Episode 42: Ani Yazedjian
Rachel Kobus 0:10
On May 1 2024 Dr Ani Yazedjian accepted the role of Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Illinois State University after serving one year as Acting Provost. From 2019 to 2023 Doctor Yazedjian served as associate provost, serving on the university strategic planning steering team and the covid 19 steering team. She also served as chair of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at Illinois State. Shewas named a university professor in 2013 and received the university's Distinguished Service Award in 2023 she is an accomplished scholar with 60 publications and 170 invited and peer reviewed presentations, her primary research areas have focused on relationship education, adolescent ethnic identity development, college student adjustment and achievement and evidence based practice, she has been awarded over $7 million in external funding to support her scholarship. Her thoughtful leadership throughout her career at ISU has led to increased professional development, additional funding for student support services and new academic programs. So what a great day it is to be a Redbird when we get to hear from ISU Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Dr Ani Yazedjian, we're very excited for this talk to learn more about your plans for Illinois State, but also to learn about you as an individual.
So Provost, what's the word red bird? Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey.
Ani Yazedjian 1:36
Great. Thanks for having me, Rachel, it's my pleasure to be here today. I'll start by telling you a little bit about how I got into higher education, because it really wasn't something that I ever thought I would do when I went to college. I thought I was going to get a master's in social work, and so when I graduated, I was looking for graduate programs in social work, and I found one at the University of Illinois that was actually a dual degree program where you got you spent one year in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, and then another year in social work, and you graduated with two master's degrees. And being a little bit of an overachiever, I thought, Well, why not get two degrees in the same amount of time as I could get one? And I moved to Illinois after going to the University of Florida, and started there as a Master's student, and when I was taking my classes there, and I had every intention of just going back to Florida and being a social worker, I had some faculty who started talking to me about, have you ever thought about being in a PhD program? And I told them, no, never. It's not something I want to do. And they asked me, Well, what do you want to do? And I told them, I really wanted to make a difference in people's lives. And they said, Well, you could go and become a practitioner and serve people, or you can prepare the people who go and serve people and have a much bigger impact. And that was something that really resonated with me, and it helped that they also gave me a fellowship, and so I switched into the PhD program, and the rest is history. So then I was in the program for several years, and I really loved teaching my first semester in in graduate school, I had a discussion section that I was responsible for, and I realized how much I enjoyed my interactions with students. So pairing that with my desire to have a broader impact, I decided I was interested in going to a university that really had a more balanced approach to teaching and research, and that was something that was a little unique at a research intensive university like the U of I because they really were socializing and preparing people to go and work at other R1 universities, but I was a little different. And so even in grad school, I focused a lot on developing my teaching skills and building those up in the same way I was building up my research skills. And a story that I always like to tell is when I finished my PhD and I went on the job market, I couldn't find a job my first year, and I felt like a failure, because, you know, you work so hard for so many years, and the goal is to get a tenure track faculty job, and I wasn't able to get that. But instead, I worked in the teaching center for a year, and that changed and influenced the rest of my career in ways that at that time I wasn't able to anticipate, but because I was working with people to improve their teaching skills, I learned how to become a better teacher as well, and I learned how to support people in improving and developing their teaching skills. So fast forward many years, when I became a department chair, I think that was an asset and a skill that I brought to that role in terms of helping our newer faculty also develop their teaching skills. But anyway, so I worked at the teaching center for a year, and then I went to Texas State University as a faculty member in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences. I had a transformative experience there for a year where I served as Presidential Fellow, and then as a special assistant to the provost, and then I went back to faculty, and I didn't know I was going to come next, but there was an opportunity that opened up here and Illinois State, back in the home state where my husband's family lives. And so it was an opportunity to get back to Illinois. I applied for the position. It was the only position I applied for. And in some ways it was an easy interview, because I had a great gig in Texas, so I was able to be myself. And I told people, well, this is who I am, yeah, man, if you don't want that, I'll go back to Texas, go back to my great job. But in 2013 I came here as department chair, yeah,
Rachel Kobus 5:27
and we love hearing it. And Ani, I want to say, and I already did it already, but you talked about you earned your doctorates. You made that step. And not many people can say that. And so I want to make clear throughout this interview, would you like to be called Dr, Yazedjian Provost, Yazedjian, Ani? I think it's good for our audience to know, and you do meet with so many people that once you run into them, they feel that comfort with you as well, too.
Ani Yazedjian 5:48
Yeah, yeah. It's totally fine for you to call me Ani for this interview. All right, thanks for asking yes and again, thank you for being here.
Rachel Kobus 5:54
And I love hearing your story. I do want our listeners to know too that Ani is going to have an article in the STATE magazine that hopefully will come out in the next few weeks to coincide with this podcast. And while we're going to talk about some different topics than what that article is going to talk about, I do think it's important that, in case you don't get to read the magazine, to talk maybe a few steps back about the importance of visiting because you talk about claiming identity, building. You know who you are as a person. Really came from the community that you grew up in, and so I know reading more about you, Ani that raised in Egypt and an Armenian community, moved to America, and then started to really have these inquisitive thoughts of, how do I find my identity so, being a woman, being not born in America, per se. How did you find your identity when choosing the career then and the journey you were going to have?
Yeah,
Ani Yazedjian 6:48
Yeah, so I've always been somebody that observes people. I'm always watching people, trying to kind of figure out what makes them tick. And I think some of that comes back, actually, to my family of origin, when I was reflecting on this that I had a pretty unpredictable home environment. And so I think that that hyper vigilance or just watching was kind of based on my family experiences, where you come home and you kind of want to see, how are your parents feeling, what kind of mood are they in? And so I think that was just something that a skill that I developed that then also made me very curious about people. You know, when I went to the when I came to the United States as an adolescent, it's a time where people are just trying to figure themselves out, and then you're new in this country, and people don't know what Armenians are, and they don't know how what box to put you in. And so it was really a transformative experience for me. And then a lot of times in the social sciences, we say you study what you know. And so when I went to grad school and I thought about what I was interested in, I really was interested in studying the experiences of adolescence and what happens. I had a unique experience. But my more immediate question at that time was, what does it mean to be an Armenian in the United States, where if somebody looks at you and they don't necessarily know, they're not gonna make a judgment about, are you Armenian? Are you American? But so what does identity development look like in a context like that, versus identity development looking like in a Muslim country where you're part of a religious minority? So that was my initial interest in the field, and you know, it just kind of grew from that. But those questions of identity have really stayed with me, because I think those are also the critical questions of our college students when they're coming to the university, about who am I? I have this new opportunity to be a different person, because chances are, I haven't come with a lot of people from my school, or even if I did, I don't necessarily need to interact with them, and so it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity to kind of remake yourself. And then what does that mean, and what implications does that have for a student's success in college and in the college environment? So even though I studied, started studying Armenian adolescents when I moved into my first faculty job, I started thinking about how those experiences played out in the college environment, which is why then I started studying college student adjustment and achievement.
Rachel Kobus 9:05
Yeah, well, in a lot of what you've done, it's very, I think you've said it once, right? It's very practical going into understanding teaching and helping others learn how to teach, taking the research you have and truly understanding what it means. Then to think about that as a college student, it makes you unique in this administrative role, which is why Illinois State is, I think, very fortunate to have someone like you with that thought, with that leadership skill, and with that administration and that whole background itself. So thank you for sharing that. I appreciate it. So we kind of already talked about, you know you, you study sociology, human development, family studies throughout your educational journey. And I think we this was my question of why that path? And I feel you did answer that already, and what a great path it was. So you, like you said, went to University of Illinois, you went to Texas State University, and then to ISU. And you've taught, touched many lives, but you did a lot of that as a faculty member, as a chair, did a lot of things before you moved into the office of the provost. So can you share a little bit on the personal side? What's a core memory you have in your career that really stands out from the rest of them?
Ani Yazedjian 10:09
Sure, and actually, I'm going to go back to the question, yes, you do education path, because one of the things I would like to put out there is, my mom had a master's degree in counseling, and my dad dropped out of school when he was 13 and became an apprentice. So we think when students have a college educated parent, that they have certain skills that they come to the university with, right? So if you look at me, you could say, well, she falls into the group of college educated parents, right? So maybe they don't need as much support because they have that person in their life with experience. But my mother, even though she had a master's degree, didn't actually tell me anything about being successful in college. And when I went to school, when I went to the University of Florida as an undergrad, I kind of tried to think, well, I like people, and I want to study people, and the only thing I know about that really, is psychology. And so I became a psychology major, not necessarily with a lot of direction, but then my first semester of my psychology class, my professor was a large lecture, and my professor talked about his rats all the time. And I thought, I thought psychology was about people, not rats. And so I didn't feel like it was a good fit for me, but again, I didn't have anybody to really go back to and ask for feedback from. So I kind of stumbled into sociology, which ended up being a great fit. And if I could have been a psychology minor, I certainly would have done that, but the University of Florida didn't offer that. But all that to say that, you know, I take my own experience with me in college as an administrator. Keep that in mind that even though a person may fit a particular demographic profile, we can't assume the resources that they may or may not have. But then, going back to your question about what are the things that I cherish? I don't know that I could narrow it down to one particular memory, but you know, I think it resonates with my desire to make a difference. The things that stick out to me the most when I was a faculty member was the immediate gratification that you get from teaching a class. Sometimes gratification, sometimes you realize you bombed that that class, but, but you get that immediate reinforcement from students who are either engaged or who are not engaged, and so you use that as a reflection point and say, okay, that went well. Let's take some notes on what went well there, or if the students didn't connect with this, you know, I would take notes to think about, what could I do differently next time? But I think the memories that are the most meaningful are when students would write me a message, you know, write me a card, or come talk to me in my office, to say that I made a difference in their lives. Because to me, that that touched me in a in a place that was the most meaningful, right? Because that's why I entered this profession, and then to be able to see my students doing things that make an impact. And you know, some of my former students are now faculty members at Texas State, which is pretty neat to see as well. So really seeing the impact on individual people as they as they went on to have their own accomplishments made me feel like I was making a difference and and the other part too is to be able to see something in someone that perhaps they didn't see in themselves. You know. So the students that I would ask to come and work on our research projects, some of them would say, why did you pick me? You know, so because they don't see themselves in that way. And that was true for me too. I had people who invested in my life at times where I didn't see that in myself. So as a faculty member, but even now as an administrator, you know, I have this privilege that I can see something in someone and give them an opportunity, or afford them an opportunity to develop their skills or to live out those skills that they already have, that they may not have ever known about. So that's the part I think that is most meaningful to me in terms of doing what I do.
Rachel Kobus 13:58
Yeah, no, I love it. Thank you. And it kind of reminds us, too that you can be in education in taoite Teachers are important. But I think no matter what the career is, being a teacher, being a mentor, and looking at students, mentees, in that capacity, really can change people's lives then too. And obviously you've seen that firsthand, knowing that this is something that you recall and think back on throughout your whole career as well. Yeah.
Ani Yazedjian 14:20
And the other one I would add also is that I've been actually very applied in my research. The question I would always ask with the work that I did is, so what, you know, I think again, that goes back to the making a difference we're putting in all this time, we could write a manuscript that maybe a few people would read in a scholarly journal, but what is the impact on people of the work that we're doing. And so another thing that is very meaningful to me is the work we did on our grant funded projects, both in Texas and here, and we worked with populations of students who would be considered at risk, but had really a lot of strengths that they brought into those environments. And we hired people. It was a relationship education program, and we hired professional facilitators who would work with these students. And the thing that we worked with the facilitators on, that the students really picked up on, is that they were to work with these students as human beings and as individuals, not to judge them. And so they were spaces. Even though we worked in schools, they were space. Our meeting times, more spaces where students who are trouble kids, or kids who had problems with attendance, or, you know, whatever judgment others might make of them came into that space, and they didn't have to bring that with them, you know. And so that was a way that we could use our research to inform practice, to make a difference in students lives and and many of those students probably will never remember the content that we taught, but I hope that they will remember that somebody saw them as a human being and valued them and valued their contributions, and in that way, we made a difference for them. Yes, and I hope the same thing too.
Rachel Kobus 15:56
Thank you. I want to add too that at Illinois State, you were the first woman, and correct me if I'm wrong, first woman in the school's history to serve as a university professor. You've led departments, units and now, Academic Affairs at ISU. You're a mother of two. What kind of words can you share to other women in various parts of their careers to achieve and find their seat at the table?
Ani Yazedjian 16:21
Yeah. So one of the things I'll say about being a university professor, there are also distinguished professors, and there are a number of women who are also distinguished professors, but distinguished professors come from the faculty university professors. The way that that program was initially kind of conceptualized was for administrators, it's open for faculty as well, and now we have faculty who are university professors. But originally it was focused more towards administrators, and there are some systemic issues there, right? That when I came we had 36 department chairs and school directors, but only, I think six of us were females, so the pool is smaller, right? Today, we're in a different spot, where we have a lot more women who are leading schools and departments and very accomplished women and so, you know, that's another reason that we might start to see things differently, right? So I think we have to look at the systems as well, in addition to individual achievements, because there are many women and men on this campus who work very hard, but there could be systemic things that get in the way of recognizing them for their accomplishments. But in terms of being a mother and being an employee and a faculty member an administrator, I think it is certainly not without its challenges and and the the more responsibilities you have, the more difficult it can be to balance those, you know, and that doesn't really matter what your title is, but when you have multiple competing responsibilities, I think this is true for men, too, but you know, there are different systemic factors that that impact the experience of men versus women. I think sometimes with women, even if perhaps the context in which you're in doesn't promote this, you have your own guilt, right? So you have your own guilt about, am I spending too much time at work and not spending time enough time with my family, or even when I'm with my family, you know, am I fully present? Am I still thinking about work? You know, how do I set up boundaries, especially if you have ambition as a woman, how do you connect that ambition with also being a good mother and what that looks like? So I think there are lots of things that women have to deal with, and also we can do that sometimes in isolation. And so, you know, we did a women in leadership event this past spring, and part of that reason, and it was open to everybody, because I think it's also important for men to understand some of the things that women are going through, but it was open for everybody, but it provided an opportunity for women to come together and talk about some of those things, because then you realize, you know you're not alone and that we can support each other. But in terms of women having a seat at the table, you know, I think it's also important for women to understand that they have the skills to be at the table. You know, a lot of times women may talk themselves out of a job before they even apply for it. And so to really reflect on what are your transferable skills, even though you may not meet all of the qualifications in a particular job posting, what are the skills that you do bring to be upfront about the experiences that you don't have, but to show how your transferable skills connect to that position. But it's hard work for me. I've been able to do this, I was going to say successfully, but some days I wonder about that. But to do this, because I also have a success support system. So I have a husband who has had to start over. He was a business owner in Texas, and when we came here, he had to give that business up, you know. And so there are sacrifices that are made within the family system. If I can go back to my human development lingo within a family system, everybody's making sacrifices. And so he gave up his business to move here and start all over again. And he did that. But then when I moved into the Associate Provost role, we realized that our life was just not going to be able to continue the way it was, and give that attention to both of our children. And so he made a decision to step back from his job so that I could continue in the Associate Provost role. So it is difficult, but you know, it's important to be upfront about those things. And I think as Provost now, and even when I was acting Provost, and before you know, I have an opportunity to talk about some of those issues so that we can bring it out and normalize it a little bit, so that more women can see themselves as potential leaders, or move into leadership titled roles, because leadership is really about positive influence. You don't need to have a title to be a leader, but for women to be able to see themselves in these in these specific titled roles, I think, is also important for the benefit of the institution.
Rachel Kobus 21:06
Yeah, no. And I was gonna say too from first time, that was amazing. Thank you. As a mother in a working and you know, Dani, our executive producer, sitting here too, both being a mother and working too, it's, it's very nice to be at a table with someone like you, Ani, and also to know that there's a reason, like you said, leadership is because of positive influence, but it's nice to have voices like you too. So I appreciate that very much.
Ani Yazedjian 21:30
And I know you said you have a four year old, it doesn't get any easier. You know, some people do, but as I feel, I feel compelled to say this, as someone who studies adolescent development, you know, I think there is a perception that kids need their parents when they're young, but kids need their parents, and that doesn't mean just being around all the time, but kids need their parents to be present and engaged through adolescence, even when they may show that they don't want you around. Really, those are the times I think that you have to find different ways to engage with them, because developmentally, they're not ready to be on their own, and so the challenges are different, but there are also tremendous, valuable moments that come from that yes, well, thank you.
Rachel Kobus 22:13
Remind me that every year please do. And you know, as we move into this, you talked about how your family is your support system. You've moved from Texas to Illinois, which means you've created a foundation for yourself. And now, as provost and prior acting Provost, the impact you're making, the changes you're making, you're building on the foundation of Illinois State too. So what does that feel like going into this role, making that foundation and making that impact.
Ani Yazedjian 22:42
Yeah, it's, I mean, it's really a tremendous responsibility and and a privilege. And the thing that I like to tell people is, obviously the Provost and the Provost Office has a leadership role at the university, but one of the things we talk about in our office is that we are really a service unit, that we are here to serve and support the Deans and the department chairs and the school directors and the faculty. And so we do provide vision, but really the Provost Office vision is enacted by the people. And so we can have a great vision, but if people are not buying into it, and if we're not providing support to people to be effective in enacting that vision, then we're not going to be successful, because there are, there are too many competing interests for people. People coming out of covid, and still today, feel overworked, overwhelmed, overburdened. And so we could have this great idea, but if people don't feel like this is something I want to invest in, and I can see my role in that, and I feel supported in that, then we're not going to be effective. So I think Illinois State has a great foundation, but we need to continue to invest in our greatest asset, which is our people. Now it's that's a difficult thing to say sometimes, because then people will come back to you and say, Well, you said people are our greatest asset, and you need to invest in them, but, but I think that doesn't necessarily mean people get everything they want all the time, right, but that there is this broader vision that centers people, that as much as possible we make our decisions in a way that supports our people. That certainly does not mean people are going to be happy with every single decision that you make. But in again, in human development, there's something called social perspective taking, and it's a skill that most people should develop during adolescence. Some develop it earlier. Some develop it much later, okay, but this idea about social perspective taking is, you know, you can't make just the decisions based on your own perspective, right? But how do you take the perspective of the other and this goes into when you're talking about change, how do you consider the perspective of the other person so that you will have a greater likelihood for that change to be successful? What is the information that other person needs to know? What are the skills that other person needs to have? What is a place of mutual understanding? So you can see where they're coming from, so that you can be more successful in whatever initiative you're trying to move forward on.
Rachel Kobus 25:06
Wow, I love that. Your research, your, you know, academic background, it can be brought into both the academic side, but also into, you know, what we see more as not just administrative, but just really, any corporate world, any higher institution. It's great to hear and again, appreciate just all your different viewpoints. It's this has been an amazing interview, and I do want to ask, you know, again, let everyone know, don't forget, read the magazine. Learn more about Ani, the obstacles, the achievements that she's had up until this point, and now that we're at this point, can you share a little bit of what you think's on the horizon within your academic plan for Illinois State?
Ani Yazedjian 25:47
Yeah. So there's a lot on the horizon. And in preparation for this, I listened to the podcast with the President, and so at the risk of repeating some of the things that he said, which I think is a good--is good. It shows that we're, you know, rowing in the same direction. There are a lot of things that are happening in our society and in higher education in general that ISU is not immune to. So, for example, the cost of education, again, the President talked about this, but education is not cheap. People are making decisions about the value of higher education. So that is something that we have to continue to articulate to people who say, is a college degree worth it, and is an ISU degree worth it, and we believe wholeheartedly that it is. So how do we communicate that? At the same time, you know, people are asking, what is this degree going to let me do? And sometimes that's difficult for people who for scholars, faculty, administrators, who have been trained in a very narrow discipline, or narrow sub discipline that made sense when they were going through school 30 years ago, for example. But today, that's not the world in which we live. So people are going to change careers multiple times, and it's much more normative. You know, even when I started and we would review for the people I was hiring for my grant, and you review a resume and you think, oh, gosh, this person moves around every couple of years. That's a kind of a red flag. But today, people do that all the time, and that's normative. It's seen as a way of getting more experience and so, you know, how do we educate students then for something in the future, when we have come from disciplines where we were trained on one very narrow, focused thing, but now, students and employers are wanting people with much broader skill sets, or They're looking for people with more interdisciplinary skill sets, but as institutions, we're still very siloed into departments. We operate in this particular way. Interdisciplinary Studies is something that we talk about, but is much harder to implement in reality. And so how does higher education as a sector change to accommodate that? And then how does Illinois State, as a university, change to accommodate that? And people, I think sometimes, will get a little turned off when you talk about market demands, but the reality is, we are preparing students who ultimately, one day want a job. Yes. And so if the if the market is demanding certain skill sets, then how does the university respond and not even just respond, kind of envision and be proactive in what the future needs of employers and our students are going to want to be are going to want now that doesn't mean that you get rid of the liberal arts. I mean, I think the liberal arts are still foundational. You know, the humanities, all of these things are part of what make a college experience unique, versus going to a very focused vocational program, for example, a vocational training program. So the foundation of a college education still remains. But how do we give students those experiences that allow them to be successful over their careers in a time where the world is changing rapidly, and not only in terms of what the market is demanding, but in terms of how we have access to knowledge, you know, in terms of the going back to when I was in school, you know, the internet, I remember the first time I saw AOL and what that meant. But now, you know, we have artificial generative, artificial intelligence, and how knowledge is information, how information is so much more readily accessible, and so what does that mean for teaching and learning and future people's future, right? So those are the things I think, those are the big picture things that I think we need to think about in terms of more specific initiatives. Obviously, we're continuing to work on getting the College of Engineering up and running. We're getting a new degree in data science. We're continuing with our expansion in nursing. There are other things that we're focusing on. Obviously, student success needs to be, continued to be one of the most important things that we're focused on. And for me, one of the things that is super important is, you know, those students that we accept at to ISU, we're basically telling them we believe that you're good enough, that not good enough, but that you are capable of getting a degree from Illinois State University. But there is a significant number of students, a significant number, who do not get a degree from Illinois State University. And so what happens to those students? What happens to those students who leave with a lot of debt and no degree? And when I think about that, that hurts my heart, you know, because I think this is a commitment that we have made to students. And so how as a university do we ensure that more students complete through graduation? There are many reasons that students will leave ISU. We can't deal with every single one of them, but also, when we look at how those graduation and retention rates are impacted by different demographic factors, you know that can also be troubling, but when you see differences between first generation college students and those who are not first generation, you know, what are some structural issues that are that are getting in the way of those students graduating at the same rates as others? And are there some systemic things that we can do, that we can explore our own practices, that we can explore our own policies to make sure we're not standing in the way of students. You know, there are some students who perhaps don't have the kind of preparation that they need to be successful. And I would say that group is much larger and perhaps not tied to race now coming out of covid, because you have lots of students who went through covid who are going to be our students for many more years into the future. I mean, I see that with my own children, I have two children, one of whom had some foundational math, math knowledge before covid, and another one that got that same knowledge during covid. And there are differences in their abilities, same family, same school, but very different outcomes. And so those are the things that we're going to be dealing with for for a generation as as an institution of higher education. And so how are we meeting those students instead of saying, well, we wish we had other students, or we wish the students were better prepared, these are the students that we have. And so how do we ensure that we support them to be successful? Now, as a faculty member, I you know, and I think perhaps I hope that one of the reasons I'm successful in the roles that I have is because I haven't forgotten what it's like to be a faculty member. I haven't forgotten what it's like to be a department chair, you know. So I do that social perspective taking, and try to take take on those, those different perspectives. And so sometimes I think when you focus on student success, faculty will say, Well, what about us? Or staff will say, Well, what about us, you know. And to me, those are the folks. I mean, we have to first and foremost take care of our faculty and staff in order to have successful students. But really, the reason that we're here as an institution is to make sure that our students are successful. Along the way, we have to meet the needs of our faculty and our staff, because if we don't do that, then our students will not be successful. So to me, we're certainly going to focus on resources, initiatives to support our students, but at the same time, we're also going to be doing that for our faculty and our staff as well. And really, I think, at the end of the day, what I hope that ISU can be, and what I hope that one of the one of the impacts that I can have as provost is that people feel like they belong here, right? And belonging is a difficult concept to measure, and so people are like, Oh, that's so touchy feely. What does that even mean? But to me, belonging is when you come to work or when you come to school here, you kind of feel like this place was built for me. You know that you're not somebody that is just out of place here, but that you have a place here. And I know that that not every faculty member, not every staff person, or not every student feels that way. And so what are some things that we can do systemically to allow people to feel that way? Because I think that's what's going to ensure our our continued relevance and success as an institution.
Rachel Kobus 34:06
I think also, Ani, you haven't forgotten what it's like to be a student, really, too. Before I hear you talk well, you really do. You think about putting yourself, going back to that social perspective, putting yourself into their seats, and understanding like, what are our students going through? Doing this research, understanding how everything around us, the world around us, is impacting us every day, and how we move forward from 30 years ago, from 20 years ago. So you haven't forgotten, I think, all the different hats that you have worn, including being that student at one point too.
Ani Yazedjian 34:33
So yeah, and I think Sorry to interrupt. I pointed that out last year when I was going around to the college meetings with the faculty and staff, because I think sometimes we put ourselves today into the perspective of a student, of an 18 year old student. But I asked people, I said, How focused were you when you were 18? How meaningful Did you find your college experience when you were 18? You know, maybe I shouldn't admit this, but there were classes.I skipped when I was a college student, now as an adult and as an administrator, I think, well, didn't, didn't she understand the value of her college education, right? Not when I was 18,you know? And so I think sometimes we have to just step back and say, we understand these things now, because we have the benefit of experience, but we shouldn't hold it against our students for not having that they're 18 years old. You know, they're 19 years old, and so how do we help them come to that place of understanding, that they can see that value? But as again, somebody that studied adolescent development, there is a part of me that thinks, well, developmentally, it's going to take them a while to get to that place of understanding, but as faculty and as administrators, we can support them in perhaps getting to that place of understanding sooner than later and without some major like challenges to their GPA that they might not be able to overcome in the future. Yes, I did get an A in that class, by the way, because you knew you measured out between the value and the cost, and you were very I would suggest, I would not suggest,
Rachel Kobus 36:05
you are very unique student, I think. And thank you, which is why it's where you are right now, too. And I think you know something else we could talk about that you also mentioned in the magazine article that I think helps your process, and how maybe you can give us some examples with all that's on the horizon is you say you focus on the three P's, people, programs and processes. So how do you balance your focus and what's your personal strategy to laying out these processes and these programs that are going to get that value added to ISU?
yeah,
Ani Yazedjian 36:33
Yeah, so I will expand that by saying it is. So I like that there are three P's. There's actually two more. It's not quite five P's, though, but it is people, programs and processes, I like to say, grounded in equity and driven by a sense of purpose about why we do what we do. And so, you know, I'm always asking, why are we doing what we're doing? What is the goal for this? And really then that that shapes how we respond or how we approach a particular initiative. So to me, people matter. That's the first P people matter. And it goes back to that social perspective taking if we realize that people are our greatest asset, then how do we support and serve our people? And that's broadly defined, our students, our community, our faculty, our staff, etc. And then programs I also define very broadly. So there are academic programs, and there are certainly strategies that we use to identify academic programs and what new programs to institute. But really what I'm talking about is, how do we ensure that our offerings are relevant? So some of that is, for example, with faculty curricular review, how? When was the last time a unit critically and comprehensively reviewed their curriculum? Right? Like most things, academic units are not different. We just add a little thing here. We add a little thing there. We don't necessarily do a great job of taking things away in higher ed, so there is a cumulative effect. But when have we taken when was the last time a unit has taken a comprehensive look at their curriculum and taken a step back and made some changes, or, for example, with programs? What are the programs that we have in place to support faculty? So we've started some programs. We had a faculty diversity enhancement program, and what we did this past year, we had some Provost fellows in our office, and what we did this this past year is actually talk to the faculty and say, What has your experience been like? You know, and they gave us a lot of positives, but they also gave us a lot of constructive feedback that we're going to be able to put into action, some as early as this year. Some are a little more complex, and we'll take some inter divisional commitment, but other things are simple, like, one thing they told us is, who's the contact person for this program, all right? And so, you know, that's a simple thing, but we wouldn't necessarily have known that if we hadn't taken the time to ask people for their feedback about that, and then processes, you know that really is dealing with change management, and people don't necessarily like change for a number of reasons. Number one, sometimes we don't explain why we are instituting a change, and change is very comfortable. So going back again to my human development stuff, a family is a system, just like an institution is a system, and the parts of the system are going to interact, and there's interdependence between the parts, so that change in one part of the system is going to impact the other part of the system. And people don't want to kind of rock the boat. They want to be able to keep doing what they're doing. And the example that I like to give is in some of our technology systems that shall remain unnamed, people don't necessarily love them, but they know how to use them. And even if there's a different system, that means I have to recognize for myself that I don't know how to use this new system, even though I don't like this existing system, maybe I don't have the bandwidth, because I feel like there's so many different things going on at work, or there's so many things going on at home that I don't have the capacity to take on this new way of doing something. And if we don't explain to people why we're doing that, and we just say we're changing it, then why would I want to do that? It's easier to just keep doing things the way that I'm doing--I'll give you an example. Personally, I keep getting the windows 11 update on my laptop, and I keep pressing dismiss, because I know that it is going to change what my layout looks like. And right now, with all the different things going on, I don't have the I don't have the bandwidth to figure out this new way of doing something, and nobody has told me I need to do it, and nobody has told me why I should do it and what, right? But the other thing is, the current system is working fine, right? So what is the impetus for me to do something different? That's a great example, right? And so that's what I'm talking about with processes, that there are things that we do that stand in our own way and that actually may make our job difficult or may have an impact on another unit that we didn't really anticipate. And so how can we look at those things and continue to make them better instead of being frustrated by it? But there's a whole process of change management that goes into that that also takes time and takes preparation on the front end that I think sometimes people don't see the value in that. They just want to get to the change, but there's a lot of foundational work that has to go in place before a successful change, successful implementation of a change. So those are the things that we're going to be working on in concept, and that's really what guides our practice. And sometimes it's hard, even though we talk, I talk about these as three separate things, a lot of times, the reality is that they intersect. So it's like a Venn diagram, right? It's hard to separate if something is a people issue or a process issue, because, you know, a lot of times people are working on your processes, but But it helps me guide how I approach the work that we're doing in this office, to think about, you know, how does this impact people? How can we develop programs that support those people, and how can we make the processes surrounding those those programs, as least painful as possible? And really, how do we keep equity in mind so that we're not leaving some people to the side, and how do we ground it in this deep sense of who we are as an institution? And why would we do what we do?
Rachel Kobus 42:34
Well, I love it, and that was a lot to take in. And Ani is doing this huge job and taking under all this for our academic affairs, that I thought it'd be great to end on a little lightning round. This will probably be the hardest part for, I hope not for you, but, you know, keep you on your toes. All right. So our Lightning Rounds usually go just four quick questions, just to get to know you. Ani, a little bit better. Favorite food.
Ani Yazedjian 42:58
I don't have one.
Rachel Kobus 42:59
Oh, come on. You're gonna say that to all these
Ani Yazedjian 43:02
so I was a very picky Is this supposed to be a lightning quick answer? No, you can elaborate. Please go ahead. So I was a very picky, picky eater as a child, but now, you know, I am far less picky. And really I like most things that I eat so I don't necessarily have, oh, okay, potato chips. If I were to choose, I would eat potato chips, salt and vinegar.
Rachel Kobus 43:26
Okay, see, and I should have said prior to this, most times when I do this lighting around, I have to warn people. You say your favorite food, it may start showing up around the office and on your desk, salt, vinegar potato chips anytime. See, there you go. How about favorite book?
Ani Yazedjian 43:40
See, these are all these are actually all hard because I love to read. I read lots of different things. I will say perhaps the most recent book rather than my favorite book. Yeah, and this book actually has been out for a while, so it's kind of depressing that I'm only now getting around to reading it. But The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, was so good at the end, I was crying. Oh, all right. I mean, it was just such a touching book, and it brought you in. The author brought you into it. And the reason that I found it very touching again is because it touched on those questions of identity and how a person sees herself and how the community sees her, and ultimately coming to a place of acceptance. So it also, I think, aligned with just my human development background. I like it so, but added to maybe a read list, then to recommend I certainly would.
Rachel Kobus 44:30
all right, favorite place to travel.
Ani Yazedjian 44:33
Well, okay, so as So, before I had children, I thought I'm going to go to a different place every year I'm gonna expose them to the world. And I had all these grand notions of what I was gonna do, but if I were to pick I would go back to the beach every single time. Now, because a vacation, I mean, we were talking about this before the interview, a vacation needs to be needs to feel like a vacation. And so there is a certain familiarity by going back to the same place, you know, it's going to be a good experience. And later in life, I've come to realize the place that fills me up is the beach. And, you know, I like the mountains, but it's not what gives me that, that feeling of kind of peace that I can have whenever I'm around water, and specifically the Siesta Key Area in Florida.
Rachel Kobus 45:20
Love it. Okay? And last question, favorite place at Illinois State?
Ani Yazedjian 45:26
You know, I think my favorite, I don't particularly have a place, because really, and this is a theme that has gone throughout my probably, my interview with you is, really, it's about the people, so rather than a specific place, it's those moments and experiences that I've had with people. So as one example, the Emergency Operations Center is a place that I don't know that I would say it's my favorite place. Where are we going with this? Usually, the reason I'm there is not a happy reason, but it's where I spent a lot of time for covid, with covid and on the covid steering team and those folks. That was a really hard time for us. It went on for more than two weeks. We thought it was gonna be two weeks, but it went on for more than that. But that was a time where you saw the best in people at ISU and that leadership team worked tirelessly in the face of a lot of difficulty. I mean, nobody was happy with the decision decisions. Well, certain people were happy with certain decisions, and other people were happy with other decisions, but, but that was a moment where a very long, protracted moment where you felt like, gosh, we are all on the same page about what we're doing and we're trying to do what's best for Illinois State University, and while at the same time, we are dealing in our personal lives with the same things that other people are dealing with. And it was just this sense of shared purpose that I think sometimes only comes out of crisis, right? So, not necessarily a fun time, but it was a time where you could really see everybody's working together for ISU.
Rachel Kobus 47:13
Well, and it is, like you said about the experiences I think on campus everybody has, and their experiences, you know, as a faculty, staff alum, student, is what really makes this place unique and special, and so I'm going to end and having this experience with you has been great. Thank you so much for sharing all of your wisdom, all of your path. It's been great to get to know you more, Provost, and we hope to hear more from you in the future.
Ani Yazedjian 47:34
Great. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
Rachel Kobus 47:44
and that was ISU's Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Dr Ani Yazedjian. thanks for listening and tune in next time for more stories from beyond the quad.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai