This episode delves into the rich history and mission of the Michigan chapter of the American Council on Education's Women's Network, commonly referred to as MI-ACE. We are joined by the esteemed Dr. Kimberly M. Hurns, who provides invaluable insights into her extensive involvement with the organization and the transformative impact it has had on women in higher education throughout the state.

Dr. Kimberly M. Hurns is a higher education professional with over 20 years of experience in community colleges, serving as business faculty, academic dean, and executive. As a first-generation college student, she is deeply passionate about college access and measurable student success. Dr. Hurns currently serves as the Vice Chancellor of Student Services at Oakland Community College and is a former State Chair of MI-ACE, where she has been a strong advocate for empowering women leaders.

Website: Oakland Community College

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Website: MI-ACE at Lansing Community College

Website: MI-ACE Women's Network

Hello and welcome to Leading the Way Women in Higher Education, a podcast dedicated to celebrating, supporting and advancing women in higher education across Michigan. I'm Dr. Cynthia Rooker and I'm so thrilled to kick off this episode today because.

Because we're going to dive into the history and mission of Michigan ACE, the Michigan chapter of the American Council on Education's Women's Network. My guest today is an incredible leader in Higher Education, Dr. Kimberly M. Hurns.

She brings a wealth of experience and insight in today's conversation, and I am so pleased to have her with us. Dr. Hurns, would you mind starting by introducing yourself and sharing a little bit about your background and, and your connection to Michigan ACE?

Okay. Well, I'm so glad to be here. Michigan ACE means so very much to me, I guess I would say, both professionally and personally.

So I currently am the Vice Chancellor for Student Services at Oakland Community College. I've been in that role for about three years now.

And prior to that I was executive Vice President and Vice President of Instruction at Washtenaw Community College. I served as Dean at Washtenaw Community College and started my tenure there as full time business faculty.

Then our college hosted the Women of Color Collaborative Fall Networking Luncheon. And I just got very active in the network, stayed active on the Women of Color Collaborative Committee, and then was asked to join the board.

I've been on the board of Michigan ACE since I am now proud to say I am a Merita board member and I served as state chair for Michigan ACE.

Oh, great. Thank you so much, Dr. Hurns. It is so wonderful to have you here.

So let's go ahead and begin our conversation by looking at the roots of Michigan ACE and how your journey with the organization began.

Can you please share your involvement with Michigan ACE over the years, Provide us just a brief history of the organization and please tell us how its mission has evolved. It's an amazing story of how Michigan ACE started.

You know, there are so many women in the network who are still very active who would be able to dig much deeper into some of the history. But I would say one of the things that's very important from a historical standpoint is Mary Lee Davis, who worked at Michigan State University.

And she was just a trailblazer there in the work and so many things that she touched across the state as well as at Michigan State. She was one of the people who started and nurtured Michigan ACE as a network.

It's evolved from different names in regards to what kind of legislation and policy work was happening across the country. To get more women in executive positions, to have more women support in the field of higher education. And so a lot of that work.

Again, we're very fortunate that Mary Lee Davis is still around.

But even Chris Hammond, a former president of one of the community colleges here in Michigan, very, very active member, she was a student of Mary Lee Davis, I do believe and help push the network forward in regards to the programming that was taking place and the structure of it.

Mary making sure that we had a fiduciary in Grand Valley State who supported the network and actually has been the backbone of many of our structural piece of Michigan ACE Network. And then one of the things that I mentioned earlier on the Women of Color Collaborative, the network has evolved.

We actually have archives at Michigan State University. And some years ago I went and looked at those archives and just to see the programming.

A long time ago, you know, it was a push to teach women how to play golf and just really trying to develop those skills that the network thought were necessary at the time to help propel women. And then we moved forward to the Women of Color Collaborative and that was a brainchild of Lynette Finley.

And one of the things I love to say about Lynette Finley is that she was a mentor and administrator with when I was an undergrad at Eastern Michigan University and has been continued to be a mentor to me. But Lynette Finley started the Women of Color Collaborative because again, there was something missing.

There was something that needed to be amplified a little bit more in the network and that was supporting women of color. And so that has been a big piece of our network.

It's also been what's actually pushed us to be an award winning network with ACE national is that that Women of Color Collaborative that fall networking luncheon and then adding that first day to our state conference. So the Women of Color Collaborative now is the host, the curator of the first day of our two day state conference.

And that also moved the state conference from a one day conference to a two day conference.

So I would say over time the network, as we approach a milestone and celebrating us being one of the more vibrant, consistent networks across the country, it has been responsive. We've made changes and adjustments along the way.

You know, I even think back to during COVID We knew the network was so important because we did not want to cancel the conference during that second year of COVID And what we ended up doing was we figured out right virtually how to host a free virtual conference. And we had record attendance. And again, it was being responsive to the needs of the women in the network.

And so I think over the years, the network has evolved into what the women, the professional women in higher education in Michigan needed. And I know that that's meant a lot, not only to women individually, but to so many careers.

There's so many connections the women have with one another.

As I mentioned, many of the network members who are very active or students of Mary's lead or their dissertation chairs are part of the network, their references for one another and just really coaches and encouraging one another as it relates to us building careers and always thinking about moving that needle in regards to representation of women and leadership in higher education.

Wow. That is certainly amazing. Incredible.

Well, can you please tell us then what inspired the information of the Michigan ACE women's network as to what makes Michigan ACE unique compared to other leadership organizations?

You know, I think the one thing that makes it unique, and this seems so small, but it actually is big, very real. As a board member, you know, and as I said, I've been on the board for a while now.

You know, every year, our annual conference kind of is that feedback loop for us of, you know, what professional development do women need? And that conference agenda every single year is curated by, you know, the previous year survey.

You know, what we're seeing in the environment in regards to what skill sets need to be developed, what things need to be encouraged.

The last few years, we've been really embracing wellness because that work life balance or work life integration has become so important to women and women's health and their longevity in these careers. So I think that what makes it unique is that we want to be responsive to the network. And the network is made up of the women who are in the network.

We have member institutions, but what's most important to us is that we, we are providing the value, the relationships, the encouragement, the motivation that women need at that given time. And I'd say the time that I've been active in a network, the environment has been so dynamic.

Higher ed is changing so much, and those needs change fast.

You know, what might be a webinar in the second part of the year during the fall semester may be something totally different when we come around to our June state conference.

You know, right now there's been a lot like this year, the conference really focused a lot on policy, and policy has always been a big part of the network. But in this past year to 18 months, policy has been at the forefront of so much of our work in higher ed.

So that was something that was highly integrated into the to the state conference this past year. So I think that what makes the network special is that it's responsive.

And the heartbeat of the network is the members, and they are the ones who craft what our agenda is.

Even from a public policy standpoint, when we're looking at public policy, we do a survey from our public policy committee, and they're asking the network what's at the forefront, what do we need to be responding to? And those are things that drive the agenda of the network. And I think that's what's made us very special.

And, you know, of course, always just women in general, Supporting women makes the network, you know, even more special.

Yeah, that's fantastic that the feedback is so powerful, that it does help with developing the program for the following year or throughout the year for other programs and sessions that you have. That's fantastic. So how has Michigan ACE impacted how about, like, the landscape of higher education leadership within the state of Michigan?

Well, one of the things that I think it is impacted that the leadership in Michigan is that, you know, just that skill development.

You know, when you come to a Michigan AC conference or one of our events with our institutional reps, you know, the feeling in the room is just so electric and so motivating and so supportive.

But when it gets down to brass tacks, we're talking about how do we develop skills with budgeting, and we're talking about the things that women need to actually make their resumes more competitive, how do we sit at committees, in hiring committees when we go back to our campuses?

So I think that it's important for us to remember that at the end of the day, which we've never lost focus on, it's about supporting women in their trajectory and building strong careers, because we believe that makes an impact on all of higher education when we have the diversity of women at the table using their voice to impact education.

Especially when we look at the numbers now of how many women are actually partaking in higher education, it's extremely important that we have that diverse voice at the table.

But we also want to make sure that when women are at the table, they can be heard and they're actually going to be successful in the roles that they're in.

When conversations were moving very aggressively in the area of dei, we were on the forefront of making sure that the conference, our webinars, the skills, the conversations were around that topic. As we pulled back, you know, not losing that objective.

We've also had conversations about how do we interpret this policy and how do we make sure that we're being responsive to it, but really focusing on those skills, those experiences. Experiences. You know, our shadow program is, you know, one of the things that we're extremely proud of.

And ACE national does a program, a leadership development program that is extremely intense. And what we want to do was to make sure we could do that on a local level that gave more people access to it.

Because many of the leadership programs and many of the leadership work that happens at a national level may not be something that all women have access to because of the current roles they have.

So our shadow program provides that access at a statewide level, but it still gives the value of that experience, that leadership shadowing, that leadership development that women need.

So again, going back to that resume, they can make sure that they're uplifting the good work that they're doing and being able to highlight that in interviews and resumes and just in their bio of what. So that the impact I think of the network is extreme. And again, as I said before, it's always changing and evolving in ways that women need.

Yes. And supporting women's voice. Exactly what we're doing here today, isn't it, through this podcast. That's fantastic.

So would you like to share a few leadership lessons that you have learned through your work with Michigan ACE that's carried you into your current role at Oakland Community College?

You know what, there's so many. There's so many. But one of the things that I think of most is asking for help. You know, I think that's good.

Yeah, I think that for many, you know, high achieving people, high achieving women, you don't always know to ask for help.

But I also think that when you're in an environment where the culture makes it easy for you to ask for help and help is offered, I think it opens up a two way street and it gives comfort and confidence for people to not feel less than if they are actually asking for help. And just reiterating that we don't do anything alone, you know, our effectiveness.

I would tell anybody, first and foremost, my career as an executive in higher education is a straight line to Michigan ACE. You know, those women have encouraged me, they have vouched for me, they practice interviews, they've read, read cover letters for me.

And there have been some times where I've been very challenged in my transition from one organization to another and just any of the plans that I have in my career, but that ability to make health accessible, and I think that's been extremely important. And the one thing that I think everyone in the network models is that we all pass it forward, you know, we all pay it forward to other folks.

So anybody knows they can come to me and ask for help. If it's someone who just joined the network, this is their first time attending a conference, we want to be accessible.

And I think making that help accessible is something that the network models very well. I'm very proud. The board models that very well.

And I think it brings comfort to, you know, women who are just starting off in their career or women who need to make a transition in their career. But I think that the help part is that, you know, help being something that's appreciated and that brings you joy providing it and seeking it out.

Not something that I think, you know, many people sometimes think of that as, you know, a negative, that you need help.

And so I think for me, that has been something that I really embrace from the network because the help is just so free and so open, and the women have been so different. And I think that's been extremely consistent.

And I know that that's mattered a lot for a lot of the women who at any point in time, all of us in our career are going to need help. And to know that that's available has been a great lesson for me.

Oh, that's fantastic. What a great lesson, asking for help and also paying it forward. Thank you so much. That's fantastic.

Thanks for tuning in to lead Leading the Way women in higher education. To listen to this episode and others, visit lcconnect.com until next time. Keep leading, keep learning, and keep lifting others along the way.