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Michael Godard uses equity, student success to guide his career
SIDNEY LOWRY | Managing Editor | @sidney_lowry Feb 9, 2023 Updated Feb 9, 2023 0
Mike Godard
The third of the four finalists in the Northwest presidential search to attend campus, Michael Godard, responds to a question from an audience member at the open session Feb. 9 at the Mary Linn Auditorium in the Ron Houston Center for Preforming Arts. Godard has spent nearly three decades working in higher education, most of which were spent being a professor.

MAKAYLA POLAK | Editor-in-Chief | @kaypolak
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Equity and student achievement — the two main facets of higher education that drives one candidate in the search for Northwest’s 11th president. Michael Godard, current provost at Southeast Missouri State University, has experience in both faculty positions and administration. He said that has impacted the way he has interpreted positions throughout his career in higher education.

Godard was the third of four presidential candidates to visit campus during the month on Feb. 9, participating in multiple sessions during the day with stakeholder groups and toured campus buildings.

He started his education at Castleton University with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science. After then, he completed his master’s degree in exercise physiology from Adelphi University and a doctorate degree in human bioenergetics from Ball State University. After years of schooling, he never ended up leaving higher education.

Godard spent over two decades exclusively teaching before moving to the administrative side of the university, but still is a professor of exercise science at Southeast Missouri State University. He said his teaching background reminds him of what the main goal of a university is in the first place.

“I've gotten into higher education to mentor students,” Godard said. “… Number one, I understand the challenges and the opportunities that are in front of students, you know, being a first generation college student. But number two, being a faculty member and devoting a you know, the early parts of my career to just teaching and mentoring students. That's where our focus is. We are here to make sure that you have a successful experience as a student.”

Godard has worked in administration in multiple Missouri universities, starting at the University of Central Missouri and then his current institution of Southeast Missouri State University. He said spending the last decade working on enrollment management and student success within the state will give him an advantage in the presidential position.

“Serving as a provost at a different institution in the state, I think (I have) a firm understanding of what’s needed at an institution like Northwest in Missouri,” he said. “I have those established relationships here, and I’m able to really navigate through potentially what some of those solutions could be when challenges show up for Northwest.”

Being a first generation student himself, Godard said underrepresented groups of students are a big priority. He said having diverse faculty and staff helps make minority groups of students feel comfortable.

“I think on any college campus but certainly here at Northwest, where it is a little bit more of a rural area, … making sure that that sense of belonging is there for all of our students, and making sure that there's an opportunity for individuals to see people who maybe look like them, see people who have similar backgrounds to them, working at the institution, as well is a way to diversify that aspect of the institution,” Godard said.

Godard said when looking at enrollment, he looks at retention rates in different groups of students. In that, historically underrepresented groups see a lower retention rate. In order to bridge that gap, he thinks having a community representative of all groups of students is key.

“There's a gap there in terms of the number of students who retain who maybe don't come from a historically underrepresented group and those that do,” he said. “And what we've been able to do as a result is close those gaps where there are not any anymore, and a lot of that is really being thoughtful about that sense of belonging, not only on the college campus but also throughout the community as well.”

Being in the provost position, Godard looks over the administrative side for departments and faculty, but focuses on quality connections between faculty, staff and students. He said the key to drawing more people to Northwest and having more support for the University comes from those bonds they build while on campus.

“It's really building relationships with people in an authentic way and having that level of trust, so that we can be transparent with each other, to be able to have that innovative change in the effectiveness that we all want in terms of students to be able to certainly be successful, getting a degree from Northwest but most importantly, be successful in life and work once they leave here,” he said. “And again, that deals with the opportunities that are provided here, and how you create that culture, that atmosphere of belonging, that sense of community.”

Being an avid supporter of having a sense of community at a university, Godard was asked in the general session Feb. 9 about what he would do if the community and the University were to be divided on a decision and how he would move past that.

“I would focus on the future and focus on building relationships with people, people here on campus, people in the community,” he said. “Make sure that the individuals are heard, but also thinking about solutions and strategies on how we move forward as an institution and as a community for the betterment of our students and the health and the viability of the entire region as well.”

Despite working at multiple universities in Missouri and throughout the midwest, Godard said he learned more about Northwest than he thought he could during his visit.

“What I've really learned is the passion that's here,” he said. “The true ethic of care that's here that you have for the students that you have for the community that you certainly have for the university as a whole. … You should be proud of that. And that's something that if I were fortunate to be the next president here that I would continue to build upon. Make sure that we have those trusting relationships. Make sure that I'm transparent with you, and make sure that we look for solutions together to reach the outcomes that are necessary for Northwest to be successful.”