The Bradley University Podcast

Angie and Ben Interview Each Other

• Bradley University • Season 1 • Episode 1

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The Bradley University Podcast

Angie Cooksy:

Welcome to the Bradley University Podcast. My name is Angie Cooksy.

Ben Jedd:

And I am Ben Jedd.

Angie Cooksy:

And we are your hosts of this new endeavor as we look to try to find ways to share the stories and the humans and the people and really all of the amazing cool things that are happening on campus, which is honestly my favorite part of my job. I serve as the vice president for enrollment management, marketing and communications.

Ben Jedd:

And I am the assistant vice president for marketing and communications at Bradley.

Angie Cooksy:

On today's episode, we wanted to give you a little bit of a background of how we got here, what we're doing, and set the landscape for where we're hoping to go with the podcast. First and foremost, if you have a better name for it than the Bradley University Podcast, uh let us know because we are open to uh all ideas.

Ben Jedd:

Anything more original than the Bradley University Podcast.

Angie Cooksy:

Um, but we if you've not been down to the Hilltop Studios in University Hall, uh lovingly known as U-Hall, we are recording live in the studios down there. And Hilltop Studios is just yet another one of those things on campus that our students and our faculty and our staff have access to that maybe doesn't get a lot of attention or publicity, but is one of the key features that makes a Bradley experience unique because our families and our students have this opportunity to personalize their experience and say, I want to record a jam session with my friends and I'm gonna do that in Hilltop Studios, or I want to build a podcast. And so we reached out and said, Hey, can we do this here? And the team over in Hilltop Studios was like, Yes, absolutely. And I think that's so much for me what makes Bradley a place that I'm proud to be a part of, is because Hilltop Studios is just one of so many stories that are like that on campus.

Ben Jedd:

You can make it your own. Whatever you want Bradley to be, it can be.

Angie Cooksy:

Yes. So on that note, Ben, let's talk a little bit about what your own has looked like for Bradley. How did you get to the seat that you're sitting in today?

Ben Jedd:

Um, so how did I get to the seat I was sitting in today? I think it probably started, Angie, in the summer of 1995 when I went to speech camp at Bradley University.

Angie Cooksy:

Okay.

Ben Jedd:

Did you know I went to speech camp at Bradley University? I didn't, but did you know that I met my wife at speech camp at Bradley University?

Angie Cooksy:

In 1995?

Ben Jedd:

I think maybe. Yeah, I think so.

Angie Cooksy:

Okay. We have lots of time on this podcast today, so I'm gonna need all of the stories.

Ben Jedd:

So yeah. Um Yeah, I mean, so yeah, that that was how I got here. Um fell in love with the speech team, came here, did speech in college, um, loved every second of being at Bradley. Um, and then went and went on to grad school, got jobs, stayed kind of in higher ed, and um luckily about nine months ago, got a gig as AVP of marketing and communications at Bradley, and it's awesome.

Angie Cooksy:

I am just trying to imagine Ben Jed in 1995.

Ben Jedd:

I was 5'2.

Angie Cooksy:

You were okay. So we're the same height now. Um, but when you came to speech, so you were in high school?

Ben Jedd:

I was I was uh sophomore junior in high school, yeah.

Angie Cooksy:

Okay. Who did you think that kid was gonna turn into?

Ben Jedd:

Oh, I don't know. You know, I honestly I think at that point, um, I thought that kid was gonna be like a radio host somewhere.

Angie Cooksy:

We are making that happen for you right now.

Ben Jedd:

We are living my dream right now. Uh yeah, no, that was really and and like I'm I mean, that's when you know people used radios. Yeah. So that was that was a different time. Uh but yeah, no, I mean it was uh it was that I I would say that was the biggest thing. I I loved speaking to people and talking to people and telling stories, and so kind of what I do now.

Angie Cooksy:

What was your I think you might have said this, but going back, what was your major when you were on campus?

Ben Jedd:

Uh I was a speech communications major. Okay. So no longer a major here at Bradley. Yeah. But that's okay. I learned great things and I was able to take it and use it, and it's been wonderful.

Angie Cooksy:

Well, and I think that says so much about who we are as a campus, right? Like we evolve as a campus, but the fundamentals of speech communication still exist on our campus. Every student here takes a speech class.

Ben Jedd:

Absolutely.

Angie Cooksy:

Like, I think that's that's amazing. Um, what was your sort of best Bradley memory? Or maybe it's starting now. I don't know.

Ben Jedd:

Yeah, you know, I I assumed you were gonna ask me that question. Um, and I don't really like I have so many great Bradley memories. Yeah. And so um honestly, one of my favorite Bradley memories is still as a speech camper, and that was this kid named Apooh was throwing water balloons out of Geysert Hall at Speech Camp. And I clearly still remember that to this day. Is that something we're gonna have to cut?

Angie Cooksy:

I no, I think we should leave it in because just the authenticity of it is great. Um, but I think it also highlights like the magic of college and the magic of these moments and speech camp and and all those things, it's it's the little details in the middle, right? It's the things you don't expect to remember.

Ben Jedd:

Like when you and I think this is pretty universal for everybody with like the college experience. I miss hanging out with my college friends. Right. Like if you're like, what do you miss most about Bradley? And and then when we get together, it's just like 25 years has not passed, you know? So I mean that's what I miss most.

Angie Cooksy:

100%.

Ben Jedd:

Yeah.

Angie Cooksy:

We have a group, a group chat of all of my college events, and it's the best.

Ben Jedd:

It's the best. Yeah. Yeah. So I uh I still often text with I mean, I'll I'll yeah. I mean, go to basketball games, do everything, hang out with those guys still. So it's great. Um how about you? What got you to Bradley?

Angie Cooksy:

So Bradley, a lot of people have heard this story if they've ever seen heard me speak at a visit day. Uh, but Bradley was actually the last school that I visited, and I did a lot of things that I thought I was supposed to do in my college search. I went to a big suburban high school, and all of my friends were going to big, big 10 type colleges and universities. And so I applied to a lot of those because that's just what I thought I was supposed to do. Um, and I think about that a lot because so much of this, you know, the work I do depends on the decision-making skills of 17 and 18-year-olds. And um, thinking about that moment and trying to figure out what I was supposed to do was really pivotal, I think, in in the experience. Um, Bradley was the last school I visited. It was the only school that I did by myself with one of my parents. Um, I'm the oldest of six kids. And so we do a lot of things all together because there's just a lot of humans. A lot of people. Um, and you know, there's nothing more or less enjoyable than doing your college visit uh with a five-year-old. That's the the lifespan difference between me and my youngest brother. So I graduated high school and he graduated kindergarten at the at the same time. And so I remember visiting Bradley and having this experience where I was on tour with one other student. They were a communications major as well. And our tour guide was like, hey, we're just gonna go into the communications building. It's not part of our tour normally, but you're both communications majors. Let's go on the go over there. And we went in and Dr. Gullifer was either going between class or from a meeting, or I don't know what his his deal was. Maybe it was planned. I have no idea. It felt very spontaneous.

Ben Jedd:

Cue Dr. Gullifer.

Angie Cooksy:

Right, like, and he stopped and talked to us, and it was really the first moment, especially having visited so many big institutions, um, where I felt seen as part of the community and felt like, oh my gosh, somebody cares that I came today. Like that was such a uh an awe-stopping moment for me. Um, and then I chose to attend Bradley, and a lot of those same things that you were talking about were what was magical for my experience. It's those little moments. Um, I too met my husband here. Uh, and so we met on the balcony of the old Sigma Kai house. Um, so if you remember the old Sigma Kai house, um at a I can hear the music playing. Right, right. It's like something like Bradley Hall. Yeah. Um, and so we met there at an exchange between uh his fraternity and my sorority, and um, I remember that night going home to to my sorority house and sitting in the kitchen making nachos with with my roommates and saying, Hey, you know, I met this guy. I think I think maybe like he'd be kind of cool to hang out with. And they were like, who is it? So I said, Oh, I thought I don't know, I think his name is Miles, and they were like, Nope, absolutely not. Apparently, Miles had made himself quite the reputation as a first year student here on campus. Um, and you know, I I didn't listen, and Miles and I kept hanging out, and you know, 20, 21 years later, like we've built this whole life together, and it's one of those things where you just don't know what the future holds as you're trying to make decisions at 16 and 17.

Ben Jedd:

And you knew each other when you guys were kids.

Angie Cooksy:

We're babies.

Ben Jedd:

Yeah, like it's so weird.

Angie Cooksy:

I mean, you met your I mean, literally, yeah, yeah.

Ben Jedd:

You were 14. 15, yeah.

Angie Cooksy:

No, so yeah, you just don't know though. Like people come into your world and and change it in a moment, and you don't realize that that's happening in that moment until you look back and you're like, oh, yeah, that was that was pretty cool.

Ben Jedd:

And so kind of a weird thing is so Angie and I did not know each other before we started working together.

Angie Cooksy:

That is correct.

Ben Jedd:

But my brother-in-law was your husband's pledge dad?

Angie Cooksy:

Yeah, something like that.

Ben Jedd:

Something like that. Like totally random.

Angie Cooksy:

Very so your brother-in-law went to college with us. You're a little bit older than us, so we didn't overlap. But um, the Bradley network is a real thing. Like everyone knows someone who went to Bradley, and then I think when you start to have those conversations, that six degrees of separation becomes less than that really quickly.

Ben Jedd:

Pretty small, pretty small. Uh so what do you love about your job?

Angie Cooksy:

I don't know that people always believe me. Um, but I genuinely think that I have the best job on campus. Um, I get to hear people's stories, I get to tell those stories. Um I get to be the person that showcases in a lot of ways what is amazing about this institution, whether that's the work that we're doing in marketing, about how we're building out the website or what goes into printed materials or where we're taking pictures and how we're taking pictures, to what the tours look like on campus, or or how we think through, how we talk about this place. And there's so many different aspects. I think in a lot of ways, the coolest part of my job is that it is different every 30 minutes. Um, every meeting I go to is uh is 180 degrees different than the meeting before that. So it's super interesting. Um, I would say there's no two days that are the same, but I mean there's no two hours really that are necessarily the same. Um, I've been told I have a lot of energy, and so I think you have to have a lot of energy to be in a job like this because it is it's fast and it's going at full speed kind of all of the time. But you can find really cool things in those moments, even when you're moving really fast. And I think that keeps me engaged in a way that if I wasn't doing something like that, I think I'd be really bored. Yeah.

Ben Jedd:

That makes sense. That makes sense.

Angie Cooksy:

So, yeah, what about you?

Ben Jedd:

Um, I think I'd fight you that I have the best job because not everyone I knew this is where you were gonna go. But no, I mean I didn't even when I planned that question, I didn't even plan to go this direction. But uh not everybody's asking me how enrollment's going. So I I get to do the fun part of telling the story. And I mean, and so I do marketing to market to college students. It is so much fun. And then, like, to be able to do it here at Bradley, a place that I love, a place that I grew up at, is just I I mean, it's it is wonderful. It is wonderful to be here and to be able to tell these stories and just to tell the great things that our faculty are doing, that our students are doing, and to be able to tell those stories to the world and get those out there and really promote Bradley in a way that I think it hasn't been like those stories have not been told in a while. Right. And and it's nice to be able to get them out there again.

Angie Cooksy:

Well, on that note, I would love you to tell some of the things that we're doing over in the marketing office. So obviously the podcast is new.

Ben Jedd:

Podcast is new, brand new podcast.

Angie Cooksy:

We are trying to figure this out. Um, our only listeners might be our spouses. We're not sure yet. So we hope that other people listen. Yeah, that's probably true. Um you know, but we want to provide an avenue for people on campus to just hear about their friends and hear about the colleagues that they've known so long. But there's a lot of other things that we have in play. You mentioned there's just things we haven't done on campus in a really long time. So you want to talk a little bit about some of those things that are coming?

Ben Jedd:

Sure. Um, so I think a big one is we're currently working on a new website. Yeah. And so we're looking to launch a new website early this summer, um, after graduation. Basically, um, whole new website, new code, new backend, new look and feel. Um, we're really excited about it. Um, it's moving very fast. Um, I think that what we have in the next four months when we launch is gonna be it'll it'll be a lot different in six months, and it'll be a lot different in 12 months. So um I think that it's really exciting though, because so Marketing and Communications Office has literally looked at, touched every page of the website that currently exists.

Angie Cooksy:

Which for the record is over 5,000 pages.

Ben Jedd:

Over 5,000 pages. Uh there are actually like I think three different psychology department pages. I mean, there's just a lot of things that that's like just broken. And so um I think there's some really great stuff that we can do there and really make it focused. I I think when you're talking about a website, it's there's so many different audiences, right? Right. So, like, number one audience for us is new students, right? We want when people come here that they are like, oh my gosh, Bradley is as awesome as you say it is. And so I I think that's number one. But then I mean, we have an internal audience of our faculty staff and existing students, they need to find the things they need to do. Right. Um, and like one of the things we just talked about the other day, there's like six different calendars that are online, and so we want to bring everything into one central calendar. So if you want to go watch a choir concert, or if you want to go to a women's softball game, like you can find out when where all those are at the same spot. Um, so that's that's one. Um, other things that we're doing is uh we're really actively trying to market and brand and message Bradley. Really, if you think about like 300 miles around campus, we're trying to just get the Bradley story out, do digital advertising, do traditional advertising, really just get the message that we're out there and the great things that we're doing and how we are unique and how you will have a unique experience here at Bradley.

Angie Cooksy:

I was telling a group of people last week that especially as an enrollment professional, but certainly as a marketing professional as well, um, in the college space, I don't want to be anybody's best kept secret. Like that's been that's not really helpful in the enrollment space if people don't know about you. And so that that commitment to brand awareness, I think is then tangentially connected to our enrollment and you know, what's next for the university. And when people see things, you know, just the way that you were talking about your Bradley experience, you know, somebody sees a Bradley license plate holder or they see a Bradley billboard, they text their friends and they're like, Oh my gosh, I saw I saw this and I thought of you. And you know, then that person's like, Oh my gosh, my neighbor's niece is looking at Bradley, and suddenly again the circles of influence and then the connections back to campus become really, really small, and it's just really cool.

Ben Jedd:

Yeah, no, I I think I think it really is, and I think that Bradley Athletics has done a great job of telling its story.

Angie Cooksy:

Absolutely.

Ben Jedd:

And I really want to focus on how do we tell the great things that our academic departments are doing? How do we tell the great things that our student orgs and activities are doing and really get I mean, there are just awesome things taking place, and it's being able to get that information out to those 16, 17-year-olds that need to know about it and their parents and their families. And so trying to do that.

Angie Cooksy:

And you mentioned all of those kind of cool things. I don't know if you're running into this. I feel like I'm running into this a lot across campuses. I get to talk to people. People on this campus do not realize how awesome and amazing the work that they're doing is.

Ben Jedd:

Absolutely, 100%. Like, I mean, there's such um every department, right? Every department. Like there's always cool things. And I think the hardest thing, and it's it's I'm sure it's the same with enrollment, but the hardest thing from a marketing and com standpoint is we don't know what we don't know.

Angie Cooksy:

Right.

Ben Jedd:

And so a lot of times we'll be like, we'll hear from people saying, like, oh, why didn't you talk about this? And we're like, we didn't know that existed. You know, and so it's trying to get out there and letting people know they they should tell us anything that's going on, and we will try to tell that story, right?

Angie Cooksy:

Well, I think uh a good segue of that is what we're trying to do with the community impact report.

Ben Jedd:

Yep.

Angie Cooksy:

Um and showcase there are so much volunteerism that's happening on this campus, and there is so much research that is happening on this campus, and there is just time and time again an example of example, but people are like, oh, it's just this small thing. But the cumulative effect of all of that at Bradley and then in our campus community is really profound. And I think the idea and the heart behind the community impact report is to just encapsulate all of that into one place and really talk about the power of the community that we have here on campus.

Ben Jedd:

Yeah, I think that's something that we're really trying to do is we're trying to tell the stories that are happening, but we're trying to tell them in diverse ways, right? Like, so whether it's in a report, whether it's on social media, whether it's just going to different departments, different areas, and actually talking about things. Um I think that being able to tell the different things that our campus is doing is really great. And I I think it also helps, like when we talk about a community impact report. It Peoria is a huge part of Bradley or the Peoria area, right? And so um we need to be good stewards of that relationship as well. And so I I think that's something that we're trying to we're kind we're very conscientious of when we're we're we're doing different things throughout uh this space. So I I think it's exciting. So question for you. You've been with Bradley a long time. Yeah. What excites you about Bradley's future?

Angie Cooksy:

Oh, that's a great question. I get most excited when I think about the potential of who is here. I and maybe that doesn't make sense if you don't live in my brain, which is fine. Um so what I mean by that is as we are changing as an institution and as we are doing that internal work to think about how we're serving our students and how we're serving each other professionally and how we're serving the community, um, we are also making really good changes. To make sure that we're serving the landscape of 2025 so that we're positioned to be here in 2045 and 2145 and you know, whatever those those things are. I think that's what's exciting to me is the willingness of campus and the willingness of partners across across all of the aspects of the university to do that internal refle reflection to say, like, this is where the future of Bradley could look like if we're willing to make some some jumps to get there. And and not all of those have been easy and not all of those have, you know, landed with perfect grace and you know, a top 10 landing in in the gymnastics world. But I think it's the the effort of going in and like, let's try some stuff. Let's, let's, if you ever come over to the admissions office, you will know that one of the sayings that we say over there is like, let's just throw some stuff at the wall and like see and see what sticks. And that's how we've created new programs in the admissions office. And, you know, during COVID, we created our under the stars event where people couldn't be next to each other. We couldn't have events indoors, but we knew how important visiting this place is to the search process. So we created an entire visit day that happened outside. And it's things like that and examples like that that we're seeing all across campus that make me really excited for the future at Bradley.

Ben Jedd:

Yeah, I uh often will talk to um folks uh in the marketing area just about how we have to like I want them to share all of their ideas, yeah, and like some of them are gonna be bad ideas.

Angie Cooksy:

And like I and I want a bad idea can turn into like somebody else is like, okay, well we wait a second, but like think through and then it's become something awesome.

Ben Jedd:

Absolutely.

Angie Cooksy:

But I think every idea doesn't have to go into fruition though.

Ben Jedd:

No, and I want people to be like, no, Ben, that's that's a terrible idea.

Angie Cooksy:

I said that to somebody in our office last week, because I or yesterday, I think I said I said something and they were like, Yes, that's great, Angie. And I was like, people can tell me no. Like, not all my ideas are good. Like I just talk a lot.

Ben Jedd:

I tell you no, plenty, don't you? You do.

Angie Cooksy:

Um no, and I I do get told told to, but I think it's again creating a culture of like, let's just throw things out there, let's talk through it, let's have some new ideas.

Ben Jedd:

And if you're go like you're going to have bad ideas if you're gonna try to get new ideas, right? Like, and so you have to be willing to have a space that people feel safe to share that information to. So all right. So I'm gonna ask you a question that I know you ask everybody else. What do you think you do that you are unapologetically great at?

Angie Cooksy:

See, that's not easy to say. It's not easy to say.

Ben Jedd:

That's why I usually don't say it.

Angie Cooksy:

No. Um I I believe of myself that I do create space for ideas and innovation. And, you know, that requires, I think, as a leader, being willing to fail and letting other people see that and being willing to champion somebody's idea that isn't your idea and be like, that is a way better idea. Like, let's do what that person said. And so um, I hope that other people see that. And, you know, I I work really hard to make sure that in the teams that we're building and in in the the rooms that I'm in, I try to make space for other people to be part of those conversations or invite other people into conversations because I just genuinely believe we do things better when we have the right people at the table. And so um I think I'm pretty good at that.

Ben Jedd:

Yeah, no, you're you're great at that. Can I ask really quick? I didn't ask you, what what did 18-year-old Angie want to do when she first came to Bradley?

Angie Cooksy:

Yeah, I was a public relations major. Um I really wanted to do nonprofit event planning. Um, in fourth grade, we did a fundraiser to save the manatees. I mean, if that's not super millennial of me, I don't know what is, but um I remember how that go, by the way. I there's still manatees, so I think it's fine. Um but we did like a fundraiser and something, and then we like sent something to Florida to sponsor manatee or something. But I remember sort of the power of that, like bringing people together around a good cause and unifying and like raising those funds. Um, being something that was even in fourth grade, like this is really cool. Um, and so when I came to college, part of the reason I came to Bradley is because we had a public relations major and most other places had like a mass communications major or something like that. And I like the idea of public relations, and so I thought I was gonna do nonprofit event planning. I worked at children's hospital in the foundation office while I was here. Um, I I did some other things sort of in that space and volunteering space on campus. And then um, when I graduated, it was 2007, and that was really the start of sort of the economy shifting. And while it hadn't fully made that shift yet, one of the first sort of indicators is in the nonprofit space. Like they're usually an early flag of like something's changing. And um, the hospital is a great place to work, and they were they were super generous, and they were like, you can definitely stay in as an intern. We just don't know if there's gonna be a spot for you to even apply for. Um, and this is before you could stay on your parents' insurance until you were 26. So I was like, okay, thank you, love that. Um, but I need you know, yeah, to be a smart adult human. Um, and Nathan Thomas actually had reached out to me and said, hey, the admissions office is a like hiring a number of admission counselors, which is very typical in this space. You know, as admission counselors, we typically hire young professionals and and grow them and then they move on. Uh, and so he's like, You did a lot of things at Bradley. You didn't work in admissions, but you kind of did everything else. You should apply. Um, and I applied and I got hired in 2007 and um have been connected in some way to campus pretty much ever since then.

Ben Jedd:

That's awesome. Yeah, that's great.

Angie Cooksy:

It's it's been a journey for sure. And um, you know, my boys were so funny, they wear their Bradley gear and you know, talk about getting I I remember the first time they met Kaboom and you know, all of these so sweet.

Ben Jedd:

You know, right? Like we have lots of family pictures with Lydia.

Angie Cooksy:

With Lydia, yes. Um, and you know, even just Lydia, like getting to stand on stage and tell Lydia's story and then also tell people about the traditions that we see on campus where, and I don't know if if you all around campus know this, but so many of our students on their first visit to campus or on move-in day, they take a picture with Lydia's statue and then they do it again at graduation in their cap and gown. And one of the things that you and I get to see in our work with the alumni, they also come back and if they, you know, maybe married their spouse that they met at Bradley, they come back and take a picture when they're married with Lydia, or they bring their kids back and take a picture with Lydia. And it's sort of this lined connection through from 17 to 77 that we see in photo evidence. And I think that's something that's really pretty special here.

Ben Jedd:

Yeah. No, that's exciting.

Angie Cooksy:

Yeah. Um, so I think that probably is enough of us talking about ourselves for a while. For a long, long time. Um, this podcast is for this campus. It is for you, the faculty member who somehow found it and are listening to it and you're not really sure what's happening. Um, it is for our staff and our students to be able to hear and learn about the faculty and the people that they get to to you know engage with every single day. Um, it's for the parents of our future students who want to know who's gonna take care of my kid when when I drop them off um, you know, every year in August. And so as we move forward and as we put this together, we're gonna work on getting a better name. It might not change, but you know, we're gonna work on that.

Ben Jedd:

I'll try.

Angie Cooksy:

Um but we want to invite the campus community to be a part of this journey. And I don't know if there's anything you'd like to add to that.

Ben Jedd:

No, I mean I think if you have a story that you want to talk about, reach out to Angie or I and we'd love to talk to you.

Angie Cooksy:

Yeah. So with that from Hilltop Studios, this is the first official episode of the Bradley University Podcast. Um it's hard to say. It's I'm just out of words today. Um, it is the first official episode of the Bradley University Podcast from uh Angie and Ben. Go Bradley.

Ben Jedd:

Thank you.

Head Shot

Angie Cooksy

Host
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Ben Jedd

Host