Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of North Shore
Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
EP #53 - Dr. Kellie Bean: Breaking Educational Barriers & Championing Affordable Education
What if higher education could unlock opportunities for everyone, regardless of their background? Join us as we explore this possibility with Dr. Kellie Bean, the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Boston Architectural College. Dr. Kellie shares her inspiring journey from an English literature major to a prominent leader in higher education. Her passion for opening doors for underserved students resonates throughout the conversation as she sheds light on the unique mission of her college. Discover how Boston Architectural College commits to affordable, accessible design education, fostering a diverse environment for those who might not traditionally see themselves in the field.
We challenge the myths of higher education by examining the transformative power of access institutions. Dr. Kellie dispels the notion that a quality education is exclusive to elite schools, arguing instead that profound learning experiences exist within institutions dedicated to inclusivity. Her career, which began in Appalachia, is a testament to the impact education can have not just on individuals, but entire communities. Tune in to capture Dr. Kellie’s infectious enthusiasm for empowering all students through education and learn how Boston Architectural College is championing diversity in architecture and design.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Yvonne Godfrey.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today we have the distinct pleasure to have with us our listeners, Dr Kelly Bean. She is the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs for the Boston Architectural College. Dr Kelly, how are you today? I'm very well, thank you. Thanks for having me. Oh, we're so excited to have you on the program. Can you tell our listeners more about Boston Architectural College?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're a small sort of boutique school. We have about 700 students enrolled and another 100 or 150 in continuing education classes. We are located in Newberry Street, 320, newberry, and with a small urban campus that serves the area and also international students. We have a small residential population who reside in shared residence halls that we lease from other institutions, and our mission is to serve underserved students who might not ordinarily imagine themselves to be designers or architects. It can be a difficult, it can be a high bar to get into an architecture school or to study design, not least of which is the cost. So we work very hard to keep the cost down and to recruit populations who might not otherwise imagine themselves to be in this institution. So we're a minority serving institution, we're a Hispanic serving institution. Last two years in a row we had majority minority graduating classes for commencement, so we're very proud of that. So we're trying to move opportunity into the professions of architecture and design.
Speaker 2:I love that. Giving all students hope and opportunities. I love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 3:We have a really great team in financial aid and recruitment who are very dedicated to the mission. I'm really proud to be part of this school. Thank you, dr Kelly. How did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:I never wanted to do anything else. I went to Ohio State, go Bucs as an undergrad and declared my major as a sophomore, an English professor or an English literature major, and just fell in love with the campus. So if I was, I was never going to leave the campus. So when I was 19, I decided I was going to become a professor and I just blazed through. I just got my undergrad, my master's degree, my PhD, got a tenure track job and all I've ever done is be a professional academic since I was 19.
Speaker 3:So I loved being a teacher and I did it for about 20 years and became very interested in how the business of teaching took place on a campus and started moving into administrative roles, was an associate dean, then a dean, then an associate provost and now been a provost at a few schools. And so I just am in love with higher ed and the possibilities it opens up for underserved populations. My entire career has been. It started in Appalachia, so I started serving the rural core and that's seeing how education can transform individual lives and also communities, got me hooked on service part of higher education and education in general.
Speaker 2:It's a blessing when you get the vision at such an early age and you're able to walk that journey and enjoy every step that you take.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when you have passion your whole life. I mean I'm 61 and I'm probably more passionate than I was 20 years ago. It's just, it's it. I am absolutely blessed to have found it.
Speaker 2:Love it, love it, love it. That's the goal to try and get the vision at an early age so you can enjoy the journey. Yeah, yeah. So, dr Kelly, I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 3:No, I just said for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, dr Kelly, what are some myths or misconception that you've discovered in your journey or in this role?
Speaker 3:Some myths about higher education include things like the more elite sounding the name of a school or the harder a school is to get into, the better in education, the better educated you will be on the other side, and that that higher education, that institutions, are not sort of more equal than that. I've worked at lots of schools and I went, and I went to elite schools to get my PhD, and when I started teaching in these rural schools and schools that serve the underserved populations and don't cost what and are not hard to get into right they're access institutions, they're basically 100% admissions I worked with really smart, really committed, amazing, passionate people who had every bit as much to offer the world. We might've had different levels of resources, but my experience is that when you are in a college, you will find genius people who love what they do, no matter what sort of level or category of school. So just abusing folks that your local community college isn't gonna give you as much. You're not gonna go there because you wish you could go to an elite school, but you no go. There are people in there with so much to offer and they're so anxious to give it to you, and so they're passionate.
Speaker 3:So that's really important, that you not judge a book by its cover in education. The other is that education is about indoctrinating people and that higher ed is either super conservative or super liberal. It's just full of ordinary people with a wide variety of points of view on the world. The primary difference is that folks who have advanced degrees have become very comfortable in exploring uncomfortable ideas, and that can feel to folks who aren't used to it like we're forcing something, when what we're trying to do is create habits of mind that make you more comfortable with the world, because the world might make you uncomfortable. So that myth is also important, that it's not one or the other. It's wildly varied, just like the world is.
Speaker 2:I can see the vision as well. That was a nice picture that you painted, thank you, thank you. So, outside of work, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:What do you do for fun? Well, I read, which sounds like the work that I do. My passions are reading. I go to museums. I absolutely love to be out in the world and being in Boston makes it really easy. Every weekend I walk, maybe 10, 15 miles total. Just leave my apartment and walk and just see where I end up, just to be in the world and in new places and meet new people. Those are the kinds of things I really like to do. I write poetry Anything nerds do I do. I also go to the. You know I go to the gym, but I just like to be in the world and experience it. I just like to be in the world and experience it.
Speaker 2:That's what the world is for, to be experienced, absolutely. So let's change gears. Can you describe one hardship or one of life's challenge that you rose above and can now say because of it, you're better and stronger?
Speaker 3:What comes to your mind? Two things. One is I raised my children alone. I'm a single mom. I became a single mother when my kids were two and five and that taught me a lot about grit which is an overused term but it's real and it taught me that I can figure things out. And when things are difficult, there are two people in the world who need me to be okay, and mostly you are. Even when things are really hard, you're mostly okay Because you got a roof and you got your kids and everybody's sleeping in a bed. So it taught me to understand that, yeah, it was hard and it didn't feel fair, but my own situation was fairer than a lot of others. The other was I lost a job I really, really liked and wanted. It just didn't work out.
Speaker 3:18 months in, I was let go and it took me 10 months to get another job and this is in higher ed. I had been a provost at a small school 10 years ago and it took me so long to get another job. And what that taught me also was not only humility, but that you'll be okay. It's hard, things are so hard, but if you learn from them and one of the things I learned was how to talk about myself, how to write a better letter, how to make my resume or what we call in higher ed CV more attractive. It helped me be less shy about asking for help, and now I do that. On the side, I have a consultancy where I help women in higher ed trying to move from work from place to place or who've been let go, and that experience changed changed my ability to help other people.
Speaker 2:Beautiful, beautiful. I can envision what it is that you're saying. You have to go through some roughage in order for you to really look at the picture and say you know what. I give thanks still because I have a roof over my head, I have food on my table, my kids are fed, they have warm beds. So, looking at the positive side versus the negative side, everything works together for the good. It's just a matter of time.
Speaker 3:Right, and my experience too is that I'm a kinder person on the other side of both of those experiences than I might otherwise have been.
Speaker 2:Beautiful, beautiful. That's the ultimate yeah. So, dr Kelly, can you please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Boston Architectural College?
Speaker 3:Oh, there's so many things, but you are welcome here. That's what you should remember. You are welcome here, come to the school, learn really interesting things that will blow your mind about the built environment and the spaces you spend time in, and you are welcome here to come and make a difference in the world.
Speaker 2:Beautiful, beautiful, everyone's welcome. Yeah, how can our listeners learn more about Boston Architectural College? How can our listeners learn more about Boston?
Speaker 3:Architectural College. Well, you can follow the president, mahesh Das, d-a-a-s. Dr Das, on LinkedIn. He is a prolific poster and he puts lots of really interesting content up there. Or you can go to our website, which is the-b-a-cedu.
Speaker 2:Short enough, beautiful Dr. Short enough, beautiful Dr. Kelly, I really appreciate you being on the show with us today and we wish you and Boston Architectural College all the very best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you for the invitation. I had a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPNorthshorecom. That's GNPNorthshorecom, or call 857-703-9406.