ABOUT DR. ROSE BELLANCA:
Now in her second decade as president, Dr. Rose B. Bellanca, Ed.D., continues to embrace the opportunities of leading Washtenaw Community College, an institution that is nationally-recognized for delivering excellent programs and student success.
At a time of declining college enrollment across the country, under Dr. Bellanca’s leadership, WCC has implemented numerous innovations in teaching and student services to steadily retain and attract students during an international pandemic.
Dr. Bellanca has positioned the college to meet the needs of a global workforce, developing new curricula and programs related to jobs in mobility, intelligent transportation systems and the skilled trades sectors.
Community colleges, you might say, are in Dr. Bellanca’s DNA. A graduate of Macomb Community College, she went on to earn bachelors, master’s and Doctor of Education degrees from Wayne State University. Later, she was provost at Macomb, president of Northwood University’s West Palm Beach Campus and president of St. Clair County Community College.
She is the fourth president to lead Washtenaw Community College.
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TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and I'm David Fair. On today's edition of Washtenaw United, we're going to mark Women's History Month with a leader who is only adding to her list of contributions with each passing year. Doctor Rose Bellanca is president of Washtenaw Community College and will be honored for her contributions as the Power of the Purse Woman of the Year. The United Way for Southeastern Michigan will hold its Power of the Purse celebration on Wednesday, April 16th, and, most appropriately, it's going to be held at the Morris Lawrence Building on the WCC campus. Doctor Bellanca, thank you for making time today! And congratulations on the recognition!
Dr. Rose Bellanca: Well, thank you! I'm honored! I really am humbled and honored! I appreciate that!
David Fair: There are so many in the community who don't know Washtenaw Community College without you at the head of the class. You've been president since 2011. You're only the fourth president in the school's history and the first female president. For many in higher education administration, community college is not the long-term goal. So, I'm curious as to what has kept you so involved, engaged and committed to Washtenaw Community College for 14 years?
Dr. Rose Bellanca: Well, I'll begin with that it's my passion! Student success, community growth and development--that is my passion. But the ideal thing is to not only is to have a place to work as perfect as Washtenaw County to actually be able to implement what I love to do. Our college, as you know, is open access. We have more than 21,000 students in our academic programs, and we have an additional 8000 students in our Professional Development and Workforce Training and Lifelong Learning program. And I love this because, I told you, my passion is teaching and learning, but also the economic development. Our economic impact to this community is $525 million and an additional $23 million annually, because, due to the training that we do with the international trade unions like the United Association of Plumbers and Spring Sprinkler Fitters and the Ironworkers, we have 130 academic programs. And we offer a lot of great wraparound services. And I can't tell you enough how much all of us here at this college, fortunate enough to be working here, are grateful to this community for their support.
David Fair: You know, putting together programs like that for the number of people that you do has to come with a vision and a plan and a process. And I'm curious how much your personal journey may have impacted what that vision looks like today. Do you mind if we touch on some of your personal journey today?
Dr. Rose Bellanca: No, that would be fine.
David Fair: Well, for as far as---
Dr. Rose Bellanca: It depends. It depends.
David Fair: Well, let's give it a shot and see if we get an answer.
Dr. Rose Bellanca: Okay.
David Fair: For as far as we've come, you don't have to look very far to find someone trying to reinforce the seal on the glass ceiling. Did you face challenges in your professional ascension based on your gender?
Dr. Rose Bellanca: Absolutely! Absolutely! All the way through!
David Fair: And what did that look like?
Dr. Rose Bellanca: Well, it looked like not being recognized at a table that was predominantly men. Not even being invited to meetings where I had a key role in an organization and needed to be at that meeting, not being invited because I was a woman. You know, I was never overlooked for positions. I have to say that I believe I always had a fair shot, and probably the ones I didn't get, I shouldn't have gotten. So, that was okay. So, that was fair. But the journey, for me, the personal impact of this, is I wanted to be a teacher my entire life. I mean, the day I met my kindergarten teacher, I'm, like, all in. And all through high school, that was my goal to transfer to a university once I graduated from high school. Well, in 11th grade, I took the S.A.T. test, and I didn't do well. Maybe I was sick that day. I don't know. In those days, they didn't care if you were sick. If you didn't do well, I guess that's the end of your career. And so, the counselor called in my mother and myself and told me, and this is the mid-junior year, that I would be removed from all of my academic programs for count, and I would be put into typing and home ec. And then, I should go directly to a business school and learn how to be a secretary—I mean, that's a great career, but, for me, it wasn't—and marry my boyfriend.
David Fair: Is that the first time you told your parents, "Oh hell, no?"
Dr. Rose Bellanca: Yeah, right. No, quite frankly. It's the worst feeling you could imagine. And you think about this: how many students that we encounter every day that walk around feeling like maybe they just don't have what it takes. And that was the worst feeling for probably the next three years. Because after that, I did go to a business school that was on the second floor of a bank building, and someone in that business school said, "You know? You should teach here." So, I went and asked the owner. And he said, "Well, for you to teach here, you have to have a teaching certificate." I was like, "Well, how do you get one of those?" And he said, "Well, you have to go to college." Oh, I'm not college material. So, I went back in and this woman said, "You know what? There's a college, a community college, that takes anybody. And they might take you." I mean, "Anybody? And they might take me?" So, I'll never forget going to that community college, having that interview and being accepted. And that was the beginning of the most wonderful life. It started my career. So, I feel as if, in retrospect, maybe I was being prepared to be a college president for a community college because I didn't even know about them. And then, I did become a teacher, and I was in K-12 for about 20 years. I left, and then I went into higher ed. So, that was never my career path. But I almost feel like there was a plan that I had to know what it felt like: just feel like nobody, to feel awful. I had to know what that felt like. And I will never forget that feeling. And so, I think that's what prepared me to be this president.
David Fair: Our Washtenaw United conversation with Washtenaw Community College President Doctor Rose Bellanca continues on 89 one WEMU. On April 16th, Doctor Bellanca will officially be recognized as the Power of the Purse Woman of the Year. Now, Doctor Bellanca, the Power of the Purse is a great program from the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, who raises money by accepting donated handbags and then putting them up for auction and, to date, has raised over $400,000. That money is used to fund grants to local human service organizations that are focused on the advancement and economic stability of women. Doctor Bellanca, that focus isn't all that different from the mission you've put forth at WCC for all people looking for advancement and economic stability, correct?
Dr. Rose Bellanca: Correct! Absolutely! Yeah, that's why we're very supportive of this program.
David Fair: Well, some of that speaks to the changing nature of the economy and the changing nature of education in this state. We most certainly have a shortage of those getting into the skilled trades. And under your leadership at WCC, there's been an increased focus on preparing for the future of the Washtenaw County and State of Michigan workforce. Is that playing out as you had hoped and anticipated?
Dr. Rose Bellanca: It certainly is! As a matter of fact,...well, I'll tell you one of the reasons it's playing out well is, honestly, because of our faculty and staff, our philosophy when it comes to workforce training is an outside-in approach, meaning we work directly with employers first. And we ask them, like CEOs of companies or boards that we can get at, "What are the skill sets you are going to need, not what are the skill sets you need today?" Because for an educational institution to just focus on skills that people need today, you're already too late. So, when we find out the skills that they're going to need, and I'm so grateful because the faculty and staff here agree with this and do it, that gives us time to retrain. That gives us time to rewrite our curriculum. That gives us time to, thank God for the board, to reinvest in our facilities. And that's why we can make this happen. It's the approach, the outside-in approach, which is different, as you know, and I can say as a a proud graduate of a university, since I'm a loser, not college material and I do have a college degree. I remember the days of curriculum being developed only by the teacher. And you can do that in the academic programs, like you can do that in English. You can do that in the liberal arts. You know, science is science, although science is one where you always have to keep abreast of things. But when you're talking workforce development, you have to be out there, and you have to be really willing to retrain constantly.
David Fair: Once again, this is 89 one WEMU. And we're talking with Washtenaw Community College president Doctor Rose Bellanca on WEMU's Washtenaw United. I don't need to tell you there are still challenges in both the near and long-term when it comes to higher education and workforce training development. What are the implications at WCC should the Department of Education be wiped out or significantly diminished?
Dr. Rose Bellanca: My opinion would be a personal one, and that answer would be no. I mean, we need the Department of Education. Do I think we've always made the right calls? No, because it's a human organization, So, they're always going to have mistakes or missed calls. I know they've done the majority of things correctly. So, no, I don't think it should be wiped out.
David Fair: What impact might it have on the workforce of the future?
Dr. Rose Bellanca: Who knows? I mean, it just depends on what happens to that department and if it's completely wiped out or if it's aligned with another area of government. I mean, it just depends on what happens with it. So, no, I do believe that we need a Department of Education.
David Fair: And for the moment, we forge forward with great optimism. And with that in mind, for the students of today and potential students of tomorrow, what will be your message when you formally accept the Power of the Purse Woman of the Year recognition?
Dr. Rose Bellanca: Well, first I will be humbled, of course. But it will be to thank the donors for all the opportunities that they have given to women. But it's not about the opportunity that you give to an individual through a tuition or through wraparound services. It's about the family or the next step. And that step is not only women. So, although a woman is the recipient, it really is going to men, to children, to society. So, it's just the first step of making a huge impact. And for that, I think so.
David Fair: Well, when you do accept, you will be joining a family of amazing recipients, among them Jimena Loveluck, Cynthia Wilbanks, Verna McDaniel and Doctor Mary Sue Coleman among them. So, congratulations again on a well-deserved recognition!
Dr. Rose Bellanca: Thank you so much, David! It really was a pleasure talking to you!
David Fair: That is Doctor Rose Bellanca. She is president of Washtenaw Community College and a focus of WEMU's recognition of Women's History Month. Doctor Bellanca will officially be honored as the United Way of Southeastern Michigan's Power of the Purse Woman of the Year in a celebration to be held April 16th. For more details on that event and how to participate, simply go to our website at wemu.org, and we'll have all the information and links you need. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting from the campus of Eastern Michigan University!
WEMU has partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to explore the people, organizations, and institutions creating opportunity and equity in our area. And, as part of this ongoing series, you’ll also hear from the people benefiting and growing from the investments being made in the areas of our community where there are gaps in available services. It is a community voice. It is 'Washtenaw United.'
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