For this episode, we interview Dr. Brian Noland, the President of East Tennessee State University (ETSU). ETSU is a rural university serving the states of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. ETSU is located in a mountainous area of the country and has a strong presence in these states. ETSU has a strong education program for developing Rural Southeast United States teachers. We discussed the future of rural communities and how graduates from ETSU support these communities. Dr Noland believes that relationships are an important part of advocacy for raising awareness of the unique challenges within mountain communities. Dr. Noland believes in making a presence in these rural areas to serve this relationship focus. We discussed the importance of humility in making these relationships and meeting students and teachers where they are. We discuss some of the biggest challenges in education in the rural south. We talk about raising attainment levels. We discussed changing the perception of higher education in rural areas. For example, higher education wastes time and money indoctrinating students, and students will be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Dr. Noland discusses the challenges of this narrative in helping students make the right decision for them. With all the available student funding through programs such as Tennessee Promise, students can attend college with little to no debt. One of the biggest challenges is this false narrative about college. Higher education empowers students to have greater earning power in the marketplace. ETSU is an economic driver of innovation and job creation in the rural south. ETSU is a teaching school and a medical science school. Many local residents connect with medical and educational professionals trained at ETSU. In other words, many residents connect with ETSU in many ways. We end the episode by discussing the role of ETSU Elevates, where students build a community partnership with organizations. The goal is to build student/community engagement to solve community challenges and to give back to small towns by working with community partners and meeting needs as identified by those partners. Dr. Noland shared that he and his team want students to dream big and actualize their dreams. Dr. Noland’s Bio Since 2012, Dr. Brian Noland has served as the ninth president of East Tennessee State University. Before that, he led the development and implementation of higher education policy in Tennessee and West Virginia. Dr. Noland’s Socials X (formally Twitter): https://x.com/ETSUPrez Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/etsuprez/ -LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-noland-etsu/ ETSU is part of Four the Future, a statewide initiative to showcase the value of a four-year degree for Tennesseans. Learn more at fourthefuturetn.com. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FourTheFutureTN/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/four-the-future-tn/ ETSU’s Socials X (formally Twitter): https://x.com/etsu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/etsu/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/east-tennessee-state-university Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/easttennesseestateuniversity/ This episode is sponsored by My Credential at https://www.mycredential.com/