BusinessWest & Healthcare News: Business & Health Talk Podcast · Audacy

BusinessWest Editor Joe Bednar talks to Elms College President Harry Dumay

·23 min·1 clip

Elms College, Bay Path, AIC, and Westfield State trained students to work as reading specialists for Springfield Public Schools.

1. BusinessWest & Healthcare News: Business & Health Talk Podcast features Joe Bednar talking with Elms College President Harry Dumais about enrollment, campus life, fundraising, and literacy work. 2. Harry Dumais appears as president of Elms College, and Joe Bednar interviews him as editor of Business West, which makes their exchange a local higher-education and business conversation. 3. The episode asks what Elms College is doing now to stay resilient, expand access, and help prepare students for regional workforce needs. 4. Dumais says the higher-education sector has faced “demographic cliffs,” the pandemic, and fewer 18-year-olds entering college after high school. 5. He says Elms College returned to in-person learning in fall 2021 and had “one of the best years” recently for first-time freshmen and transfer students. 6. He describes a “holistic Elms College education” and says the campus feels vibrant, engaged, and active again. 7. Dumais says the pandemic taught colleges “the importance of flexibility” and the ability “to turn on the dime” and teach courses online. 8. He names the Elms Flex model, which still gives adult working students in degree-completion programs the option to study remotely. 9. He says the college kept traditional undergraduates in the classroom while preserving flexibility for non-traditional students after the pandemic. 10. Dumais says colleges also relearned the importance of community, because being “six feet apart” made clear how much being together matters. 11. He says Elms College launched “Building Bridges,” its first comprehensive advancement campaign, to support the strategic plan built around five “E’s.” 12. He lists the five “E’s” as excel in education, elevate ethical leadership, expand experiential learning, engage the learning community, and enhance education in the community. 13. He says the quiet phase helped fund the Cynthia A. Lyons Center for Equity in Urban Education, the Saint Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion and Culture, and the Moore Center for Faculty Teaching Excellence. 14. He says the campaign also helped endow the Haiti nursing continuing education program and brought the college close to its $20 million goal. 15. Dumais says engaging the learning community means more than classes, and he points to living-learning communities, athletics, campus ministry, and diversity, equity, and engagement work. 16. He says Elms College changed athletic affiliation from the New England Collegiate Conference to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference and is introducing men’s athletics this spring. 17. Dumais says every student should graduate “real world ready” and have at least one experiential learning opportunity, usually an internship or hands-on practical experience. 18. He says the college keeps several advisory boards, including business, biomedical sciences and biotechnology, and education boards, to match programs with workforce needs. 19. Joe Bednar’s interview style is direct and practical, and Dumais responds in long, policy-focused answers with repeated references to Elms College initiatives. 20. Listeners interested in regional education, workforce development, and Springfield-area collaboration will get the most from this episode. 21. Listeners looking for a fast entertainment format or a non-local story may skip it. 22. Elms College is positioned as a campus trying to connect fundraising, student engagement, workforce training, and community partnerships into one strategy. 23. Dumais also says the Western Massachusetts Literacy Collaborative is designed to train more reading specialists using the “best science of reading.” 24. He says the collaborative includes Elms College, Bay Path, American International College, Westfield State University, and Springfield Public Schools. 25. He says the summer pilot was “really, really successful,” and Chicopee Public Schools has already expressed interest in joining. 26. Dumais closes by saying education changed the trajectory of his life and that he has “never stopped being optimistic” about education’s power. 27. He ties that optimism to the Davis Foundation, area businesses, community colleges, and four-year colleges working together in Western Massachusetts. 28. The conversation stays grounded in specific programs, regional institutions, and practical outcomes rather than abstract theory. 29. The episode frames literacy as the first step in workforce development, with reading ability linked directly to future employment. 30. Dumais presents Elms College as both a higher-education institution and a regional partner in community problem-solving.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from BusinessWest & Healthcare News: Business & Health Talk Podcast