What I would tell anybody in higher ed right now is we have to change. We have to listen to what our demographic is telling us and we have to change. [music] We have to get our alumni base fired up about what's going on on campus so we can continue to [music] compete to bring top tier talent, top tier students. The number of doctors in the room. They attributed their success to this one faculty member in North Manchester, Indiana. I just love that.
Who are the right kids to come to Manchester University [music] and what would you say to them? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between, this is Get In, the show focused on the Hooser State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Stacy Young, president of Manchester University [music] in North Manchester, Indiana. She is the 16th president in school history and a proud Manchester Spartan alum herself.
Dr. Young has over 25 years of higher education experience and under her leadership, Manchester has become one of the most innovative small [music] universities across the state of Indiana and the Midwest at large. I'm really excited to hear more about your journey from student, an undergrad student to president, how what Manchester is doing to compete in the changing landscape of education here today and what we can expect for the future of the Spartans. President Young, welcome to Get In. Oh, thank you so much. I'm very excited for coming out today.
First off, for any any listener or anyone who's watching the video, that is a heck of a mural behind you. Like the kind of graffiti Spartan, the whole nine yards. Who did that? You know what? I'm not sure. It's been here since before I got here, but we love it.
And it's a great photo op for all of our prospective and current students. No. So, so cool. Very, very unique. Very innovative. And talking about when you got here, that was three years ago as the president.
But your story with Manchester started a little bit 34 years ago. Yeah, you said it, not me. Right. So, I got to know uh what you were accounting undergrad. Yes. What drew you to Manchester and why did you know coming to North Manchester, Indiana was the right spot for you?
Well, I went to Concord High School in Elcart, Indiana. Shout out. That's right. That's right. Um, my high school accounting teacher who I who still comes to Manchester today, she said, "If you're going to be an accountant in Indiana, you have to go to Manchester back then college." So, this is this is where I applied, got accepted, and um found my home for four years.
Wow. Now, did you play sports? No. I So, my twin sister and I attended Manchester together. Did she also want to be an accountant? Um, no.
She's she was elementary education major and um we we did not play sports but we taught aerobics so that's as close as we got. Yeah. Now today what percentage of students come on campus because of athletics versus it's like the right school for them at the time. Well um about 60% of our students are athletes. That's like a big thing I feel like um the recruiting aspect of getting the opportunity to play sports at the next level. You know, you guys compete in I don't know what the name of the conference is, but I know it has a lot of Indiana and Michigan schools, right?
Right. Uh Ind pretty much Indiana. We go into Kentucky a bit. Um but we're in the HACD3 um NCAA conference. Okay. Is this with like uh is this Franklin Hover like that conference?
Yes. Yes. Okay. We are. And um so yeah, about 60% of our students come to Manchester because of playing sports. And you know what I love about that is they belong then they have a I I say they always have immediate group of friends, right?
Built-in friends because of their sports teams because Okay, now the other question is Manchester or North Manchester is a town of less than 5,000. So you you show up in I mean students could be from the Chicagoland area. They could be from Indianapolis. You show up in Not everyone grew up in rural Indiana so that can be a little bit of a I mean a culture shock in a good way. I grew up in a small town and I loved it. I then ended up in Green Castle which had 12,000 people but everyone was like that's a small town.
So having that built-in group of friends can be nice when you're Yeah. coming to a new place whether you're from the city. So I always think that's cool to get of how big of an impact athletics plays in the like recruiting process. Sure. It absolutely does. And I I think it gives people the opportunity to continue to play after high school.
So my twin and I were students here. Our sons are students here now. They're they're going to be juniors. No way. Yes. and they're roommates and they both are college um athletes.
So, one is baseball and soccer. Wow. So, um we get to kind of see Manchester through their eyes, but they have built-in friends. They get to hang out and you know, we are small town, but I always think size is our advantage, right? Um that's one of the best parts about Manchester because we're small. You get to do different things.
You get to be a leader on campus. You get to join clubs that you might not otherwise. When I was a student here, I was a radio disc jockey as an accounting major. Let's go. Wait, what? What?
What time slot? I always got to know. Oh, 10 to 12 Sunday nights. Tra, it was the Barbie twins. Uh 10 10 to 12. Yeah, we uh we played um 50s [clears throat] and 60s music.
It was I mean it was quite popular. Oh, what was this? What's the station? Uh W It was back then it was WBKE. We no longer have the radio station. Well, you know, so again, I'm going to I'm going to make some comparisons cuz I'm a D3 guy coming through that.
We had a radio station that like, you know, you started off getting the like 1:00 am to 3:00 am shift or whatever, like the graveyard shift, but within the listening radius was like the Putnham County Prison. So, you literally knew that at 1 to 3:00 a. m. you were only playing music for the Putinham County Prison. [laughter] Like, like those are your listeners. Fantastic.
Talk about We had some people that called in. Yeah. Talk about a captive audience, right? Oh, it was great. It was great. My parents could like just about catch our radio show, so we would record it for them.
That's incredible. I love it. That is one of the great spots about going to a small school is you get to do a lot of different things. Like today, if you had to think about the student experience at Manchester, let's say they come say 60% of students are playing a sport. So, take that. What are the other kind of activities you feel like people uh that are popular with kids these days?
Well, there's lots of clubs and of course there's lots of events. They we do a a really good job putting on different events for students. Um, but there's there's lots of clubs and if there's a a club that you want to start, all you have to do is find 10 friends and you can start a club. And so and and the reason for that is like any like unique clubs. There's a there's a a a board game club. Absolutely.
I and I was super excited, but some of the games I went cuz I try to get involved with students, so I thought I'm going to go. Now, I will tell you all the student events happen like at 8:00 p. m. and after, way past my bedtime. So, I go one night to this club at the board game clubs and they were playing some games I have never I thought we were going to sit down and play like Monopoly. No, they're playing other cool things for for students, but but I was not I I didn't I've never heard of that game.
Trendy games. Trend the new modern trendy games. Right. Exactly. Now, here's another thing that I that I find um interesting for you. Your guidance counselor's recommendation was my high school accounting teacher.
your accounting teachers recommendation to go to Manchester. How important is that aspect of direct referrals from people within buildings across the state of Indiana as well as the Midwest? We do a really good job attracting students who are first generation. And there's a lot of students who are still first generation, the first people in their family to go to college in Indiana. Lots of kids. And um so I think those high school guidance counselors, teachers help students find their way here.
And and although we're a small campus, you know, I mentioned my son's here, I don't I don't see him very often. He's I would like to see him more, but um I don't every mom of a college student ever, right? I would love to see him more, but I I don't because you can be as involved or as active on campus as you want. And um you know, again, sizes are advantage. You can be a leader. In fact, my sister went to Ball State our freshman year, but decided to come here because she saw how active I was on campus.
No way. So the twins separated and then short time. Wow. Wow. I think that's so cool. And and I do think small campuses are uniquely positioned for individuals driven by impact.
Like you want to get on campus, you want to do a little bit of this, you want to do you want to have this like robust, well-rounded college experience. I think that that's definitely an advantage. How are you getting the Manchester brand in front of those key decision makers in the schools to, you know, be champions of your brand? Well, that's the hardest part. In fact, tomorrow I'm talking to actually I'm talking to Concord High School tomorrow and telling them all the great things happening at Manchester and just trying to get the word out because we are doing some things that are different than other schools and um I'm just trying to kind of spread the word. We you know marketing is hard especially um with all of the the media that um students can pay attention to these days and and lots of competing um interest, right?
So just trying to help students see that we hear them. We know that they want to get in, get out and get done faster. They don't want to go into debt. They want return on investment. So, we're really trying to focus on some of those things. Yeah.
What are the big Okay, let's let's dive into that a little bit. What is the big pieces of feedback that you're hearing from prospective students that you're I mean, it's your job, right, to disseminate all of that and, you know, guide the university. Um, one of them is they don't want to go into debt. You know, 30, four years ago, I signed on the dotted line. I was in debt probably up to my eyeballs because that's just what we did. And, and I'm grateful because that's what got me here today.
Um, but students today don't want to go into debt and I appreciate that. You know, graduating without debt really sets you up for life in a different way. Um, so we're really trying to hear that and figure out ways that students can do that. So, one of them is, um, we are the first school in Indiana to have 90 credit bachelor's degrees. 90 credit bachelor's degrees. Okay.
So, how do you how do you make sure then that they're getting the full robust training and all the the courses that you need to hit while also, you know, graduating and and not going into debt? So you can still do the full 120 credits, right? And that's, you know, a typical college student takes 15 credits a semester, fall, 15 credits in the spring. Over four years, you get your 120 credits. So that's a typical student. Um, and and this is really geared towards maybe non-traditional students or students who know exactly what they want to do because some students, I just met a student on the sidewalk just a few minutes ago that said, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do."
And that's okay. Yeah. Um but uh for students who know exactly what they want to do and they want to get in, get out and get done. The 90 credits, it's the same um core and we'll talk about that. I would love to share what we're doing with that. Same core foundational classes, math, science, English, those things.
And then 60 credits in your major. So for me, that would have been my accounting classes, right? So 60 credits there and then what what goes away are those electives. Now for some students, that's where they take a minor. Um but it really it shaves off an entire year. It's not an accelerated program.
I mean, it is because you can finish faster, but it shaves off an entire year. Yeah. And and that was always an interesting piece where I loved electives because it let me, you know, be curious and like hunt down some of those curiosities, but if you came in with a plan and you're like, I want to be an accountant. Like, you know, maybe, you know, for your entire life, you knew you wanted to be an accountant. Wild thing. Respect to you, but wild thing for like a fifth grader to be like, yes, accounting is the way.
But you come in and you get to focus on that. you get done in is that so it basically be three years instead of four. Wow. And you're Hey, we're dialed in and we're going that direction. Uh you're talking about this core. Talk to me about what what the like corebased foundation for a Manchester University Spartan is.
Yeah. So what we did is all those classes that pretty much everybody takes here. Um we said how do these align with the skills that employers desire? So we made sure that what employers desire you're getting in that court, teamwork, communication skills, those kinds of things. So, we now can tell you critical thinking. We now can tell you where you're getting those important skills that employers desire, where they're happening in your class, in your classes at Manchester.
What are the what are the biggest majors at Manchester? Uh, uh, business, the college of business is one of our largest and exercise science. So, between those two, college of business and exercise science, it's about 600 students. Wait. Okay. So, one, how many total students?
Um, so from an undergrad perspective, right around 950 students. Okay. 950 students, 600 of them come out of how many colleges are there? Four. Four. So, college of business, exercise science, health.
Well, so our exercise sciences in within another one of our colleges. So, we have um our health sciences are split up between two things. Exercise science falls in one of those. We have you know um pharmacy um so we have graduate programs in pharmacy doctor physical therapy master of athletic training pharmarmaccogenomics neutrogenomics um and then we have an MBA program that has different tracks. Wow. So what are the biggest employers that are coming on campus whether there's career days or like that are building pipelines to Manchester?
Um lots lots of different employers. So first of all lots of our students are very regional. So, kind of draw a line. Indianapolis and north. That's where about eight more than 80% of our students are coming from. From Indianapolis in Indiana.
Yes. Like that's that's the north of Indianapolis and north. That's where most of our students come from. Okay. So, we're very reg regional. Yeah.
Well, that's also good though because there's a lot of students that want the I want to go away to college, but I don't want to be forever and a day away. You know, I don't want to be a plane right away. I want to be a short drive back home. That's awesome. It is wonderful. And you know what's great, especially for our um athletic events, parents come.
Yeah. It's great. Families come. So we when I go to a baseball game or a soccer game, I'm getting to know the other families and moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles. It's great. Yeah.
That tight-knit community. Okay. Wonderful. So students, 80%, right, are coming from north of Indianapolis. North of Indianapolis. And then employers, the ones that are really boring in here.
Where do you see the a lot of students getting pathways to? Yeah. So, um, of course, some of our healthcare partners in the area, Parkview Health is a big employer for us. Um, but lots of other companies, you know, of course, um, because of our college of business, a lot of the accounting firms, you you pro you probably can't go too far at an accounting firm without running into at least a few Manchester grads. Um, but, uh, yeah, lots lots of places. Kind of a really diverse um a diverse market.
My son told me he was working out at a gym in Fort Wayne yesterday and met the son of one of our grads who was in the orthopedic industry. Hey, I mean that's not too far away in Warsaw. You talk about that. Yeah. You think about like Southbend, Warsaw, Fort Wayne, some of those places like it's a pretty, you know, a good pathway for them to, you know, get top tier talent that's not too far away. That also, again, like you talk about like being they value being close to home.
It's like again, if you're in the area and you're getting people that love being around this area, that's awesome. a great like 1, two, three steps. That's right. So, you talked about the core foundation when someone says, "I'm going to come to Manchester. This is, you know, my pathway." What are those core building blocks you guys like to build off of?
Communications classes, English class, you know, you're going to take an English class. We want to make sure you can read and write and all of those things. Um, depending on your major, you what kind of science class you might take. We have a very strong history with um educating um doctors and veterinarians and um dentists. So our biochem major is really strong. Um so a lot of students coming for that.
Now we have of course a nursing program. Um so our our our lab sciences are pretty busy with all of those folks and those classes. You talk about history. What is the how did a university end up in North Manchester, Indiana. Our roots are with the Church of the Brethren. And we did we got moved here.
Gosh, what was it? What year was it in the early 1900s? So, um, we we we moved here in North Manchester. I believe, um, if I have my history correct, we were we were slated to possibly go to the Napony area, ended up here. Um, but it's it's so special to be in a small community like this. I think the size is our advantage.
And, um, you know, some of the things we're doing with around experiential learning allow us to help with some of the local nonprofits, which I love. So, in a small community, we can go to the local Rotary or Lions Club or you name the service um club and and say, "Hey, we have some opportunities for our students that we can come out and do some help help you." And that's been terrific. 1889, the school moves to North Manchester. Uh and then and they they changed the name to North Manchester College and then later removed the North. Right.
Nice. Well, I mean, I'm looking at some like milestones on the history part. That's pretty crazy. 1948, Manchester established the first undergraduate peace studies program in the world. Yes. Yes.
We're well known for our peace studies program. No. 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited campus. He it was our his last college stop before he was assassinated, sadly.
No way. Like that's that's impactful, you know, to be at the forefront of like I don't know, just in that's like really cool for North Manchester for Manchester University to be in the mix there. I've been joking that um maybe we should offer free conflict resolution classes to all of our legislators. They could come here and just um come and get because that's really what peace studies is conflict resolution. We probably all could use a little bit more of that in our lives. I mean honestly yeah for sure.
Okay. One thing I want to know talk to me about this was a little bit before your time but the shift from going from a college to a university. How does that how does that work? what has to happen there because then I think it takes you into today's landscape in 2026 of you have to be innovated if you want to survive as a small liberal arts college anywhere in in America right right so this um happened about 13 years ago obvious yes before my time but it it was when we brought the pharmacy school on that they changed to a university from a college so um and then of course we brought all these other health science and graduate programs so I think it just sets us apart um obviously you go through a little bit of a process with the higher learning commission and others. So, um that that all happened back then. And you know, of course, as an alums, you know, I still go to alumni events and people are like, "Look, I have my Manchester College sweatshirt on."
Uh so, everybody is is proud of whichever school that they graduated from. Yeah, it's vintage. Come on now. It is vintage. Well, and talk about, you know, again, here we are 13 years later and again, the landscape of small schools across America. It's challenging.
There's a push that like, do we need to go to college? Do I need to go to trade school? Do I need to do this? How are you all staying relevant and continuing to be innovative at Manchester University? Well, we're doing things like making sure that the classes that students take are relevant and and that they are getting that return on investment. And we use words like that because that's what families are looking for.
The other thing we've done is um making sure that students who take early college credits, so at their high schools, a lot of Indiana students are getting free credits through IvyTech. That's a wonderful advantage. So, we make sure we take those credits. That's the first thing. But then we went a step further and and aligned with IvyTech. So, now you can actually come to Manchester and IvyTech and and take um you can do in a year you can do an associates degree and in the ne second year you can do a bachelor's degree and in the third year you can do an MBA.
No way. Three years, three degrees. Three years, three you can hit the cycle in three years. Then you just have to go find a doctorate somewhere. That's right. No way.
It's and so it's a great deal and of course because we've partnered with IvyTech I mean if you do that side um you know you can come to Manchester for you know get a private school education at a really wonderful rate. And how are you calculating something like ROI? Like what are the factors that you're determining where a parent and a family sits across there and say hey we've we've heard that private schools are very expensive like yada yada yada. And how do you start to you know do the math on an ROI of a Manchester University degree? Well, the reality is a typical student by the time all the financial aid and the aid kicks in, we're about the same as a public school. So, if if we can keep a family all the way through that process, they will see that it's about the same.
In fact, way back 30 years ago, 34 years ago, when my sister came from Ball State, I think the difference in price was $400 back then. It it wasn't big. And my back then, my parents thought they could save money on the phone bill. Um but but I think you know for me what I would tell Yeah. That was back when we had phone bills. That might be long distance.
Old school. Is this 574 or 260? This is a 260. From 260 to 765 thing, right? You're paying those long distance, right? You know what I would tell families if for me if I'm talking to a student, I would really ask them what kind of experience that they want.
You know, some students say they want that big school experience, but you know, for me, I loved Manchester because you you first of all, the faculty are going to know your name. In fact, when I came back here as president, one of my favorite faculty members was still here. and he remember he remembered advising me. Um and and when I go out and talk to our alumni, that's what they talk about, those faculty relationships that they had because they know your story and and you're not going to, you know, some of the larger schools, you might be taught by a a teaching assistant or something else. That that's not what happens here. And because we're small, you get the opportunity to do research with your faculty.
Even as a sophomore or freshman, you're doing research with faculty members. So, you're building that resume. And that's another big thing that we've been pushing for our students, part of the affordability that we want all of our students to do experiential learning while they're here. Okay. What do you mean by experiential learning? I'll I'll give you an example.
Uh my son is an accounting major, too. And he during during the school year, he was taking his tax class and he was preparing tax returns at a local firm. So during baseball season, so he was taking 18 credit hours and doing tax returns and doing his his sport. So when he graduates, in fact, he's doing another internship this summer. His resume is already looking really strong and that's what we want for all of our students. We want you to have that experience because so I I mentioned we were chatting a little bit ago that we have one of our students at Alliance RV in Elkar, Indiana.
That's my nephew and he's working in the marketing department. So if when Will is in his marketing classes at Manchester, he has something to hook that learning to because he's already done it out in the field. Isn't that crazy, too? Like so much of what you learn in college, it's like it doesn't really click until it's applicable in a workplace. Yes. You're like, "Oh yeah, I learned how to you're giving [clears throat] a presentation about whatever the thing is and you're like, "Oh yeah, you know, I stood up and gave my book report."
But then you realize like, "Oh, you tie it to a real work work experience and you're like, "Oh, this is the sales presentation. This is whatever that might be." That's that's really cool. Do you feel like you hear a lot of feedback from students saying they want Yeah. on the job training? like that's super important.
Yes, it's very important. We're hearing and now there in fact we're right now applying for a federal grant that would give us more dollars around experiential learning. We received another grant um uh to help again I mentioned earlier to help pay our students. So if a local nonprofit needs a student intern um we have the money to pay them if the local nonprofit can't afford it. So they're getting help. We have a class that every year picks a nonprofit and then helps them.
And so we had one class I got to go to their presentation. They redid all of their social media. They redid their brand, their logo, all of the things. And and that that would that would have been very expensive, right? And and so we had our students that got to do that. And then students have something for the resumes.
Yeah. Now, one important piece of any educational institution is the faculty. It's the people who are teaching the classes. How are you guys able to attract top tier talent to come to Manchester, to come to North Manchester here at the university to teach the next generation of Spartans? Well, lots of different ways, but I would say about 20% of our faculty are alum, so they've come back and helped. And that's amazing when that happens.
They have a heart for Manchester. They know our values and then they can um continue. you know, we just had recently had a a faculty member that passed away from um he was in his 90s, but um when I went to the funeral, I was just in awe of the ripple effect that he had because the um he in his particular case um he was a a biochem faculty member and um the number of doctors in the room was amazing and it was just because of this one faculty member that they they attributed their success to this one faculty member in North Manchester, Indiana. I just love that. But he was also an alum that so he was an alum. He was an and then made such a lasting impact.
Also, did was he still a professor in his 90s? Oh, no, no, no, no. Oh, I was like, dang, love campus all the time. No way. It was great. Where what cities do or towns or where do you feel like alumni end up going to?
Like they come from all over. They end up in North Manchester for 3 years, four years. Where do you see a lot of your alumni base at? It's everywhere. Right. I travel we travel out to the west coast.
Pretty good uh amount of alumni in Washington state in Oregon. We have some alumni in California. Oh yes. Um we go down to Texas, of course. We we visit Florida because we have some snowbirds. But uh DC, we have um some alum in DC.
We go out and do an alumni event there. Colorado. They're everywhere. Wow. That's awesome. That's a pretty cool job.
you know, as the president, you get to go around kind of on the alumni road show shuffle, like, hey, here's what we're raising for because I feel like the one thing, you know, the president of a university, you're a fundraiser. Like it's like a lot of what it is is like we have this campaign that we're doing to fund this experience. Like every time I talk to uh anyone in higher ed, it's like, hey, we have to get our alumni base fired up about what's going on on campus so we can continue to compete. we can continue to bring top tier talent, top tier students, like the whole nine yards. Uh that is a uh it's a fun part of the job, but I'm sure like traveling around and getting to hear and catch up with all the people is is uh it's my sec I mean I have two favorite parts of my job and it is one of my two favorite parts. Hanging out with students is the first one.
That's the second one. But, you know, so many of our students were firstgen or, you know, came from a farm and they came to Manchester, you know, way back when. And it's sometimes it's just incredible to see what they what they've done with their lives and and the lives that they've changed. And we've educated a lot of teachers. I mean, can you imagine the ripple effect that they have had? So, so when I get to go out and visit with them, it's just always an just an incredible opportunity to to just learn and and see the work that they've done.
And oftentimes when I'm headed back to my hotel at the end of the day, and by the way, I don't usually talk about them as donors. I just usually say I get to visit with our alumni. Yes. The alumni, you know how that goes. But when I get back to my hotel at the end of the night, sometimes I'm like, gosh, all that started in North Manchester, Indiana. Well, you know, you were just talking about how this one faculty member made such a lasting impact on, you know, biochem and doctors all across, you know, all across everywhere.
Is there a specific faculty member at Manchester from your time here that made a lasting impact on you that you still look back on and say, "How did I get so lucky?" Yeah. His name is Tim Ogden. He just retired, let's see, a year ago. Um and um so my son Max and my nephew got to both have have Tim Ogden. We in fact named the MBA program after him.
Uh but yes, he had a huge impact on my life and um in fact some of the things some of the stories he told to like our management class when I was a faculty member back in the day. Um I used to tell the same stories. He he was just phenomenal. And um we we definitely miss him after after a year of being gone. But I think um he he drove a long way to be here every day. So we're so grateful for him.
Yeah. Isn't that so cool? That is one of the coolest parts about the small school experience is, you know, it's really easy to go to a massive lecture hall and kind of like put your hood up in the back and catch up on some Z's. You know, like in a small school, you're not going to get that. Like if if you miss class, someone's probably calling you here. Yeah.
Like it's it's a real thing. And it it's good one cuz you get to have an impact. you get to be involved in a lot of things and two it's a little bit of accountability you know like again you're an 18-year-old you're starting your journey for the first time and having some good you know some structure there and like getting to interact I don't know what's the average class size at Manchester 14 15 students like this is a thing where you're someone's got to raise their hand y'all they're asking a question like like there's 14 or 15 of you like you got to put your hand up and you know you have to be part of it and that helps you build these lasting relationships that will help you whether you're going the doctor route, whether you're going the MBA route, like having a good network and connection, super important. How do you feel like today's students here at Manchester are leveraging their alumni network to help them advance their career?
Yeah, we're trying to do even more of it. We had a golf outing last week, so we had some students attend and they're connecting with people, but we're trying to do even more of that because we have such a diverse base. And so I talked to a student who was moving to a town and and so we connected him with our alumni and and our alumni office to say, "Hey, do we have any alumni in this area? Can we connect?" And you know, I talked to the student, I said, you know, it's not just about that particular person. It's who they know, right?
So they may not have anything at their company available, but that their friend might. And so that's what's really important. And so we're trying to use that even more. And when you come in with that nontransactional mindset where it's like I'm going to get introduced to this person and it's like well they don't have a job so it's over. It's like no like cultivate that they've been in this market for a little bit longer. They probably have friends.
They probably have advice at least a recommendation on a good place to grab a cup of coffee. That's right. When you treat it that way good things come from it for sure. And I think a lot of brands uh a lot of universities like you can flex a massive alumni network like we have you know a million active alumni or whatever it is. What really matters is are your alumni answering the call? Like when there's so many of them, it's like okay, you know, like everyone has their portal, everyone has this, they're probably getting recommendations, they're getting hit up on LinkedIn, but when someone that works in the university reaches out and helps facilitate an introduction, they're taking the call.
They're going to like go out of their way because there's just that built-in connection versus like, you know, any of the biggest schools in the country. It's like, oh yeah, like you know, we wear that gear around and we might see them at the bar when we're cheering on the football team, but like are you really getting coffee and are you really invested in them as a person? Yeah. And I mean, honestly, whenever I travel, I try to have Manchester gear on because it it never ceases to amaze me. I run into some an alum somewhere and it's special when you run into a Manchester alum and they do they want to help. Are there specific alum uh I know it's it's tough to pick like favorite children or anything like that but alum that you look at that are like the pinnacle of they are doing amazing things that that are changing the world.
It's so many successful alums of I mean I mentioned our our teachers which some people may say well that's you know usually think of someone who's heading a company or something but when you think about our values and our deep roots with the church of the brethren and our um you know uh peace studies and and all the other classes that you take as part of core you know those are teachers who are out there teaching the next generation and you know having 25 or 30 um kids in their class. So, uh, just in fact, my opening combo this year is going to be about that the ripple effect of Manchester grads cuz there's so many out there doing incredible incredible things. And I mean, I I I did one of my opening combo just on alumni, you know, that have done some really cool things, but there's so many. And um, yeah, it's just exciting, especially when you run across them. This is not the only campus for Manchester.
Correct. Right. We have a Fort Wayne location and talk to me about that. It has our health sciences. So pharmacy, doctor physical therapy, the NGX program, the PGX program. What?
Okay. NGX, PGX, that seems that seems scientific. Yeah, it is super scientific. It's um uh pharmiccogenomics. PGX is really how different drugs impact you versus me and and our DNA. And then neutrogenomics is about nutrition.
So how different foods interact with me as an individual versus someone, which this is all the rage. You talk about like today in pop culture, it's knowing what are you eating, what's sprayed on it, what's this, what's that, how is that going to every I feel like everyone I pop-tarts pop-tarts are talking about how they have protein in them. Like everyone is like talking about how much protein, tracking their macros, all these things. That's how how old are those programs? Oh gosh, they a little bit before my time. So probably only like six years.
Wow. That's like that's super cool. Now, is it hard to oversee campuses in two different geographic locations? Yeah, it is sometimes because I love to walk around. I don't get to walk around as much as I'd like. Typically, a typical day for me is in the office, but or in a meeting somewhere, wherever it might be, but um I love to walk around and see people.
So, I wish sometimes I wish we were all together. Um but, you know, I get there probably twice a week as it is. Unfortunately, sometimes that's always in a meeting. I feel like that's the thing. The higher up you go on the ladder, like the less the less you get to like walk around and have some serendipitous interactions. Now, I'm sure there are going to be other higher education faculty that uh that listen to this episode cuz they're like, you know, what's Manchester doing?
How do how do we as these smaller liberal arts type schools, how private schools, how do we stay competitive? talk to me about advice you might have for other educators across the country on how they need to think about making their place a destination, how they need to think about whether it be ROI or other places like that. What advice would you give to other educators? Well, for me, faculty are rock stars, right? Um, we have wonderful admissions people who have all the fast facts, right? How much we cost, how to apply, all of those things, but the faculty really make the difference.
So when you can sit down and talk to a faculty and say when I grow up I want to be the CEO of Mattel Toys and they listen and then they talk to you about what that might look like. That is an oddly that's a really specific that was my dream when I came here. So that's what that's what I remember. But well I mean you you forgo Mattel Toys to then become the president of Manchester. I think you won that one. That I it's true.
I did win. Uh they listen and and 30 years later they remember your dream which is really cool, right? That would be wild. like you're walking into a staff meeting and they're like, "Hey, we appreciate you not going and chasing down Mattel Toys CEO job so that you could be here, you know, leading this university." That's so awesome. What I would tell anybody in higher ed right now is we have to change.
And some of the things that we have loved and and um hold dear to our hearts. We have to make changes in this environment. We have to listen to what our demographic is telling us and we have to change. But it's hard when you're in academics because lots, you know, we have a very long history in higher ed of doing things the same way. So, we have to change and adapt. I mean, AI is turning our world upside down.
We're so grateful because um the Lily Endowment, Inc. has just released a lot of money into higher ed. I don't know if you followed it at all, but Oh, yeah. It's incredible. Yeah. Because there's like a whole Oh my gosh, a coalition or something of of colleges across Indiana implementing AI, right?
Everybody. everybody. Yeah. Which one? We're super blessed with private to public. Yeah.
Uh I I feel like I just heard something where a bunch of colleges are like teaming up together and, you know, Lily is, you know, writing large checks to help push Indiana into this, you know, next generation of AI. It's going to set us apart. I mean, it's going to set Indiana apart, I think, from an economic development perspective because our students are going to be so much farther ahead than students from around the country in this. I mean, and it helps when you have the first life science trillion dollar market cap company like their endowment where it's tied to the stock value and they're willing to help support. And I think like they have a few pillars and like they're very restricted to the geography of Indiana, which is awesome for us, but like they are out there making an impact. You talk about community development.
I do want to talk about what Manchester University means to the town of North Manchester and how you bridge those gaps. Right. So, I'm glad you brought it up because we just got a big grant from from Lily Endowment, Inc. , the CCC grant, which is the college community collaboration grant. Every college professor or every college president I talked to so many seat the CCC grant like this is huge. It has been I mean it the whole purpose of it was to lift up these small towns and where where the colleges are sitting and it's it's so special that we get to be connected to a to a town and it's special for the town to have us here, right?
and we need each other and I I love it. So, right when I came, we were in the midst of writing this grant. So, it allowed me to get to know a lot of our community members really fast. Um, but we we did get the grant. It was a competitive grant. We did get the grant.
So, we actually have a housing project because we did a we it was all community based and the college. So, we all collaborated. We did surveys, students helped. What do we really need? So, one of the things we found out is, you know, back when I was a student here, we had a lot more faculty that lived in town. Um, and so at night, you'd see them at games and and, you know, music musical events or theater productions or whatever or just walking their families around campus.
But now, you know, there's not enough houses here. Yeah. Or it's like I say getting the right makeup of houses. So, it's like if you're maybe you get your first, you know, your first job in academia and you need an apartment, but like if the housing mix isn't for where not everyone needs a three-bedroom, two-b house. And so, finding the right mix of the right housing is super important. I mean, from Greencastle to Crawford'sville to a lot of these towns, this community, what are the four what are the three C's?
It's the college, community, collaboration. Yes. And a big piece of that is housing, right? Yes. for for a lot of it depending on the community and everybody had to go through a process like we did where you survey people and you bring people in you do listening sessions. So we you know we had lots of ideas but we came up with you know kind of four projects.
Okay. What are the four projects? So so we have our our um college row housing. We have um Eel River Commons which is is really um uh kind of along the main street. We're building out the park and having an amphitheater. And my our hope is that like more restaurants will come and and be there and kind of look out over the park and have music and events and things like that.
We have the Manchester Mile because we're literally one mile between Manchester University and the downtown. And our idea so it's a um distinctive I always call it the yellow brick road and and I keep joking with them. I I don't I'm not on that committee, but I don't think they're going to put yellow bricks down. I'm very sad about it. But I mean you think yellow bricks and you think like black mortar, right? I mean, it could be pretty cool, but they said, you know, there's not that much money.
Um, but, uh, so a very distinctive pathway between Manchester and downtown. And then we have some projects here on campus. Um, our our building right here with this beautiful mural is is um that building is going to get renovated um because it holds our it's going to hold esports, but our music and art program, esports, digital media arts. Yes. Our esports team is huge. It's larger than our football team.
No. Yes. It's very big. Shout out to the gamers. Let's go. That's right.
That's right. And then so you need to come back when that's done because that will be very cool. And then our quarter auditorium because because we have some of these venues, the town uses them as well, which we love. We have, you know, a a dance recital here every spring. It's it's fantastic. So yeah.
Well, I think that is okay. So those are the four projects. So some out in the community and some on campus. I think that's awesome. And when when you're thinking about, you know, a weekend in Manchester, a weekend at Manchester in North Manchester, take me through like if there was a weekend for a prospective student in their family to come visit, what does that weekend look like? Yeah.
So, typically there's usually there could be an event on campus on Friday night, whether it be theater production or musical event or something or a game of some kind. Um, there's some restaurants in town that you might find yourself at. What do we think? What are what are the options? I mean, a big one for us, my husband and I go, it's a place called Elmes. It's a Mexican restaurant, so that's fun.
And we always see students there. So, um that's that's a delight. And staff, right? And then um uh you know, I I know our our um Heist Commons, which is is our kind of student union where they do a lot of their eating at. Um community members can come there and we do have some that come because they have such a variety here. Oh, yeah.
Um, and so, uh, and that was my downfall. Uh, freshman year when they start, do you guys have unlimited ice cream? Yes. You swipe in, you can just get a road cone, line cone. That was a problem for you? Oh, so I freshman 15, it was like the first six weeks.
I was like, ice cream cone every meal. Like I had one while I was waiting in line, one while I was walking back to my dorm. I was like, no human being needs to eat 14 ice cream cones a week. Like, it's just not healthy. Nate, what are you doing? It was one of those self-control things where So, did you did you fix it the second year?
Yeah, I I like had to like totally go on like a juice cleanse for a little bit there. Were you a college athlete? Uh, I was on the football team. Uh, I So, I was at the practices and I was there, but I was not like ever in a game or in any situation where I've been, you know, I worked out with our football team a couple times. I don't know that having that much ice cream would feel good. Oh gosh.
Yeah. Make the next practice a little tough. Uh, see, but it was just like ice cream and it's like you're telling me I can get it can be a seven seven layer cone and I can go sprinkles too. Like it was it was my Achilles heel. I got back home for Christmas and my best friend was like wow you put on literally just I walked through the door first thing you've put on weight and I was like all right time time got to control the ice cream habits there. But I think that's cool to have like variety and another place for members from the community to come and check out.
And when you talk about productions and like whether it be musical, theater, like all the different activities, that's super cool for a town of again less than 5,000 people I believe to have access to that kind of thing and and you know the dance recital and plugging that in with like is the high school involved with the university and are there like ways you guys collaborate there? Sometimes like we hold their prom and things like that. So, but but I think what happens is you'll see um like on Saturdays there's of course like a farmers market and things like that, but you'll you'll see people from the the the college. I mean, every time you go somewhere in town, you're going to run into somebody, right? So, and then we have cute little coffee houses or sprinkled around. So, that's really wonderful and things like that.
So, I mean, I just love a small town. Like, I'm just a small town guy. I love to go out running in the morning. Oh, yeah. In a small town. And you were mentioning that earlier, but yeah, like when I come to the college campus early in the morning, it's really special.
Yeah. When you think of the pitch and like as you're talking, if you could talk to every, you know, prospective student across the nation, like who are the right kids to come to Manchester University? And what would you say to them? Any kid who doesn't want to fall between the cracks, like we're going to make sure you're successful. You're going to have an academic adviser. You're going to have a success adviser.
Um, your faculty are going to know your name. And I I get that that scares some people, but there that also means they're going to help you find that next step, right? So, we're going to make, you know, if you want to if you want to go work for a professional athletic team or something, we have people that know people, right? So, that network, we're we're going to help you find those those opportunities. So, um and you're going to get to be a campus leader if that's something you desire, right? Not every not every student wants that, but it's great for your resume because we're going to be focused on making sure that you have a strong resume or CV that's ready for grad school.
Um, if if you want to go to grad school, is grad school a big piece? Do a lot of students go into because of our premed program and and and things like that. Yeah, we have quite a few um psychology students that go on to grad school and because they've gotten to do research and stuff here, they get into great schools. Um, and some of our students go on to our own graduate schools, our pharmacy program. We just had admitted student day and I ran into a lot of our graduates from here that just graduated in May because they're going over there for for their next steps. That's amazing.
All right, I want you to take off the president hat for a second, put on the mom hat. As a mother of a Manchester Spartan, why do you feel like this was the right place? Cuz I'm assuming, granted, all things considered, I'm assuming you didn't say you have to go here. like if you don't you will let down your whole maybe you did but I'm assuming there was like a little bit of like you know let your let your son make a choice. So I have two kids and um uh my daughter went I was the president of another school before this so she went to that school. I do have a little bit of belief that if you're the president of a school your kid probably should go to your school because that's true.
So I have a little bit of that and eat your own dog food on that one. That that's right. So, I have a little bit of feelings on that. But, um, you know, for Max, this has been a wonderful choice. Um, he it's it's been really cool. He he even though I live on campus, he lives in a dorm with my nephew and and watching those two grow up a little bit, you know, over the last couple years has been really cool.
I thought I was going to be doing their laundry all the time. I I really haven't. I mean, like maybe two times for each of them. That's Imagine that. It's like having your laundry bag and you just like drop it in the president's office of your university. It's like, "All right, I'll see you in a couple days."
He's like, "That's so it's really special." You know, I I tell you know, yeah, I tell Max like you're you have to behave and all of those things, but you know, I always worry a little tiny bit when I get those calls like, you know, the police are on campus or whatever. You're like, "Oh gosh, please don't let it be Max." [laughter] Yeah. Wow. But this is honestly, this is a really safe place.
That doesn't happen to us very often. Now, we do have the fire department on occasion because of burnt food. Oh my gosh. Yeah, popcorn and macaroni and cheese cups without water seem to be our two problematic areas. I when you get to college, it's very you very quickly pick up of who's different parenting styles like who who parented in an independent way where you maybe made your own food, made your own snacks, did this kind of thing. And then yeah, you have, you know, kids that this is their first glimpse of independence.
And, you know, no better way to to learn the hard way than setting your microwave on fire with the craft macaroni and cheese single. I don't know how often the fire department has to come out, but it feels like a lot for some of those items. Burnt food. I get the email burnt food. What does the housing like trajectory look like uh at Manchester University? Like is it largely dorms all four years?
Is there off campus? Usually three years. Most students live on campus. three years on campus and then as seniors do they do like a house in town? Yeah, typically they move off and and you know what that's how it was when I was a student here and I I think it's better for students they don't have to worry about food then um and and there's so many things you just don't have to worry about. The other thing is and I was super poor when I came to Manchester.
The nice thing about coming to campus is everybody's it's like a level set, right? Everybody's in the same boat. Everybody's stuff looks the same at this point. So I liked that. Yeah. I mean, I think that is cool.
You know, you go through it and it's like you're not you can't buy like the wagoo steak at the food hall. Like everyone's getting everybody's getting the same thing. Hey, we can all have as many ice cream cones as we want. That's just how it goes. So, it it's kind of nice and and I like having students on campus because and I think then you're really focused on your studies and and and your whatever your extracurricular is and you don't have to worry. You there's so much time to be an adult.
From an athletic perspective, what is like the, you know, the institution? Like is there a team on campus that just like wins conference championships consistently? Our cross country track and field are really good. Yeah. Yeah. We have a superstar, we have superstar coaches.
I mean, our coaches are awesome, but and you know, our coaches, we talk about um 60% of our students being athletes and and so many of our students um you know, that's how they connect and belong to campus, but they kind of act as another counselor, mentor for our students, and I love that because it's not just about winning, but it's about being good humans, which I love. So, as a mom of a of a a student, um that's especially important to me. Well, we've come towards the end of the show where we get to talk all things Indiana. Oh yeah. We wrap it up with our rapid fire questions. Oh my gosh.
All fun stuff. This is this is where we get to get uh outside of just the four walls here of the university. We had to talk some fun stuff. Favorite road trip from North Manchester. If you had to think about somewhere in the state of Indiana where you're like, you know what, everyone, you know, someone just needs a weekend go, you know, get off campus, enjoy this road trip. Is there a spot near here that you're like, "Hey, this is a this is a gem."
I mean, we go to Indianapolis quite a bit. It's like to to It's not too bad. We just made that drive. It's not too bad. Especially the north side. Like, if you're coming from like Westfield, Caramel, Fishers, that No.
My stepdaughter is in Westfield. It's amazing. I mean, when we're here, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump down to visit her. I like some people think, "Oh my gosh, like you know, cuz I'm from the area, like not too far away from here, and it's like it's so close. Like, we're zipping all over. It's wonderful."
So yeah, in Indianapolis because you can get to some venues, go to a concert or something like that. But now here's a question. Are other you know presidents of academic institutions obviously you know you are competing a little bit over you know students but with the demographic cliff and like you know the the whole shift within higher education do you have like peers? Do you have mentors? Do you have people in the space that are also thinking about the same problems as you? I feel like as the president it could get a little bit lonely trying to figure out like how the heck do we solve the world's problems today.
It is lonely. But I will tell you even though um we're all competitors I don't feel like we are competitors because oftentimes students are choosing like you know going to Purdue or a public school or something like that. Um but it's a close small circle and and we are all friends. Um [clears throat] I was just emailing with Indiana text president this morning. Is there like a a president's convention like an Indiana president? the um ICI, it's the Independent Colleges of Indiana.
So, it's actually a group and we meet regularly and and I text most of my I just ran into Dr. Pepper at Huntington um last week. Yeah, you have to go visit. It's Rob Pepper. Yeah, Dr. Pepper.
His name is Dr. Pepper. He's at Huntington. He's the president of Huntington. The president of Huntington's Dr. Pepper.
Yeah, he's fantastic. Wow. I have to go see Dr. Pepper. You might have to go see him. I love it.
Okay. Okay. Well, in that vein, we always ask for, oh, this is where we get guest recommendations and learn about other people across the Hooser State that are doing big things. Who's a Hooser we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things. I really think you need to get up to Elcart, Indiana to see the RV capital of the world.
I mean, that's pretty special. It's wild. It is special. I gave you Alliance RV. Stop and talk to them. When you think about the global impact of Elcart, Indiana on the world, it's nuts.
Like you'll see units out in Arizona, California, Florida, all over that are rolling off the line here in Elcart County. Yeah, that's wild. Yep. Holy smokes. So, you have to go visit there. Um, you know, Fort Wayne, Indiana, one of the fastest growing cities in the country.
Affordable, fantastic, fantastic downtown. They have put so much work into Fort Wayne. Oh my gosh, it's amazing. It's awesome to visit. Absolutely. Okay, I have to know what's your favorite Manchester University tradition.
You're not allowed to walk under the the chime tower out here in the center of the mall unless you're a grad. No way. Yeah. My husband thinks he's like going to be funny and walk under there when we're out on walks at night. I'm like, "No, no, no. Only grads."
Wow. Right. It's a distinct. You hear that, boys? Do not do not walk under the chime. Chime tower.
Wow. That's a pretty cool tradition. Yeah. Are there like big weekends or like big rivalry games? like is there who's the who's Manchester's biggest rival? I know mostly for baseball but it's Anderson so so because of my son but um yeah I I mean homecoming weekend is a huge weekend.
Yeah. Well we usually have football and and a so soccer game and I think there's even a volleyball game on Friday night so they try to have all the events and lots of alum come in and it's great. I love that. That's so I mean there is something special about a homecoming weekend on a college campus. I don't care if you're in in you could be in North Manchester or Timbuktu. Homecoming weekend is such a vibe.
Like the kids are all buzzing around like it's just a it's just so much fun. It's super special. So yeah, and you know we're starting um women's flag football. No way. Yeah. So it'll start fall 27.
This next this next fall. So fall of 27. So a year. Oh yes. I got you. Yes.
Yes. Yes. That's super cool. What's the process? Is it hard to add a new sport? Uh, it's a little bit of a process, but the main thing is we're looking for a coach.
Oh, got to have a coach. Women's flag football. So, Manchester University starting their women's flag football program, and they need a coach. Conference. Yes. Oh.
Who you going to play? I I guess there's some schools. That's That was one of my questions. The athletic director said we've got that covered. Yeah. And I mean, you talk about like I feel like you guys were on the forefront of women's wrestling as well for especially for D3.
There's a bunch of programs that are starting to spin up, but like you guys are I think one of the first ones in the state of Indiana for sure. Yeah, we have an amazing coach who's also a grad. Oh, hey, there we go. Lots of grads floating around. Seems like the the there has to be something in the water because grads want to give back to Manchester. Grads want to make an impact here, which is awesome.
I love that. Okay, we have one final question for you. Okay, this is a question that we ask every guest who comes on where they get to brag about their little slice of the world. Could be a restaurant, a park, a place, could be anything. What is a hidden gem in Indiana? Again, I'm from Goan, Indiana.
So, northern Northern Indiana. I mean, we're a big fan of Southside Soda Shop or Olympia Candy Kitchen. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Southside Soda Shop Soda Shop. That is a tongue twister. Near near Go.
If you visit Goan College, you'll see that. And Olympia Candy. What is Olympia Candy? It's just a o older candy store, but it's I don't know how long it's been there, but they have a great lunch. Oh, lunch at the candy store. Oh, yeah.
Come on. I love that. I thought you were gonna say my favorite spot in Gian is Venturi. The pizza spot. It is good. That's good pizza.
Yeah, that is good. Uh or where else? Is there a burger place in town, too? Yes. I can't remember the name of it. Yeah, they got good.
And then the brewing company, Gian Brewery. That's also a good spot. I mean, I've had a decent Wow. I just pulled I I like Go. It's a good little downtown. It is a good little downtown.
You know, we need to do more of that here in North Manchester. We've got I think I think we're on the way here. Well, it helps. Again, you they're at the the CCC. You're starting to, you know, get the Lily Endowment. They are totally invested in helping this community collaboration with colleges.
That's probably not their direct order of the seas, but you get what I'm saying. I think that that these small college towns across Indiana are in good shape. They're rocking and rolling and good things are going to happen. President Young, it has been so great to hang out with you to learn more about the Spartans here in North Manchester at Manchester University. I'm really excited. Now we get to go on our tour and learn all about what you guys got going on.
Uh appreciate you. If people want to learn more about Manchester, they want to connect with you. How can they do that? Manchester. edu or call me directly. I'll take it.
That's one of the things I I give people my cell number. Everybody 574-596-2781. prospective students, our current students, faculty, staff. You're not going to get most college presidents cell phone numbers, but they'll have mine. That is electric. There we go.
You know who to call. Incredible. Thank you so much. Keep up the great [music] work, you can just feel the energy on this campus. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. [music] Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at [music] Sweetwater.
If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and [music] Tik Tok, Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoover State great. We'll see you next time here on Get