Texas State’s Dr. Kelly Damphousse on Connection & Student Success

Judy Oskam: 0:02

Welcome to the 100th episode of Stories of Change and Creativity. I'm Judy Oskam. And for this milestone episode, I'm excited and honored to sit down with Dr. Kelly Damphousse, the president of Texas State University, and my boss. The students call him K Damp. He's the 10th president of Texas State University. He's a sociologist by training. Dr. Damphousse, has led Texas State into a new era, raising the national profile, preparing for R1 research status, and guiding the move into the Pac-12. During this conversation, he gets personal and we talk about the midnight moment that shaped his presidency, the importance of belonging and mentorship, and mainly connection. And connection is really at the heart of his leadership. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Dr. Damphousse : 0:58

I'm excited to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

Judy Oskam: 1:00

Well, and if we look at all of the change you've done since you've been here, let's start there. What are you most proud of, from academics to athletics?

Dr. Damphousse : 1:09

That's a great, it's a great question. You know, um, when the the university was searching for a new president, they created a profile, like what we're looking for in a new new person. And there were some bullet points. And one was, you know, we want to come up become an R1 institution. We want to uh focus on student success, diversifying our revenue stream. Uh and then there was the big one to me was change the national reputation of the university. And then the last one, I think was added by the alumni, which said some uh president who appreciates the importance of athletics to a university. I've been told actually during the interview process that was put on by the alumni, and what they really mean is someone who can fix the football program. And so uh an alumni really care about that. And and by the way, um, I I don't like to spend too much time thinking about athletics generally because there's a lot of other things going on. But I told the search committee, if I could fix the football program, I can change the national reputation of the university because so much is driven by that. And it's a sad truth of higher education that your football team or your athletics program generally really is the driving force of your reputation. It's the it's the, as many people have said, the front porch of a university. Now, presidents always say that. They don't always invest their time or their resources in it, but it really is a marketing arm of the university. And so um, so I worked really hard, uh, not so much financially at first. We're starting to do more of that now, uh, but at least uh putting effort into building uh fan fan attendance, student attendance at sporting events, uh, making sure that we've made good decisions and hiring coaches, uh, making sure the athletics department has what it has to be to be successful. The move to the Pac-12 was a was a big deal for us. It'll be a game changer for us because it's it puts us in a different set of peers than we are currently. So those are all big successes. But I would, if I was gonna look back on what I'm most proud of, I think it's um changing a little bit of how people see themselves here. So we talked among the search committee about the national reputation, but I think the university itself had a like a self-esteem problem. Like we saw ourselves as a small regional university that wasn't valued or whose reputation was not as good as it should be, and that we were stuck with that. And I believe, I hope it's true, that the faculty and staff and the students now see Texas State in a different light. Like, hey, we are no longer the rising star of Texas, as if we are still trying to get to a next level, but we are we are risen. We have now accomplished what some some of our big goals and are on the cusp of doing some other ones, like becoming an R1 institution, joining the Pac-12, being successful in athletics, uh, having uh high um uh success rates and retention and graduation rates and so on. So if if if I pointed back at one thing, I would say it's more about an increase in self-pride with faculty, staff, and alumni and students in the university. And if I had any role in that, I think I would take some pleasure in that.

Judy Oskam: 4:23

I I I love that. And I remember was it your first night you were driving around campus and you ended up on top of Old Main?

Dr. Damphousse : 4:28

Yeah.

Judy Oskam: 4:29

Can you tell that story? I love that story.

Dr. Damphousse : 4:30

It's actually my favorite story. I tell it all the time. So I was uh my wife and I, she grew up in Bryan College Station. So we'd gone over there to visit her mom. We were coming back, and we're coming over the overpass by the football stadium. And you, it's the best vista of the university. You can see it all from there. And I, this was this was June 30th. I was about to start the next day, it was going to be my first day on the job. And I I kind of had like I kind of put my hand on my chest and said, holy cow, Beth, this place is so big. And she said, Are you nervous? I said, I'm I'm I am nervous. I said, I'm not sure I can do this. I mean, uh, I'm glad they hired me, but I'm not sure I would have hired me because I, you know, I'm, you know, just like the universe might have self-esteem problems, I had the same self-doubt, right? And posture syndrome and so on. And um, and and so she we got home, she went to bed, and it's like 10 o'clock, it's like 11 o'clock. And I said, you know what? I want to spend the first minute on campus, on campus of my of my presidency. So I didn't know how to get to Old Maine. So I got in the car and I drove around and I was like trying to find it and going through the woods and so on. And then I finally found a parking spot nearby, and I walked up to Old Main, and there's the um the Vaquero statue. And uh I read the little sign that was there, you know, Bill and Sally Whitliff and donated it, and I was there. And I said, you know what? It's it's about midnight. I'm about to be the president. And so I'm a person of faith. And so I just said, I'm gonna pray about this, about good guidance and you know, am I the right person for this? I'm in this position, so you know, help me get through this. So I prayed through that moment from 1159 to 1201, and um, and filled with self-doubt and uncertainty and anxiety, trepidation, and I lifted my head from prayer and I looked to my right, and someone weeks earlier had written on the window of Lampas' Hall, you belong here. And it was in that moment I thought somebody, divine providence, put me in a position to see that sign. Um, and it really inspired me to think, okay, uh, I I can do this, and let's just, you know, keep plugging away and trying to make this happen. And I share that moment a lot because it was real, it like it really happened. But it my first moment on campus was a message about people belonging here. And when I share it, I also say that's because you belong here too. Faculty, staff, students, our alumni, our community members. I want them to feel like this is a place where they belong, that they matter when they come here. Um, and if if we ever get in a position where people don't think that they belong, uh, that they that they don't matter, they don't count, they're not important, that's when the administration has failed, that anybody feels like they're not welcome here. And so that has become, to me, kind of a personal mantra. You belong here.

Judy Oskam: 7:33

And why do you think it's taken such a sea change to make people feel that? I mean, you as a leader, and you're so vulnerable when you're just laying it out there for us. I think that's helpful for students, staff, and especially students. What where does that come from in you? You mentioned your faith, but your background too..

Dr. Damphousse : 7:54

it's that's a great question. I think about this a lot because I I think we're all we're all colored by our past, and uh we are who we were. And when I look at a group of students, our students are largely first generation, about half our students are first generation, half of them are Pell eligible, 62% of them are minority. I'm not a minority, but uh I I was a poor kid. I grew up in the trailer court. I was never planning to go to college, it was never in the plants, my parents had no money. Uh I went to community college and got a job as a prison guard. And after I graduated, wanted to be a police officer, never dreamed about going to university, but through a circumstance where a former instructor talked me into going back to school. And I think about now, in retrospect, my 10th and 11th, my 11th and 12th grade English teacher who I loved, Mr. Harrison, the community college instructor who taught me going back to school, my advisor as an undergrad, my advisor as a graduate student, these people who invest themselves in me. And and you know, one of my professors in my graduate program became a very strong mentor to me. And so my mom and dad adopted me as a as a baby. And um for whatever reason, my my dad didn't figure out how to have a real tight relationship with me and and uh maybe his own upbringing. But this mentor I had at Texas AM in grad school was not like that. He he really cared about me and invested in me and had we had so many conversations. And one of the conversations is about to have my first child, our our first child. And um he's he starts talking to me about, you know, do you know the difference between between being a father and a dad? I said, it sounds like the same word to me. He said, biologically, anyone can be a father. It takes work to be a dad, and here's how you do it. And in the midst of that, uh at the end of it, I couldn't, I couldn't understand why he cared enough about me to impart these kinds of wisdom. And he had done so much for me as well. And I I literally asked him, like, Dr. Crowt, I don't understand, I don't get you. Like, why do you care about me? I said, How could I ever pay you back for what you've done for me? Because I was gonna drop out, all kinds of things, and he'd done so much for me. And he said, Um, you you can't pay me back because you don't have anything I want. And uh, but he said, and we were actually sitting in his car at the time, he said, I don't know what your future holds, but someday you'll be sitting behind the steering wheel of the car, and somebody else will be sitting in the pastor's seat, and they're gonna need something. And um, and when when you are tired, when you're stressed, when you're distracted, and someone reaches out, I want you to stop and remember this moment and say, This is my opportunity to pay Dr. Crouch back. And so this is before the movie Pay It Forward came out, but the principle is the same. And I wake up, I'm not kidding, I tell I probably this is maybe the 15th, 100th time I've told the story, but I wake up every morning thinking about that. And I don't want to sound noble. Uh Dr. Crouch is noble. I'm not, but I do feel duty bound when I look at the sea of students in front of me, when I look at our faculty, because I was a faculty member, when I look at our staff members, I I see my mom and dad who are scratching out a living, trying to make things happen. I've tremendous empathy and I try to think about how they're thinking, and then think about the fact that I've been placed in a position where I can change people's lives and um in in a positive way. And so the goal has always been to pay Dr. Crouch back by not being too tired to take a phone call, to go uh sign a birthday card somewhere or send a student a video or send an encouraging note to a faculty member or a staff member that I'm reminded every day that Kelly's not important, but the presidency is important. And and when I can go do something, it means something that the president was there. Not that Kelly was there, but the president was there. And I think people I think that resonates with people that they see that I'm trying to trying to make their lives matter. Trying to show that they belong by how I respect them and how I engage with them. It doesn't always work, and sometimes I do get distracted, and sometimes I can't make it to events, but when I can, like people said, you it seems like you never stop, you're always going somewhere. It's just I have trouble saying no to people because I feel like that's my job.

Judy Oskam: 12:42

It's duty bound for you. It is, yeah.

Dr. Damphousse : 12:44

It's it's a calling and it is a duty, but it's a duty I love. It's I don't feel a burden. I don't like, oh my gosh, I gotta go to an event tonight. I can't to me, it's always I get to go engage with some students, and maybe something magical will happen. Here's here's an example. I don't want to take up too much of your time. So um first week of school, students are on campus and are doing something, and I get a uh a direct message on one of social media platforms said, Hey, Kate Amp, uh, we're on a scavenger hunt and we want to get a pitch with you. It's on the thing. It's like it's like 11 o'clock at night. I said, Are you on campus? I don't know why she thought I was on campus, but I said, No, I'm actually at my house. But if you want, just come to my house and I'll take a pitch with you guys. And she said, Okay, we'll do that. And I gave her my cell phone number so she can contact me a little bit easier to reach out. So she's texting, she says, Okay, we're walking that way. We'll be there in about 40 minutes. I said, Do not walk to my house. It's not very safe. We're living in a hill and it's not very well lit. There's no sidewalks. I said, I'll come to you. And they said, Really? I said, Where I said, Where are you? Said, well, we're at Sewell Park. I said, I'll meet you at Kerbey Lane and let's get in the parking lot there. So I go down there and I and I don't want to sound like I'm bragging about this experience. I'm just explaining the situation. But I didn't even think twice about it because I thought, you know, Dr. Crouch would do something like that and or expect me to do it. And I'm I'm not so tired, I can't do it. So I actually happened to have my golf cart. So I drove down there real quick and I took a picture with them and I came back. And one of the students wrote me uh that night and said, later that night, um, and said, we had a freshman in our group that was, she was like lonely and lost, and we happened upon her and said, Hey, come join our group. And she was like, I feel like I don't belong here. Like I just feel I'm homesick and I want to go home. And then she was walking around, and then she was with the group, and she said, I can't believe the president came and took a picture of Kirby Lane. She said, I love this place. And and I I never thought about the individual, how that might affect individuals. And uh in the group, I was just like trying to accommodate a group of students. But I was so grateful for the student that wrote me to explain that it had an incredible impact on that freshman who was like homesick and lost, and maybe on the verge of just going home. And just a simple act of driving down the hill, taking a picture of the door. It literally took like eight minutes. Um but it had it might be something that student remembers forever. Yeah, I probably would. And so and um, and so those moments I think inspired me to keep going. I talk about this a lot, the attitude of the attitude of gratefulness, because I'm very grateful for where I've been. Uh, and I was when I when I give up the my I do these uh you know inspirational talks, I hope they're inspirational. I was in with like probably someone in your life was your Dr. Crouch. And you should today write them a note. Not send them a text if that's all you got, but write them a handwritten note because they will probably keep that for the rest of their life. That's what I do. I've got I've got notes in my drawer and periodically, and I have a bad day, I might read some of them. Um, because first off, it shows them that you understand what they did, but it also inspires them to keep doing that. And probably the person you're gonna write to is a school teacher who's having a bad day, who maybe got yelled at at a parent teacher conference. And to have a former student write back and said, I'm in college today because of something you did in the 10th grade to me and you inspired me, that that's more than that's more than money can can provide, because it it's a it it reminds that person why they do what they do. And if you can discover and remember your why, everything else just kind of like all makes sense when you say, I'm doing this because of this. I became a teacher because I wanted to help students. And the fact that a student wrote me back and told me that I did it, okay, now I, you know, forget the evaluations and you know, from your principal and so on. A word from a from a student carries so much more weight than a word from a principal. Sure.

Judy Oskam: 17:03

You know, sure, sure. Well, how do you think you could bottle that? Because it's that spirit and it's that attitude that I think is just you see it everywhere you go and everything you touch. How do you think students can really understand that they too hold power and can connect and make such an impact? Because our students are phenomenal. They are amazing.

Dr. Damphousse : 17:29

You know, you raise such a good point. That's when I'm speaking with students, I one of the challenges I give to them is you've been poured into and you are now, you may not realize that, but you are now in a position of pouring into others. And it may be a younger brother or sister who's at home who's thinking, I don't know if I want to go to college or not, you know, or I'm struggling with something right now. It could be your peer, maybe you're a senior and you're working with a freshman in your fraternity or sorority, that somehow they've been putting you in your path. Eventually you're gonna get a job somewhere and you're gonna have an ability to to to um to serve other people in addition to what you're doing for a living. Um and I what what my hope is is people will say, well, remember that I didn't get here by myself, that I got here. Certainly you got up early, you studied, you sacrificed and so on. But if you can think back in your life and think about those, those moments where your life, there was a fork in the road and someone was probably there. You didn't like make a decision on your own without some kind of guidance or someone opening a door. And if you can remember those, that might say, okay, now who's for whom can I open a door? What doors do I control, and who can I help walk through those doors? And and I think that I'm gonna go back to the spirit of gratitude. If you understand where you came from, then you're grateful for who you got there, and then you start thinking, like, now it's my job to start doing the same thing for somebody else. Just like Dr. Crouch said, you pay me back by doing for others what I did for you, because I don't you literally have nothing I want except for that, that you will remember this moment and uh and know that you're in a position now to do for other people uh what I can't do.

Judy Oskam: 19:23

Yeah.

Dr. Damphousse : 19:24

I'm not there, but you are.

Judy Oskam: 19:25

Yeah.

Dr. Damphousse : 19:26

And I I'm not kidding. I I literally think of Dr. Crouch every single day.

Judy Oskam: 19:30

Yeah.

Dr. Damphousse : 19:30

And it's and and it's funny. Uh I had another experience with a teacher, and I won't get into all the story of it, but it it was my 11th and 12th grade English teacher. And he at some point he just called me out because I was just acting like a fool. And he said, you know, you could really be something if you would just behave and and pay attention and you could be better than you are right now. Hanging around with those boys, it's a bad idea. And he kind of called me out. And uh, but I think about him a lot too, like all the time.

Judy Oskam: 20:00

Fork in the road. Yeah, fork in the road.

Dr. Damphousse : 20:01

It's like uh, and I wish I could say, like, I just decided I was gonna go to college that that moment. So but it was like it was the first time in my life that I remember someone who wasn't contractually obligated to say something nice about me said something encouraging. I was I was a twelve, I was a senior, it was a September first week of school as a senior. My mom had to say nice things about me, right? Yeah, you're not fat, you're just big boned, you know, those kids they don't know what they're doing. Um but Mr. McNinch said something to me that that really kind of stimulated me to start thinking differently about myself. So years later, I'm telling the story about Mr. McNinch all the time. And I said, I wonder where he is. And so I start Googling around and I find a James McNinch teaching at a community college in Saskatchewan. I said, How many McNinches could there be? So I write him and I say, uh, hey, did you teach at J. E. Williams High School back in the late 70s? The Rice Back says, Yes, I did. I said, you know, I've been telling the story about our interaction first week of school, my senior year, when you said, Mr. Dampfus, what happened over the summer that turned your brain to mush? That's what he said to me. And I said, that moment was a turning point in my life. And I think about that all the time. And I just wanted to thank you for that. And he wrote back and said, I have no idea who you are. I would never have told the student that their brain had turned to mush. Um, and you know, I'm glad you think this, but this could never have happened. I promise you, Judy, I did not make that up. Who in the right mind would make it? It happened. Yeah. God is my witness. But he has no idea. And the story, the, the, the, the story behind that is, or the lesson here, is that we're influencing people all the time.

Judy Oskam: 21:54

And we don't know it.

Dr. Damphousse : 21:55

And you don't know it. And we don't know it. And and isn't, wouldn't it be nice for someone to say, hey, remember that thing? Yeah. Remember you said something. Remember we took a selfie together? Like I was, I was thinking about dropping out, and you said something, and it changed my life. It it encouraged me to stick with it. Um and and so we are always, we're always influencing others and being influenced by others. And wouldn't you want to be known as being the influencer for good as for bad? Because you probably in your lifetime, I have as well, been influenced by people who weren't good people, who did things that were inappropriate or mean or mean spirited. And I I wouldn't want people to think about me the same way I think about those people.

Speaker 02: 22:37

Right, right, right.

Dr. Damphousse : 22:38

Um there was um a moment in my life when social media was just coming out, and um I was at the University of Oklahoma, and University of Oklahoma has has two hand signals. The the one is the number one, we're number one, it's just one finger pointing up in the sky. The other one is a downward horns. So you're kind of making fun of the University of Texas.

Speaker 02: 23:00

Yes.

Dr. Damphousse : 23:00

And I was at the OU Texas game, and um a colleague of mine, he was a he's also he was the dean of the law school at the time, he's now the president of the university. And his kids were there, and we all took pictures of the downward horn sign, and I posted it. And I just I felt this.

Judy Oskam: 23:17

You doesn't feel good. Yeah.

Dr. Damphousse : 23:19

Because I thought, why am I like being negative in this picture? And there's so much negativity. People, I can't believe uh this airline lost my bag, and and uh you know, all these complaining. And and I made a decision based on that picture. I still picture that picture in my mind, saying, I'll I'm just not going to play the cynic, the cynical game on social media, and I will do everything I tend to to to promote positivity and edifying other people. And so my my social media brand, if you will, is always about like, hey, it if you did like a word cloud, it's always excellent, great, look at this, you know, good job. You know, congrats. Congrats is a big thing. Thank you to so and so. Um because I want to use that plat, those platforms to promote as much as I can goodness and promote the university and things that are happening here because the world is filled with such negativity. I don't need to add to it.

Judy Oskam: 24:17

So looking ahead, look ahead five years, what are we gonna see at Texas State? There's so many exciting things going on here.

Dr. Damphousse : 24:27

You know, we just finished our master plan, which it takes, it's a 10-year master plan, so it's from 25 to 35. And I'm excited about the fact that there's buildings in there that are great, but there's also um a lot of pictures of green space and pathways and creating nooks and niches on campus that accentuate the beauty of the natural beauty of our campus. And so the space right below Old Main, for example, if you look at pictures of Old Main back in the olden days, there was almost no trees there. And the students were all hanging out of windows and coming all down Chautauqua Hill. And that's that was kind of the class photo, it was always there. Well, now the trees have grown up there, but it's also a rabbit's warrant of there's the old presence houses there, and there's all these parking lots and a road there. Well, we're gonna take all that stuff out and kind of bring it back to its original beauty and have a like a like a gathering place there, like an outdoor gathering place uh that's part of the master plan. Sewell Park's gonna be redone and Spring Lake area, we'll have walking trails through there, the Bobcat Trail and the art projects that will be outdoor art that'll be out there. Um I think that we have the bones for a really beautiful campus. I already think we're one of the most beautiful campuses in America. But I think it'll be even more beautiful and not just the architecture. I'm folks, I'm thinking more about the stuff outside the buildings so that people feel good when they're going from place to place. Um I I do think place matters, and um and I think if you can make the place feel a certain way through it uh accentuating the beauty of it, um that it makes people happier, it makes people proud to be at the place. Uh I think it makes people just better people in general because their mood is lifted by it. You can't you can't tell me walking from JCK to Sewell Park through the fish hatcheries thing doesn't make you feel better on that 10-minute walk. It can be hot as the dickens out there, sure. But walking through seeing turtles and birds and so on, being out in nature. Um, if we can if we can accentuate that in different parts of campus, so no matter where you are, you have a touch of nature there. So uh you can you can make things better. So physically it will be different. We'll be an R1 institution by that time as well. And so, you know, by 2027, the the the the everything's already cooked. It's gonna happen. The announcement comes in 2028. That's what puts us in a new peer institution. There's only about 140 R1 institutions in the country. Uh we'll be, I think, the 11th in the state of Texas. And so I think our research profile will be different. We've done $165 million in research last year, $180 million this past this year. And so we're already on this great trajectory to becoming uh a renowned research uh institution. But our graduate program has always been stifled, not through our own devices, but because we were limited. We weren't allowed to have PhD programs for many years. And then eventually we had one, then we had two, but we added 11 doctoral programs in one year, about a year and a half or so. Um and so our doctoral program and our master's program is just expanding dramatically. So our research profile will look different. I think uh we'll also be, we've always been a place like if you want to get a degree from Texas State, you've got to come to San Marcus. And then it was you, you you could also go to Ran Rock. Uh 10 years from now, I think everyone will understand that you don't need to come here to get your degree. Our growth in online programming is tremendous. In fact, my son-in-law is getting a degree from Texas State. He's a school teacher in College Station. He couldn't come here to get his degree. So he's gonna get a degree, a master's degree in criminal justice, uh, which is he's a law enforcement instructor in the in high school. Um, and so we're taking our degrees to the people where they are online, but we're also doing it in regional locations. And so um, we know that there are students at Collin County who are going to Collin College, 60,000 students there, Dallas College, 70,000 students there. Some of those students want to get a four-year degree from somewhere. Uh, to get to Texas State, they'd have to drive past about eight universities from the Dallas area to get here. Why would they do that? Well, maybe you offer scholarships or so on, maybe they want to have the college experience. But can we offer the same degree up there where they live, where they can keep their part-time job they have now, they can park in the same parking spots, they can go to the same classrooms, um, but they get taught by our professors in their location, still live at home with their parents, for example. So first two years of school is free if you live in their communities. Then years three and four are with us. You can get a degree, a four-year college degree for $15,000, and never leave Collin County or never leave Dallas County. So I think the change we'll see here, beautification of our campus, um, and then growth in online programming and growth in regional locations for our degree programs where we cover the entirety of the state. Um, and that's that's our goal right now is trying to plant ourselves in different locations across the state. So that makes the university look different. And becoming an R1 institution will be you know, will be a big change as well.

Judy Oskam: 29:54

That's great. And and if you if you to look back at all of this, and again, you've only been here a couple of Years. What's your main takeaway for students who are here now? What do you want them to leave with beyond a great academic experience, which we know they're going to get?

Dr. Damphousse : 30:10

Well, I always encourage students to certainly pay attention to your studies, right? But there's so much more that university should be about. And there's so much opportunity for students. If all you do is go to class and sit in your room and study, you'll get your degree, but you're going to miss out on a whole lot of things. And so getting involved in student organizations, I think is vital. And I think when you do that, that's where you make your lifelong friends. You will probably find someone who 40 years from now is still your best friend. Maybe the maid of honor in your wedding, best man at your wedding, the person who is your pallbearer later on. Well, probably someone you met in student organization, either Greek life or other student organizations that are out there. Second is I think that there are rich opportunities to enrich your opportunities. So there are there are great opportunities to enrich your educational experience by engaging in these extra efforts, internships, study abroad, a research experience with a faculty member. By the way, I was petrified over my faculty members. I didn't know where they came from. I didn't want to go talk to them. I heard about this office hours thing. It seemed super intimidating, so I never went to office hours. Our faculty members are incredible, incredibly gifted. And they are passionate. Many of them are passionate about a very small specific thing, but they're all interested and interesting. And our students miss out on not engaging with our faculty. If you talk to our current alumni of a certain generation, maybe our generation, we probably look back in our time in college. We remember, you know, our roommate might remember the person's name, maybe your college buddy you hung out. But probably one of the things that will stand out is uh I remember Dr. So-and-so or the Dean of Students or whatever. Um and and I think the current student misses out on not creating relationships with our faculty. Our faculty, they could be anywhere. They love our students. They they are here because they believe in the mission of Texas State. And I wish our students would take the time, take advantage of the opportunity to go meet with a faculty member. And whenever you get a chance to talk with them, I always say, you know, you your teacher, you might think that person's just a teacher, but that person is probably a researcher as well. And you may not know what to do at an office hour, but you should Google your professor up and find out what they do. Read one of their articles and then say, you know, let go in there and say, you know, I read this article you wrote, and it really was interesting because you talked to me about this whole process here. Um you you could probably ask them about their kids and almost get the same response of pride when they're talking about the research, because that is their entire at least half of their career is the discovery and innovation part of the research part of their profession. And they have invested their a large part of their graduate career, but also their professional career in in this research topic. Now, if someone, not I don't mean in a fake way, but in someone who's interested in their topic, if someone comes to talk to me about my terrorism research that, holy cow, let me tell you about it. Like, I can't believe anyone wants to know about it. Yeah, you know, don't operate any heavy equipment when you're reading my papers, but I'd love to talk to you about these things. Um, and I think our students miss an opportunity to to meet someone fascinating by just going to their office and meeting with them. In the olden days, faculty and students tend to have a closer relationship, and I think we've lost some of that.

Speaker 02: 33:45

Yeah.

Dr. Damphousse : 33:46

Um, especially as the university's growing and class sizes have grown and so on. But it's not because the faculty don't care. It's oftentimes because students are uncertain about how to engage with them.

Judy Oskam: 33:56

So I'm hearing a lot about making connections. So making connection that you have done through your life, and then you're encouraging students to do that in faculty too. So any last comments you want to make for this change in creativity is the focus, and you've you're just a living example of that.

Dr. Damphousse : 34:14

Well, it's it's interesting. You I I wasn't like targeting that that topic, but actually, in retrospect, it is about creating relationships. You know, I'm a I'm a sociologist by training. I was a criminal justice undergrad, but sociologist. And that's where I, you know, this idea that I have about we're always influencing and being influenced by people comes from. That's a it's a central tenet in sociology about social interaction. And uh because as social beings, we are engaging in, and uh there's one of my favorite lines in in that I talk about in my class is I'm not who I think I am. I'm not who you think I am. I am who I think you think I am, you know, because I'm interpreting you as you're looking at me. If you're smiling, you know, oh, she's smiling. She must think what I'm saying is interesting. I'll keep going in that direction. If she frowns, I know, oh, she's not liking that, I'm gonna go in different. So we're always engaging in this response, give and take. And I think that our lives are richer when we practice that. And we're I'm I worry about losing the art of the interaction. I uh took some students to breakfast recently, and it was uh there was 10 of them, and Beth was at one table and I was at another table. And uh I thought, I'd love to do it because we get to talk. And the three of them just pulled out their phone and started getting on their phone. And so I ended up talking to these two, and three of them just missed an opportunity to engage because they were on their phone doing, I'm not sure what they were doing, and I didn't want to like call them out on it. Sure. But I I thought I actually commented to Beth later. I said, Man, she said, Well, my table is great. They were all chatty cathys, and and uh we had a great time. I said, Well, you know, I you're you're better at this than I usually and uh and so uh and I worry sometimes that we, especially our students, have lost the art of the engagement, and it's not their fault, it's just how they've been raised and how their life experiences and how digitized things are and how how I mean you go to any bus stop right now, or go to the bookstore, or go to the go anyone standing in line. People are plugged in and they're on their phone.

Speaker 02: 36:21

Right.

Dr. Damphousse : 36:22

Ten years ago, you'd be sitting there, you had to talk to the person next to you because you didn't have another form of engaging. And so it's not their fault. I just think we've lost something by doing that.

Judy Oskam: 36:32

The art of connection. When I did study abroad, I did the hub program in Scotland, and students said they just said yes to the opportunity. So getting them out helped them learn to say yes more often.

Dr. Damphousse : 36:45

Yeah, you know, uh Beth and I went to uh a concert in Las Vegas uh last year, it was a Garth Brooks concert. And we walked in the door, they make you put your phone in a like this envelope and they they clamp it so you can't take your phone out, so you can't videotape or anything. And I was like kind of grumpy about it because I'm always like taking pictures and boy, we're here with Garth Brooks and so on. And I haven't enjoyed a concert so much in my recent life because I could clap because I didn't have my phone in my hand.

Speaker 02: 37:16

Yeah.

Dr. Damphousse : 37:16

And I could engage and watch and take pictures with my brain like I used to do instead of relying on my camera to take pictures. And Beth and I were talking about, well, that's a great song, and we're singing along. And I wished we could do more of that. I see some schools are doing that now. When you go to school, you gotta, everyone's gonna put their phone in a in a thing and you can get it at recess or whatever. And so um I think if if we do something right at this university, it's that we are helping people understand how they can learn to engage with others civilly, but the importance of engagement and connection.

Judy Oskam: 37:52

And connection.

Dr. Damphousse : 37:53

Absolutely.

Judy Oskam: 37:53

Thank you so much, President Damphousse. Thank you.

Dr. Damphousse : 37:56

Absolutely. Thank you so much.

Judy Oskam: 37:57

Well, some takeaways from our conversation. Remember your why. And if you've been poured into, then you need to pay it forward, and you can, no matter what your age. Think about those moments, the fork in the road moments. Which direction did you go and who helped you get there? And how can you help others now? And if you understand where you came from, now you know where you're going and what you can do for others. Well, that's a wrap on the 100th episode of Stories of Change and Creativity. And before we go, I want to thank you for listening. You know who you are. You're sharing the journey with me, and I really, really appreciate it. And remember, if you've got a story to share or know someone who does, reach out to me at judyoskam.com. And thanks for listening.