Rogue Community College (RCC) graduate Jahna Thompson, RCC President Dr. Randy Weber & The Ford Family Foundation Director, Postsecondary Success, Denise Callahan

In this episode host Marc Goldberg interviews Rogue Community College (RCC) and Southern Oregon University (SOU) graduate Jahna Thompson, Rogue Community College president, Dr. Randy Weber and Director, Postsecondary Success at The Ford Family Foundation, Denise Callahan. 

Jahna emphasizes the value of strong faculty mentorship and advising from her student experience at both Rogue Community College and SOU with a unique lens of having taught in her field of study at both institutions as a faculty/professor over the past year. She elaborates on her academic journey that began taking GED prep classes at RCC and after completing her Bachelor's and Master's degrees, she is currently pursuing a PhD in Immunology & Infectious Disease at Washington State University.

President Weber reflects on Jahna’s interview and describes specific college efforts through responsive programming, student supports and community partnerships that have helped increase enrollment and improve retention and completion outcomes for students, including those who enter the college taking adult education courses. 

Denise highlights the Foundation’s impactful postsecondary education work across Oregon,  particularly in rural communities, through Foundation investments, scholarships and research. She describes how the Foundation's work supporting over 1000 postsecondary education students annually across Oregon through scholarships helps inform the organization's policy and research work and shares more on the recently released Oregon by the Numbers report by the Foundation that offers a detailed profile for each of Oregon’s 36 counties. 

The All In: Student Pathways Forward podcast is a part of Oregon’s participation in the National Skills Coalition SkillSPAN network.