Shaping the Future of Learning: An Introduction to Dr. Jordan Barkley
"Yo, what it is? You know what it is? It's your man King Musa! Welcome to The CheatSheet, the podcast where we decode success for creators, professors, and business owners." In this episode of The CheatSheet, King Musa delves into the heart of academia at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA), exploring leadership, innovation, and the future of learning with one of the institution's top minds. We are honored to be joined by Dr. Jordan Barkley, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at SFA.
Dr. Barkley plays a pivotal role in shaping the academic vision of the university, overseeing everything from curriculum development and faculty support to student outcomes. With 26 years in education, including experience as a middle school teacher and various leadership roles in higher education, Dr. Barkley brings a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective to SFA. He sees himself as the "chief advocate" for faculty, staff, and students, working to ensure that SFA continues to be a "beacon" for accessible and impactful education. Join us as Dr. Barkley shares his journey, his vision for academic excellence, and how he plans to proactively address challenges and foster a supportive environment for the entire SFA community.
Getting to Know Dr. Barkley
King Musa: “Hey, Musa. Thanks for the invite. I'm excited to know more about you. My question is, you've seen the campus so far. I've seen you on multiple tours, right? What has caught your attention about SFA so far?”
Dr. Barkley: “I think one of my favorite things about being here on campus is just the environment. This is my 26th year in education. My favorite campuses have always been the ones with historic buildings and very pretty landscaping. But what matters the most to me and what my wife and I found most exciting when we came here for a tour was the number of students who were moving around on campus. You don't see that everywhere. I've worked on campuses where it's kind of like a ghost town. So pulling into campus and parking outside the Austin building and just kind of feeling things out, I thought, I can work here. The students are excited to be here and be on campus.”
Can you introduce yourself and what you do here at SFA?
“Sure. So as you said, I’m Jordan Barkley, the newest Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs here at SFA. Lots of people ask me, what does that mean? What does the provost do? Because my start was in public education, I taught middle school. Oftentimes I’ll explain, in a public school, you have a principal and then a vice principal, and then you have teachers and counselors. So if you think of the president on this campus as the principal, then I'm in one of the support roles. My job is to make it easier for the president to do his job by taking care of the academic enterprise. When people say, but what is that? I say, really, I was hired to be the chief advocate for faculty, staff, students, and everything they need for the academic part. He’s the dean of the deans. If the deans had to go to somebody, he’s the last person in charge.”
Background and Passions
Where are you from, family life? Did your parents do all of this? And how many siblings do you have?
“I am originally from North Alabama. That's why when people talk to me about the heat and humidity here in Nacogdoches, I say, no, it's fine. I grew up soaking wet and sweaty every day in Alabama and love pine trees, have been around pine trees my whole life. This is the most Alabama-feeling part of Texas I’ve lived in. I grew up in a relatively small town in Limestone County, Alabama, out in the country. I went to school at Auburn University, where I met my wife, Susan. We’ve been married almost 25 years; we celebrated our 24th anniversary in May. We have two sons, who are in Stephenville, Texas, at Tarleton State University. Our oldest, Harrison, is finishing his degree in elementary education, and our youngest, Jack, is working on a pre-med degree. He wants to go to med school here in Texas.”
Were your parents teachers?
“No. I have one great aunt who was a teacher. Other than that, I was the only teacher at the time in our family. My dad did not go to college. My mom was actually in college while I was in college, and she finished when my brother did. So I don't think first-gen, I'm just sort of at the same time-gen. We were figuring it out together. I was always encouraged to go to school, go to college. To tell you the truth, I wanted to leave home. I moved four and a half hours away for school. That's where I met my wife. We've just been kind of floating all over the U.S. since then.”
As far as your hobbies, you’re not doing any of this stuff, right? What do you like to do for fun? What are your interests? What are your hobbies?
“I'm kind of a true crime junkie. I’m one of those crazy people who can actually fall asleep to Investigative Discovery or Forensic Files. I think it’s my background in social science research that always has me inquiring. My wife and I are both avid readers. We love books, music, television. I'm pretty musical; I've helped to lead worship at a church for quite a bit. I played piano when I was younger. So that, and then just working out at the house. I love to be outside. I love to, we bought a house here that doesn't need a lot of renovations, but we have a list of projects for me to do. That's kind of what I do to decompress.”
The Journey to SFA
Bring me through your journey from the middle school job, how you got into higher education with Jacksonville State, and then the Dean roles, and eventually coming to SFA.
“I started my career in education in 2000 as a seventh-grade English, civics, and geography teacher, after graduating from Auburn University. I loved every bit of that. When I retire, I intend to go back into the middle school classroom and teach for a while. While teaching, I had a series of clinical teachers from Auburn University rotating through. I realized I loved teaching because it allows you to impact about 120 kids every year. But if I wanted to impact even more, if I worked with the teachers who were coming in to learn to teach, then I would impact that small group who then goes out and impacts everybody else. So I finished my PhD in reading and took my first faculty job at Jacksonville State University, where I was hired in secondary education to prepare teachers to teach language arts and also taught in their reading specialist program. Funny story: I told them when they hired me, I’ll do anything you want me to do; I just don't want to deal with assessment. The first class I was asked to teach was educational assessment. And before I left, I ended up being the associate dean, who was largely responsible for accreditation, which is mostly assessment outcomes. So I learned really early on not to say what you don't want to do because you end up doing exactly that. My advice to all classroom teachers is don’t say you don't want to coach because they’ll throw you out on a field and ask you to coach something.”
“I worked in Alabama a total of 14 years—nine in higher ed and five in the middle school classroom. I came home from work one day and told my wife, ‘I think we’re supposed to move. I want to show our two sons that when you want to do something, you should be brave enough to do it and not let your place be the limiting factor.’ I had a college student who wanted to major in marine biology, but Northeast Alabama is not a mecca for marine biology, so she changed her major because of where she lived. I came home that day and said, ‘I don’t want to do that.’ So I didn't apply for a lot of jobs. I applied for a job in Texas, at Tarleton, and got the call to be their dean for the College of Ed. I spent five years in the Dean role at Tarleton, leading great people, working alongside fantastic faculty, and seeing tremendous student growth. After five years, I got a call from the provost, who asked me to come to the provost office and be the associate provost and work on accreditation for the university, not just the college. So I did three years in the provost office. My provost retired, and I left Tarleton at the same time. That's how I got to Colorado for three years at the University of Northern Colorado, where I was Vice Provost for Academic Resources and Faculty Affairs. It was the first time in my life I had four actual seasons and had to have winter clothes. We were just ready to get back home; we missed the tone and tenor of Southern hospitality and Southern food. Last year, a search firm reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, are you interested in being a provost at SFA?’ I said no, because I wasn't looking to move. They called again, and after talking to my wife and my sons, I decided to apply. It snowballed from there. When I came to campus, I called my boys and said, ‘This just feels like home.’ Susan was here with me during the interview, and she said, ‘Oh, yeah, it's super familiar. It's exactly what we had been looking for.’ So it really does feel like coming home.”
Vision, Challenges, and Success
What is your vision for being the provost and for academic curriculum and all of that?
“My philosophy on leadership in academics is the best leaders are the best advocates. My job is to find a way to say yes. There is an infinite number of asks of me every day, every semester, every academic year, but a finite amount of dollars. My job is not just to pass out money, but to encourage people to get together to think about how we can best leverage those dollars and meet the needs of our students. My vision for academics at SFA is for it to continue being the best it possibly can be for students. I love what regional institutions like SFA can do. I am a product of a regional institution. Without one being in my hometown and without college-educated parents, I don't know that I would have thought college was a natural thing for me. I see SFA as a beacon. We're here as this flashing light signaling to people all around us: 'You can come here. We have the Purple Promise. We have fantastic financial aid packages. We have other scholarships and awards that we can help you make this your reality if that's what you want to do.' I don't think everyone has to go to college, and I don't think everyone has to follow the same career path. I do think it's my job to make it possible if that's what someone wants to do.”
What are some challenges you've experienced before that you're looking to navigate through as you're starting this new role at SFA, especially with the recent changes?
The beauty of my career is that the last few years, I’ve been in a support role to the provost, or supporting the president. Now I'm in the role, surrounded by people who are in support roles to me. So I’m very aware of the work that has to be done in what I call ‘the weeds.’ I’ve spent the better part of my career in the weeds, with my head down, trying to solve problems and advocate for resources. Now I’m that person, but I feel like my extensive experience in the weeds uniquely qualifies and prepares me to be the leader for academic affairs. I’m not ever going to ask someone to do something that I haven't done myself or wouldn't be willing to do. My job is not to sit behind a desk and tell people what to do. My job is to encourage people to think, to rally people together, and sometimes to stand on the balcony and look down to figure out what parts and pieces other people can't see. When you take that 35,000-foot view, you can come back to your group and say, ‘I think we have some bigger issues; I think we have some systemic issues we need to work on.’ That’s how I plan to approach the provost role. In terms of challenges here, you mentioned leadership transitions. I've yet to be on a campus where that's not the reality. I'm totally fine with that. While I’d love to say I’ve been at SFA for 25 years to have that institutional memory, I don’t. So my job is to leverage that in the employees around me who do. I see the value of the people who've lived this experience here at SFA. The transition, what some people might call turmoil, doesn't worry me because there are tons of good people here who've weathered that and who can help me be successful.”
What are some success stories or innovations that you are looking to implement for SFA?
A broad stroke answer would be, I could choose to focus on small, isolated things, or I could think larger. The reality for this institution, and any institution in the U.S. right now, is we are recruiting students who did not have the same high school experience that we did and who will not have the same college experience. So the real challenge is to figure out how to meet this group of students where they are. If supporting students means offering them the same thing that was offered to you, that’s not going to work. For example, when I went to university, maybe they had a tutoring center, I don't know. I was fortunate enough not to need one. Do I think students now benefit greatly from tutoring, from the AARC? Absolutely. Do I think we should make services like that more robust, push them out to students, and constantly remind them through advising and faculty conversations that those resources are there and there's no stigma attached to them? It's how you be successful. For me, transforming education is not so much about the bright, shiny things that might attract people. It's about being honest with students about what they need, and I will be honest about the best way I think we can get that. If you will allow us to help you, we will do that; that is our job. I try to be proactive. I don't like for things to blow up in my face and then we have to problem solve. I can problem solve; I've been called a fixer. But I would much rather put solutions to potential problems in front of students instead of saying, ‘Come to me when you have a problem.’ Let's just avoid the problems if I can. An example: as Dean of the College of Ed at Tarleton, we spent a lot of time talking about teachers having to pass certification exams. Instead of sending students out to fail and then remediating them, we built a better curriculum that actually prepares them to pass these tests. We’re not teaching to the test, but we’re using the test to help inform the content we're delivering. That's how I like to operate: to anticipate problems and be proactive versus constantly knee-jerk reacting. You’re going to find out that we have all the right pieces; we just need the puzzle makers to put them together. And I think you have the puzzle masters already here. It’s just about someone to put all of them together and arrange how we leverage these resources and do the best that we can. Someone who can listen.”
What are some things to kind of reassure faculty that as Dr. Barkley is here, he's here for them, and things they can kind of look forward to?
My sons like to give me a hard time because when I was Dean, I did drag them to most everything we did as a family that was on campus. The running joke was, ‘Oh, Dad, is the People’s Dean.’ That is what I think an academic leader is supposed to do. What I hope faculty will see is a provost or an academic leader who reaches out, who wants to meet them where they also are, and hear from them. Tell me what resources you need. Tell me what struggles you're having. But also, tell me what's working really well so that I can ensure that we continue doing it. It's not always just about problem solving. My administrative assistant and I are going to schedule meetings with every academic program on this campus throughout this first year to hear from them, figure out what's been working, what's not working, what they see. I don't feel like I was hired to cast a vision by myself for the institution. I feel like I was hired to talk to everyone in the division, build consensus, and then put forward a vision that represents what the majority of the people in this college want to do. I'm convinced that what we'll find here at SFA is a group of faculty who are absolutely dedicated to what they do. They love what they do. They might get frustrated from time to time, but at the end of the day, they really care about the students and they want what they're doing to make a difference and to matter. And my job is to figure out how to resource them as best as possible and connect them to other resources and degree programs so that we are the best versions of ourselves for you all as students.”
You are Mr. Grades in every other form, right? But I don't think grades is the only way that success is defined. How would you define success?
First of all, thank goodness grades are not the only way success is defined because I made a C in personal fitness and lots of history classes. And I don't think those were accurate representations of my knowledge. I think they were accurate representations of how much effort I wanted to put into the class at that time. Grades are necessary. I'm a firm believer in constant assessment, and giving feedback to students is the only way for a student to grow. And one of the biggest pieces of feedback is a grade. What I’m more concerned about is that we're not setting an environment where students don't know how they're doing until they get a grade. If we're assessing constantly, early and often, then students won't be surprised by the grade that shows up on their transcript. They’ll understand it, and in most situations, they’ll own it. I earned the C in personal fitness because I just wasn't willing to do all the stuff they wanted me to do. I think the amount of effort that a student puts into something is an indicator of growth and knowledge, the time that they spend doing that, and then also applicability. You could earn a D in a class. Ideally, that's not great, and it's going to hurt your GPA. What I'm really concerned about, though, is when the class is over, can you take the material and can you apply it? Sometimes the B that you earn is the A that someone else earned. If you put me today in a calculus class, my C would probably be some other person's A. It is an accurate representation of me doing my dead-level best to master that. And that's okay, because at the end of the class, I would hope that even with my C, I was able to apply the principles of calculus and make it work for me. So that's really, to me, that's way more important than just a letter grade. Grades come and go. It's just about applying what you learn.”
What advice would you give to students coming up this fall semester: incoming students, seniors who need to finish out, and those who are just trucking through and heading through the journey?
“I think the best piece of advice I can give is it doesn't matter who you are, where you are, what you're doing, whether you're in college, your first job, the end of your career, mid-career, whatever. You are always going to encounter people who tell you no. People who are not interested in your success, people who are more interested in their own. Sometimes you do encounter people who are more interested in what they can get out of you than what you can get out of yourself. I have a little reminder permanently inked on my body that says, ‘Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.’ It's a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote. It’s a constant reminder to me that even when things feel daunting and overwhelming and when you feel like life has dealt you a miserably bad hand, you can always find a way to excel in that situation. You can always find a way to be happy, to sing, to do whatever it is that you need to do. That's what I tell students. You are 100% in control of whether or not you give up. And at the end of the day, if you can say that you did the best that you absolutely could do and you're satisfied with that, you're good. I would love for everyone to leave here with a 4.0. I would love for everyone to leave here with honors, but really what I want is for everyone to leave here having earned a degree that they feel like was worth it, that they feel like positions them to make a difference in the world. So I would say my advice to everybody is to just persist. Persist. Persist, persist, especially when you feel like the world is telling you not to.”
Closing Remarks
Is there anything else you want to shout out, let us know, or just kind of give us an inside about before we go?
“I just, again, I'm going to say thank you for this opportunity. One of the things that I've loved about SFA is people have not been afraid to reach out and say, ‘Can we talk to you? Can we get to know you? Can we meet you?’ Susan and I are super invested in inserting ourselves into the community, not just here at SFA, but also in Nacogdoches. So I would say, if you're curious about what a provost does, or you want to come check it out, feel free to email me, or stop by the office. I'm over in the Austin building. That’s really exciting.”
King Musa: “Well, thank you, Dr. Barkley, for joining us today and giving us the behind-the-scenes look at how academics at SFA are growing and evolving. It's inspiring to know that our university is in the hands of people who truly care about student success. Thank you. To our listeners, stay focused, ask questions, and take advantage of the resources around you. You’re listening to The CheatSheet with your host, King Musa. Subscribe and follow us on social media. Stay connected for more conversations and to help us. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and keep thriving. I'll see y’all later!”
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