Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
For the Love of Here is a podcast about Dalton, Georgia and life across Northwest Georgia—from local businesses and entrepreneurship to community leadership and hometown pride.
Hosts Erika Mosteller and Lauren Sneary sit down with founders, civic leaders, creatives, and neighbors from Dalton, Chatsworth, Ringgold, and Calhoun to talk about the ideas, challenges, and opportunities shaping our region.
If you care about small-town business, local culture, economic growth, and building a life where you live, this podcast is for you.
Because you don’t need a bigger city. You just need a better lens.
Produced by Here Local Media.
Ep14
===
Meet the Hosts and Guest
---
[00:00:00]
Lauren Sneary: I am here with my co-host, Erika Mosteller. And Erika, it's so nice to see you again. Yeah. How are you doing today?
Erika Mosteller: I'm good. I'm excited about today's guest.
Lauren Sneary: I know. This is so exciting, so I'm gonna jump right into his- Yeah ... bio. And if you are, in any, , Dalton settings, you have probably seen or heard this man speak.
But I'm excited for you to listen to him on this hour of the podcast. Because our guest today has spent most of his extensive career in academia throughout the university system of Georgia. He has also been in the Army National Guard for the past 25 years. He is an educator, a [00:01:00] combat veteran, a civic leader, um, and someone who not only, you know, cares a great deal about this community, but is out there actively building it and creating spaces for others to do the same.
so excited to have on our podcast today Dr. John Fuchko, who is the president of Dalton State College.
Dr. John Fuchko: Thank you.
Lauren Sneary: Welcome to the podcast.
Dr. John Fuchko: Well, glad to be here.
How He Landed in Dalton
---
Lauren Sneary: So Erika, I know we have a lot of interesting questions for John about the work that he's doing with the college, the things that his students are experiencing, all of those great things, but we wanted to start with how you got to Dalton.
You know, you've really made a name for yourself here, but how did you get here to begin with?
Dr. John Fuchko: Well, I mean, the simple answer is I drove, but- ... , to be, uh, to be a l- little bit less flip about it, uh, I actually grew up in Georgia, so I did drive here, right? , And was asked in '23, I guess it was '23, yeah, to come serve as the interim president.
I'd just come off of a year, , of being the interim president in Columbus, Georgia. And, uh, Chancellor Purdue said, "Hey, I want you to go up and do that role for a little bit." And we were living in Cumming at the time, and had a nice hour and 40-minute one-way drive [00:02:00] each day, , which just topped off, like, many years of commuting back and forth to Atlanta. And, uh, but then, like, a 10-minute commute in Columbus, 'cause we lived down there for that year. And, um, I was like, "Okay, if I end up getting this role, if I'm getting it permanently, , - we're moving." And, uh, and so we actually moved up here, , January 1st of... Literally moved in on New Year's Day, , 2024.
Lauren Sneary: Wow.
Dr. John Fuchko: So I live, , about seven minutes from the college, and we're just so glad to be here in Dalton.
Vetting the Community
---
Lauren Sneary: Other than the commute, how much vetting did you do of the community? I know if you're driving up 75, you probably saw the beautiful landscape, but, you know- Yeah ... what else did you look for?
Dr. John Fuchko: You know, , my wife actually has family kind of not immediately in Dalton, but, , historically kind of in the area of Chattanooga and Sand Mountain and, and some of those areas.
And, some folks in Adairsville, and actually I have a brother and his wife who are there as well. So had some, you know... Um, grew up Kennesaw, so we- Okay ... we drove by a bunch. But, , it was really I mean, that was really kind of that, that inner [00:03:00] period between when I came up to be , the interim and before I applied to be the permanent, 'cause the chancellor was like, "Hey, you can...
It's your call." And I really engaged with probably about 20 to 25 leaders around the community. You know, part of that was just making sure that, , we don't skip any beats- Yeah ... while serving as the interim. But it was also just to kinda see where people's thinking was and... 'Cause I was immediately seeing some things that, to my mind, were tremendous opportunities- Mm
also some risks. And I kinda wanted to take the temperature to see were people interested in engaging in that , and maybe, , doing some, some common cause work around it. And,- I consistently heard excitement , and motivation and, some innovative thoughts from people. Anne Adams was, like, one of those key folks, , I'll tell you, and she was actually,
is on our, our foundation board and so others like that, that you're just like, "You know what? This place is pretty special, [00:04:00] and I think, uh, I think we can do something here."
Erika Mosteller: Hmm. Yeah, David Aft always likes to say that we're problem solvers by nature. Mm-hmm. If you look at our industrial background and you see that, like, we don't- Yeah
where other people see problems, we see opportunities. And I love that you, like, picked that up just in your interim time here. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah.
Dalton State Highlights
---
Erika Mosteller: That's great Thank you guys so much for sending over some information about the college, which I was very... I mean, I know a little bit about the college. I thought I knew more than I did, but there are a lot of really cool initiatives going on. You've won a lot of cool awards. Yep. I mean, the students are doing incredible work.
So I'd love for you to just, like, brag for a minute- Sure ... about, like, what do you wish people knew about Dalton State College?
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah, I mean, I could go down the list. I mean, probably one of those is we're growing. , That's not always what you hear about in higher ed. Right. Um, you know, about a third, 30%-plus growth over four years. When I started we were about 4,500 students, and, and we're, , we're nipping right at 6,000 for this fall. Wow. Wow. And , , that's pretty unusual [00:05:00] in, in higher ed, period. , And certainly, , we're really excited about that.
Affordability and Scholarships
---
Dr. John Fuchko: So I think the growth , is huge. - ... affordability is probably another piece that I don't think people always realize. We're 2,030 a semester full-time tuition and fees. Wow. And, what I like to tell folks, I'm like, "You can get a lot of things at Dalton State. What you can't get is $100,000 of student debt. So if you really wanna owe a lot of money-"
Erika Mosteller: Look somewhere else
Dr. John Fuchko: You've gotta go somewhere else. That's good messaging.
I'm, I'm sorry. Uh, you know, we, we try to, we try to meet your needs. We just can't, we can't help with that one. , Uh, it was--- what's been an interesting kind of thing recently is about a third of our students, most recent numbers, are, first generation, meaning the first person in their family to go to college. And that number actually has been going down. Mm. It's was closer to forty percent, right? And at some point it's fifty percent. And what we are seeing, and I th- you know, I'm not gonna tell you the exact statistic 'cause I don't know it, but I think we're seeing a lot of family members- Mm-hmm in our community, in particular I think in our Hispanic community, we have, you know, maybe an older sibling or something who, "I'm going to Dalton State."
Maybe they do [00:06:00] it for dual enrollment. They just, they decide, "I wanna do, you know, something, in one of the fields that we offer," and they're like, "This is quite an experience," right? And it's not what you hear about with higher ed. It's not-- doesn't fit into the, the little, you know, propaganda that's out there about us. Out of touch, and it's you can't afford it, and et cetera, et cetera. No real-world experience. No, our-- we have, like, 1,800 people a year doing some sort of real-world either an internship or, , STEM research or clinicals or what have you. And I think they're getting that message back to, like, little siblings and cousins and everything else saying, need to check this out."
, Now, that all said, we also have almost 40 states, 40 countries. we have an international reach even though 90% of our people on average are really from Northwest Georgia. So I think that's pretty cool. , I will just throw a few rankings at you. Let's see 'em. Yeah. And, and I think we-- I think US News will come out with their newest rankings soon, but, , we are, for regional colleges, public [00:07:00] colleges, number 11 in the South, , number one in Georgia and Tennessee. that's pretty cool. , The Washington Monthly Examiner, which does Hispanic-serving institution rankings, we're number 16 in the country.
Erika Mosteller: Wow. Wow.
Dr. John Fuchko: Uh, which we-- is pretty impressive there, I think. Wall Street Journal, and this was honestly a little bit of a surprise the first time, I saw this, but, you know, two years ago The number one school in the country for student experience-
Erika Mosteller: That was
Dr. John Fuchko: so cool-
of any school ...
Erika Mosteller: when that one came
Dr. John Fuchko: out. It, I was really freaking out- ... because I'm like, I put a filter on my phone, is what I'm thinking. Like, I must have- Okay ... filtered by something. I need to remove this filter before I start bragging on it. And I'm like, "No, this is for real." This is real. Yeah. This is real, right?
And, and we're often, like, in the top 30 , with that, , on an ongoing basis. So I think some of those things, , you know, the affordability, like I already mentioned, all of that kind of rolling in together. I wanna say something about the affordability though that people don't always realize. When they say most affordable, that doesn't always mean it's the lowest tuition and fees.
Erika Mosteller: Mm.
Dr. John Fuchko: Now, 2,030 a semester, [00:08:00] that's-
Erika Mosteller: That's crazy ...
Dr. John Fuchko: pretty- That's low.
Erika Mosteller: Right ...
Dr. John Fuchko: right? We're gonna give out So they calculate this based on that cost, less the average scholarships and grants.
Erika Mosteller: Wow.
Dr. John Fuchko: We're gonna give out over a million dollars in private scholarships this year.
Erika Mosteller: Wow.
Dr. John Fuchko: That's not as in- that does not include Grants, HOPE, Zell, of those.
That's just private donors who've written a check, and we're returning that to help students. 'Cause they just believe
Erika Mosteller: in the
Dr. John Fuchko: institution. 'Cause they believe in the institution. Wow. They believe in our students.
Erika Mosteller: Right.
Dr. John Fuchko: And that's our, those are pretty incredible numbers.
Donors and Campus Legacy
---
Erika Mosteller: Yeah, and I have, , appreciated how, and maybe it's always been this way, but since I've started working more in the civic space, y- you guys are really opening your campus for all sorts of different events.
Yep. Yep. And so I feel like I've really spent more time on the campus in the last two years than I had before that. And even just looking around at, , the names of the buildings or the people who are on the walls, and it's like, wow, like, these are people who were the pioneers of our community and who recognized, like you said, [00:09:00] Dalton has something special, and they wanted to invest in higher education, and that's a really cool legacy.
Dr. John Fuchko: It is a legacy, and it's, , it is an investment. I, I like the fact that you used that word, right? Because at the end of the day, nobody is giving money away.
Erika Mosteller: Mm-hmm.
Dr. John Fuchko: You know? They're investing. Mm. Good point. They're investing in something they're passionate about, something they believe in, something they think is necessary, and something they think is gonna provide a return.
And- Right ... , it's a philanthropic gift, so it's not gonna be, like, a financial return in that sense. Right. , But it's going to return something back to the community, uh, that they believe strongly in, and it shows up. It shows up in the naming, but interestingly, it also shows up in the not naming.
Erika Mosteller: Oh,
Dr. John Fuchko: interesting. And what I mean by that is some of our largest donors also have no namings associated on campus, right? Because we've just, we've had a mix of people who, there's namings, there's not namings, there's some folks who have given a - ton of resources, and they might do one small naming, right?
'Cause it's not [00:10:00] about that. But it's- 'Cause it's not about that. Yeah. Right? I've had that conversation with so many people and, and they're always following with the mission. Mm-hmm. , And sometimes you have to put a little pressure on people, right? And they're like, "Well, why, why, why Dr.
Fitch go like, you know, save this for something later?" I said, "You don't understand two... One, two things," right? First, it's saying to a student who maybe has never met a fill-in-the-blank, right? Has never met Wilbur Mumms, never met the peoples, never met- Gid Nelliat ... Ken White, right? Is that how you say that, right?
Um, Gid Nelliat was the first president. Okay. Um, but Gin-Lat. It's actually Gin-Lat, um, is the pronunciation. Okay. I know that. That's got me the first time, too. , But they're saying to these students who maybe have never met anybody kind of of that stature in their life. Mm-hmm. they're walking through and saying, "Oh, wow, this person who never met me just invested in me."
Erika Mosteller: Mm-hmm.
Dr. John Fuchko: So the other thing it's saying to all those other folks out there is, "Hey, I believe strongly enough in the college-
Erika Mosteller: Mm-hmm
Dr. John Fuchko: to gift at a [00:11:00] certain level- You should do the same thing. Right. Right? Uh, and it's- Yeah, it's like an
Erika Mosteller: authority
Dr. John Fuchko: marker. It, it's, it, it is.
Erika Mosteller: It's like,
Dr. John Fuchko: oh- Right? ...
Erika Mosteller: these, these different people are investing in- Yeah
our mission and our, and what we're doing in the community.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah. If you saw everybody lined up to go to the newest, best restaurant in town or something, probably be like, "Oh, I need to-" I could try that. "... check that out." Yeah. Right? Right. "They must know something I don't know."
Erika Mosteller: Right.
Dr. John Fuchko: Right. So, yeah.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah.
College as Economic Engine
---
Erika Mosteller: so that's another thing that, , I'd love to, to jump into, is how higher education contributes to economic development. Yeah. So we've actually had a few guests recently who've been talking just about kind of the future of Dalton and, , where our community is headed and how we can be thoughtful about it. And one thing that I appreciate the perspective that I've heard you speak about multiple times, including recently at the Chambers event, is that, you know, our college has an impact on where our community is going in multiple ways: economically, from a community development perspective, from a quality of life perspective. , So I'd love for you to jump into all that-
Dr. John Fuchko: [00:12:00] Sure ...
Erika Mosteller: if you're cool with it.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I mean, there's the direct economic impact, which I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about for just a, a brief moment. And that actually increased by $30 million to right around $167 million, is the annual economic impact of the college on this community.
It's-
Lauren Sneary: Which is- and is that, like, students going out into the community and spending
Dr. John Fuchko: money? That is basically- Or you providing jobs? It's I'm not an economist. You
Lauren Sneary: guys should have seen the look you
Dr. John Fuchko: just gave me. Okay. , I think I'll put your folks to sleep. but, uh, there's actually a press release. You can read about it from the University System of Georgia, there's a whole study that's done by the, I think it's the Selig Center at University of Georgia, totals, like, 25 billion, but it has to do with, like,
Lauren: tuition
Dr. John Fuchko: and fees and the jobs that it's creating and the spending and the re-spending and so on. , I think a part of that, too, is I think on average each student, - not including tuition and fees, spends somewhere in the neighborhood of 19 to $20,000 , in the community Just
Erika Mosteller: being here in the community.
Dr. John Fuchko: Right.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah, 'cause they're, I mean, they're living here. Yeah. [00:13:00] They're going to the grocery store- Think
Dr. John Fuchko: about- ...
Erika Mosteller: eating out ...
Dr. John Fuchko: all of those things- Mm-hmm ... yep, adding up.
Erika Mosteller: Gas, yeah.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah. And then the impact on taxes, the impact on economic activity and so on. So that's, you know, that's a pretty big number, right?
Yeah. million I, I think.
Workforce Talent Pipeline
---
Dr. John Fuchko: But I think in a larger way, it goes to talent, , and we'll probably end up talking a little bit more about this later maybe. But,, I'll just kind of share with you one of the things... And I, I've been a little bit involved , in economic development activities where maybe where you're bringing in an employer or something like this. , The number one thing they talk about now, maybe 20 years ago you would hear they talk about tax incentives or this sort of thing, , and I'm sure that's a part of it, but the number one thing you hear is , will you have the workforce? Mm-hmm. Will you have the talent? They wanna know what the University System of Georgia is doing.
They wanna know what the Technical College System of Georgia is doing. And it's one of the things USG actually, , is starting up kind of a quick fix, uh,, kind of model a little bit on the, Quickstart program that TCSG does, but something specific to university system to quickly be able to kind of gear [00:14:00] up an educational program that's gonna help companies , meet their needs, right? That's a big piece of it. But for us, we have industry, right? We have one of the most successful, you know, stories of industry growth, uh, in the State of Georgia right here, , in Dalton, in Northwest Georgia, but it still needs people. Mm-hmm. It still needs talent. And so I look at 95% of my job, I mean, this is a statistic, I get it.
But I, I haven't actually done the math on that, but let's just say a lot. Maybe
Erika Mosteller: it feels
Dr. John Fuchko: that way. Uh, maybe it feels that way, right, , is all about talent. It's all about how do we recruit talent, how do we retain the talent that we have. , And really almost every single initiative that we're doing , is circled around that- Mm
if that makes sense.
Lauren Sneary: Mm-hmm. Yeah, workforce development, I think is kind of a buzzword across- Sure ... the community right now. But to your point, we have this really strong legacy of, manufacturing, and you don't necessarily think about that connection to higher education. But of course, there's a lot of roles associated with that [00:15:00] across the spectrum of work available in industries like that. But what we've developed as a community almost around that is kind of these additional industries of healthcare and education and some others that I know you guys are currently investing in, in terms of talent. So is there anything there that you wanna pull out and, and-
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah, I mean, I think if you really think about that what does everybody want for their children? You know? They want them to have a good education. I mean, I think it was President Adams, the first President Adams who talked about, you know, I study war so my children can study commerce, and my grandchildren can study, you know, art, and so on and so forth, right? And we always... and it doesn't always work out exactly like that. But we always have this everybody wants a better experience for their children and for their children's children. That's just kind of universal to I think the human experience. And so when you think about, well, what does that actually mean? Well, you know, that's can I get a good quality K through 12 education?
'Cause we know that's just so critical. Do they have access to quality healthcare? Do you have access to it for your kids, for yourself? And then as you're taking [00:16:00] care of elderly parents and this sort of thing, do you have that ability to access it as well? And then for those who wanna go on to some form of higher education, you know, post high school whether that's with us or with the Georgia Northwestern Technical College, or both, right? We encourage all of it, because it supports our community, that they have a path to do that. I think the number roughly, it's not all about the money, but the average college graduate in Georgia will make 1.4 million more in their lifetime than the average high school diploma holder. I'm not criticizing anybody.
I'm not, I'm not devaluing people who are in different types of work. I'm just saying, like, that's a, a real thing. That's a real number. Yeah. And for many parents they're like, "I don't... I'm in that sort of job. I want my kid to have some options beyond that." Mm-hmm. I want those kid- those kids to have options right here, so they come back and they're a part of those supportive communities and so on and so forth.
So a lot of our focus has been making sure you have a great [00:17:00] higher ed option, but then also we produce teachers, we produce nurses at the college. And so a lot of our strategic focus has been around those two areas to, to really make sure we're meeting the needs in that space.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah, and I, I appreciate how you're, you're, building on a legacy of collaboration, but I think you've also worked towards bringing more people to the table so that people aren't duplicating efforts- Right ... or so that it's like, "Hey, what's, what is good for the whole community, not just this sector?" Because a lot of times there either is overlap or potentially there's some synergies that you can get.
Collaboration with GNTC
---
Erika Mosteller: So I would love for you to talk to us just about, like, the importance of collaboration and how that's playing out at the college.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah, I think it's playing out in the biggest way, , and I've actually... We had, I had lunch. This is, fresh in my mind 'cause I had lunch yesterday with, Heidi Popham, who's the president of Georgia Northwestern Technical College. You know, separate system, right? University System of Georgia, they're part of the Technical College System of Georgia. She was one of my first phone calls when I got up here 'cause I had such a, , [00:18:00] wonderful relationship with the technical college counterpart I had , in Columbus. , we kinda connected, and I just said, "Look, my thing is let's maybe put the students first our, businesses and communities kinda right there with them, and then if we - take care of those interests, everything else will work itself out." doesn't mean we don't compete , on some things, right? , But what that has generated is really an unprecedented level of partnership between those two institutions that I would put up against anybody anywhere. Absolutely. Uh, and , I'll give you, , three examples, , . So one of those was, , part of our strategic plan, part of keeping kids here.
We said, "You know what? , We need a scholarship. We need something that says, 'If you're a high-achieving student and you go to Dalton State,, we want you to have your tuition and fees covered.'" Right? That was kinda the goal. And as we thought about it, we said, "You know what? What about the GNTC students?" And so we got, we got together with Heidi Popham, [00:19:00] and ultimately, literally traded donor list and, , put together a scholarship program called the Northwest Georgia Promise, and it's for students in Dade, Catoosa, Walker, Murray, Gordon, Whitfield, , Pickens, and Gilmer Counties, uh, who have high GPA, and they work or they volunteer while they're in school. And it's a last dollar scholarship to cover tuition and fees. So it's kind of like almost like the old Hope Scholarship, less the book allowance, , where you know this is gonna be covered. And we've, we between the two of us, have raised $8.3 million-
Erika Mosteller: Wow ...
Dr. John Fuchko: uh- That's awesome ... towards, towards that. And again, that sort of collaboration just doesn't-
Erika Mosteller: Right
Dr. John Fuchko: I mean, even with my fellow USG institutions, we don't usually trade donor lists. Right. And we, I mean, you know, we're- When you
Erika Mosteller: said that, I was
Dr. John Fuchko: like- Like, we're like-
Erika Mosteller: Those are sacred,
Dr. John Fuchko: right? Yeah ... you know, it's- Oh, absolutely. Right? Right. Um, I mean, they're exempt from open records. , So you know, we, uh, we definitely, , we just developed that level of trust, and we've, we've done articulation agreements.
So we had, , originally one we did that we had eight different programs that basically you lose no credit when you transfer between them. Right. [00:20:00] Georgia Highlands College was a, was a part of this as well. , At the system level they've done some stuff in nursing and healthcare, , and we're working on some additional ones right now. And then and I'll give a lot of credit to Mike Hobbs down at Georgia Highlands College we started initially Georgia Highlands, us, and GNTC, a leadership development program which we call Northwest Georgia Leads. And they go to a Board of Regents meeting and a technical college meeting, and they go to all the campuses. This year, we're in our third year of doing this it's about four or five people from each school that go through it. They absolutely love it. Dr. Wendy Jenkins at the USG helps, helped us kind of design it, put it together, along with some, some campus-based leadership. And then, um, Chattahoochee Tech said, "Hey, this is cool." And so they joined it this, ... We just actually I think kicked it off earlier this week down at the Chattahoochee Tech campus in Acworth. So, those are just three examples of like partnerships and collaborations- Just
Erika Mosteller: so fruitful ...
Dr. John Fuchko: uh, that , it is. Right? And it's shocking to people.
Erika Mosteller: Right.
Dr. John Fuchko: Like sometimes we'll have people come up and they'll be like, "Hey, , I'm, I, I wanna be supportive of them.
Do you mind?" I'm like, "What are you talking about?" Like- Right. Yeah ... , [00:21:00] we're, you know- It's a balance ... we're in this together.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah. Yeah. It's like you need, both sides of
Dr. John Fuchko: that coin- Absolutely you do ... for a, a
Lauren Sneary: healthy workforce- Yes ... and a healthy economy. And I
Dr. John Fuchko: think- Particularly in industry.
Lauren Sneary: Yeah.
And you guys, we're always thinking about what can we build? Right. What can we create? What can we put in place? And what's interesting about some of the things you've just talked through is it was- Less about building something new and more about removing barriers. Right. And those barriers might not sound significant- Yeah
but when you think about a student who's trying to navigate moving institutions for whatever reason, they need, they, a new career path is called to them, or they're physically moving- Mm-hmm ... or there are family needs involved, , and then they're gonna lose credits or, you know, there's gonna be some kind of transition barrier- Right
that prevents that from happening, that's a loss for the whole community.
Dr. John Fuchko: Absolutely,
Erika Mosteller: it is. And you guys are removing that. Yes. That's incredible.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah.
Erika Mosteller: And I think the national story we hear so often about higher education is more crisis-based, and this is so encouraging to hear just like, "Oh, we're killing it." Like, we're really making progress. We're making it more affordable. We're making it more efficient. We're making it more [00:22:00] practical. Like, we want , to make this as successful as possible for our institution, for our neighboring institutions, for our community, for our students. Like, that's just really smart and cool and refreshing.
Dr. John Fuchko: Well, there's always crises.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah.
Dr. John Fuchko: You have to lean in and lead through. and usually you can, kinda stay true, I think, to why you're there and, don't kinda just sit and wait for things to happen. , You can't always be out front, but generally speaking, I think you can manage a lot of those crises. , And you know what? No one funds a crises. No one invests in a crises.
Erika Mosteller: Mm-hmm.
Dr. John Fuchko: Right? , They in- invest and fund things that provide hope-
Erika Mosteller: Right ...
Dr. John Fuchko: and provide a direction. And so, , I think sometimes maybe we, find ourselves trapped in kind of this crisis cycle and what if I just had this, and what if I just had that?
And, , well, no, like step back, figure out what is this really about, figure out, like, the root of why we're here and what we're gonna go do, and I think people do get excited about that. Yeah.
Erika Mosteller: Keep it mission-focused.
Lauren Sneary: That's
Erika Mosteller: right. Yeah. [00:23:00] Yeah.
New Campus Projects
---
Erika Mosteller: So y'all, speaking of people like to invest in hopeful initiatives, it sounds like y'all have some really cool things on the docket right now that are, you're about to have some ribbon cuttings.
You have a new school in the works. Yeah. Would love to hear about- Yeah ... some of these exciting initiatives.
Dr. John Fuchko: So y'all need to come by and try out the library and the bagels and the sandwiches. Uh, we have, , the new Rage Cafe in Roberts Library.
Erika Mosteller: Oh, that's
Dr. John Fuchko: cool. And so- Cafe ... Rage Cafe. So if you walk into Roberts Library now, , first of all, the whole thing's gorgeous. , We had a renovation funded by, , the State of Georgia for which , we're very appreciative, , of that.
And part of this, , and I will take a little bit of credit for this one, I'm like, "I want a coffee shop feel in here." Mm-hmm. Right? , Because I think once you get students in the library, it's like, "Oh, a great experience. Let me, you know, go experience the nature while I'm studying," and so on and so forth. But if they don't ever really have to walk in there, or they're kinda like, "Oh, this doesn't feel, you know, doesn't feel like my vibe," then they leave, right? Right. So we, [00:24:00] we opened it up, and I think we went from... And it's just been open, like, a couple of weeks. I think we went from maybe 300 visits a day into the library to, I wanna say it was like 1,200 is what we've been averaging Oh, wow.
That's awesome. , And people are showing up there. We're having lines out the door to get their coffee. That's great. But then, , what's really cool is you walk in there and you see people and they're, they've got their books out. They're studying. Wow, what a concept. You know? , And they're enjoying their, their...
They're even coming in after it's closed, and they're sitting in the space. Mm-hmm. , And just- So it's like
Erika Mosteller: a new third space on campus.
Dr. John Fuchko: It's, Yeah.. But it's that- Yeah ... it has that feel like you'd walk into like a Barnes & Noble, and you have- Yeah ... kinda like the coffee shop integrated in.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah.
Dr. John Fuchko: , With appropriate glass enclosures.
You go shh. Right.
Erika Mosteller: Okay. You know, library.
Dr. John Fuchko: I was curious about the sound. You, you can't go too crazy. Right. Yeah. Uh, but, you know, it's not distracting. And then, uh,, a few weeks ago, , the Board of Regents approved the renaming of our Health Professions Hall, , as the Ken White Health Professions Hall.
Oh, how
Erika Mosteller: beautiful.
Dr. John Fuchko: And, , we'll be having a, um, a ribbon cutting and unveiling, , around that in the very near future here in the next month or so. , [00:25:00] But the, , really exciting thing about that is, , with Mr. White's, with his, philanthropy, , to the college, that- We were able to leverage, , and the Board of Regents just approved, , , what will be an $8 million state fund project, total $11 million project, to expand and renovate our health professions building. And, uh, so that will go as a proposal. , The Board of Regents has approved it, so I can go out and advocate for it. And, , we'll be looking to hopefully get the first million dollars in design funding for that, , this fall or this spring with the general assembly in January when it starts, uh, be making our case.
But, uh, there's something along the lines of a projected 10,000 nurse shortage-
Erika Mosteller: Yeah ...
Dr. John Fuchko: in this, just the state of Georgia. , We've increased the number of nursing, , students that we take in each year by 114. So we're, we've, significant increases there. With this expansion, we'll be able to add even more to that number. we've got a lot of support, by the [00:26:00] way, from, , both some other state agencies, but also from the Board of Regents to add additional faculty in that space to invest in it. And so our hope is, whether it's Vitruvian, whether it's Advent Health, whether it's, , our other healthcare partners, , we'd love it if we have local folks who wanna become nurses, they wanna stay, out of the travel nurse lifestyle and, you know, which isn't really ideal for somebody traveling around all the time- Yeah with kids. But also, , you know, it's, it's expensive. It raises the cost of healthcare for everybody. , This helps, just, it's just such a beautiful like little virtuous cycle there, right? Yeah. Uh, so we're really excited about, that happening on, campus.
Erika Mosteller: That's cool. Yeah.
Lauren Sneary: Yeah, and it sounds like it's a lot of investment in what we talked about earlier, which is the employee experience.
Uh, sorry, the- Student
Dr. John Fuchko: experience
Lauren Sneary: The employee The student experience. This is me with my corporate-
Dr. John Fuchko: Employee experience is there too.
Lauren Sneary: Right. Yeah. Of course, you know, new buildings, new equipment, the employee experience, and the student experience I'm sure- Yes ... um, benefit from that. Critical.
Roadrunner Experience Vision
---
Lauren Sneary: So we did talk about you guys being a destination in terms of student [00:27:00] experience. you mentioned in some notes earlier that the Roadrunner experience is something that you guys are focused on. Yeah. That you have some kind of principles , that those are focused on. Can you walk us through what that is and-
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah. A, a lot of that is, , and I'll, I'll try not to be too techni- Okay
techno academic speak here, but, , every, every degree program has some form of core curriculum, right? And so this is , the Englishes and the maths and the, the sciences and the music, and there's some options there, right? And it's usually about- semesters, , and then you have, , full-time's about 45 credit hours, uh, and then you transition into some lower division courses in your major, and then your upper division courses. , I think we have the ability to create an experience, which we take the Roadrunner experience, where the core is in conversation itself, with our faculty, with our students, and with our history. , And what do I mean by that? [00:28:00] So if you really think about, , what's the purpose of education, , we talk all the time about getting jobs and workforce development, and absolutely that is. But it's also about living a rich life. It's about being able to engage. Yeah. It's being able, you know- Being a
Lauren Sneary: person
Dr. John Fuchko: in the world. Being a p- yeah. Right?
Critical Thinking Matters
---
Dr. John Fuchko: Sometimes, you know, when, people will be stressed out about something,- And I teach a, class in global issues or foreign affairs in the spring, , and you'll hear some students, and they'll be really riled up about, you know, some sort of, , injustice or something that they think, "Well, this is just wrong." And it's like, okay, I'm not saying yay or nay, but let's now look back over history and actually appreciate what the human experience has been over millennia. Mm. It's suddenly grounding. It's suddenly like, "Oh, this is not the worst thing ever." Yeah. And oh, somebody... Oh, guess what? This man or woman 3,500 years ago dealt with this and wrote a whole book about it, right? , Or there's this thing called the scientific method, and maybe we can use science to think through when you're [00:29:00] faced with the latest Facebook claim that, you know, you can eliminate your heart disease in 15 days by drinking this coffee or something, right? Mm-hmm. , Maybe you can. I've
Lauren Sneary: seen
Dr. John Fuchko: that ad. All right?
But- You've seen that ad ... you've probably seen that ad, right? Maybe you and I are doing similar- Yeah, right ... you know, meta searches I was gonna say, they're listening. Yeah ... um, but, are you applying some of these, these critical thinking skills, these reasoning skills, this sense of what are those big questions that people have wrestled with? Mm-hmm. Does it impact your job? Oh, absolutely. You're gonna be a better employer, employee. Uh, you're gonna be a happier employee. You're gonna be a better small business owner. You're gonna be more prepared- Better parent ... for dealing with life. Yeah. Oh, absolutely, right? If you have all of this, that's the ideal.
Lauren Sneary: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Integrated Learning Goals
---
Dr. John Fuchko: think the reality sometimes is that we have
Lauren: kind
Dr. John Fuchko: of like these, these independent little pots of these courses or these courses or these courses, and they maybe sorta kinda help get us there. , I'm sure they do to a point, but could we do more? Could we be more integrated in how we approach it?
, And what is it we really want our students to be able to [00:30:00] do? . I'd love it if every one of our students could engage in a dialogue with somebody with whom they disagree without it resorting to emotionalism and, you know, "I'm upset and I'm gonna, you know, none you or un-you or whatever else," like, but actually engage with you as a real person, and then later, even though we might totally disagree about something, we can go out and, you know, have a coffee at the coffee shop- or whatever it might be, right? I think that's just critical to the society.
Lauren Sneary: Yeah, and in a world increasingly filled with- Mm ... AI and these technical adv- advances that make certain tasks easier th- than others, things like critical thinking and moral reasoning become the differentiators- Yes
in, you know, participating and- Mm-hmm ... and, and experiencing a fulfilled life.
Erika Mosteller: Right.
Etiquette and Belonging
---
Erika Mosteller: Yeah, and I think it's, , I heard about from, maybe it was the business school, where you guys have a dinner where they come and they experience what it's like to be at a professional dinner, because maybe they've never done that before.
I love that one. And-
Lauren Sneary: That was Sandra Whaley. she used to teach that one, I think.
Erika Mosteller: Did she? Yeah. I don't know. But I just was like, what a cool, like, [00:31:00] practical thing where these students have to actually come up with, , small talk, which means they actually have to have something interesting to say.
Dr. John Fuchko: Something interesting to say.
Erika Mosteller: To, you know, what have they been thinking about, or what have they been reading or, you know. I told my kids- And
Dr. John Fuchko: a sense of belonging.
Erika Mosteller: Right.
Dr. John Fuchko: Right? And we really, , part of this is we do wanna expand that really to all of our graduates. But I mean, there's many folks who probably, and this will also sound like I'm stick my pinky out when I say this or something, but, they've never had a meal maybe that has more than two pieces of flatware.
Erika Mosteller: Mm-hmm. So they don't know what to do if they sit down at the table.
Dr. John Fuchko: And so now you have, you know- outside in or whatever the rules might be. Right. You know, but what do you do with that spoon up there? Yes. so we want our students, when they walk into maybe a situation that they're not used to, if they are first gen, you know, their first kind of professional job interview, we want them walking in there not saying, "Oh my gosh, I have no idea how to dress. I have no idea how to talk." Mm-hmm. "I have no idea what to do with these things that are sitting in front of me." And they're so stressed [00:32:00] out about it, and so kind of like just deer in the headlights, that it impacts their interview. Mm-hmm. We want them to walk in saying, "I belong here. I know what to do.
I know what not to do." , That gives just you a sense of comfort, right? Right. Does take discipline, but gives you a sense of comfort that we think translates into, , you know, not just a better interview, but also somebody who's gonna frankly just be colleague, if you will. Right. , Knowing some of those, , that oil of, of human conversations- Yeah
that etiquette is supposed to be.
Erika Mosteller: Well, and I love that you guys are looking at how you can even expand that to, , primary education- Oh, yeah ... to se- you know, hopefully eventually to secondary education.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yes,
Erika Mosteller: yes.
Charter School Vision
---
Erika Mosteller: So talk to us about the learning school, the learning lab school that's coming. It has an official name.
Dr. John Fuchko: Learning Academy of Northwest Georgia.
Erika Mosteller: Yes.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah. Um- There's a charter now too, right? ... unless you want to donate, you know, and, um, we can have the, the must have. Oh, yeah. Uh, anyway, um- Oh, yes. Yeah. The ATCA school. Yeah. - So- I go to it
Lauren Sneary: every day. Right ...
Dr. John Fuchko: we're, we're so excited about this. So this is the one of the first locally approved charter schools in the state of Georgia in over a [00:33:00] decade. , And it is the first, I've been told by the state board, the first locally approved charter school that is authorized to incorporate other school districts into it in the history of the charter school program. So when we applied, we said, "Hey, we want to be able to, in, not just do Dalton Public Schools, , zone of attendance, but you know, Whitfield County, Murray County, , Gordon County, , Catoosa County, , initially."
And, , so that's been, it was approved by the Dalton Board, it's been approved by the State Board of Education. We actually just finally got all the signatures on it earlier this week. Wow. So it is fully official. , It will open fall of 2027, and we're gonna be located, , at the Boys & Girls Club, which we think is an absolute phenomenal fit, , cultural fit, mission fit, et cetera, and it's, you know, operated by the Learning Foundation of Georgia.
I'm a board member on that. , Whole host of folks, John Minor and Tangela Johnson and Larry Winner and, , Julie Patterson, Jessica Trevino, Cindy Holwalt, David Elrod, Sharon Hickson. and then we, uh, we just added two [00:34:00] m- two new board members. So , we are really pretty, pretty pumped, , about the, the board that we have.
But, , there's so many components to it, and I, I imagine you have some follow-up questions, so I'll probably save some of that , for your follow-up question or two. But the... I'll just kind of say at a very high level, , we're going to combine or integrate, is probably a better word, , classical education, which you probably don't wanna ask about that- Yeah
more than-
Erika Mosteller: Great
Dr. John Fuchko: books. Like, I, I can keep it short, right? Kind of a great book, Socratic method, love of beauty, doing, you know, the good, the true, the beautiful, and just kind of incorporating, , some kind of formation, right? Formation of that, of that young student, along with dual language immersion English and Spanish, , and then the Finnish-based model of education with really a focus on individualized learning plans for each student, , alongside a lot of outdoor nature-based learning.
I love
Erika Mosteller: that
Dr. John Fuchko: part. Yeah. I know.
Erika Mosteller: I love
Dr. John Fuchko: that part. Some unstructured play, but also you know, if you're... It's a silly [00:35:00] example, but I've used it before, so I'll use it again. If you're reading, Robert Frost's poem about walking in the woods in, uh, The Road Less Traveled, right? And wouldn't it be cool to actually be, like, walking in the woods while you're reading that poem, right?
Right. And just activating the moral imagination, , of these young kids, , and creating a level of learning. So, , we're really excited about it from the learning academy, from the college's perspective, , and this is also a first in the state of Georgia , that we're partnering the college, , with , the charter school with putting our first and second year Engli- our education students into the charter.
So, uh, along with under our faculty supervision. , So we really want to be exposed early to the loveliness of classroom, uh- It's very different- ...
Erika Mosteller: experience, right ... than what you experience in college.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yes. Yes. Yeah. Uh, and, and, you know, we'll also figure out do you really have a love for this? Right. And figure that out a little earlier maybe rather than when you're a senior.
Right. Right? , So we also have the Whitworth Distinguished Chair in Classical Education, which was [00:36:00] approved last November by the Board of Regents thanks to the Whitworth-Brown family, , and a generous donation they made. And so, , Dr. Aquina Sterling, who just started in that role, is gonna help with things like thinking through curriculum development, through revising our own curriculum at the college to incorporate these pedagogical approaches- That's exciting
uh, which, , , I'll share with you just, like, I've been to a couple of these classical charter schools in Georgia, and they have third-grade reading levels, like 75%, 80, 85- Wow ... 90%, which is- Yeah. Which
Erika Mosteller: ours, I think, is 37% right now as a community.
Dr. John Fuchko: Northwest Georgia is about 32%. Right. , And- Which is
Erika Mosteller: the objective of our community, to improve upon, right
Dr. John Fuchko: and it's, and, and we've made progress.
Erika Mosteller: Right.
Dr. John Fuchko: But- And we're
Erika Mosteller: not the only ones. It's
Dr. John Fuchko: a much- We're not the only ones ... bigger issue that we're- It's not even just a statewide issue. It is a national issue. Right. There's a few states that have really actually had a lot of progress. The state of Georgia has put a lot of resources and energy and effort and several different kind of statutory requirements that they've put into place, which I think are gonna be good. , [00:37:00] But we think this on top of that is gonna do, can do some really pretty amazing things, , and- Yeah, I'm
Erika Mosteller: excited
Dr. John Fuchko: about it ... across our community, right? Yeah. Not just for the kids in the charter But for all these teachers who will be coming out of our program who will say, "Hey, you know what? I know some different ways that maybe we can use here- Mm
that might benefit our students."
Erika Mosteller: Yeah. , One thing I appreciate about your family, I've had the privilege of getting to know your wife a little bit. Yeah. And you are a family of readers, and your kids are readers, and I think she told me y'all have, like, over 1,000 books in your house.
Dr. John Fuchko: I think it's 2,700.
Erika Mosteller: Okay, so yeah- Yes ...
Dr. John Fuchko: a lot. And- One of our sons did a library app and added all the books to it.
Erika Mosteller: Okay, that's
Dr. John Fuchko: cool.
Erika Mosteller: Yes. I
Dr. John Fuchko: know. Yeah, it's kind of weird, but-
Erika Mosteller: Right. Um- But awesome.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah, I mean, he wants to be a teacher, so he's- That's very awesome. Yeah ... he's a junior at Dalton State- Just modify it all ... so it's Yeah.
There you go ... it
Erika Mosteller: makes perfect sense. Yes.
Reading and Story Love
---
Erika Mosteller: Um, so I appreciate that you are recognizing something that, you know, is kind of a hot topic of conversation in our society right now, that people are getting away [00:38:00] from tangible books, from actually reading books. They wanna... I mean, we had SparkNotes when I was growing up, but we weren't actually, like, reading AI summaries of a book and then not ever actually touching the book.
Cracking
Dr. John Fuchko: it open.
Erika Mosteller: Right. Yes. Yeah. Um, so I love the, the return to the tactile, the return to actual books and discussing books, and, you know, I'm a history nerd at heart. , So I'd love for you to talk about how, like, that... Really, it seems like you have a personal conviction that reading is really a huge part of personal professional formation.
So I'd love to hear you talk about that.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah. , And I, I'll take it back to just as a kid, right? And so, you know, we test these third-grade reading levels, and the theory is you learn to read up to third grade, and after that, you're reading to learn. , And I think sometimes because we're adults and we, do something in, we do this in military intelligence, we s- we call it mirror imaging, right?
When we're doing an analysis of a threat, we're like, "Well, they think like we think." Well, no, they don't think like we think. Now, I'm not calling little kids a threat, despite where, how you might feel when they're- I disagree. ... you know, making a mess around the house and all, and, or giving you sass as teenagers.
But, , if [00:39:00] you're a five-year-old, you don't care about tests-
Erika Mosteller: Mm ...
Dr. John Fuchko: and reading scores.
Erika Mosteller: Right.
Dr. John Fuchko: Right? What do you care about? A good story.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah.
Dr. John Fuchko: You wanna know a good story. And, , somebody said this to me at Atlanta Classical Academy and I think their reading scores, I wanna say, are 95% third grade reading levels, right? And by the way, that's with, , at-risk kids as well as- Yeah ... you know, kids who, who are less so. , You look at that and, and he just said, "John, you need to remember need to love reading- They need to love the story."
Erika Mosteller: Mm-hmm.
Dr. John Fuchko: And they won't even be thinking about- Right ... the rest of it- Right ... because they're engaging in chapter books by first or second grade.
Erika Mosteller: Right.
Dr. John Fuchko: , And some of our faculty saw that, , because of course we're, we're steeped , in the academy of teaching using certain methods, , for K through 12 education. , And there's plenty of good things about that. , But, , when we started talking about a charter school and I said, "Eh, you know, Our public schools do a great job with what it is that they're doing. - We're not gonna do it any better than they're doing it, [00:40:00] maybe there's a different approach, a different pedagogy that we can explore, and we can be a little bit of a laboratory, which then can empower our public schools to, to do something with that." And so I said, ", let's take a look at some of these other approaches." And some of the faculty, I remember distinctly them coming back and being like, "We went to the lunchroom, and the kids after lunch," these were first and second graders, "were sitting reading chapter books."
Erika Mosteller: Yeah.
Dr. John Fuchko: They're like, "We don't understand how this is happening."
Erika Mosteller: Right. That's exciting,
Dr. John Fuchko: though. But they're doing it.
Erika Mosteller: You're like, "Hey, this
Dr. John Fuchko: is possible." Right. This is... Absolutely. Right. Um, but it's our 10-year-old, William, who is, , a little bit of a rambunctious young man, , and, you know, has trouble containing his emotions sometimes, , was gonna be one of those people who I just knew, was like, "Oh my gosh, this is gonna be a struggle, , with his reading." But he wanted to know the end of the story, he was not gonna wait for Mom to finish reading, you know, Gregor the Overlander or whatever it might be. He was like, "I need, I need to learn how to read this so I can go do that." Oh. And then he will just... He'll calm down his [00:41:00] ADHD or whatever it is he inherited from me-
and, you know, pull out that book, and he'll spend two or three hours, easy- Yeah ... right in front of... Just flipping through his book.
Erika Mosteller: That's awesome. So. Yeah, we have a rule, and it's been... I don't even know why I started doing this, probably just 'cause I love books. But ever since my kids were little, we always visit a bookstore in every town that we go to. Oh, that's so cool. We find an independent bookstore, and I say yes to whatever they wanna buy. Yep. And they know that, and so, so not-
Dr. John Fuchko: So can I come with you- I was like, "No," I- ... with one of your kids sometimes? Because-
Erika Mosteller: I give them a budget. I do give them a budget.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah, okay. All right. All
Erika Mosteller: right. So they each get a budget, and then, because number one, support local bookshops.
Yes. But then also, like, just it encourages an excitement. It's a new story- Right ... and it's something to get engaged with. Yeah. So I love hearing y'all's plans and your passions for reading, 'cause I know our public schools share that, but they have... They just, like you said, they ha- they are doing a great w- job with what they've been tasked to do, but I do think maybe it's time to kind of interrupt the pattern and look at- Yeah
what else could we be doing. That's
Dr. John Fuchko: right.
Erika Mosteller: , Which is exciting.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah.
Enrollment and Lottery Steps
---
Erika Mosteller: Okay, so 2027. Yes. If our listeners are interested in that, what are their next steps?
Dr. John Fuchko: [00:42:00] There's a wonderful website, , put together, Learning Academy Northwest Georgia. You can just Google it, and there is a place on there to express interest.
we've been sending out emails over the last week or so, , to the families. I think we have almost 400 families that have, you know, with ranging... N- none, I don't think, with 12 kids, but, - ... that have expressed interest in it. Yeah, Dr. Fisher
Erika Mosteller: has 12 kids.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah. So you gotta get with that. But, um, but, you know, it's gonna be limited to 60 kids per grade, 20 kids per class.
And so we'll have three classes per grade, K through 3. , But we'll sign up, and then you will be getting an email announcing once we have our official... We have to buy a lottery, so it's a public- Tuition-free charter school. , But normally there's almost always waiting lists for these schools around the state that we've seen. I think when the one in Atlanta opened up, they had 1,000 kids on the waiting list year one. Wow. Uh, and so there will be some things that will give you kind of extra points in the lottery, but it's basically a lottery. You'll put, you'll fill out some information, put your [00:43:00] students' names in, , and then off from there.
Yeah. And of course, , we're approved for the Dalton, if you're in the Dalton Public School zone of attendance. But as I mentioned, we're gonna be working with our partners, , in Whitfield County, in Catoosa and Murray and Gordon, , to, , make sure that, you know, subject to their approval of course, , that students in those,, in those zones of attendance would be able to do that as well.
Yeah. , And you know, the bad news is, you're in those areas, you will need to find a way to get your kid to the school. good news is you're gonna be at the Boys & Girls Club.
Lauren Sneary: Right.
Dr. John Fuchko: And so, , as soon as the school day ends, you'll just roll, those kids will roll right on over to participate, , in those activities. , And then, when parents can come pick them up, uh, they can. We just think that's probably, , a much better option for, for that student's holistic development than maybe going home to maybe somebody's at home, maybe somebody's not, that sort of thing. Right. Um, you know, and so we think part- that's why we just we're so excited about kind of that-
Erika Mosteller: Yeah
Dr. John Fuchko: that partnership with the Boys & Girls Club.
Erika Mosteller: I know Lauren and I laugh about how the school system is not exactly- [00:44:00] Aligned to- ... perfect for working parents. For the work
Lauren Sneary: schedule, yep.
Dr. John Fuchko: , It can be hard, right? , And that was very much when we designed this, we said, "Okay, , we're in a world where there's three shifts," right?
And so we need to be mindful of our timing in light of those shifts. Again, such a great partnership with the club. , We are raising money to, , help with those renovations. Uh- Yeah. And- That's great ... but we're, we're gonna get it done. Uh, and, uh- They
Erika Mosteller: already do
Dr. John Fuchko: such
Erika Mosteller: great work- ... we're ready to go ... in our community.
Dr. John Fuchko: Absolutely.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah. So-
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah ... that's a
Erika Mosteller: great
Dr. John Fuchko: partnership ... the whole, the whole group there, I mean, it's, they're phenomenal. And, uh, I think, , I think they're probably, uh, uh, they might be more excited than we are, , just because they're seeing those possibilities, , for serving even more students in our community.
Erika Mosteller: That's awesome.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah.
Erika Mosteller: Okay. Well, let's shift to Dalton things. You want to?
Lauren Sneary: Yeah, I was gonna say, I bet we could speak for-
Erika Mosteller: I know ...
Lauren Sneary: hours more about- So many
Erika Mosteller: exciting
Lauren Sneary: things ... all the exciting things.
Erika Mosteller: When do you sleep, Dr. Finchum?
Dr. John Fuchko: I do. Mostly.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah. Mostly. Every now and then. Yeah,
Dr. John Fuchko: yeah.
Favorite Dalton Moment
---
Lauren Sneary: , Yeah, so you know, we just have a couple fun things to ask you- Sure
here at the close. , One of which, , is what is your favorite Dalton thing?
Dr. John Fuchko: My favorite Dalton [00:45:00] thing.
Lauren Sneary: Yes. And we encourage people to go any direction they want with this. Yeah. Right? Profound, or just like a single cocktail that you had one time that was- ... you know, the best one ever.
Dr. John Fuchko: I make a really good cocktail.
Lauren Sneary: Oh, okay.
Dr. John Fuchko: Is, is the reputation I have. But, , I will tell you thing, and, and it's, you know, as hard to caveat as any- The one most- Right ... whatever. , But I will tell you one of the things that I, I particularly enjoy. So we live, , close to, uh, St. Joseph's and Hagemill Lake , in the park up there. And, , if you get out there, , at certain mornings, maybe 7:00, 7:30, right? So, like, sun's not fully up, but it's,, it's basically up. , But maybe it hasn't broken over, , Hamilton Ridge or what have you, , or Rocky Face Ridge. And, , , the lake, if you kind of go to the park, and you go up in that little upper part, like above the playground and stuff- Mm-hmm I'll, you know, you know, I park right there, and you kind of walk out. It's by the historical marker, and you've got just this... You really can't see any roads.
Lauren Sneary: Mm-hmm.
Dr. John Fuchko: You see the church, which is b- beautiful. [00:46:00] You see, you know, a little park, parking lot, whatever. You see the ridges, and you see the lake, and it's framed by these ridges. Mm-hmm. And I, I imagine... And you'll have these, these little mists, like little sentinels, like almost marching across the lake, like, in order, right? And you're just like, "I could be in some Scottish Highland. I could be," you know, you name it. It's just absolutely gorgeous. , It's, you know, just one of those p- points where you can just, "Ah." You know,, I've had one or two of the kids where I'll take them with me, and they're kind of like, "Okay, Dad, you're weird." But, , it's- Did you
Lauren Sneary: say Sentinels of Frost to them? 'Cause that was-
Dr. John Fuchko: I, I- ... The Mist.
The Mist ... that was more my thing.
Erika Mosteller: I loved it,
Dr. John Fuchko: actually ... I think what I told, actually, one of them is that I was aura farming.
Erika Mosteller: Oh.
Dr. John Fuchko: And- So
Erika Mosteller: then they were like, "Oh,
Dr. John Fuchko: okay" How did you know that, Dad? uh
Erika Mosteller: were like, "Who do you think I work with all day?"
Dr. John Fuchko: I was like, I'm like, I'm surrounded by college students.
Right. Come on. Uh, and yeah, you know, I'm much cooler to them than to my own children, of course. Of course,
Erika Mosteller: right.
Dr. John Fuchko: But, uh, that would just be [00:47:00] one ex- I mean, there's so many people I could talk about and experiences. I know. But- Of course ... that, that- It's really good ... that's just really top of the list.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah, , it does surprise me pretty much every time I go out there, I'm like, "This is 10 minutes from my house."
Dr. John Fuchko: Uh-huh.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah, which is pretty crazy.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yes. '
Erika Mosteller: Cause normally you have, you know, in past lives where I've lived, you have to drive like an hour to get to places like that.
Dr. John Fuchko: And it's full of whatever, whatever- Mm-hmm ... and good luck getting a parking spot.
Erika Mosteller: Right.
Dr. John Fuchko: And-
Erika Mosteller: Yeah ...
Dr. John Fuchko: paying a fee. It is
Erika Mosteller: pretty cool.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah.
Book Recommendations Wrap
---
Erika Mosteller: Now, I feel like we have to ask you what books you recommend people read.
Dr. John Fuchko: Oh, my.
Erika Mosteller: , Do you have like a go-to, just 'cause we've talked about reading so much, do you have like a, "Oh, okay, when you're, you know, setting off into a new venture, I recommend this," or if you're, you know, embarking on being a parent, you need to read this- Sure ... or if you just really want something thought-provoking, I recommend this.
Yeah. You know?
Dr. John Fuchko: I mean, I think obviously scripture is always timely, , for so many things. But, , you know these are all gonna be, like, oldies but goodies maybe. Yeah. So, I mean, I- We like those too. Yeah ... I'm, I'm still, I think Seven Habits-
Erika Mosteller: Mm ...
Dr. John Fuchko: of Highly Effective People by Steve Covey is [00:48:00] still one of the best just whether as, as an individual or you're doing the one for families or teenagers or whatever else.
I just, I think so many of their, so many of those concepts are so powerful. Uh, and I think habits are so powerful. Uh, Atomic Habits is actually a really good book- Mm-hmm ... , to build on, 'cause I think so much of what we do or don't do is, is a function of habits, , more than we really give credit for.
Mm. Like, you know, the artistic license, but, , usually even great artist is a function of-
Erika Mosteller: Showing up every day and doing the work. Yeah.
Dr. John Fuchko: Right. It's like writing is hard. Work. All you have to do is stare at the paper till drops of blood form on your forehead- Right, right. ... forehead and it- Right
and it, and it shows up, right? I really like Doris Kearns Goodwin's, , book on Lincoln.
Erika Mosteller: Okay.
Dr. John Fuchko: And I think particularly if you're going in to work with a team, to work with, , in a leadership role, it is, it's a phenomenal book. And then organizationally, Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership by Bolman and Deal- Yeah, okay
Is a phenomenal book. It's kinda one of those quasi, I mean, they're probably gonna be offended 'cause they're both faculty members, I believe. But, it's quasi... It doesn't, it's not like [00:49:00] reading a peer-reviewed journal article per se. It's more like reading a Harvard Business Review Journal article, so it's... But , it's long. They've got great stories, great examples, but it is based on research and so on, but it's not dry, right? Right. You know, like you could- It's readable. Very readable. Yeah. Uh, and it, and it's just kind of way, different ways of thinking about organizations and how they operate. So I think all of those are, are good. , Honestly, anything by C.S. Lewis, anything by Tolkien, uh, anything by Dostoevsky, anything by Tolstoy, anything by Dickens, , you know, um- Can't
Erika Mosteller: go wrong there ...
Dr. John Fuchko: you, you, you really can't. And, and I do really think it's actually really important, , and I try to do it in my own life. I don't do it perfectly, but I think you have to have balance with that.
Like, all work and no play, that whole thing, like you don't- Mm ... can't constantly be reading, like, self-help books and- Mm-hmm ... organizational leadership books and so on. Like, you'll be an incredibly boring person. Right. Like, no one will wanna- Read fiction ... actually talk to you.
Erika Mosteller: Right.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah, read fiction. Read
Erika Mosteller: fiction, yeah.
Dr. John Fuchko: Uh, you know, fiction is oftentimes more true than nonfiction- Right , in a sense of it kind of- Love that ... you know, long-term, big T truth. Right. And, , you'll just, [00:50:00] you'll be a happier person and more joyful, but you'll actually get to experience a lot of different things without actually having to suffer through them.
Erika Mosteller: Right.
Dr. John Fuchko: , And be able to, I think, reach out to other people , and you will develop compassion for other people. Right. Because you don't... You know, compassion means to suffer with- Right ... is the actual kinda meaning of that word, , and so one of the ways you do that is you, you kind of vicariously through books can really experience another person's life, and it makes you a little bit more gracious, a little bit more humble, and a little more understanding.
Yeah.
Erika Mosteller: Yeah. No, I totally agree. That's exciting. Thanks. Yeah, absolutely. I'm gonna add this to my list. Oh.
Lauren Sneary: Yeah. Lovely way to close.
Erika Mosteller: I
Lauren Sneary: know,
Erika Mosteller: I
Lauren Sneary: had
Erika Mosteller: to. Thanks for jumping in. Sorry. was really selfish for me. Yeah. I just wanted
Lauren Sneary: to know. That was a great question. I'm like- That was a great question ... what books should I read from Dr.
Lauren: Fuchko?
Lauren Sneary: Yeah. There
Dr. John Fuchko: we go.
Final Thanks and Signoff
---
Lauren Sneary: I think it's really fun that the listeners got to hear all of the incredible things that, that you guys are working on. They also got to hear the words pedagogical and aura farming. Right. So it's been amazing. In the same
Dr. John Fuchko: podcast. All of this, right?
Lauren Sneary: It's been a great ride-
Dr. John Fuchko: Yeah, yeah ... is what I want to say.
Awesome. Thank you, Lauren. So thank you so much. Thank you, Erika. Yep. Thanks for coming. Appreciate y'all.
Erika Mosteller: Thanks for being here.
Dr. John Fuchko: Yep.
[00:51:00]