The Bradley University Podcast
Your All-Access Pass to the Hilltop!
Straight from the Hilltop Studio, join hosts Angie Cooksy and Ben Jedd as they dive into the stories, experiences, and behind-the-scenes moments that make Bradley University one of a kind. From inspiring faculty and passionate students to dedicated staff and standout alumni, we’re bringing you the voices that shape campus life.
Whether you're looking for insider tips, amazing achievements, or just a fun way to connect with Bradley, each 30-minute episode delivers something new, exciting, and totally worth tuning in for.
Hit play and get ready to experience Bradley like never before!
About the hosts: Dr. Angie Cooksy is Vice President of Enrollment Management, Marketing, and Communications at Bradley University and a 2007 graduate.
Ben Jedd is Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Bradley University and a 2001 graduate.
The Bradley University Podcast is produced by Bill Duncan, Director of Hilltop Studio and an affiliate instructor in the music department of the Slane College of Communications and Fine Art.
The Bradley University Podcast
James Shadid, Bradley University’s 13th President
The Bradley University Podcast
Hello and welcome to the Bradley University Podcast. My name is Angie Cooksy.
Ben Jedd:And I am Ben Jedd.
Angie Cooksy:We serve as your hosts. We record live in Hilltop Studios, which is on the lower level of University Hall. I serve as the Vice President for Enrollment Management, Marketing and Communications here at Bradley.
Ben Jedd:And I am the Assistant Vice President for Marketing and Communications.
Angie Cooksy:Which we mostly tell everybody means that we get the coolest jobs at Bradley of getting to tell the stories of campus. And that is really the point of the Bradley University Podcast is to have various people from in and around Bradley and the community come in and share their story and their journey in an opportunity to highlight all of the cool and amazing things that are happening. And so we are very excited to share our guest today. James Shadid is Bradley University's new president and is our guest today. So welcome.
President James Shadid:Well, thank you very much. I'm happy to be here.
Angie Cooksy:So as we get started, we always want to start with a little bit about who you are, what your journey's been, and um everything that's happened to get you to your seat today. So uh I will turn the microphone over to you to get to learn a little bit more about you.
President James Shadid:Okay, well, I would never have imagined that this would be uh could occur. Uh I was certain that when I was young that I was gonna be a major league baseball player and then be in a broadcast booth and and that would be the world I would live in.
Angie Cooksy:I think we have to know what team, though. What was your dream team?
President James Shadid:Well when I was little okay, this is gonna start controversy right away. When I was little as the Cardinals.
Angie Cooksy:Okay.
President James Shadid:And then as I went to law school in Chicago, uh say I turned into kind of turned into a Cub fan. And you know, I know that's not supposed to happen without between Cartels and the Captain. You made the right choice.
Angie Cooksy:I'm a White Sox fan.
President James Shadid:And then and then the Major League Baseball strike uh came along and I just kind of got turned off about baseball. And now I just follow baseball. As a game. It's all good.
Angie Cooksy:I love that.
President James Shadid:Yeah.
Angie Cooksy:So um You thought you were gonna go pro, and then the the table turned.
President James Shadid:The table turned. But I did play baseball here at Bradley. I went to Pure I went to uh Peoria High School, and from Peore High School then to uh Bradley. I don't think there was ever any doubt that I would end up at Bradley. Uh my parents and sp specifically my dad, who was a Peary police officer when I was uh young until I was 17 or 18, uh took my brother and I to a lot of Bradley events, football even then, way back then, uh when we were little, uh baseball when baseball played on campus, and of course Bradley basketball games at the field house. So Bradley's been uh in my DNA for a long, long time.
Angie Cooksy:I love that.
Ben Jedd:So do you know your batting average? It's over 300. I don't know exactly what it is. So uh you have a deep history at Bradley. Um You are going to be one of the architects of the future of Bradley. Uh what should students expect from a shattered administration? What should alumni expect? What should faculty and staff expect from your leadership?
President James Shadid:I I think this that all should expect a very visible and engaged president, somebody who is going to take a deep interest in their the students' on-campus experience and the students' off-campus experience as we connect them to the city, uh the Greater Peoria area. I think the faculty can expect that I'm going to promote the extraordinary work that they do to help us attract uh the students uh that we need to have here. And I think the community and our donors and alums can expect in this visible and engaged uh president uh somebody who's going to reach out with them, uh communicate with them, uh build upon the relationships uh with them, and hopefully they become more and more engaged in the with the university.
Angie Cooksy:As you've been getting started and and you officially start your time as as Bradley's 13th president, um what's something that maybe people don't know about you or or your Bradley experience that you're excited to to get them to know a little bit more about?
President James Shadid:Well, what they don't know about me um and what they don't know about my Bradley experience might be two separate things. Sure. Um the the friends that we hang out with uh think that I'm I go home early. And uh and and uh how else do I say that? Um I just say that what they don't know my as I'm more fun than people think I am. Okay. So I'll say it that way. All right. And we like to have fun. Yeah, and my and my Bradley experience was just a wonderful experience from day one. I can't think of a bad uh day that we had on campus unless I went 0 for 4 or something like that. But otherwise the experience was wonderful. Uh wonderful as a student athlete, wonderful with the collegiality among student athletes. And in those days, and I hope it's the same today, and I intend to find out, the student athletes and the uh student body interacted very well. Um we went to other uh sporting other teams events and they came to our events and we were part of the uh the whole campus and the campus was part of us. The Greek life was sensational when I was here, and I think uh I'd like to um reinvigorate that. So I didn't have any bad experiences uh here really. And uh but I also had great experiences with faculty members and a handful in particular. And I think um as you you know you go through life and you're developing as a young person, uh you don't realize, uh and I think the people that are mentoring you don't realize they're actually mentoring you, but they're role models for you. And I can think of a handful of faculty members that were role models or mentors or counselors or guidance, uh, and they probably don't even realize they're doing, but by the way they conducted themselves, uh they helped me. And I think um in in turn, we need to be that for others when we achieve roles that we can impact young people.
Angie Cooksy:Did you know when you came to Bradley what other than baseball, what what what you wanted to major in, what your plan B was if you didn't go go into the major leagues, or did you kind of learn that along the way?
President James Shadid:No, I started in radio and television. Okay, okay. So I'll be right here with you guys. I'll be right here with you guys. WCBU was on campus then and my freshman year as part of the experiential learning. I was doing news on WCBU in the evenings or whenever, one night a week. I don't remember. But I started in radio and television and then I moved on to political science and criminal justice.
Ben Jedd:I I I also worked at WCBU. It was it was a great experience. So much fun, so much fun. Absolutely. I actually edited tape back then. Oh, like stitching tape together? Yeah, it was.
President James Shadid:Okay. Well, you're a little older than I thought you were too.
Ben Jedd:So we're we're early on in the Shated administration. What are your top three priorities? And what are you excited about for those?
President James Shadid:I'm excited about all of them. My top three priorities are enrollment, uh fundraising, and relationships. And relationships means culture on campus and off, and building upon relationships that we have, bringing people back in that maybe we've disconnected with. Uh and I think all of those things are interrelated.
Ben Jedd:100 percent. Like that that's so exciting, actually, from a marketing standpoint. That's I I always say that my priorities are recruiting new students, keeping existing students, and developing relationships with donors, partners, and friends.
President James Shadid:And and in all of those things, I think that one thing that Bradley, well, there are two things that Bradley have has that I think are unique to any university in the country. And I think universities around this nation would love to have the relationship that our faculty and students and staff have with each other. It is so strong, and it's something for us to promote, tell about, talk about, and use to recruit uh incoming students or prospective students use to recruit prospective parents. And the other thing that we have that I think is unique to the entire country over the course of 128 years now, then since Lydia Moss Bradley founded us as a community. She was part of our community. She was uh part of the community before she found Bradley University. The relationship between Bradley and the Greater Purie community is so strong and so intertwined. And these are two real strengths uh that we can uh use to recruit people.
Angie Cooksy:I love that you talked about Lydia. I think that she's such a big part of the magic of this place and and the way that she founded Bradley and and what her hopes and dreams for it. It's something I think about no lie, literally every day, is that responsibility of being a place where students can find those passions and develop those things and build those relationships. And when you talk about that relationship between Bradley and the community, one of the things you might not even know yet we're working on in the marketing office is a community impact report just to highlight all of the things that happen here on campus that do feed and naturally weave into the remarkable community that is Peoria that we get to be a part of every day. And I think that that's so cool.
President James Shadid:Yeah, it is cool. I appreciate it. I'd be interested in looking at that.
Angie Cooksy:We have a meeting about it later. So I ask this question to everybody all the time. Um, and it usually gets the same response. So we'll see, uh we'll see what you say. Um, the whole goal of of the podcast was to highlight what makes Bradley special. And often when we have people on or we talk about it, they talk about all the other things they talk about, the other people and the stories and the experiences, but rarely do they talk about themselves. And so I like to flip the spotlight a little bit and ask you what are you unapologetically exceptional at?
Ben Jedd:Same respect.
President James Shadid:That's response, yeah. Okay. I without being too serious, I guess, I think I've been uh exceptional. Wow, you weren't um He's blushing, friends. For those who can't see, uh I think I've been a good husband and a good parent. And I think and uh I think we've let our children uh uh re uh achieve their greatness by allowing them to do what they wanted to do. For instance, uh my son Jim is a content writer and he's in a creative uh field. My son Joe went to Berkeley College Music in Boston, makes his life in music, has written music for documentaries and things like that. My daughter, Maggie, our daughter, Jane is my wife, our daughter our she's the mother of all three. Our daughter Maggie is more like me, a little cautious, closer to the vest. She's a lawyer uh in Chicago, but the other two are creative. And I think they are that because they were naturally that, but we also let them be that. So I think uh that's something uh to be proud of. And I also think um in the federal judiciary, which I have the highest uh regard for, it's an institution of integrity and it is the the um the backstop. Uh I use that word today since we're under attack. It's the backstop for protecting the rights that we have in the Constitution. And I think that I was uh actually very good at in that job in uh protecting people's rights uh and giving everybody level playing fields and listening to their stories and listening to them make their cases and uh actually trying to bring them together if I could, and if not, then decide, but decide based on facts that matter and not facts that distract us.
Angie Cooksy:I mean listening to you talk about your role as a judge, I see a lot of overlap with what your role is gonna be as a president.
President James Shadid:And I I believe that. And one of the first people to call me uh to encourage me to look at this was a friend of mine who was a federal judge with me. We were both appointed to a committee by Justice Roberts, and he left that committee and the federal j uh judiciary to be president of his alma mater, Dickinson College, okay, in Pennsylvania. His name is John Jones, and he reached out uh immediately to me and said, Jim, you can't believe how our skills transfer. So you need you should look at this and see if you could convince somebody it's a good idea.
Ben Jedd:And it worked out.
President James Shadid:Look at that. And it worked out.
Angie Cooksy:Do you you may not want to, I don't know. So I'm gonna ask, but it in that, because you're talking about what that path was to the seat that you're talking about. Can you share a little bit about what that decision journey was? Uh you talked a little bit about your family, so I imagine even just the idea of putting your hat in the ring to become president was had to be a family conversation. And then, you know, what what did you go through in becoming going from that decision of yes, I want to do this, to accepting and becoming the 13th president?
President James Shadid:It was clearly a family conversation uh initially, and but I come from a family that has been involved in community service. My father was a police officer and then sheriff and then state senator, and he's uh quite a personality around this community and uh always trying to be impactful. So I learned that from him and my my mother, and so I wanted to remain impactful. Uh I loved the federal judiciary. Uh I'd been there now 14 years. Uh but when this came uh available and discussing with my family and how much I love Bradley and have this Bradley and Peoria DNA that I have. And a lot of people in in addition to John Jones, a lot of people in the community and donors and alums around the country reached out and and uh were supportive. And it was very humbling to have that kind of support. Yeah. So I put my name in the the national search, and I thought at the very least I would give voice to what I think Bradley needs right now, which is a, you know, in part, uh not exclusively, but in part a Bradley and Peoria DNA and an understanding of the issues on campus and off and ability to bring people together. And I thought that voice needed to be heard. The process uh was a wonderful process. Uh Matt Venotkin and Kathy Holst uh from from the board were the co-chairs. I learned a lot during that process. Very early on, I thought I have no chance to get this chance. Okay. But but as the process went on, I felt more comfortable. I think I was making the case that needed to be made. Ultimately I was subjected to six interviews. Wow. And I don't know, you know, I think as the field narrowed, more interviews occurred. And so I don't know how many finalists there were, but I think the finalists all were subjected to a final day of four interviews. So it was an exhaustive and extensive uh process. I'm proud of the university for the way they went about this, and I'm very grateful and and humbled that they selected me.
Angie Cooksy:That's just really cool, I think, to learn about and to know what happened. And I mean, when anybody goes through the process of making a decision, there's so much behind the scenes that happens with the relationships that you have and the community that you're around. And so I really thank you for sharing what that was like for you as you as you get started with us.
Ben Jedd:So thank you so much for joining us. Uh, it is such an honor for us to have the 13th president of Bradley University joining us on the Bradley University podcast.
President James Shadid:And that's a lucky number, I assume.
Ben Jedd:It's actually my lucky number, yeah.
Angie Cooksy:According to Taylor Swift, it is lucky.
Ben Jedd:Oh, and that's done. Yeah.
Angie Cooksy:Um as we wrap up, is there anything that you would like to share with with the Bradley community or incoming students and families, or um anything you'd like to do?
President James Shadid:Well, April 8th, we're having a celebration, an introduction. I'm hopeful that uh in addition to community, there will be a lot of students and and uh and faculty and staff uh present. Uh the only thing I'd like to share uh as we end this is um I do plan to be approachable. I am approachable and visible and engaged, and I'm excited about where Bradley can go, and I'm hopeful that we all can go there as we want together.
Angie Cooksy:Let's go there together. Thank you, President Shad for coming on today, and as always, this is the Bradley University Podcast. Go Braves.
