Angie Cooksy: 0:13

Welcome back to another episode of the Bradley University Podcast. Ben, I think that's gonna have to be the name.

Ben Jedd: 0:18

I think that's the official name.

Angie Cooksy: 0:19

Yeah, we're gonna go with the Bradley University Podcast. As always, I am your host, one of your hosts, Angie Cooksy.

Ben Jedd: 0:24

And I am your other host, Ben Jedd.

Angie Cooksy: 0:26

And we serve in the role where we get to tell the stories of campus. So my official title is vice president for student or I don't know. My official title, apparently. I'm gonna take Nathan's title, I think, for a second.

Ben Jedd: 0:38

You're gonna be Nathan for a minute there. Uh so Angie is the vice president of enrollment marketing and communications, and I am AVP of Marketing and Communications.

Angie Cooksy: 0:47

Apparently easy for one of us today, not both of us. Um, so let's jump in. We are recording in Hilltop Studios, which is one of the things that I love so much about what our job is on campus, is we get to highlight the people and the places that make this place here that we love so special. Uh so let's jump in with our guest today. Brad McMillan is joining us, who is the coordinator for the Masters in Nonprofit Leadership and the executive director for the Institute for Principal Leadership in Public Service here at Bradley. Um that is a very non-prof uh very Bradley title, Brad. So welcome to the show. Um tell us a little bit about your journey to your seat today.

Brad McMillan: 1:23

Uh thanks, Angie and Ben. Good to be here. Um I've been at Bradley University for 18 years now, which is kind of hard for me to believe. Uh, I originally came uh to be the executive director of the Institute for Principled Leadership and Public Service, which is way too many words. Uh I usually shorten it to Leadership Institute because uh it wears people out. Uh and then 10 years ago, uh University Leadership asked me to additionally uh direct the master in nonprofit leadership program. So everything I'm involved with at the graduate level, undergraduate level is focused on leadership development, either in the public service arena or in the nonprofit sector. And uh I love that uh as those two roles fit me perfectly.

Angie Cooksy: 2:14

I definitely hear that. And I'm gonna talk a little bit about, and this is not in our script. I told you when we started that I go off script, and Ben's just nice to me. So um tomorrow you and I are gonna go do some of that public service, and we're gonna go down to Springfield. Can you talk a little bit about how you see your role on campus helping develop leaders in in all of the different capacities?

Brad McMillan: 2:34

You're gonna have a lot of fun tomorrow.

Angie Cooksy: 2:36

I'm so excited. I cleaned my car for this. I'm very excited. I have teenage boys, like come on here.

Brad McMillan: 2:43

Yeah, this is actually one of the funnest things I get to do every year. Um, so there's an important program that the state funds called the Monetary Assistance Program. There's over 1,300 Bradley students that receive an annual award.

Angie Cooksy: 2:59

Uh you all might know it as the MAP Grant.

Brad McMillan: 3:01

As the MAP grant. It's like $7,500 a year, and these students have financial need. Uh and uh for a lot of them, this is a critical part of them being able to attend Bradley. So what we do is we take students that are MAP grant recipients down to Springfield, not only to advocate for themselves, but to advocate on behalf of all of the Bradley students that receive the grants. And uh we have meetings already scheduled with State Representative Ryan Spain, State Senator Dave Kaylor, State Representative John Gordon Booth, uh, and um State Representative Travis Weaver. Um the Federation of Private Colleges, which Bradley is a member of, uh, is uh hosting the event. Um a lot of people don't realize this, and I love to uh say this fact there's more four-year college students in Illinois that attend private colleges than public. Interesting. Because if you add up Loyola, DePaul, University of Chicago, Northwestern, Bradley, we have 56 schools in our coalition. So when we go down to Springfield, we s we have uh a lot of influence because we're a huge part of higher education in Illinois.

Angie Cooksy: 4:17

That's so cool.

Ben Jedd: 4:18

So um Bradley is a big part of higher education in Illinois, and Bradley has been a big part of your experience and your family's experience. You have a lot of ties here to Bradley. Um, how like what does Bradley mean to you, to your family, to that influence?

Brad McMillan: 4:37

Yeah, I've been two of my four children uh have attended Bradley. I have a son here right now in sports communications, uh, and I'll have dinner with him tomorrow night at the field house. Uh any free meals, you know, when you're in college is is uh you know well received. Um my daughter, who I'm gonna also see this week, um graduated uh with a biochemistry degree, then went on to get her PhD in biochemistry from Wisconsin, and on July 1st, she um starts a tenure-track molecular biology professor job at Colgate University uh in upstate New York, which is one of the top private liberal arts colleges in the country. The the key um thing that distinguishes Bradley University from other colleges is the personal attention that faculty give to students from their freshman year through their senior year. Sarah came here, um, Dr. Christy McQuaid immediately recognized her, asked her to be a teacher's assistant, a research assistant. They collaborated on research articles, created this amazing resume. Sarah got highly recruited by the top biochemistry PhD PhD programs in the country, um, and now she's gonna have this fabulous job. But it was really Dr. McQuaid showing that personal interest in Sarah and developing her that helped create this opportunity. And there's so many stories like that uh at Bradley, uh, but as a parent, you know, it's a great, great thing.

Ben Jedd: 6:21

That's that's so great. And I don't you you just sound so proud. I love that.

Angie Cooksy: 6:26

Well, and so I this always happens on the show is we bring people on to talk about themselves and then they talk about everybody else. But I want to give you some of your own flowers because when you talk about, you know, Dr. McQuaid, I have been on the receiving end. We've had lots of our staff go through the nonprofit leadership program over the years and and get that master's degree. And I have seen you cheer them on and counsel them and be a therapist for them and encourage them. And, you know, people on our team that didn't think they could do a master's or they they weren't ready for it. You have been such a guiding light for them. What gives you that motivation to be that person for for our students?

Brad McMillan: 7:04

Well, I just love my interaction with students. Um, and the one thing that's a common thread with all the students to get in the nonprofit leadership program is they all want to make a positive difference um in their communities at Bradley University and other nonprofit organizations. Uh and uh, you know, I get I not only get to teach, I get to be the advisor uh for all of the students. So I really create a one-on-one relationship with each of them. I am determined to get them across the finish line. One of the uh uh points of pride I have is that since we moved to online in the fall of 2022, we have a ninety-five percent retention rate.

Angie Cooksy: 7:50

That's amazing.

Brad McMillan: 7:51

Which if you know anything about graduate online programs, 95 95%. I'm still shooting for higher, but you know, 95% is pretty good. So uh when they get in the program, they stick with it. And uh we're gonna have uh 14 graduate uh from the program uh in May. I get to hood all of the um master's students, uh, which is a very personal thing for me. I've never missed a graduation. I love to personally hood the master's students.

Ben Jedd: 8:27

That's that's so great. And I think uh the the thing I think that I I really take away from that is that you are so involved in that experience. Um so my question for you uh I I've met with Brad quite a bit talking about the nonprofit leadership masters program, um, and you have great stories about these students. Um, and so talking about how you really look forward to hooding them is is it's wonderful. Can you share a story about a Bradley student that really stands out and tells that Bradley experience?

Brad McMillan: 9:00

Yeah, so Hannah Ramlow uh first met with me before she even applied to the program, and she sat down with me and she says, I have a passion for nonprofits, but my other passion is yoga. And I was like, Okay, I've never heard that combination before, but we'll we'll go with it. Uh so she entered the program, she excelled, this yoga thing would not go away. So I let her do an independent study where she researched hybrid nonprofit yoga studios across the country, came up with a business plan using the Turner Center here on campus, uh, won third place in the big idea competition, but she should have won first place because the panel was all business people. Uh she knocked it out of the park. So she graduated in uh May, I can't remember exactly what year, and three weeks later we cut the ribbon on Soul Side Healing Arts Yoga Studio downtown Peoria, where she provides yoga to organizations, but she takes part of the profits of that and provides free yoga to low-income students and trauma victims. She now has 15 people working for her. It's a wonderful facility. But one of my real passions is helping students connect the dots, figuring out what they're passionate about, and then trying to figure out a way to realize whatever their passion is or dream is. And it's just a unique story. You just wouldn't think, you know, with nonprofit leadership that that's what the result would be. But it's uh it's one of my favorite stories. That's awesome.

Angie Cooksy: 10:40

I I'm just sitting here like thinking, one, I am just in awe because I just really ad admire people that can do yoga because I can't turn my brain off long enough to be good at that.

Brad McMillan: 10:51

I'm not agile enough at all.

Angie Cooksy: 10:53

It's too quiet, like Ben sitting here laughing at me for the time.

Ben Jedd: 10:57

I I do yoga all the time. Do you? No.

Angie Cooksy: 10:59

Okay. Okay. That's a different that's a different conversation for another day. Um, so I'm just looking at our list of questions, and I I want to ask you all of the questions, but I I think I'm gonna start with this one. Um you know, you've been around Bradley for 18 years, you've seen a lot of iterations of things come and go over the last 18 years. What is something that people may or may not know about your role at Bradley? You you wear a couple different hats, you're you're an advisor for students. Um what what don't people know about you?

Brad McMillan: 11:28

Well, before I came to Bradley, I was chief of staff to Congressman Raylahood for 10 years. And so I started January 17, 2007. Uh six months later, President Glasser arrived on the scene, and surprisingly, nobody was representing Bradley's government relations interests either internally or externally. And she learned about my background and asked me to serve as the point person for that for the university. And so I've been doing that for uh all of the presidents since. Uh and that's part of why you know taking students down to Springfield tomorrow, you know, to meet with these legislators uh is a natural uh thing. Um but you know, I I honestly met yesterday with our new president and you know the federal and state issues that that uh we're uh currently confronting are very uh um concerning. And uh so um it's uh you know uh I enjoy that role. It helps me keep my relationships with the elected officials at the federal, state, and local level, which then I can tie into the Leadership Institute and the programs that we're doing here at Bradley. So it's just a natural connecting the dots. It is, yeah.

Angie Cooksy: 12:52

Um I have to say I very much appreciate you in that role because you you just know things before other people know things, and you will send us emails and you're like, just keep an eye out for this, it's coming. And it's just nice to know that somebody's kind of watching out for all of the things that are happening in the world every single day, and um you using those connections for the good of Bradley is is something I really appreciate for you. So thank you.

Brad McMillan: 13:13

Well, thanks. I enjoy it. Um and uh again, I think it's just a natural good fit for me.

Angie Cooksy: 13:20

That's awesome. Do you have any other questions, Brian?

Brad McMillan: 13:23

No, Ben?

Angie Cooksy: 13:24

Um, so our last question, which I ask everybody, and if you've listened to the show then that you know this, um, and everybody gives us the same look and the same response. So we'll see if we get that from you. Uh, we talk a lot about what makes Bradley so special, what makes this place so special. Um, but we want to put you on the spot a little bit and ask, what are you unapologetically exceptional at? That's the face we get from everybody.

Brad McMillan: 13:51

The first thing that jumps out at me is networking. Um everything I do is networking. So networking for the benefit of Bradley students, connecting them to nonprofits, connecting them to jobs, connecting them to internships, networking on behalf of the university with our elected officials, legislators. Uh I like people.

Angie Cooksy: 14:17

That's helpful in the networking. Absolutely.

Brad McMillan: 14:21

And I like connecting people. So I guess collaboration would be kind of another word that would jump out at me, networking and collaboration.

Angie Cooksy: 14:30

That's awesome. At the beginning, before we started, uh Ben asked if we were going to talk about Peoria stuff, which you don't know what that means because we were having some some sidebar conversations. And I was thinking that one of the Peoria things that we could start adding to the show is the best places to eat in Peoria.

Brad McMillan: 14:45

Absolutely.

Angie Cooksy: 14:45

Do you have a favorite place to eat in Peoria, Brad?

Brad McMillan: 14:48

Um I would say my go-to is public house in Peoria Heights.

Angie Cooksy: 14:54

Um I mean anything in the heights.

Brad McMillan: 14:56

Fish and chips. But I I have many.

Angie Cooksy: 15:00

You can come back. You can tell us.

Ben Jedd: 15:01

We have to come back in like 18 months, anyways, because I need to check the retention rates. It's at 95% right now, you said for your class. We want it to be about 96, 97.

Brad McMillan: 15:10

That's a good challenge.

Ben Jedd: 15:12

All right. There you go.

Angie Cooksy: 15:14

Well, thank you.

Ben Jedd: 15:15

Yeah, this has been great. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us, Brad. Absolutely. Thanks.

Angie Cooksy: 15:19

This has been another episode of the Bradley University podcast where we get to interview the best of campus. And if you are listening to the show, you are probably one of those people. So come join us in Hilltop Studios so we can give people an avenue to learn a little bit more about you and your story here at Bradley. Go brain.