Rural Matters

In the second installment of our latest series with Ascendium, Michael chats with the following experts on the intersection of community college and rural economic growth: Dr. Greg Hodges, President of Patrick & Henry Community College; Josh Wyner, Founder and Executive Director of the College Excellence Program at the Aspen Institute; and Ben Barrett, Senior Program Manager with the College Excel...

In this episode, Michael chats with Cara James, President and CEO of Grantmakers in Health (GIH), an educational organization dedicated to helping funders achieve better health for all through better philanthropy. Together, they discuss GIH's work to support rural populations, combatting racial and socioeconomic disparities in rural health, philanthropy's role in closing workforce gaps in rural co...

In this fifth and final episode of our series on the future of investing in rural prosperity, produced in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Michael chats with the following experts on achieving rural prosperity in America: Tony Pipa, Senior Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution; Ines Polonius...

In the first episode of our new series with Ascendium, Michael chats with the following experts on working toward stronger educational and workforce outcomes in rural communities: Kirstin Yeado, Program Officer at Ascendium; Jeffrey West, Executive Director of Education to Employment Partners; Dakota Pawlicki, Director of Talent Hubs at CivicLab; Justin Burch, National Director of Workforce and Sm...

In this fourth episode of our five-part series on the future of investing in rural prosperity, produced in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Michael chats with the following experts on achieving rural prosperity in America: Chrystel Cornelius, President and CEO of the Oweesta Corporation; Nikki Foster, Program Officer at the Northw...

In this episode, Michael chats with Mike Lowers, Senior Customer Success Manager, Central U.S., and Kristin Martinez, Clinical Director, SLP and OT, both of Presence, a digital therapy provider founded in 2009. They discuss school-based teletherapy and how new initiatives and approaches to teletherapy are fostering greater engagement, efficiency, and well-being across the rural school landscape. T...

In this third episode of our five-part series on the future of investing in rural prosperity, produced in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Michael chats with the following experts on achieving rural prosperity in America: Kaying Hang, Senior Vice President of Programs and Partnerships at the Sierra Health Foundation and The Center...

In this second installment of our five-part series on the future of investing in rural prosperity, produced in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Michael chats with the following experts on investing rural prosperity in America: Noel Poyo, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Economic Development at the Treasury Department; Chri...

In this first episode of a new five-part series on the future of investing in rural prosperity, produced in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Michael chats with the following experts on achieving rural prosperity in America: Linda Lobao, Professor Emeritus in Rural Sociology and Distinguished Professor in Food, Agriculture, and Env...

In the final installment of our six-part series on continuing rural postsecondary education and workforce development, produced in collaboration with and supported by the Ascendium Education Group, Michael chats with two education leaders who are doing some amazing work with rural colleges: Jeb Puryear, the Suzanne and Dave Peterson Endowed Professor of Gifted  Education at the University of Monta...

In this sixth and final installment of our excellent series, Living in Rural America —2022 and Beyond, produced in collaboration with and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Michelle discusses the future of rural with three outstanding guests: Dee Davis , F ounder and President of the Center for Rural Strategies; David Lipsetz , President and CEO of the Housing Assistance Council (HAC...

In Part V of our six-part series on continuing rural postsecondary education and workforce development, produced in collaboration with and supported by the Ascendium Education Group. Michelle chats with three education leaders who are doing some amazing work with rural colleges: Cindy Lopez,  Executive Director of Network Engagement at Achieving the Dream, who oversees designated ATD Network servi...

Synopsis: In Part V of our six-part series, Living in Rural America , produced in collaboration with and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Michelle discusses Rural Economic & Cultural Success Stories: Lesson Learned from Thriving Communities, with Dr. Katherine Ortega Courtney and Dominic Capello, the two authors of the landmark book, 100% Community, Ensuring 10 Vital Services for S...

In this episode, the fourth in our six-part series, Living in Rural America , produced in collaboration with and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Michelle chats with Mil Duncan, Professor Emerita in Sociology at the University of New Hampshire and Senior Fellow at the Meridian Institute. Her work focuses on opportunity and social change in rural communities. Duncan was the founding...

In this fourth installment of the fabulous series we're doing in collaboration with and supported by the Ascendium Education Group, Michelle interviews three professionals with hands-on experience collaborating with employers to help rural learners: Dani Douglas, a Research and Policy Associate at the Center on Rural Innovation; Dr. John Fitzsimmons, President of The Foundation for Maine's Communi...

In this final installment of our fabulous four-part series, Designing Postsecondary Alternatives for Rural Learners, produced in collaboration with and underwritten by PelotonU, Michelle chats with four terrific guests who provide additional perspectives on the rural learning experience: Rocío Rangel, Director of the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) at Eastern Washington University; Drew...

In our second bonus brief episode of 2022, Michelle is joined by former New Orleans Mayor, and current Biden Administration Senior Advisor and Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu to discuss how the President's $1.2 billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help rebuild rural America.  Mitch and Michelle begin their discussion by commenting on the poor conditions of America's rural infrastru...

In Part III of our superb series, Designing Postsecondary Alternatives for Rural Learners, produced in collaboration with and underwritten by one of our most exciting new partners, PelotonU. Michelle chats with three terrific guests about pathways for collaboration with rural communities: Laura Wise , Program Director for the Michigan State University College Advising Corps (MSUCAC), which support...

In the third installment of our superb six-part series produced in collaboration with and supported by the Ascendium  Education Group, Michelle chats with Leslie Daugherty, Senior Education Designer at the Education Design Lab; Kathy Temple-Miller , Dean of Student Success at Washington State Community College in Ohio; Dr. Dana Cotton , an instructor and Interim Chair of the English, Communication...

In Part II of our fabulous four-part series we're producing in collaboration with and supported by PelotonU, called D esigning Postsecondary Alternatives for Rural Learners, Michelle discusses decisions rural learners have to make to pursue their educational goals and why and how rural learners choose whether to stay in their communities or leave to pursue education opportunities elsewhere, with t...

In this first of our four-part series, Designing Postsecondary Alternatives for Rural Learners , produced in collaboration with and supported by PelotonU, Michelle chats with three terrific guests about the latest trends and statistics pertaining to rural learners and rural education, best practices for engaging student support, and actual rural learner experiences: Dr. Van Davis, chief strategy o...

In Part III of this series, Life in Rural America — 2022 and Beyond — produced in collaboration with and underwritten by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Michelle chats with Ge Bai, Professor of Accounting at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and Professor of Health Policy & Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Keith Mueller, Gerhard Hartman Professor in Heal...

In Part II of our superb six-part series produced in collaboration with and underwritten by the Ascendium Education Group, Michelle chats with three academic researchers who are responsible for the new groundbreaking report published by the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges , (ARRC) called Introducing Our Nation's Rural Serving Postsecondary Institutions: Dr. Andrew Koricich, an associate...

Synopsis: Michelle chats with Danielle McGeary , Vice President of HTM for the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and Maggie Berkey, CBET, Senior Biomedical Equipment Technician ( BMET ) for CommonSpirit Health at the Good Samaritan campus in Nebraska, about AAMI's innovative BMET Apprenticeship Program . McGeary and Berkey developed this program in collaboration wit...

In Part II of this six-part series — Living in Rural America, 2022 and Beyond —   produced in collaboration with and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Michelle chats with three experts on how rural America is dealing with the pandemic and other significant issues. Dr. Don Albrecht, Director of the Western Rural Development Center (WRDC), who has published research on the impact of C...