UHCL Presidential Candidate Ira Blake wants to help students navigate the job market

Ira Blake, the third of four candidates chosen by the UHCL Presidential Search Committee, introduced herself to students and faculty at her open forum April 11. She spoke about her background and qualifications before taking questions from the audience.

Blake is currently the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. She has also been a member and host of numerous leadership assignments for Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.

Blake holds a doctorate in developmental psychology from Columbia University.

A first-generation college student born in Arkansas, Blake is the fifth of nine siblings whose parents were cotton sharecroppers. Blake’s father instilled in her the importance of practice, which she said has allowed her to be more prepared and patient when trying to achieve her goals.

Blake cites UHCL’s standard of excellence in graduate programs as a factor that attracted her to the university.

“Your graduate programs inform the faculty on how to deliver curriculum to the undergraduate programs so that you will be more successful if you pursue advanced study,” Blake said. “I like that the faculty here are already doing things that take you into the real world, like internships and giving you hands-on advice in class, in terms of the knowledge and skills that they are teaching you.”

Blake is a believer in healthy shared governance between professors and administrators, saying that professors’ opinions are of the utmost importance because they are the ones who directly impact students’ lives.

“Faculty coming into the governance process bring their expertise on the discipline that they teach and how to connect students to what is going on in the real world,” Blake said. “They are at the heart of keeping the institution operating because students will often go to them first.”

Blake also talked about challenges that she can foresee if she becomes president.

“The biggest challenge is getting more alumni engaged at the university because they are able to create the networks that students need to get opportunities,” Blake said. “The alums can help the students have a better experience because they are currently out on the job market and they know what is going on and how things are changing. Regional universities typically don’t have alums who give back, and the biggest reason is that we just don’t ask.”

Blake also spoke about the importance of making the university’s brand more notable, which she hopes will lead to increased enrollment.

“I think UHCL has an incredible opportunity, one that most universities do not, to brand itself meaningfully for the changes that it is making in terms of its downward expansion in becoming a four-year university.”

You can share your feedback on Ira Blake with the search committee by completing a feedback survey form. Additional information on the presidential search can be found here.

Lawrence Dreyfus will be the final candidate to hold an open forum April 25.

Also published on Medium.