Welcome to Forum 360.

I’m Mark Welfley.

Thank you for joining us for our global outlook with a local view.

Take a guess At the total number of college students enrolled in 2 or 4 year academic institutions in the United States in 2024.

If you said about 16 million, then according to the National Center for Education Statistics, you would be right.

The 16 million number is down from 18,000,000 in 2010.

What's behind this decline?

Researchers point to several factors.

A steadily declining national birth rate, decreasing immigration, vacillating international enrollment, the Covid 19 pandemic, rising tuition costs, and doubts regarding the value of a college degree.

So how are universities responding to these strong headwinds?

To learn more about the plans at One Northeast Ohio University, we are joined today by RJ Nemer, president of the University of Akron.

Welcome, President Nemer.

- Thank you, Mark.

Appreciate having me on.

- Sure.

So you graduated from Walsh High School?

- Yes.

- And the University of Akron.

So take me from your beginnings in Akron through to how you became the 19th president at the University of Akron.

- Sure, yeah.

It's a little bit of an interesting journey.

And one certainly unexpected for me.

I'm born and raised in this area.

Born actually, in Cuyahoga Falls.

And then, grew up a bit in Stow as well.

Went to Walsh Jesuit and then completed both my undergraduate and my law degree from the University of Akron.

The dream was to pursue a career in sports agency.

Another Akron alum, by the name of Eddie Elias, had founded the PBA tour.

Many Akronites recall that.

and I knew him.

He was a family friend growing up.

So he was what I'll call my inspiration or role model.

So following in his footsteps after practicing law for a few years, I actually quit my job on my 30th birthday to start my own sports agency, which I did in my parents basement.

And, scaled that agency over the course of the next couple decades.

I was primarily in the golf space, being a sports agent for professional golfers.

but then my business grew to have other verticals, brand consulting and management and sports and also event management.

I sold my agency then in 2014 to IMG, which is the global leader in all things sports entertainment and ended up being the global head of that division until 2019, when I retired from sports that had been over a couple of decades.

Well over a couple decades.

And I was ready for something different.

So as luck would have it, one of the gentlemen that I was very close with who worked for me, had his prior career was in academia, and that he was a college golf coach.

He came to work for me as a golf agent and ended up rising to be my number two.

Both at my own company and then he ran the US for me at IMG.

He's the one who called me and said, “I have a perfect kind of 2.0 career capstone for you”, if you will.

“The University of Akron is looking for a dean of the college business.” And I remember saying to him on the phone call, “well that sounds great.

What's a Dean do?” and he kind of took me through it.

And, you know, long story long.

I applied and became the dean.

Gosh, that'll be three years.

And in February ‘22, is when I became dean.

Served that role for just over two years.

When the board reached out and asked me if I would be interested or consider being the president of the university.

- it's a big ship to run.

How did you kind of gain your footing and your confidence coming from the sports side with a strong marketing background to gain some traction in the university space?

- You know, there was certainly a pivot going from sports and entertainment into academia when I became the dean of the College of Business.

And I wanted to you know, always take note that a university isn't a business.

A university has a mission, and a purpose.

but it doesn't manufacture widgets, if you will.

So I always wanted to stay true to the core values.

The mission, the purpose of a university, but apply the business principles I had learned in terms of helping to enable it become stable, to ensure its growth, to help plan that growth trajectory to scale.

And so I certainly had success in doing that.

You know, again, with my own company and then what I took over and ran for that division for IMG.

Transitioning then from Dean to the overall university, how I equated it was I feel like I had been mayor of a city, and so I had constituents of that city that I knew pretty well, and that city had specific needs and had a specific vibe and a specific ethos.

But being president was now going from being the mayor to being the governor.

Where you had various cities of various sizes with various cultures, but still all one state, if you will.

What I've learned over the course of my career is that you have to listen.

And you have to listen I always tell my kids this, you know, “you can't listen to somebody with the intent to respond to them.

You have to listen to them with the intent to understand where they're coming from.” and so that's, you know, I've been the president now for just about eight months.

Not quite.

I still feel like I am doing that consistently and continually every day.

To try to understand the inner workings, the nuances.

You know, at one point the university was double the enrollment.

We are now due to a lot of the comments that you made in your introduction.

Things have changed.

So it's really an opportunity to rethink, to begin to rethink that next 150 years for the University of Akron.

- One of those constituencies that you're referring to, students.

You know, along with faculty.

The students, what factors?

It seems like there's a lot of shifting sands in who they are and what their needs are and what the economic needs are for those students.

What are students looking for when they go to pick a university or an academic institution?

- Yeah, I think it's a great question.

And I think it probably varies depending on the students you ask.

I have one daughter who is already out of undergrad and one who's in his third year of undergrad.

And, they were obviously looking.

You know, they went to very different schools.

They’re looking for very different things.

At the University of Akron, many of our students are first generation.

The vast majority, of our students are working and going to school.

At least one, some working two jobs.

They're looking for a quality education at a reasonable price.

That's going to ensure their employability or their next step if they're going to pursue a graduate degree or perhaps armed forces, whatever it may be.

They're looking for that, as close to a guarantee, you know, although, you know, as the adage goes, “there are no guarantees life.” But as close to a guarantee that they're going to be equipped, ready, and networked by the time they cross the stage.

And that's what, you know, we strive to provide to our students.

- The intersection of students and social media and a college education or picking a university seems to be a kind of an area for study in and of itself.

My question is social media, what role do you think it plays in influencing a student to pick a particular university or even just make a decision about their career?

- Yeah, it's really interesting, Mark and I something that I kind of had to learn, as I became dean, and now as president.

You know, I still like to open the front door and get my physical paper in the morning.

Even though by the time it's at my house, it's already been online.

But that's how I like to receive my news.

That's the medium in which I'm familiar and comfortable.

What I started finding out throughout the job, you know, we would have various events on campus.

And I'd sometimes say this to students, “Oh, I didn't see you there.” Or “why didn't you come?” “Oh, I didn't know anything about it.” And I said, “do you not read your emails?” “Oh, I don't really get around to them.” “Well, then what do you pay attention to?” and the response was always, you know, certain apps, whether it was TikTok or Instagram.

So I said, okay, while I was dean, I got an Instagram account and I talked to my kids and I said, “how do I work this?” And I started to post messages when we would have events in the college of business.

And I started getting, you know, the little likes or the little hearts lit up by them.

And I learned, this is where I can meet these students.

You know, I'm meeting them basically where they're at.

And so as that is, you know, my journey as Dean went on, I was doing high school visits.

And so I'd always say, you know, you can follow me on Instagram and learn more about what's going on on campus.

And then that, you know, obviously got a little bit wider and broader.

When I became the president.

It's interesting, you know, I actually had two direct messages on Instagram today, both from students at high schools where I went to visit asking for me to help them set up a visit to the University of Akron.

So that's telling me that, you know, meeting them where they're at has helped me connect with them.

So I think, while it's my personal account and it's something that, you know, when the posts are done, it's me doing it.

That's me curating the content and thinking through it.

Now it's fun because a lot of the University of Akron students help me or give me ideas for posts.

It's how I'm trying to get the word out about what we are doing at the University of Akron.

That it's not just a commuter campus, that there is a campus life, that it's vibrant, that there's opportunities, that there's clubs and engagements and networking and all sorts of things that come from being a part of the University of Akron and that legacy.

So, it's become quite powerful.

- If you're just joining us, welcome.

I am here with President R.J. Nemer, President of The University of Akron, and we're talking about marketing a public university.

Given the the challenges and the shifting sands of college, college life and students and their decisions to pick a college.

And I'd like to to talk a little bit about the strengths and weaknesses of Northeast Ohio and Northeast Ohio has approximately 25 academic institutions of higher learning.

What does Northeast Ohio offer to a college student?

Well, I think it's, you know, there's a great number of opportunities in our backyard, Mark, in terms of fortune 500 companies, major sports franchises, a phenomenal healthcare system.

So a lot of opportunities for students to come here and then be directly connected with a community.

Where there are jobs, where there are contacts to jobs, where, you know, we are a part.

In Northeast Ohio, we are part of a global landscape.

Whether it's from polymers being known worldwide at the University of Akron, to Goodyear to Sherwin-Williams to the Cleveland Clinic.

All world renowned brands.

World renowned opportunities.

So I think that there's that opportunity for your career trajectory.

But on top of that, you know, a vibrant community with the arts, with sports franchises, with hiking trails, all at at a very affordable cost.

I always tell the students, you know, at the University of Akron, being an urban campus, I feel like we're the, you know, “the Goldilocks.” It's not too big and it's not too small, but you can walk to a lot of your internships.

You can walk to a museum.

You can walk to a concert.

You have an urban flair to it without it being too big and overwhelming.

but yet removed enough that it doesn't feel rural, or that it's the same kind of social scene or options every weekend.

because I do think that balance is part of college life.

So I think we have quite a bit to offer in Northeast Ohio and specifically with the University of Akron.

- Is it important for you that the University of Akron become nationally known?

Is it important that Akron become a destination campus for students in California and Florida?

- I think we have to.

And what's interesting is, you know, my career in sports, I was all over the globe all the time.

And so I've known for a while that Akron is not just, if you will, a local school.

Even now, when I travel and wearing Zips gear, you know, I get stopped and people say, “oh, Zips, Oh, Akron,” you know, they know of it.

It's different.

It's quirky, if you will.

We may have been conceived as a regional opportunity, but we've grown into a global juggernaut.

Like I said, world renowned for polymers, but also renowned for a top business school, for a phenomenal nursing program, for an engineering school that rivals, you know, many of the Ivies.

and much, much more.

So I think that, yes, the answer to your question is, not only do I want to be known nationally, I want to be known globally.

You know, when I was a student at Akron, we always thought of our competition as Kent or Cleveland State, or perhaps OSU.

You know, the world's changed.

Now students could stay in their pajamas and go to school anywhere they want, virtually.

That competitor did not exist when I was a student there.

So it's “how do we compete?

How do we stay relevant?

What's our value proposition?” Why would a student say, “not only am I going to forego staying in my PJs all day and going to that school, but I'm actually going to make an effort to relocate there to be a part of this.” And it's challenging.

You know, if it were easy, everybody would be doing it, right?

Like the adage says.

But, it's really about finding that sweet spot, engaging students.

I'm trying and looking for opportunities that we can offer at The University of Akron that are exclusive to us.

Whether it's through a partnership like we have with the Cleveland Browns and what it brings to our students and our faculty.

Whether it's through relationships with companies that offer pipelines for our students once they graduate.

What can they come do at The University of Akron that they get you know, the value that the investment they're making in themselves through us is going to return that to them in terms of the student experience, in terms of their growth, and in terms of what it means for them when they walk across the stage and begin their careers.

- You touched on it a little bit, online degrees.

How much do they factor into, like the overall growth, the overall strategy moving forward for The University of Akron?

- Look it's a really big part of our offerings.

We have a really comprehensive program with Coursera and what we offer and what you can learn at home, both for our current students, our alumni, those who haven't attended classes before.

I think that's a huge part of what we need to offer to stay relevant.

Having the “Akron experience” online and having the “Akron experience” on campus are obviously different beasts and some challenges of how do we make that feel like the same?

Almost like if you online shop at a store and then go into the store, is it that same feel?

And that's something that we're still processing or working through.

But it's certainly important to certainly a way of, it's not going away anytime soon.

It's only going to get bigger.

So continually evolving, continually reinventing, how to remain relevant, I think is a challenge that we have, but a challenge we're up to.

- Yeah.

Put your future looking glasses on if you would project into the future ten years, you know, if you had everything your way.

Where would the University of Akron be?

What's your long term vision for it?

- Long term is to continue to invest Like I said, in the programs that will enable our students to come out with jobs, that will help our community, that will keep.

And I don't want to see that brain drain.

I don't want them to come here to take their education elsewhere.

I want them to know that they can unless, you know, unless that's the right thing for him or their family.

To know that they can come to the University of Akron, like I said, get outstanding value, get outstanding experience and be able to use that education and that experience to better our community.

So I want to, you know, the word I always try to focus on, and I share this when I have meetings on campus is, “growth.” I want to see growth in our student population and our retention, in our relationships with our community partners in our alumni engagement, obviously, in our donor support.

I want to see growth in every vertical where we can continue to grow and be stronger and bigger and better.

- What apparatuses can be put in place to make sure that we are listening?

We, as in Akron or The University of Akron, is listening to what the needs are for the area and the you know, in the Northeast Ohio community?

- I think any way that you get involved, you know, that you just, again, I go to a lot of things I say to my kids, “the first thing you have to do is show up.” Show up somewhere and get involved.

Ask some questions, raise your hand.

I’ll do a lot of talks at breakfast and lunch with you know, our various groups, whether it's an award ceremony or an alumni group.

And I always get asked, “how can I get involved?” You know, the obvious answer is always, “well, you could send us some financial support.” but aside from that, come see us.

Come on campus.

Come see how much it's grown.

Talk it up.

Come to some sports events.

Be a part of what it is.

because, like I said, it's an institution that's over 150 years old.

It has tremendous history.

It has an incredible roster of alumni, an incredible worldwide network of people that are proud to call themselves Zips.

And I would make that same comment for any of these institutions in our community.

You know, get involved.

Show up, be a part of it.

Ask questions, volunteer and be proud of where you are from.

- If you could take a minute and briefly, just tell me if you can think of off the top of your head, a success story.

Your students come to you and talk to you and how that conversation has led to maybe enrollment and beyond?

- Oh, gosh, I mean, I've had a lot of students, in a short period of time, some that had been students at The University of Akron when I was dean that you know, came to some events.

I got to know them.

I was able to give them some career advice that our few years out and their jobs, I love to see them.

I've had lots of students come back to football games this year and come up to the suite.

and they're just starting out, you know, they're just kind of just over that or just kind of running that first curve there in the race and it's wonderful to see.

I've been very blessed with my career.

What I love now is being able to be on the sidelines cheering these students on.

And, you know, being a part of, I've gone on two different international trips with students, and being able to have that experience with them.

Most of the students one group I took to Europe, one group I took to Northern Africa, to Morocco.

They had not been out of the country before.

So to see them get that sort of immersive experience, to learn other cultures, to learn other business supply chains to meet with.

We met with the US consulate in Casablanca.

I mean, to expose these young minds to this.

It's an incredible privilege to be in this role at that university.

- You're known for your your sayings or your quotes, anecdotes.

Can you share with one with me?

- Oh, gosh.

Off the top of my head, it's not so much a quote, as a question.

When I left my job and everybody told me it was a risky thing to do because I jumped with no net really.

When I started my company, a friend of mine gave me a paperweight, that I still have on my desk, actually, to this day.

And it asks a question.

And the question is, “what would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” And I tried to ask myself that question every day.

- Thanks.

With technology evolving, high school students attitude’s towards college changing and enrollment in higher education institutions declining, the challenges of marketing a public university have become more complex and more of a high wire act.

Northeast Ohio has a proud tradition of turning out world class, college educated students, which are thousands of educators and academic thought leaders strive to continue every day.

I would like to thank President Nemer for being here today, and encourage each of you to keep your eyes, ears, and minds open.

Until next time on Forum 360.

Forum 360 is brought to you by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Akron Community Foundation, Hudson Community Television, The Rubber City Radio Group, Shaw Jewish Community Center of Akron, Blue Green, Electric Impulse Communications, and Forum 360 supporters.