets of that.

But also we were able to bring folks out, to, to the 30,000 feet level, to see, at a state level, at a policy level, nationally, here’s the work that happens at community colleges and student affairs isn’t bound to. A campus, it’s not bound to a community college district. It’s not bound to a state system.

And it’s an ecosystem. And it informs, and again, like it trans, it trespasses the college system and it builds students and communities and systems and research. And impacts, beyond beyond what we have been able to see or allowed ourselves to see.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah. I’m just hearing both of you reflect, it reminds me when I lived in Orlando several years ago, and at the time Sandy Sugar was leading Valencia Community College Valencia College, and he also used the term ecosystem.

I remember, going in as a learner with all of my assumptions, ’cause I know all the things and, oh, what do we need to do to fix the pipeline? And the first thing he said is. Pipeline makes it seem like things are linear, and what we have to, what you first need to do is think about, we are all in an ecosystem.

So even in a, K through 12 environment, if the K through 12 environment ecosystem is impacted, that’s gonna impact all dimensions of different forms of education. And so is the same with community college, or trade schools or four year institutions or art institutes, the, like we are all in an interconnected ecosystem.

And that his reflection really challenged my just sense of how I just approach things as an educator. And I, certainly have a lot to learn. But speaking about those misconceptions I would love to hear from both of you. And both of you have also have a breadth of higher ed experience across different institution types.

With this volume, with your interactions with folks and even on your own journey, I would love to hear about some of the misconceptions that you’ve observed that higher ed professionals have of community college students of working in community college spaces just broadly. And I would love to hear your observations on that.

Eddie Martinez: Why do we could tag team this one? I, I also think that there’s, community college students are often they’re more complex learners.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: And so I think that there’s this misconception that these students are less capable.

Mamta Accapadi: Oh,

Eddie Martinez: I think it’s actually, it’s not true. Where they’re complex learners, and this is not to say that our four year institutions, our students aren’t balancing a ton of things as well.

Of course they are. Yeah. I was in a four years and I was balancing things.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: But I think at the community college. It’s a little bit more prevalent that they’re balancing jobs and family and financial stress and academic simultaneously in the middle of potentially housing insecure and basic needs.

There’s a lot going on. So I think that there’s just complex, they’re complex learners.

And so there, but I think some interpret as a lack of reflection is just really about competing priorities. Ah, yeah. It’s just competing priorities that they’re dealing with. I think there’s a misconception that working at a community college is easier or less prestigious.

I am here to tell you folks, I did 20 years at four different institutions. Yeah. So this is my fifth institution working, and I did four 20 years in four institutions at four years.

Mamta Accapadi: Okay.

Eddie Martinez: This is absolutely a lot more complex. Working at a community college the daily agility that you need to have, you have to be the Simon Simone boils of this.

Like you’re a gymnast all day. Like you’re, your day gets hijacked all day. You have to have empathy and innovation, and you’re doing that regularly. And I think that requires people to realize that at community colleges, we’re bridging the gap between academic and student affairs daily.

We don’t have the space or the privilege for silos.

Just don’t have it. Titles at community college, if you’re hung up on titles, then be careful. This is, might not be the place for you. Because. My title is the Associate Dean of Student Affairs, who happens to also be the campus Senior Student Affairs Officer.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: For my campus. And so titles, you have to realize that, but my portfolio where I’ve had higher titles in other institutions, my portfolio is significantly larger here.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: Overseeing over 10 to 12 departments, like it’s a lot. And I think that there’s the misconception, you don’t realize how much you have to know.

Yeah. And so you don’t have to be an expert in a lot of things, but I have to be able to go to a meeting and be able to speak about financial aid, enrollment health services, and then some of the basics like student life and academic advising, childcare, theater productions. There’s just a lot that we’re trying to see.

So I think that there’s that. And I also think the last misconception, now that might have throw some thoughts in there. Students just need more support because they’re under prepared.

And I would say, I’m not sure if they’re under prepared. I just think what they need is aligned support.

Wrap around support systems provide these students with this aligned support and not remedial thinking.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: There’s a remedial thought deficit mindset that goes with that. And I’m here to say that I’m now a champion for this space because now I live and breathe it. I walk around and when people ask me, Eddie, what’s your why?

My why is very simple. It’s one word hope.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah,

Eddie Martinez: I provide hope. I am an, I work in an area that we provide hope for our students to get themselves into whatever is success for them. And that is determined by the individual, not the institution. And that’s another conversation. So might, I’ll let you throw in some thoughts there.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: The first thing I thought hearing Eddie and having been in a student affairs preparation, higher ed program, so student affairs, now y’all, these are not our university students, right? So it’s the biggest misconception is that you can be a. Classically trained student affairs person and think that you can go to a community college and do the same things you were doing, plan the same events, do the same things, and that it’s gonna work there.

And it’s absolutely not. That is the most tone deaf way you can, and this is, if this is what you’re saying in interviews, by the way, that’s why you’re not getting to the next interview also. If you are not going to the American Association of Community Colleges infographic that I pulled up right now to give you some stats.

And checking out that, the average age of community college students is 27 and the median age is 23, and that 58% of students are women and 42% are men. And that 67% of students are part-time. And 33% are full-time. And let’s see, what else? 32% are first gen, 23% are students with disabilities.

Mamta Accapadi: Wow.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: 9% are students with prior bachelor’s degrees. So you have up to 10% of the students that are there are going in to retool, upscale to reskill. So these are folks that don’t really even need, they already have degrees. You, they don’t want your student affairs pizza, okay? They don’t want it.

They love you or maybe they don’t care that you’re there. They don’t want your pizza. You are also working with a faculty base that is also. 80% adjunct faculty. You will not know your faculty. You will not know your faculty. So you can’t be making partnerships with faculty to send students to your events so that you can actually have people at your events and your programming.

Throw all you’ve known and all you’ve learned in your programs out the window. And I know I’m dipping into another question that we had later, right? But part of what we do as fail a little bit in our grad programs for student affairs preparation is not talk about the difference in institutional types and how a student affairs office is not a student affairs office at different institutional types.

When I worked at OU, student Affairs was very different than when I went and got depressed working at a medical center. ’cause guess what, 300 students in a graduate level. Student or health professions program don’t need you and don’t want you the way that thousands of 18 and 19 year olds who are rushing want you.

At a state flagship, not the same. Same here, the institutional type really depends, really defines how student affairs work is going to happen and should happen. So yeah, you really need to be looking at also the community within which the campuses are located.

You are not going to be planning cultural events in a state where maybe cultural events aren’t allowed anymore by law.

Right? And there’s just so much, and Eddie spoke to so many great things, and. Texas is a lot of things happening. Good, bad or indifferent, some of the great things that are happening. The legislation around how we support our parenting students is fantastic. I have to say, I’m super proud of the requirements that the state has made about how we enroll those students, prioritize the support that parenting students get.

And again, and this is independent of institutional type, but as a student affairs professional, you need to know, and I have to say community colleges were leading that work way before it became legislated in the state of Texas, right? So you have to understand that community colleges and really student affairs professionals at community colleges have really been leading the charge in how we take care of our students.

And. Now, then it becomes law, right? Yeah. It becomes law in some of our states and it starts to show up in four year institutions eventually. Yeah. So some of these more radical things that are showing up at four years, you might start to dig and see that they might have started at community colleges community.

So anyway I ramble. But these are some of the things that, come to mind as we think about different, and they’re real. They’re

Eddie Martinez: real stuff different. What you said is real and we need to hear that, and I think people need to hear that.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: And that’s also part of why I love community college, because in the end I was like chasing single moms.

And you know why? Because that was my mom.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah,

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: I was chasing the services and the people that I realized were my mom and were providing support and services to women who needed to get the support that my mom needed that eventually made me become the successful person that I am now. So I, it’s my heart to ensure that these people become successful because there’s little Midas in their homes Yes.

That I want to be successful to.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah. One of the quotable quotes from this conversation, Midas gonna be, they don’t need your student affairs pizza. I

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: love it, but don’t,

Mamta Accapadi: And and pizza certainly is a draw. And I chuckle about that, but I feel like what I’m hearing from both of you, and as I’m continuing to grow in my own journey as an educator, even in our, and this goes back to like just even just broadly privileged and power dynamics, in our dominant identities as administrators, we think we know what students need.

As opposed to, and so oh, I’m gonna plan a program because I think this is a great program as opposed to, let me assess the landscape. There are a lot of parenting students. It is difficult for parenting students to park or access registration time slots or whatever the case may be.

So more than the pizza, can you please save an hour of my life so I don’t have to go to three different offices to get a thing done? Yes. And I feel like what I hear you saying is that like center the wisdom of what the students are asking from us. And certainly connect that, to Yeah.

Developmental, theoretical, developmental theories that we know are appropriate. Yes. But listen to what our students need and respond to that rather than, I think these are great programs.

Eddie Martinez: It means putting the, if you’re gonna center the student, you gotta put the student in a meeting with you.

You, you gotta have the data on the student. And at a community college, the turnover is quicker.

And every two years, every three years we’re losing, we’re graduating and we’re losing that student. We’re getting a new bunch.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah. And

Eddie Martinez: so getting off the treadmill of, oh, we do these programs every year.

I’m like artificial intelligence has entered our lives. Yes. Students are expecting because of COVID, even though we don’t talk COVID anymore. But COVID has changed the dynamic of what students are looking for in their speed. They don’t wanna come to campus for everything. They should just be able to click some things.

Yes. Go on the computer, go on an app. And so really adapting to our students is important. So for those folks who are in the space of administration. If you’ve been in that space for 20 years, you gotta get off your treadmill.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: The student is on a diff they’re on an elliptical. They’re on something different.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: Moving with our students is important. So I’ll, I’ll let you continue my, the, because there’s so many things that we can stay on that we need to problem, right?

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah. No, I just, this conversation as you all lead it is where we need to go. Eddie, I wanna go back to something else that you said before we go into our next conversation.

’cause I think it continues this, which is the, this you brought up the notion of competing priorities and that’s just not whimsical competing priorities. Like these are all like very significant where somebody is. Identifying okay, my employment, childcare, elder care, full-time job. And then where my curriculum fits into, any range of these things and Right.

Figure out what the order of operations and for different and different people, it will be different. And that’s fine. As opposed to I feel like I, I wanna own my own stuff. I remember a point in my life and in my career where I’m like if school’s not your most important thing, then you’re, I would question that commitment.

But that’s just not the case. And so when you talk about post COVID, I think you, across the board, we’re seeing people say, I need to prioritize my wellbeing. And so partners around me and my educator, partners around me, I need you to prioritize my wellbeing. And it looks. Like the, these different ways it looks like, please remove the barriers, please remove, the 17 steps I need et cetera, et cetera.

And I just really value the way that both of you are talking about that our work being policy impacted, for example just so much wisdom from both of you. Which kind of leads me into our next conversation around and mata, you began talking about this a bit where, where do you think our graduate preparation programs should do a better job or how can we be more intentional about preparing our educators to serve students in community colleges and lead in community college settings?

Like where can we do a better job?

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: Oh my God. First of all, can we stop closing down community college prep programs? Yeah, that’s number one. I think sadly, the shutting down happens because we don’t have enrollments, right? That’s where institutions hang their hat is we’re not seeing the numbers.

And unfortunately, I think we’re not seeing the numbers because we as a national narrative, don’t have a narrative that is loving and appreciative, right? Of what these institutions are and who they welcome and who they help. And Tom Hanks, I love you. Keep talking about how community college was helpful to you.

We need more people talking about that. I have to say. And give a shout out to my brother Igna Hernandez, who’s a faculty at Fresno State. When I was a grad student, he was the first person I ever heard introduce himself and talk about, it say where all he had been to school. And he was the first person to ever say his associate’s degree.

To talk about. I earned an associate’s at and his institution, never had I ever heard anyone give credit to their associate’s degree institution ever. And that was powerful to me. To the point where after I had earned my doctorate and I had, I was working at a community college, I was like, Alejandro, to my spouse, I feel like I’m a fraud.

Being at the community college and not having an associate’s degree, he was like, I think you’re okay.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: Please stop gonna school. I need you to stop going to school. But I just, it was so powerful to me. And so I love when people give credit to their community college, but we just don’t speak well still about community college.

That’s problem number one. So that’s why we don’t have high engagement in those programs. And so those are starting to shut down. We need students to ask for those classes because that’s the way that those classes happen. But even at that, we are struggling as student affairs in general, I think.

And just having our programs exist. I was a faculty member in a program up until December because I’m in Texas need I say more. It’s just a struggle to teach in this moment. But I think it’s very important that our colleagues don’t forget how valuable your voices as students are and that it’s really important that you, that you ask for these programs to be present and that you also don’t forget that you have agency to focus your assignments on community colleges, on community college students. But in the absence of that, you, we must understand how our states fund community colleges, how our states fund higher education in general.

So taking budget classes, taking classes where again, we are asking questions about how student affairs looks different at different institutional types. When you’re taking policy classes, how do those, you know, policies impact differently and different institutional types? There isn’t anything that keeps you from focusing on these institutions.

Eddie Martinez: Yeah.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: Just because the community college isn’t in the title. Yeah. When you’re interviewing different student affairs practitioners, which I know you all do all the time, because we get hit up about these things. Please consider, calling community college student affairs professionals.

But there’s just, and to our faculty friends please don’t forget, we are. Institutional types that need to be, again, it isn’t a big lift just to throw in the diversity of types, in your assignments and in your readings.

Eddie Martinez: I think you hit it right there.

For me, it comes down to centering community colleges in the curriculum. Not as an afterthought. You can’t use us as, oh, and by the way, also in the community colleges, like when you just throw us in as this intermediary, this kind of afterthought, this buried us in the ham sandwich. That’s not working.

Mamta Accapadi: No.

Eddie Martinez: If you center us in the curriculum then, and more than a class. Throughout the curriculum. To your point, Mya speak of community colleges, because I think in our grad programs, they need to get more practical of real life. And so one of the things you can do is, prioritize the applied experiences in the community college setting.

So when they’re gonna do an internship con, consider a community college internship because you can’t prepare people for this work without actually putting them in it.

Mamta Accapadi: Yes.

Eddie Martinez: And so there’s that. I also think that there’s something to be said for teaching those that real world complexity. Yes.

Not just the ideal theoretical scenarios. Yes. Community colleges were navigating enrollment pressures and workforce demands and basic needs, insecurities and housing insecurities. And the shifting populations. And we’re doing that all at once.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: So these are not siloed meetings. These meetings are happening and we’re, it’s an enrollment meeting and all of a sudden basic needs is coming up and workforce is coming up all within one meeting.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: Because they all overlap and intersect. And in a community college, you have to be ready for that. And if you’re not teaching our folks that they’re then shocked at their workload. What happens to you when you come to a community college? The workload that you have to endure? ’cause it’s a lot of work.

It’s good work. It’s good work. Darl Holman, my man NASCAR chair says, good work stands. That’s his thought. And good work stands and it’s one of the main reasons why I don’t leave.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: Because I feel. Fortunate and privileged to be doing a piece of the good luck.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: But it’s really, I’m sorry, ma interrupt, please.

No, you didn’t. It’s, I think it’s really a disservice to our professionals that are up and coming not to prepare them in this way. Because to Eddie’s point you won’t get you will not get called back for an interview. And the thing about it is that, as we all know, we are in shortages, employee shortages, and we want you, we know there’s folks that wanna be in these roles.

And it’s a hard place to be when you’re over here wanting the job and we’re over here wanting you, but you don’t have the preparation and the know-how to be able to make it over to the position. So it’s really a disservice to our students and it’s really a disservice to our up and coming professionals to not be preparing them in the ways that are going to help them be able to not only get in those roles, but to be able to serve our students the ways that we need them to when we get in those roles.

You gotta hit the ground running. We all know there’s no like beautifully packaged, here’s how you do your job.

Eddie Martinez: Not at all.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: Our grad programs are the way, like they’re the closest we can get to that manual, that how to and if we are not doing this for them now. They’re not gonna get the positions.

And the worst part of it is the outcomes for our students are going to show the deficits.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah. I don’t know. I hear both of you speaking and I do agree in, in, in that there are certain programs like, if you think about community college leadership programs, there was like, when I worked at UT Austins the CCLP program as an example.

So I remember in my time seeing dedicated programs. So there’s something so deeply valuable about that. But y’all, I have to tell you again, challenging myself in November when I went to the Success Institute, Dr. Kim Lowry, had led that effort and I’m watching this presentation.

And I, I consider myself somebody who’s committed to equity and inclusion opportunity, right? Like I’m, and I’m watching this presentation and I see demographics and I see that there are more learners in community colleges, enrolling community colleges in the state of Texas than in four year institutions.

Then for me as a, as an educator, it is absolutely my responsibility to understand what learners and community colleges need. That shouldn’t be, it shouldn’t have to be a separate program, but in my curriculum, to your point, to both of your points, that should very much be integrated and not just oh, this is the community college unit of the thing.

It’s okay, budget operations. What does that look like? In this setting, in a community college setting, how is that different in a four year setting? How is that different and and for people to be able to go back and forth what are the factors that you need to consider here that you may or may not need to consider here?

And frankly I think there’s a great opportunity. Here, because if you’re thinking about, if we say we’re thinking about access and opportunity, it is again, I don’t wanna, there are no heroes and villains in this story, right? I, I don’t wanna critique one institution, but it looks, access opportunity looks different.

I’m

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: like

Mamta Accapadi: yeah and but how it’s applied, right? Uhhuh in the community college space, I feel prepares me

To think about all the things I never, ever thought about, particularly for me in my privilege around education, my privilege around class, in the, and so many more.

But and I feel like we do I teach in a doctoral program, so I feel like we have a do care to, to do that work differently.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: I’m being physician. I’m half joking.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: Having taught history of higher ed. I’m like, there’s a hierarchy. And once, once we started to separate the research institutions from everything else, then that hierarchy is what we have now.

And so we teach about,

Mamta Accapadi: yes,

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: we teach about the higher, the upper echelons of the hierarchy is what we teach about, right? That is naturally what has risen to the history books is the top part of the H Ed hierarchy. And so it’s us actively choosing as with much of the, a lot of the other history, right?

It’s us choosing to center the history of the entire. Ecosystem of higher ed

Eddie Martinez: ecosystem. There it is. Yes.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: Okay. We’re

Eddie Martinez: serious

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: about, I’m here, honey. I’m here with the, I’m here with the pc. It’s choosing to focus on the entire hierarchy or the entire ecosystem of higher ed. Yes. And that’s one of the things that leaving the classroom for me is that, man, I don’t get to do that.

I get to do it in a different capacity in my current work, which I absolutely love. And, that is one thing I adored about doing it in the classroom is I was exposing student affairs folks.

Mamta Accapadi: Yes.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: To the entirety of the ecosystem in a way. That was very much how I wanted to do it. And I got to pass on that community college love in a way that I that I alo adore. But yeah, I think mata that’s what the curriculum we are receiving is what has historically been elevated for us. And it’s that,

Mamta Accapadi: Continuing this conversation, I think this expands from the grad prep program, so to speak, and even in pro professional development experiences outside of kind of a formal academic curriculum.

Y’all have been sprinkling this throughout the conversation, which is why I am so in awe of both of you. But if you truly had that piece of advice to offer, I, I was gonna say new professionals, but any professionals to offer professionals who really want to work and serve in and learn alongside our student learners in the community college environment and ecosystem.

What advice might you offer?

Eddie Martinez: I have a thought just to finish up that other piece. It’s in my mind, I’m curious about equity, and I think it leads into advice. I think if we’re serious about equity and student success, then we need to start preparing our leaders for where the majority of students actually are, and that’s in the community colleges.

So everyone needs to hear that.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: The majority of students in the country are starting at community colleges, so if you just take that stat. Then there it is. Prepare your leaders for where our students are actually wounding up. There’s so much advice, right? One can wear, but I think from a community college perspective, I would, and I think the way the world is in higher ed, we need to be ready to wear multiple hats,

Mamta Accapadi: ah,

Eddie Martinez: regardless of your sector at this point, right?

One moment we’re doing policy. One moment we’re doing basic needs. One moment we’re doing enrollment, like that’s happening everywhere. And I think student affairs. We’re the backbone in many ways, right? We’re educating outside that classroom, and we’re teaching also as administration, we’re also faculty, we’re adjuncts.

We’re inside the classroom as well. And I, many of us do that. And I, by the way, if you’re listening to this podcast and you’re not teaching, you should probably get into that, do an adjunct class. It’s very important for your faculty colleagues to see you as understanding what they do as well. So I think wearing multiple hats is important.

I would say don’t underestimate your environment.

Community colleges are fast-paced, where resource conscious in many ways, but we’re deeply human spaces.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: I have to say that again. We’re deeply human spaces. So if you’re coming in thinking you’re gonna fix a student, that’s not what we’re gonna, you’ve missed it.

Mine has been saying this throughout.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: We’re different, right? Our students are different. You’re not gonna fix the student, but come ready to partner with them. If you could come ready to partner and not think that goes for anything. In all of my, in my 32 years of a higher ed student affairs professional, one of the successes is I’ve partnered with the student and then I’ve been their voice at the seat at the table.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: To say, I didn’t just speak to one student and say, here’s one example, let’s change a pro a policy. I know better than that. We know better than that as student affairs professionals, but we’ll thrive if we partner with our students. And so I think my lasting last word, I think on that would be if we stay grounded and we stay cheer, if we stay grounded and we stay curious and curiosity is the key.

It’s the mix. It’s the special ingredient. It’s the special sauce. In higher ed in community colleges, stay curious and never lose sight of why our choosing students are choosing us.

We might be their best choice. We might be their only choice, but I’ll go back to my why. If we can offer them some hope, then that’s the win that I’ll take any day, every day, all day.

What talking about, I, I know maa, you, it’s so ugh, so many things

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: I’m struggling. I’m thinking of what I used to tell my staff at this one particular institution. You just have to remember on any given day for any given student, and I’m thinking of the student that looks like. Someone that you’d like, Ugh.

Like here comes that person. That person is someone most beloved.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: And you need to treat them like they’re someone’s most beloved. That was my mom and that was my sister. And so I need you to treat them like you are most beloved.

Eddie Martinez: I love that.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: And yeah. Period. Period.

Eddie Martinez: That’s a full stop, right?

That’s a full stop. Mi I love that.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: I, and then on as a, on the manager side, as a manager. Ah, because I know people have hard days, right? Even when you want them to see their most beloved person on the other side of the counter, assume good intentions.

Mamta Accapadi: Yeah.

Mayra Olivares-Urueta: And then pull, bring them in and have that conversation.

When they need, they might need space to, to let something out. It’s just, it’s hard times and everybody needs grace. I know I got crazy, y’all in my forties, I went crazy and I got tattoos and one of my first little baby tattoos I got was the symbol for grace. Because it be one year, it was my word for the year, and then it just became my word for multiple years and then it’s just tattooed on me.

But it’s just a word that like, I gotta grant myself grace. I gotta grant other people grace. But yeah, especially in community college, you don’t know how much it’s taken a person to walk in through those doors because of how much higher, how much education can mess up A kid can mess up a person just because of if you’ve taken a history of education course ever or just been through our system.

And yeah. They’re someone’s beloved, and your staff are someone’s beloved, and you are someone’s beloved. Treat yourself with some grace. Yeah, that’s it,

Mamta Accapadi: my friends. I feel like that’s a beautiful way to close out this episode of our conversation. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for the gift of wisdom and healing that I did not know that I was gonna receive today.

Thank you so much. Dr. Martinez and Dr. Olivares Uta, your time and spirit today. As a guest on Student Affairs now, it’s just such, such a gift. I appreciate both of you for those of us who are listening and or watching the podcast. Just an FYI. This is an episode of We Are Working Together again thanks to Eddie and Maa to develop a curated collective of episodes in our own shared commitment to expand the conversation.

Stay tuned. Thanks to their continued much like their curated volume with the leadership exchange. Their guidance and expertise is also guiding a collective of episodes. And I hesitate to use the term series because I think much like we’re talking about in our education, like we need to expand.

And make sure all of our higher ed conversations are inclusive of community college narratives. So more episodes to come, thanks to their wisdom. And so with that I do wanna take another moment to thank again, our sponsor of today’s episode, Evolve. We really appreciate your support and for our listeners, Evolve helps senior leaders who value aspire to lead on and want to unleash their potential for transformational leadership.

Our own Keith Edwards, along with doctors Brian Aro and Don Lee offer a personalized experience with high impact value, the asynchronous content and six individual and six group coaching sessions maximize your learning and growth with a focused time investment greatly enhancing your ability. To lead powerfully for social change.

I always wanna acknowledge much love and huge shout out to Nat Ambrosey, the producer of the podcast, who does all of the behind the scenes work to make us look good and sound great. And friends. If you’re listening today and you haven’t already, you’re not already receiving our weekly newsletter, please feel free to visit our website@studentaffairsnow.com and scroll to the bottom of the homepage to add your email to our MailChimp list.

While you’re there, feel free to check out our archives. So friends, once again, I’m Mamta Accapadi. So much love and gratitude to everyone who’s present with us today. We want you to make it a beautiful week that honors your soul, spirit, and ancestral wisdom. Thank you again, my friends.

https://www.leadershipexchange-digital.com/leadershipexchange/library/item/2026winter/4308655/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayra-olivares-urueta-phd

https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-f-martinez-ed-d-1b93a563/