Equity, students guide Michael Godard’s career

SIDNEY LOWRY Managing Editor | @sidney_lowry

Equity and student achievement — the two main facets of higher education that drives one candidate in the search for Northwest’s 11th president. Michael Godard, provost at Southeast Missouri State University, has experience in both faculty positions and administration. He said that has impacted the way he has interpreted positions throughout his career in higher education.

Godard was the third of four presidential candidates to visit campus during the month on Feb. 9, participating in multiple sessions during the day with stakeholder groups and toured campus buildings. He started his education at Castleton University with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science. Then he completed his master’s degree in exercise physiology from Adelphi University and a doctorate in human bioenergetics from Ball State University. After years of schooling, he never ended up leaving higher education.

Godard spent over two decades exclusively teaching before moving to the administrative side of the university, but still is a professor of exercise science at Southeast Missouri State University. He said his teaching background reminds him of what the main goal of a university is in the first place.

“I’ve gotten into higher education to mentor students,” Go- dard said. “… Number one, I understand the challenges and the opportunities that are in front of students, you know, being a first generation college student. But number two, being a faculty member and devoting a you know, the early parts of my career to just teaching and mentoring students. That’s where our focus is. We are here to make sure that you have a successful experience as a student.”

Godard has worked in administration in multiple Missouri universities, starting at the University of Central Missouri and then his current institution of Southeast Missouri State.

He said spending the last decade working on enrollment management and student success within the state will give him an advantage in the presidential position.

“Serving as a provost at a different institution in the state, I think (I have) a firm understanding of what’s needed at an institution like Northwest in Missouri,” he said. “I have those established relationships here, and I’m able to really navigate through potentially what some of those solutions could be when challenges show up for Northwest.”

Being a first generation student himself, Godard said underrepresented groups of students are a big priority. He said having diverse faculty and staff helps make minority groups of students feel comfortable.