Rock Valley College has a new face in the President’s Office: former Vice President of Student Services, Howard Spearman. We caught up with him about his journey from his humble beginnings to now being the President of RVC.
Howard Spearman was born and raised in Beloit, WI; just on the other side of the stateline. He attended Aldrich Middle School and Beloit Memorial High School. In his younger days, he did not think about becoming a president, but he would gain knowledge, experiences, and traits that would shape him into the person he is today. He joined several youth groups and programs such as Boys and Girls clubs, and the YMCA, which established a multicultural environment. From those experiences, he was able to apply what he was learning to high school, college, and eventually the workplace.
Photo Credit: Jerry LaBuy
When he attended the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh, a predominantly white institution at the time, Spearman said it was like a “different world” when comparing where he grew up where there was not a distinct “black neighborhood or a white neighborhood,” but rather a multicultural neighborhood.
He earned a Master’s Degree and worked in College Counseling at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh campus and then worked at the Milwaukee campus. While being there, he studied at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee and earned his Doctoral Degree.
You can read our interview with President Spearman below as he talked about his journey to the top position at Rock Valley College, what helped him along the way, and what he hopes the future will hold for him and the college.
Valley Forge: What was it like growing up in Beloit?
“Beloit is a small town. I lived in a diverse community. About 50% of the high school was multicultural. When I grew up, we didn’t have cell phones; if you were blessed enough to have 25, 35 cents on you, you could use the pay phone. You would wake up and leave at 8 o’clock in the morning and not be back until 7 or 7:30 before the streetlights came on. During the time, if you had a bike or a skateboard you would explore all over the town and that was great as long as you came back before the streetlights turned on. That was the type of childhood that I had and I was able to participate in so many extracurricular activities, played various sports, I played the violin, I was in Cubs Scouts, I was in Boys Scouts. I mean I tried so many different extracurricular activities and I grew up in a single parent household so that was my mom’s way of keeping me busy to stay out of trouble. I had an older brother and a younger sister, so I was the middle child. I was usually the one to rise early and take off first, so they got stuck doing all the housework.”
Valley Forge: Did being involved in programs help you develop the traits or experience needed for your career?
“Prior to college, I was a part of Upperbound. It was a TRIO program, a federal funded program focusing on first generation college students, low income college students. The program allowed me to visit different colleges in different places like all public and private colleges in Wisconsin. In my junior year, I went on this HBCU tour (Historical Black College University tour), I was able to visit Central State in Ohio, went to Tennessee State, Alabama State, Alabama A&M. Senior year I went to Howard University, so all of that shaped what my college experience would be like, it helped me get to a point where I was comfortable going to college.”
Valley Forge: Was there a time you did not want to go to college?
“My mom earned her Practical Nursing degree, so there were nights where I would walk downstairs and there she was with her head looking down at her books, with coffee in one hand, and popcorn in the other; completely knocked out. “Ma, ma, wake up, go to bed.” But she persisted, she was able to finish that degree. So as I reflect on that as an adult, it gave me the motivation to continue. It would always come back to me about how she would work, going in and out of the second or third shift, working these doubles, getting home in time to send us off to school. Whenever she wasn’t working doubles, she would take classes and fall asleep in the kitchen. We would be up at 1 a.m. trying to wake her up because we knew the lights were still on. That level of dedication inspired me to keep going and go to college, I didn’t think twice about that. I was in another TRIO program in middle school, for me it started in 7th grade (middle school at that point was 7th, 8th, and 9th), so being involved in these programs got me thinking of going to college. I wasn’t a 4.0 student, but it wasn’t a matter of if I was going or not. I knew I was going.”
Valley Forge: How did you find yourself in Rockford?
Spearman: “I finished my PhD in 2009, and at the time I was still in UW-Milwaukee. At that point in time, I was looking at several positions. I was being interviewed for a different position elsewhere, but I had to drive through Rockford to get there. On the last day, in the last thirty minutes of the interview; I was interviewing for a day and a half. I asked a question, and this person was not prepared for it: someone in the higher administrative level. I asked “What do you plan on doing with the interim person if you were to hire me in a permanent position?” And the would-be hiring supervisor said “You know what? I haven’t really thought about that.” When he said that, I knew I was not going to get the position. It was like “If you haven’t thought that much, either you’re firing that person and hiring me or you already know you’re going to keep that person. If you haven’t really thought about that piece, I don’t really want to work with you because of the lack of vision.” I was upset because I felt like it was a waste of time. So me and my family were driving back and we’re going through Rockford; there is a family friend that lives here so we decided to stop by for the evening, I had not seen him for a while. I did not want to apply for another position that was not meant for me. Then I found out about Rock Valley College, “Wait a minute, there’s a college in this area.” I looked through the website and there was a position for a Manager of Academic and Transfer Advising. I was a Lead Academic Advisor. I had only been applying at 4 year universities, not community colleges, so I figured “Hm…why not?” I applied, nailed the first round interview. When I got the second round interview, I walked into the room and I heard, “Howard Spearman from Beloit?” I looked and I said “Mrs. Winkin?” and she says “Well it’s Diaz now but yes!” It was the Vice President of Student Affairs here at that time who was also my former 9th Grade math teacher in Aldrich Middle School in Beloit, WI. That’s how I got here. When I tell you we make sacrifices to come here, we made sacrifices, but I also felt led to be here and so we made the sacrifices, and now I am the President of Rock Valley College. I didn’t come here planning to be the President, I did have hopes to be one someday and somewhere, but I didn’t think it would be here. So it was divine intervention.”
Valley Forge: How was your experience here at RVC before becoming President?
Spearman: “From the moment I stepped foot onto RVC, I’ve been able to be innovative, started and getting to know new programs, trying different things, partnering with faculty, restructuring academic advising within my first three weeks here. Overall it was great because my job was to change the culture because at the time we were getting a lot of complaints about academic advising, but by the time I left that position we weren’t receiving that many complaints. From 2011 to 2019 I was promoted five times, I held five different positions here. When I left in 2019, I left as the Vice President of Student Services. I went from Manager of Academic Advising, to a director position, to a dean position, I had an Associate VP position, and then a VP position. I just kept seeing new initiatives and kept on being successful and being more engaged with students, staff, and faculty. I was having a lot of fun while doing it, if you caught me at the campus, I would be smiling, laughing. I could be stressed out from a meeting, and once I walk out I would roll the red carpet for a student. Next thing I know it’s 7 o’clock at night, “Oh! I got to get home.” But that’s the way it was for me. I have three boys and the two younger ones don’t know anything but Rock Valley College. As I grew as a professional, they were growing up oncampus; this became home for me. So even though I took a different job in 2019, I still didn’t leave the community. We stayed in the school district because we enjoyed it so much. If you enjoy what you’re doing, you’re not working, you don’t see it as a job. That’s what it felt like. Don’t get me wrong, there were some stressful days, there were some tough late meetings, but all in all I could turn it around because I love what I do here at the campus; working with the students.”
Valley Forge: What do you think is unique about RVC and it’s students?
Spearman: “Well one thing I say is that I didn’t realize how much passion I have for community college student success. I didn’t realize there was a difference, I just thought about student success as a whole no matter where I go. However, when you help a student at a 4 year university, they usually stay within a 60 mile radius from the school. There’s nothing wrong with that; you helped them succeed, they get an internship or a job within that area and they continue to grow. When you help a student at a community college, many times over when they have that success, their household sees that success and experiences that success, their community experiences success. That is because they’re seeing it at home. You get home and you study, you get that certificate, you get that degree, then your sibling, a cousin, or a friend that you hang out with says “Well shoot, if you can do it, can I do it too? How did you do it? How did you get in? I want to do it.” That want for success becomes contagious and I realized it has a strong impact in the community in contrast to someone at a 4 year university. So from there, my passion for it just continued to grow. Now, I go to church, a restaurant, or a grocery and I always see a student. I am advising a student in the middle of the lobby of a restaurant. So it’s really about the community; at a 4 year school, it’s the community at the campus. At a 2 year school, it’s the community at the campus and beyond that. There’s a difference and that’s unique.”
Valley Forge: What are some of the things you’re hoping to accomplish?
Spearman: “The one thing I keep saying is that I want to make sure we keep leading and providing, stay accessible, be exceptionally educational, and create more training opportunities. We’re thinking access, exceptional education, and training opportunities that are more of the non-credit opportunities and we want to be able to do that for a diverse student body and community. We want to make sure we are listening and engaging our community. When students come in, and we want to provide that quality education and continue that quality education that we’re known for. We’re in COVID-19, so we have to continue to find ways for faculty members and the student services staff to continue to provide service to the students in a remote environment in a comfortable way. So you have to be competent with the equipment, with the software, learning platforms so that if we’re competent and comfortable in that space, then the students can be competent and comfortable in that space if we can make sure you’re comfortable there. Then we can take a look at programs, we want to be number one in the region, how does it look like to be number one in the community, across the state, how do we compare nationally? Where are we at when it comes to excellence. We want to look at those areas and say “how can we get there?” We’re going to establish an Advanced Technology Center, and this will help us get accredited courses as well as non-credit courses. We’ll be able to partner with companies in the community and help them develop customized training that will help employees under their roof and go from one level to the next level. This could also help when it comes to promotions. By doing that, you’re more likely to stay in the community and stay with that company. When we work with these companies, our community becomes stronger together. We also gotta look at diversity inclusion, we have to look at the metrics, develop them, speak to people and share that across the campus. These are the dialogues and the transparency we need to have in order to get to where we want to be. As President, you want to listen and as you hear these ideas you gotta envision how to line them up with your focal points, with your strategies and come up with a plan.”
Valley Forge: What has the experience been like now that you are President?
Spearman: “I started September 1st, so officially week three of the Fall semester. So we’re in COVID-19, so there’s been a lot of virtual meetings. I’ve been seeing some of the same folks getting reacquainted or acclimated to campus, but it’s not face to face as much. I miss seeing the students on campus. I would love to come out from a meeting that took two or three hours, walk into the Student Center see people or go into the PEC and shoot around a basketball with a student, especially now since they probably wouldn’t know that I’m the President and then probably at the end of it they would say “Well who are you?” and I would say “Oh, I’m the President. My office is over there if you need anything.” That’s what I love, that’s what I used to do when I was the Vice President, help them with advising, give them any tips and help them gain experience and I tell them to take care, “Well who are you?” “Oh, I’m the Vice President of Student Services.” “Really? I thought you were an advisor?” That’s what I love to do, and I can’t do that during these few weeks. However, I have sat in meetings like the Committee at the Hold, attended a Foundation Board meeting, I have been interviewed ten times since I have accepted the position. So it’s really been about brainstorming, and allowing people to think beyond the perimeters and be innovative and move forward.”
Valley Forge: What does being named President mean to you?
Spearman: “I try my best to not reflect on it too much. It means a lot, I’ve wanted to be a president ever since my graduate student days. I never thought I would be the president at a community college, I wasn’t thinking about community colleges at the time and I certainly didn’t think I would be a president at my age right now. I don’t talk about my age. I am the first Black President of Rock Valley College but I’m also the youngest President hired at Rock Valley College and you can take either one of those and say “That’s a significant achievement.” But being able to see my boys during this time of social unrest, social inequality and equity. I have three Black boys and when they say “Daddy, you’re the President of RVC?” That means so much to me that it’s even hard for me to even speak about it that I try not to. It might sound strange but I try not to stay in that moment because there’s so much work to do, but it means so much to say I’m the President, I don’t take it for granted. I’m blessed to be the President, I just want to be able to make this campus a great place for everybody. I want every student to walk in here and say “Wow, I love this. This is my home away from home.” and you can’t do that without the staff, the faculty, the administration, and the employees that feel that way so that the students can sense that as well.”
Valley Forge: Anything else you would like to say?
Spearman: “The one message I would like to share is that we’re RVC strong. We have been dealing with COVID-19, our community is hurting with the social unrest, we’re dealing with economic issues in the community, we had to deal with a tornado right before the semester started. So I want to say we’re RVC strong, we have dealt with tough times and overcome those tough times in the year 2020 and yet, we were able to open on time, through a pandemic, through a tornado, through all the issues in the community, we were able to make this a safe place for students to enroll for the Fall semester. Hats off to the team. Kudos! This is a place of strength, and we are a pillar of strength for our community, we have been since 1964. If that wasn’t clear for anybody, it should be clear now given what we’ve been able to do in such a short amount of time and turning it around so that we can be available to the students so that they could take the courses successfully and safely. Kudos! We are RVC strong, it comes from a place of strength, positivity, and community.”
