Current director of University College, Michael “Brody” Broshears is celebrating one year at Illinois State University. Department communications and marketing coordinator Sharvelle Bullock-Hamilton had a chance to catch up with Broshears to discuss his expectations, changes, challenges, and victories he’s faced so far, and what campus can look forward to during the academic year.
When asked about his initial expectations for the role compared to now, Broshears observes that, “I think when you transition into a new role, there’s always the idea that you’re going to accomplish all the things that you want to accomplish. Overall, my expectation was to focus on the four core functions of advise, support, teach and transition. I think I’ve gotten into each of those spaces in real and productive ways. We will continue to move forward on the strategic planning process, on branding and messaging, of University College and getting our story out there, but I’m pleased with the work we’ve done [up to this point].”
What were some of the more significant challenges that you faced within your first year, and how did you address them?
The campus is big, so to me, it really was about building relationships and understanding this landscape well. I committed a lot of time and effort in the beginning to getting to know all the individuals within University College. Throughout the first year, I’ve started to build relationships, started to make sure folks know what University College is about, and what I’m about. I [kind of] started in the immediate space and then within EMAS, getting to know the directors and other folks that I work with directly, and then expanding outwardly. I’ve started to learn more about the academic advising community. I’ve started to think about the partners that we work with in Academic Enhancement and with Thrive, our first-year transition course. This year, I think the focus will be more on the academic side, learning more about the departments and the undergraduate colleges and the ways that University College can work effectively within those spaces. The transition was about size and scope and just continuing to grow and learn.
What have been the key achievements of University College during your tenure so far?
I think that my achievements don’t really matter that much. I don’t even think about the work that that I’ve done individually, but I think University College, wholly, has done so much in each of its areas. On the advising side, they’ve worked really hard to develop [not] new learning outcomes, but a recommitment to really answer the question of, ‘What do we want students to learn when they get here?’ Over in TRiO, they continue to meet federal objectives. They just wrote and completed the grant for the 2025-30, cycle; a huge endeavor that takes a lot of time and effort. It becomes easier to do the work when you’re meeting the federal objectives and when you’re serving students on the retention side.
I’m proud of the Dean’s List change (to allow students with a GPA of 3.65 on a 4.0 scale) that we helped the institution to implement this past spring. It hit at the right time with the addition of two new colleges. We did a lot of research and there was a lot of front-loaded work involved. We looked at our peer institutions in Illinois, we looked at our Carnegie institutions, and we continued to do some baseline research. I was pleased that the campus was open to it. Student recognition for academic accomplishments is absolutely the work of University College, so to me, it was a no-lose situation. At the end of the day, we have chances to improve retention and graduation rates when we recognize students for the good academic work that they do.
I’m very pleased with the work we’re doing with retention, persistence, and outreach. The work that Retention and Persistence Services did with the Early Alerts and progress reporting and the return rates that we got with some new initiatives, like the 120-hour work that allows undergraduate students who have 120 credit hours to complete their degree. These are students that have earned sufficient hours, but they don’t have a degree yet, and that outreach has really bore some fruit.
Also, the refocusing on the retention of our first-year students and students that we’ve seen through Preview Orientation this year, we think about the Peer Success Advocates, the PSA program and what is happening with this kind of targeted outreach that goes beyond that first year. There’s the idea that persistence continues to give out a significant amount of money to students who need assistance so that they can stay and complete their degree programs, and then the increase in tutoring sessions and tutors, rethinking about Thrive seminar, rethinking about Developmental Math. All those spaces are spaces where we’ve made improvements and progress, and the goal is to continue to keep at that work. We have a new marketing coordinator, so refreshing our brand, and telling our story and having a person in place who’s focused in on that is also important.
The work that we’re doing, we don’t automatically sit back and reflect on, because we’re too busy in the thick of it. But when I think about it, I feel pretty good about what we’ve done in the last year.
How have you worked to foster a positive and inclusive environment for both students and staff within University College?
Every person has a story. Getting to know individual staff members is really important, trying to be present in the spaces where people are working, like getting over to Academic Enhancement at the Visor Center, getting over to Williams, and visiting advisors here in Fell. People want to feel that their work matters, and the only way you can really do that is to listen and try to understand. I spent a lot of time on the front end, just trying to get to know people better. I talk to our GAs and our PSAs and peer advisors, whenever I get a chance, but my job is about focusing on the staff of University College. I’m going to continue to find ways to integrate myself into student life, for sure, but for now, I think just making sure people feel welcome here and feel like their voice matters here is truly important to me.
What advice has had a significant impact on your leadership style or personal development?
My favorite band is Guster, and there are two mantras that they’ve shared that I use a lot. One is, “Be calm. Be brave. It’ll be okay.” And then the other is, “Face forward. Move slow. Forge ahead.” Those are two lines from two [different] songs that Guster sings. And those songs, I think, are about, hey, you can do it. You got to keep moving. And things are hard from time to time, but it’s going to be okay. Our job is to kind of keep moving forward in the face of adversity or in the face of challenges. I’ve found that to be truly impactful, both personally, and in my work as director of University College.
“The work that we’re doing, we don’t automatically sit back and reflect on, because we’re too busy in the thick of it. But when I think about it, I feel pretty good about what we’ve done in the last year.”
Michael “Brody” Broshears
