Adam Torres and Roger Thompson discuss leadership in academia.
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Show Notes:
Leadership in the academic community is important to attract new students to leading universities. In this episode, Adam Torres interviewed Roger Thompson, Vice President for Student Services and Enrollment Management at University of Oregon. Explore Roger’s new book, Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success (Business Leaders Vol. 8), where he writes about “The Three Components of Strong Leadership.”
Watch Full Interview:
About Roger Thompson
Dr. Roger J. Thompson is in his thirteenth year at the University of Oregon where he serves as the Vice President for Student Services and Enrollment.
Management. He is responsible for services that contribute to enhancing the student experience, recruitment, retention, and graduation. His portfolio also includes providing continuing and professional education for the community.
A native Oregonian, Thompson earned a bachelor of arts in broadcasting from California State University, Long Beach, a master of science from the University of Central Missouri, and a doctorate in higher education policy and administration from the University of Southern California.
About University Of Oregon
Nestled in the lush Willamette Valley, with an easy drive to both the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade Mountains, the University of Oregon is renowned for its research prowess and commitment to teaching.
The UO is one of just two Pacific Northwest members of the prestigious Association of American Universities, a consortium of 62 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, so today’s a special episode. We’re bringing Roger Thompson back on the show to finally announce our, our, our book has finally been released.
We’ve been working on this for a long time. For those that don’t know, Roger, if you didn’t catch the first episode, he is the vice President for. Services and enrollment management over at the University of Oregon. Roger, welcome back to the show. Hey, it’s great to be back with you, Adam. Happy New Year.
We’re starting. Oh, happy New Year’s and, uh, great New Year. It is, nothing makes me happier than a new book to promote and having an author on the show, so I’m excited to have you back. I was like, I was, we were saying the warmup. I’m like, man, it’s like we’re getting the band back together. I’m excited to hear a little bit more about what’s going on in your year.
Plans for the future. Of course, we’re gonna talk, do a deep dive into the book on this episode and talk more about your writing, but you already know the drill. Start this episode the way that we start them all with our mission matters minute. So, Roger, we at Mission Matters. We amplify stories for entrepreneurs, executives, and experts.
That’s our mission. Roger, what mission matters to you? Well, Adam, I, this is why I always enjoy being with you because mission does matter and the University of Oregon has a mission to you. You know, create graduates that think critically, you know, and, and logically and live ethically and, and do things to make a difference in the world.
And, and, and that mission is something that I identify with. And when I think about my own mission, you know, I wanna develop leaders. I want to. Create a, a better place a a top-notch organization where our people want to be part of our team. and empower people, empower people to be their very best selves and to make a difference in the work that they do, and to impact the students and families that we see in higher education.
So I’m really excited to be with you. You know, mission matters. It’s the, it’s the key element that I think sometime doesn’t get enough attention. And so it’s, it’s just fun to be back with you and excited to talk about this chapter. And yeah, things that I wrote should be fun. So looking forward. . So to get us kicked off, Roger, I, I don’t wanna assume that all our new listeners or our new viewers caught maybe some of the previous work we’ve done together.
So maybe go into your background a little bit and really how you got started in higher education. Sure. I mean, I, I’ve been in higher education over 30 years now, which is kind of surprising to me. But it, but it began, I think because lot. Like, like many people that go to college, I had great mentors. I had people that really believed in the things that I thought were important and encouraged me to pursue my career.
So that that began at the University of Central Missouri and moved on to the University of Southern California. And then I really got into the enrollment piece and I loved connecting with students and families and talking about, A student’s future and what they might want to do. And that led me to the University of Alabama.
And then I had a good time there, eight and a half years, or four football coaches, depending on how you’d like to measure it. and I went to Indiana University and it was a great place. And I’ve been at the University of Oregon for 13 years throughout. I think I’ve always tried to. Empower people, create a, a strong work environment, a place where achievement matters.
You know, we don’t confuse achievement with activity. There’s a difference. And so we’re about achievement and I’ve just been very fortunate. I’ve, I’ve had the chance to meet lots of wonderful people and be mentored by some great leaders, and hopefully I’m, I’m making a difference with my team and, and, uh, enabling some folks to be leaders too.
So that’s, that’s the very quick wrap on, I got into higher education and, and the difference, I’m trying to, Hmm. And, and for your, and throughout your career, one of the, one of the common themes is that you’ve, you’ve been for many of those years really at, at the forefront of admission, of growing the, of bringing the, of growing, and attracting the right students to the universities that you were representing.
Tell me a little bit more about that. Yeah. You know, I, I’ve been very fortunate at each of the places where I’ve been responsible and, and in a, in a senior leadership role, university of Alabama, Indiana, and at Oregon, we’ve done things that have been unprecedented, Adam, we’ve set, we’ve set records at each of those places that had never been broken, and those are universities that have been around for, you know, since the 18 hundreds.
Yeah. We’ve done things that were first in the country. I’m really proud of that, that at all three of those places, we did things that had never been done before. So we’ve always been innovative, trailblazing the, the, the tree. You know, I have a lot of people that refer to it as the Thompson tree. I’m not sure I like that necessarily , but we’ve got a lot of people who’ve worked in our organization that have gone on to be vice presidents at other major universities.
And so the work that our team has done, the, the way that we’ve kind of moved the organization forward, , I think has been innovative. It’s been unprecedented, trailblazing, and it’s been a heck of a lot of fun. And so it’s, it’s really been a, it’s, it’s been terrific and all three of those schools are such great schools.
I loved every one of them. So it’s been a really, really good ride and excited to see what 2023 brings for us, you know? Yeah. But breaking, setting lofty goals and achieving. Oh my gosh. That’s, that’s one of the best things you can do in your life. You know? There’s nothing better. It’s just fantastic. And if we could, if we could put that in a bottle, Adam, and give it to middle school kids.
Mm-hmm. , I’m telling them we wipe out a bunch of problems because it’s, it’s really powerful stuff when you set a big goal and then you accomplish it. What’s one of your, I mean, you’ve been, you know, in a position of leading and, and managing large teams for, for a long time, specifically in the collegiate, you know, atmosphere.
What’s one of your, what’s one of the things that draws you to the collegiate atmospheres and just kinda one of your favorite part about working with the faculty? Yeah, it’s a great question. It gets back to, to the mission. I love the mission of higher education. We, we help young people dream and aspire and imagine a future that sometimes they can’t even define.
Hmm. , that’s a fantastic process to be involved in . And so, so that’s, that drew me, you know, like a lot of people, I say I loved college, I loved my own college experience. So I don’t know, maybe I never wanted to leave Adam. Like I would . I’m still walking around college campuses and still love it. So, but that difference, you know, we, we get to interact at a time.
that’s really transformational for a student, right? That move from high school into college and, and I really believe that, you know, we’ve all heard the story or maybe experienced it ourself of that faculty member or that administrator, that leader that makes a difference in a student’s life. Mm-hmm. and.
Many times you don’t even know when that’s occurring, but it happens often and that’s what keeps you coming back. I’m really proud, you know, a student that I worked with years ago, she’s one of the best students that I ever worked with. One of the best, she’s now the first female United States senator from the state of Alabama.
Katie. Wow. She’s, she’s married now. Katie Brit. She was Katie Boyd when I knew her. She was a university senior. She was amazing. She was such a talented woman. You could see it 20 years ago, and now she’s a United States Senator and I’m really, really proud of her, Adam. But it’s those kinds of differences you can make that mm-hmm.
are not really fun. I love it. It’s a great story and, and and in preparing for this interview, I, I always get nostalgic when I get to talk to you cuz I do associate you with some of my college memories. Even though we obvi, we didn’t go to the same college, we have nothing to do with co but it’s cuz you’re in that environment.
So I feel like for anybody that, you know, had the, you know, the opportunity and the privilege to attend a university, that they, they probably have friends and other things that they keep in contact with. I was talking to good buddy of mine, Adam. Ball who, he’s now actually a, a podcast host on our network as well.
But we, we met like a long, long time ago and, and he was, and I told him about the interview we’re doing and we were reminiscing on college stories. So I feel like anytime amazing. So anytime you get to kind of have that feel, it’s almost like a time machine. You get that shot of energy, that thing you get that maybe permission to dream again.
Think about different things and it’s like when we were, you know, doing our, our college thing and, and we weren’t looking forward to say, okay, like being a podcast host and doing this and doing that, can’t even think about what our quote unquote like career plans were at that time. Right. , right? Yeah. You probably didn’t major in podcast hosts.
I don’t even know they had ’em back then. I dunno. I doubt they did. So I mean, it’s, it’s those kinds of experiences, right? Mm-hmm. . They make such a difference and I, I like to think that’s what I’ve done throughout my career. Yeah. And, and it gets back to it. It’s why I always enjoy being with you, Adam, cuz it gets back to it’s about the mission.
It’s about what are you trying to do, what’s the difference you’re trying to make? And, and so that, That’s been really rewarding throughout my career. So let’s, uh, let’s switch this up a bit and, and Roger, you should not have told me about the Roger Thompson tree. That’s, that’s immortalized, that’s forever now in my mind.
And it will be referenced. And now on , we’ll be throughout all interviews we ever do, I promise. Sorry, but that, that’s, that’s immortalized now, but it wasn’t already. But I wanna, I wanna jump around a bit here and I want, I talk. Dive into the book. So yeah, the three components of strong leadership. So a lot of different, I mean, you have a wide breadth of, of, of experience, of, of roles, of things you’ve done and responsibilities.
Why did you feel it was important to present this topic for, for our latest release? Yeah, thank you for asking. I think leadership’s the. of what makes successful organizations. Right. And, and as a sports fan, I always say, if you don’t believe leadership matters, look at what happens when coaches are changed sometimes.
Mm-hmm. , right? A program can go from not being very successful to being highly successful in a year or two. Leadership matters. And so when I thought about this chapter, for me, I wanted to write about what are the components that make a good leader? What are the things that are important? And, and I talk in the, in the chapter.
You know, the best resource you have is your human resources. And I, I read this from Jack Welch, a former CEO O of General Electric. He wrote in his book that nothing was more important than hiring. I read this probably 20 years ago and when he was c e O at General Electric, a major company. Wow. He would interview mid-managers and people would say, what are you doing?
You’re the c e o. And he’d say, I’m creating the culture. This is what makes a difference in the organization. And so some of those leadership topics, things I’ve, I’ve thought about and studied over the years, that’s what I wanted to convey in the book. And, and, and the idea that, . It’s not just that leadership matters, it’s how do you interact with your team?
How do you build a team? How do you support a team? You know, all those kinds of things are, are what I was trying to get across in the pages, and I, you know, it. , it really does matter. You won’t accomplish anything if you don’t have a good team. And if you don’t have good people with everybody rowing in the same direction, you know, really clear on the purpose and how we’re gonna get things done.
That’s what makes a difference. And so that, that was kind of the goal of, of taking on sort of leadership is the topic. Cause I just, I think it’s the core of what, what makes sex, you know, successful organiz. . Yeah. And one, one thing that I do like about, about what you wrote and how you presented it was that you did add, you added some, you know, very actionable and, and you know, core elements of what some things are that have made a difference in your leadership and leadership style, and really what it’s.
Taken for you to get where you’re at and manage large organizations and as you mentioned prior to, you know, really trailblaze in the university environment at multiple universities over time and do things that be the first and, and do things that hadn’t been done before. So I’m gonna give the audience, I’ll read just a couple of these and just so everybody knows, we’re not gonna go into all of these and that’s intentional.
Why? Because I still need you to buy the book. Okay. We’re, we’re a publisher. So this is, we don’t give it all away, but I, I’ll give you, I’ll give you some of it. So these are some of the, some of the things that Roger talked about in, in the chapter. So, managing time, managing budgets, managing people, communicating clearly and concisely, operating with integrity, showing care and compassion, leading by example, delivering enthusiasm and inspiration, trusting your people.
So I’m gonna pick, you know, one or two of these that I wanna elaborate and kind of dig a little bit deeper in that. Just stick to me, stick with me. And the first one that I want, I wanna kind of delve a little bit deeper into Roger, is really, uh, leading by example. Like, like what has that mean to you and like what has it meant in your career?
Yeah, it’s, it’s, um, I think it’s a really important component to building a high achieving team, right? And so for me as a leader, I always want our team and I lead a pretty big team, 1900 people, over a 200 million budget, and I want every one of our team members to know that I’m not gonna ask them to do anything that I’m unwilling to do myself.
Yeah. And, and so what, leading by example? The, the first one that comes to mind that I was speaking with a group earlier this week and someone brought this up cuz I guess it was more impactful than I even thought. So we, we have an admissions team of recruiters that go out to high schools and meet with students and parents.
And I decided one year that I was gonna visit 150 high. , our team members that are paid to do this full-time typically go to about 60 or 70. Mm-hmm. and, and I’m not really paid to be out visiting high schools. . Yeah. That’s, that’s not my job. But I wanted us to, to be more engaged to sort of up our game a little bit.
And so I thought, well, I, I’m just going to try to double what the, what the average person does. Mm-hmm. and I, I didn’t say a whole lot about it. I just went and did it because I wanted to lead by that example to say, I’m not gonna ask you to do anything that, that I can’t. I’m a vice president. I’m really not paid to be doing this, but you are paid full-time to do it.
So if I can do 150, surely you can do more than 75 and, and I wanted that unfiltered from the people that I was meeting with. I’ll tell you, it changed a culture in that area because I think people realize that when I talked about we’re gonna work hard and we’re gonna play hard and we’re gonna achieve a lot.
Well, I was kind of doing that now. I’ll tell you, Adam, sometimes this can get you in a little bit of trouble. I once had the bright idea that I would work our front. And answer phones for an hour. Oh my gosh, was that a disaster? I didn’t know half of what they were call, so I, of course now that’s a skill , it’s hard business fast.
But the principle of saying I’m here to pitch in and do my part, I think got conveyed. And I, I just think it’s important for leaders to recognize that, uh, you know, a leader with no follow. is just a guy taking a walk. And so you, you’ve gotta, you’ve gotta be able to create followers and an energy and, and so leading by example is really important.
Yeah, I believe. Yeah. I, I mean, I think it’s always interesting when, when someone does this, because what happens a lot of times, and this has just been in my experience and I’ve heard from many other individuals with much larger companies and teams than myself, but is that people are always watching.
like, they’re always watching. They’re sizing you up. They’re kind of like day by day, whether they’re doing it consciously, whether they’re doing it unconsciously, they’re, they’re kind of making that decision every day, whether it’s going to work virtually or in person or get in the car of if they’re on the right path for them.
And if they’re really inspired. And I, I can remember maybe some, some large organizations. For amazing people, amazing things. But at some, at certain points in time, there were at certain intersections. I remember looking at maybe some of our senior leadership, great leaders, but I just looked at them and I was like, you know, did I, did I wanna go on the same path?
Did I, could I see myself wanting to be in their shoes? Like, is that what I wanted? Is that what it looks like? And many of the times, the, the, the leadership style just didn’t match where, what I was looking for. But for leaders that lead by example, I feel like every day is a gut. , it’s a gut check. Like you’re, you’re out there in the, you’re, you know, you’re in the trenches working regardless of like, I love your, your story about, or your example about Jack Welch and even interviewing like mid 11 manager managers for a company that huge unheard of, like, it’s not, not happen there.
Like the Harvard short Schultz, like going into Starbucks is when they were, you know, on that decline way back when and, and like seeing what the customers wanted and going to the frontline like, like who does that? Right. That’s exactly right. And, and I, I think it sets a tone for your organization. And of course people watch I, I’m the, you know, I’m the vice president, I’m the leader of the organization.
What is he doing? What does he just sit in his office and make decisions? Heck no. I’m out there trying to, trying to lead by example, and I think. , you know, part of that creates the participation, the, the feeling that everyone can contribute. I mean, how awful would it be if, if you didn’t know what your role was or you didn’t know how you fit into the bigger picture?
I, I think those are, awful kinds of positions, right? Everybody wants to be part of something bigger. That’s that’s human nature. And, and it’s up to the leader to convey, well, what is the, something bigger that we’re working on? And I’m excited about it. I get fired up. I want to do it every day. Come on, let’s all, let’s all do it.
And so I think that, you know, you mentioned enthusiasm and inspiration. That was one section that I wrote about. , it’s really important. I mean, if you can’t get fired up to go in and do your job as the leader, boy, nobody else is gonna be excited. Yeah. So a another one that I, that I like and we’re gonna, we’re gonna get a little bit more nu nuts and bolts on this one, but managing budgets.
So, especially like you, you mentioned big team, a 1900 plus, 200 million plus budget. So let’s talk to the small business owner for a little while here. So maybe that would be earlier in your career, a little bit of a smaller budget, right? For what, for your, whatever you were stewarding, like, like how, how important are the, the budget, the mechanics, and like really the operations sides side of things, and how does that relate to leadership?
Yeah, it’s a great question. Great question Adam. Budgets in my mind are the financial reflection of your priorities and values, right? Mm-hmm. , I mean, if you don’t, if you don’t spend money, if you, if you just talk about it and you don’t spend money on it, well, it must not be a priority or a value. So I think the budgets are, are a reflection of what your, your priorities and values are, and whether the budget’s a really big one or a small one.
You know, here’s the first tip I’d give to every business owner. I’ve yet to work for a university that thought they had enough. I haven’t met one yet. And, and so every organization, I think, always believes they need more resources, right? But, but the good leader strategically uses their resources in a way to maximize them and to support what their, what their goals and ambitions are.
And so I’m pr you know, 30 years of managing budgets. I’ve never been in deficit. I’ve always, every year we balance, I always kid our, our budget people that for every nickel we receive, I wanna spend a dime. Yeah, but we, but we gotta figure out how to balance it, how to prioritize, how to make sure that.
we’re investing in the things that are important. And it’s, it’s why I come back to that old, it’s actually a, John Wooden, the, the famous coach at U C L, he had a quote that said, you know, don’t confuse activity with achievement. There’s a difference, right? And so I tell my team, you know, if we’re talking about activity, well, a hamster runs on a wheel really fast.
That’s a lot of. But they don’t go anywhere. And, and so it’s about achievement and if you don’t get your budget aligned to the things you wish to accomplish and achieve mm-hmm. , you’re not gonna get there. And so, so to me, as I, as I began this, this answer, it’s really. It’s, it’s the fiscal, you know, manifestation, I guess the, the way you demonstrate your, your priorities and your vision.
So budgets are really important and, uh, and, you know, find ways to leverage, find ways to partner, find ways to take that dollar and extend it. We do that a lot in my organizations. You know, there’s, here’s some federal money to help students. Well, how can we build on that to really impact them even more?
And so it’s one of the most important things a leader can. because it, it demonstrates what’s important to you, how you spend your money. Mm-hmm. . So I want to, I wanna jump around a bit here. So I wanna spend some time also talking about what you’re currently doing present day over at University of Oregon.
So maybe tell us a little bit more about your role and, and some of your initiative. Yeah, we’ve got some exciting things happening. So in 2021, we set a record for the largest, most diverse, most academically prepared freshman class in the history of the university. And they’ve been admitting freshman classes since 1876.
So that was no small feat, but guess what? In 2022, , we broke that record by over 700 students. So from an enrollment standpoint, I’m really proud of our team and, and this year looks like we’re already tracking well ahead of where 2022 was. So that’s really exciting news. We’ve got a big project. This was a vision that.
That I wanted to bring to reality for some time. It’s called our housing transformation project, and what we did was we’re taking down several of the oldest buildings on campus, the oldest residence halls. I, I sort of compare ’em to a DC 10. You know, DC tens used to fly passengers around, but none of us get on a DC 10 anymore.
They were built in the fifties. As were these residence halls, so we’re knocking those down. Eliminates deferred maintenance where we were spending millions of dollars on deferred maintenance and we’re building beautiful structures in their place, which has transformed the eastern part of our campus.
We’ve opened one of the buildings already. It’s. Our most popular residence hall on campus. We took dining to a whole new level. We have what we call Pacific Northwest Marketplace. In there you can get Japanese food, Indian food, Italian food, vegan, vegetarian, what’s the normal things you might find? And we opened a state-of-the-art student welcome center.
The next two buildings in this project, Adam will open this fall, fall 2023. That’s been a huge project, really exciting 220 million project, and it’s about to be completed and it’s just changed a whole section of the campus in a way that. That is even better than what we imagined. So we, we’ve got, you know, we just expanded our university health services, so our team of doctors and nurses and all those folks that take care of 23,000 students have new space, expanded space, nicer space.
We got a lot cooking and, and it’s fun. You know, we’re making a difference, and you can see it in the way that our students and parents view the university every. . Wow. And so you, I mean, amazing to hear, number one. And I, I think about your, your growth overall and, and the numbers that you’re hitting and the increasing enrollment, you know, numbers and how you’re even beating those numbers.
Right. And I think everything, everything that you said, I, I’m sure this. All plays in the mix, but I’m interested to hear like what do you attribute maybe some of the success to when it comes to the, the people side of the equation, whether you be your team, the faculty, just overall, like what do you attribute maybe some of that success in like just as you said, or as I say, achieving uncommon results.
Yeah. Oh, I like the way you put that. You know, I think it always comes down to team. I, I, I like to think I’m a good leader. I know how to surround myself with good team members and, and some of the principles that are important to us as a team, I think are what, what are resulting in the great numbers? I tell our team all the time in higher education, we ask families to entrust us with the most important thing in their life.
Their son or daughter. Not many industries ask that in. In fact, I would argue, The most important question, one or most significant question one person can ask of another to entrust us with, with what matters most to them. Mm-hmm. . And if you start from that foundation, Adam, if you start from that base principle of this is the business that we’re in.
I think it changes the way you look at everything else, and I think it, it develops the interactions that make a difference for us. Right. I probably shouldn’t have said this. All these people are gonna watch your show and now they’re gonna know the secret sauce. But it, but it really is, it’s, it’s that human connection and understanding the important role that we play and our team is fantastic.
You know, I, I had a colleague that I, I hired one of our associate vice presidents not long ago, and it’s really funny because I said to. , I want you to come be part of our team. Mm-hmm. . And I’m gonna give you a blank canvas and all the paints, and all the brushes, everything you need. And I want you to create a masterpiece.
Mm-hmm. . And she looked at me and she said, Roger, that’s really empowering. And I said, yeah, that I, you’re talented. I wanna support you and help you and, and enable you to do that. Long pause. And then she said, . Yeah, but you didn’t ask for a painting, you asked for a masterpiece. . I said, well, yeah, my expectations are high.
But you know, I think we attract people that want to set big goals and achieve ’em. And so it’s been, I mean, I’m really proud of our team, Adam. I, I can’t tell you how proud I am of the, of the leaders in our organization, and I think that’s why so many. get hired to be vice presidents at other major universities and, and go on to do wonderful things.
And so, but yeah, we’re, we’re kind of knocking it out of the park at the moment. Knock on wood. I hope it continues. Oh, oh, I, I, I believe it will. And, and every time we speak, I learn something from you. I mean, not just on leadership, but also on the phrasing. So I love this idea of the masterpiece and the painting and all the, all I usually tell my team is, Hey, just overdeliver, , like your, like, I like your way of saying it’s.
So much more friendly. It’s better. It’s like, oh man, I learned so much from hosting this show and I’m grateful. just over deliver. Ok. Like, that does not sound like . Yeah. Go to the masterpiece thing, Adam. It plays very well. . I’m on it. Noted. And our producer, one of our producers, giant. I know you’re listening to this, so I You’re gonna hear the masterpiece one.
Oh well. Well, Roger, I just have to say, you know, it has been great having you back on the show. I, uh, I, I look forward to continuing to promote the recent release of the book that we created together. And really, I just, it’s getting great reviews, great praise. I know it’s making a difference in the lives of, of our readers and listeners, so I thank you for of course, being part of the book.
And I just wanted to ask, you know, what’s next? What’s next for you? What’s next for the career? I know you got, you got a lot on your horizon. Yeah, there’s a lot going on. We, um, I think what’s next? And let me just say it was a pleasure to be part of your, your book, Adam and uh, please, people out there purchase the book wherever books are sold, it’s available.
Go, go get it. You know, I think next for me, I mentioned the housing transformation project. , we’d like to get that wrapped up. We’re gonna keep setting lofty goals, and we’re gonna keep pushing ourselves to be an ever better organization, and we’ll take a moment to celebrate as we always do the accomplishments.
But I think for me it’s, it’s, uh, how can I be even more impactful? Mm-hmm. , how, how can I take the. You know, the areas that are my responsibility. We’re cutting edge, we’re doing things unprecedented. How can I take that and just be more impactful in new and different ways? And that’s, that’s kind of a goal for me in 2023.
And I, I’m excited to see what that looks like. I don’t entirely know, but I know we’ve got a good team and, and we’ll continue to make a difference. And, and thank you so much for, for having me on. It’s always great to see you too. Well, thank you. And if, uh, somebody is watching this and listening to this and they want to learn more and just to follow your journey and what’s going on at the university, I mean, what’s the best way for them to do that?
Oh gosh. I’d say check out LinkedIn. You’ll find me there. I’m on, I’m on Twitter. I still can’t believe I say that, but my team got me on Twitter and uh, good job team out there. Get ’em on Twitter. Get me. People need to hear, go ahead. Sorry. . No, I, I, uh, so those, those two places for sure, they can hit us up and, and of course they can always go to our.
Our website at the University of Oregon, ssem dot u oregon.edu and there’s lots of information out there about who we are and what we’re doing. So any of those places, please let me know if I can ever be helpful to your, your listeners and the readers and all the rest. Wonderful. And we’ll put all that information in the show notes so that everybody can just check it out, click on the links.
And speaking of the. If this is your first time with Mission Matters or engaging with an episode or listening to one, we’re all about bringing out business owners, entrepreneurs, executives, and experts, and having them share their mission, the reason behind their mission, really why they do what they do.
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And Roger, again, really been a pleasure. Look forward to the next time we get to work to a guy, thanks again for coming on. Yeah, thank you, Adam. Great to be with you.