Matt Harmon: Recorded live on May 6th, 2026 from the studios of WMCX on the campus of Monmouth University. This is episode number seven of our monthly podcast series, Monmouth Matters, with an inside perspective from university president, Dr. Patrick Lahey. This is faculty member, Matt Harmon, thanking you for your continued support and for listening. Enjoy the latest episode. Nick: Broadcasting live from the second floor of the Jewels L Plan Jeer Center for communication on the campus of Monmouth University. This is 88.9 WMCX. It's time for our monthly look around campus in our featured podcast series. This is Monmouth Matters with a firsthand perspective from university president, Dr. Patrick Lahey, joined by a two-time alum and longtime faculty member, Dr. Matthew Harmon. Matt Harmon: I feel like that intro hit a little bit different this morning. We got the levels figured out. It's taken the entire part of the year, but we've got it dialed in and of course we're going to lose half of our crew from this year to next year upon graduation. Good morning, President Leahy. Good Patrick Leahy: Morning. Good morning. Matt Harmon: How are things on this glorious May Wednesday? Patrick Leahy: Fantastic. I mean, we turned the calendar to May and that is an exciting time here at Monmouth as it is at a lot of colleges and universities. It's commencement season. Matt Harmon: Commencement season, which will officially start next week. It's what? Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Tuesday is student athlete graduation Wednesday graduate school. Thursday a full day of undergrad ceremonies. Patrick Leahy: Yeah, we do that Tuesday small ceremony for the athletes who are still competing and we don't want them to have to choose between competing with their teammates and going to commencement. So we've instituted a few years ago a separate little ceremony for them, which I hope suggests how student-centered we are here at Monmouth. Matt Harmon: This our last scheduled podcast of the semester and the academic year. Looking forward to kind of wrapping things up. We've got a featured segment coming up with our students that will ask questions of both our university president and our provost, Rich Veit, who is here who will join us in just a little bit. Looking forward to catching up on the academic side of things. President Leahy, when you reflect back, and this is now I guess officially that time, a time of kind of reflection of how the academic year went. We've spent plenty of time talking about why the campus still is so important to what goes on here. And now you'll see, and I actually saw it just the other day walking into the main building on campus, students taking pictures, celebrating their last couple of years here on campus. We've got two graduations I think in our group. Oh no. Nick, are you the only one who's graduating? Oh, everybody else is back. All right, good. So it's that time of year, right? I mean, pictures everywhere around campus for students to celebrate what we hope was an amazing experience here at Monmouth. Patrick Leahy: And maybe we can get Nick's reflections here at the end of the show. So there's your warning, Nic. First of all, the campus is so beautiful. I hope our students would agree with that, that it's a great place to take pictures, but this is a sentimental time. I mean, let's face it. I mean, on the one hand it's incredibly exciting and fulfilling for the students that they've accomplished this major milestone in their lives. But as you point out, if we did our job properly, if we created a kind of community that we aim to create here and the students took full advantage of it, I hope in a way that they're walking away with some sentimental feelings because I want them to feel like this was a really important part of their lives. In particular, I often say, and it was true for me, maybe for many of our students, it's some of the best friends you ever make in your life you made while you were here at Monmouth. And I know that from my experience at college that the people I really lean on when I need friends, I often go back to my college days and I don't know if the students fully appreciate that that's what's happening right now, but take it from an old guy, that's what happens. And so I hope in a way it's a sentimental time, but lean into that sentimentality because it's a really special time as well. Matt Harmon: We have touted, I feel like for almost the entirety of doing the podcast, which goes back to the COVID time, every time we can a shout out to our grounds crew, maintenance crew here at Monmouth. I loved just the other day, really good social media post that was done about what they really like planting and their favorite flower. You said the campus looks great and spring usually leads into that, right? I mean, it's the time, excuse me, that everything can get planted. You want the campus looking great for graduation and the crew just does such an amazing job in doing that. Patrick Leahy: And what did they say? I saw that post like 3000 or something. I mean, some ridiculous number of flowers planted, of course, in perfectly mulched gardens and everything. That is a measure of the commitment that our grounds crew has to our students and their families because they want this campus to sing on commencement days and they really take that seriously. Matt Harmon: I bumped into somebody just yesterday. I was at my son's lacrosse game and someone said, "Oh, graduation season coming up." Mama still uses the art center. And I said, "No, that hasn't been for quite so many years now at this point." And you've talked openly about why it's important to have it on campus. It's another opportunity to let the campus be the showcase for where everyone has spent their last few years. Patrick Leahy: Plus it's the culminating event of their experience and I want it right here. I want it right here on the campus. And I sometimes say to graduating seniors, this is the week to think of two things, places and faces, right? So take some time in the next week to visit the places that meant so much to you here on the campus and then of course take in those faces that meant so much to you, those friends and those faculty members and those mentors. Those are the two things you hang onto the rest of your life. The way the place made you feel and the way those faces supported you during your time here. Matt Harmon: And we do hope that with this and every graduating class, I'm thinking back to our episode back in March with Giving Day and starting an alumni base. I mentioned Nick, he's graduating. Luke, who's the general manager of WMCX, he's in here today as well. He's also graduating. That starts now a different path of being connected to the university as an alum. Patrick Leahy: Once you make a decision where to go to college, I think our provost would support this when we invite him on. You are committing to a lifelong relationship with that place. We will find you. It's one of the warnings, but we want you to feel like this is your home. That's why they call it your alma mater, loosely translated is your other mother. So that was the experience that we hope you had during a really formative period of your life. And when you graduate from here, you just commit, I hope, to a lifelong relationship with the place. And we'll try to find ways to keep alums engaged in the life of the university, but that's a lifelong commitment. I don't know if you students fully understood that when you chose Monmouth a few years ago, but that is the case. It's a lifelong relationship. Matt Harmon: T minus about 30 days to the opening of the Bruce Springsteen American Music Center, which as I have always said, I drive past every single day on my way to campus. The activity over there is buzzing. I mean, you can see everyone's under the clock a little bit, but the place looks great, certainly coming together and what will be an amazing weekend here on campus with a couple of the concerts that will lead in Thursday, Friday, and then the ceremony, which will open the building on Sunday. That's June 7th, by the way. Patrick Leahy: Saturday. Matt Harmon: Saturday the building opens? Patrick Leahy: The grand opening ceremony will be on Saturday. That's a small private event. And then Sunday is Matt Harmon: Very- The public opens on Sunday. Patrick Leahy: Okay. The building is pretty much done. I mean, there's a lot of activity in there now, but that's Bob Santelli and his team installing the exhibits that are going to be featured in the building. So you're right, they're working at a fever pitch here between now and June 6th. The landscaping is coming in. When that landscaping is done, the whole arrival experience is going to be first rate. And then you go into the building and I hope people are going to be just amazed by it as I'm glad to say Bruce Springsteen seems to be. He's visited a few times during construction. So it is just a really special time here at Monmouth and the grand openings ceremonies or grand opening events, series of events start the Friday before May, whatever that is, 29th, I think. And then there's a whole series of events pretty much each night going leading into, as you point out, the public opening on Sunday, June 7th, and then we're off and running. Matt Harmon: May 29th, that would be that Friday going in week prior. I saw yesterday as well on social media, I guess it would be the official documentary that people will see when they come into the building, which has now been kind of out and available for people to screen. Patrick Leahy: Yeah. The thinking all along was that when you come into the building, there's a 244 seat soundstage state of the art. I mean, some people have said this is going to be the best soundstage anywhere on the East Coast, but you'll be ushered in, visitors will be ushered into that soundstage to watch about a 24 minute documentary on basically the history of American music narrated by Bruce Springsteen. And it's an original piece that his longtime filmmaker and dear friend of the center, Tom Zimny created and it's really special. And so that will be available to everybody who comes in to see the center and it'll get a grounding in, remember the most fundamental of concepts, which is this is not just about Bruce Springsteen. Yes, you will see exhibits on him. You'll learn his creative process and the influences on his incredible catalog, but it is really a celebration of American music in all of its forms. Bruce Springsteen's like the perfect person to tell that story because as he explains in this film, so many of those influences, those different genres in American music influenced his work. And so it is the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music by design because this is going to celebrate American music in all of its forms. Good example of that real quick is the Wednesday before the grand opening, there is a very special concert right here on campus on Native American music and its influence on different American music genres. So people don't really think about that, but it was the Native Americans who created their own sounds years ago and those were carried on through the centuries and influenced the very music that we listened to today. So for one of the first times Bob Santelli would tell you, one of the first times that he knows of in the history of the celebration of music, there's going to be one dedicated to the Native American influence on it, which is the perfect way to start a series of events on the history of American music. Matt Harmon: Talk to me real quick before we take a break and then we'll bring on our provost, Rich Vite to talk about all academic things and everything else that we can come up with before we finish with our student segment. Our last episode, which took place in April, we were leading into the American music honors. We had Bob Santelli on. It was that weekend that things were going to go great event. Patrick Leahy: Great. Great. Matt Harmon: I mean, I teased you the last couple years. I don't know about anybody else in here. My ticket didn't come in the interface mail. Patrick Leahy: Stuck in our office. Great is maybe not, doesn't do it justice. It's just to have the selection of musicians on campus in a small, intimate environment like the Pollock Theater and then to have them all play together and play each other's music. People who follow music are just like, this is the most unique music experience they have ever been to throughout their entire life. Certainly is for me, but there are people who are more avid music goers even than I and they have said this is the most unique experience of music that they've ever had. And because of Bruce Springsteen's direct involvement in that, can imagine how special it is. Matt Harmon: Sounds fantastic. We'll talk about all that and so much more. When we come back, we'll take a break. On the other side, we'll be joined by university provost, Dr. Rich Vite. John, how is it when you hear yourself back? Do you enjoy it? Like that face didn't really tell a very good story. And we talk about that in class. You've got to be able to listen to yourself and be okay with Jonn: It. No, no. I'm fine with hearing it. It's just funny because I remember the one episode we had, we talked about it, that it's like only me and Nick. We got to get some new voices on there. Matt Harmon: Yeah, some new voices would probably be good. I think we're ready. I mean, we're cutting Nick out next year, right? His part's done. I have to. He's not leaving a legacy that is going to be part of Monmouth Matters. Thinking of how important what goes on here in this radio station yesterday, President Leahy, I was listening to WMCX. John has a talk show on and something that would be near and dear to both of us, you having recently lost yours, me having talked about Lost Mine back in 2009, his guest on his sports talk show was his father. Patrick Leahy: No kidding. How cool is that? Jonn: That was a blast. He better than me too. He took the show over. Matt Harmon: He talked about what? The pain of being a Jets Mets fan? Jonn: He did like 15 minutes. I said like four words because I didn't want to cut him off because he was absolutely going off just the torture and the misery of it. But that's what brings me and him together. So Matt Harmon: The Patrick Leahy: Apple doesn't fall far from that Matt Harmon: Tree. No, no. I think we can start with that as we're bringing in our featured guests, which is our provost, Dr. Rich Vite. You're a sports fan. Richard Veit: I am. Matt Harmon: Who's your teams? Who are you following? Richard Veit: I'm a little bit of a mess. I grew up in Northern New Jersey, so I'm a Giants fan when it comes to football. And then in terms of baseball, I'm a Phillies fan because I went to school in Philadelphia. Matt Harmon: Okay. Richard Veit: A Matt Harmon: Little Richard Veit: Bit all over the place. Matt Harmon: You don't see many New York Philly fan combinations. That's a Richard Veit: Weird combo. Patrick Leahy: That's what the provost at Monmouth University should be, burnishing his cross territory credentials. Matt Harmon: Yeah. Being able to deal with different groups of people. All of our guests that we've had on over the course of the many years of the podcast, I can honestly say this. I don't know that many have been here in one fashion or another as long as you. You started your career here at Monmouth 1995, 96 when you were part of the faculty and you have moved through so many different roles here. Does it feel like it's been three decades as you celebrate your 30th year here on campus and with the university? Richard Veit: It does not feel like it's been three decades. It feels like overnight. It was yesterday that I started and I'm just really, really honored and blessed to be here. It's been an incredible experience. I started out as an adjunct faculty member. I was asked to teach one course because someone had stepped out at the last minute. I didn't really want to do it. I had a full-time job. I had a lot of other things going on. My wife and I were about to get married, but I was talked into it by a fellow Frank Rizuto, who was a Monmouth student who was interning at a company where I worked and I'm glad he talked me into it. Best thing that ever happened to me next to my wife, of course. Matt Harmon: And your family. And my family. They're also up there. Okay. Richard Veit: So maybe third on the list. Matt Harmon: When you start in the mid '90s, are you thinking that this is going to be the path that you're on for 30 years or you're like, "I'll teach a class. I'll do whatever it is they need and then I'm back to my life." Richard Veit: Yeah, I didn't think I'd be here for 30 years. I enjoyed teaching. The students were great. It was such a good experience. It was a little bit intimidating, pretty smart young people, but I had a full-time job and I figured I would keep doing that. But it was a growth period for the university. So there were a lot of opportunities and almost immediately the next year I was asked if I wanted to be a visiting assistant professor, which I thought was a litle bit funny because I wasn't sure where I was visiting from. I did live in Philadelphia at the time, but I didn't have an academic position. I was finishing up grad school and I fell in love with the place and tried to invest in it and have really enjoyed my time here and the opportunities. Matt Harmon: President Lahey, no pressure with this question obviously, but when you think of your time here at Monmouth over the course from basically the COVID year to where we are now, there are people that exemplify what Monmouth is. I don't know that there is a better example than the person who is sitting in between us. Patrick Leahy: Well put. That's one reason why he is the senior vice president and provost here. And at our university there's only one senior vice president. There's a lot of vice presidents that do great work in respective fields, but there's only one senior vice president and that's by design because at an academic institution, the number two person on the org chart should be the provost, the chief academic officer. So I elevated that position and then found, as you point out, the perfect person to sit in that position. And I say this a lot, but since this might be a new audience, let me repeat it one last time. I mean, he's the perfect profile for provost at an institution like ours for this reason. He's a great teacher. His teaching evaluations suggest as much. Alums tell me about their experience with Rich in a classroom. He's one of our top scholars on campus by evidence of the fact that not long ago his latest book came out. Number three, he is I think still the head of his National Academic Society, Society on Historical Archeology. Richard Veit: Nailed it. Patrick Leahy: Which I always begs a question, doesn't it, Matt? Isn't all archeology historical? I don't know. Maybe that's a Matt Harmon: Repetitive moment. It's a little repetitive. Patrick Leahy: So those three things. Oh, and by the way, he has the second most prominent administrative position at the university and he continues to teach and do research and serve in that academic role across the country while he is serving as the provost. So it's like that's the full package, which is really, really important, especially for me personally, because as most people know, my experience in higher ed has been all administrative, not academic. So for this to work well, I need somebody who is a real serious academic in the chief academic officer role. Matt Harmon: You know Provost Fight, when you hear that, I'm curious to know, because I don't know how common, and maybe you do know the answer to this, how common is it for provost at other universities mama size to have that person still be engaged in the classroom and teaching classes like you do and why you feel like that's important for you in your role here at the university? Richard Veit: So first of all, I am flattered to hear all that and it's an honor to be in this position. I think it's a little bit unusual to stay in the classroom when you're in this position because it's very much a twenty four seven job and you don't really know what's coming. Some things you can plan for, but there are all sorts of challenges because you're dealing with a lot of people in a complicated organization. I think it's unusual to stay in the classroom. A previous provost at Monmouth who's something of a role model for me, Tom Pearson, stayed in the classroom during his time as provost. So he continued teaching Russian history. And I saw him do that. I grew up in a department which was his home department. So that's been a model for me. And I think it really helps because it allows me to sort of experience the rhythm of the semester. We're coming to the end of the semester right now to understand where the students are, where the faculty members are and I'd be afraid of losing touch with that if I weren't in the classroom. So I think it's been helpful. Matt Harmon: Amazing thinking of former provost, faculty member, Tom Pearson. I think you would agree. I mean, you know him extremely well. The thing that was amazing anytime you would talk to him, he knew your name, where you worked on the university and exactly what you were involved with, both in the classroom and outside the classroom. When you say he's a mentor, someone that you looked up to and still probably think about often, that's a skill so that you feel like you are connected to everybody on this campus, but maybe more importantly, they feel like they are connected to you at that senior administrative level. Richard Veit: His ability to remember names was uncanny. Matt Harmon: Staggering. Richard Veit: It really was something. I don't think I'm at that level, but I- It's totally Patrick Leahy: Unfair actually for someone to have that skill. Richard Veit: It was remarkable, but I think this is a position where you interact a lot with people. So being able to connect with people and know what folks are up to is really important. Patrick Leahy: Just quickly the other day we had occasion to celebrate the school of social work and Tom Pearson was there and I had a chance to shout him out and I think he was the provost for 22 years, I think. Do I have that right? It was. 22 years. So I said to Rich, who's only been in this job for a mere three, how does 22 years sound, Rich? Matt Harmon: Did he run out of the room? Did you run out of the room? I think Richard Veit: I said exhausting. Matt Harmon: Yeah. Thinking of your time here at Monmouth, you said started as an adjunct, hired full time. You have served on probably every committe possible. You've been in the dean's office in a couple of different roles, faculty council, everything that you ... I don't know that there's a box that you haven't checked in your time. How is Monmouth different from the mid '90s to where we are now 30 years later? You have seen its evolution in so many ways. Richard Veit: So I loved Monmouth when I arrived here, but it was in ... I love Monmouth when I arrived here, but in some ways it was so much smaller. It was younger. There's been a maturing that has gone on over the past three decades. So seeing where we are now and looking back, it's amazing how far we have come. So when you think we're now a national research college and university, how we moved up very consistently in our rankings over the years, it's just amazing. The students were great then. The faculty was great then, but this place has really become an incredible institution. I'm really proud of it. My son attended Monmouth as a Monmouth alum now. It's a place where I would want family members to come. It's a wonderful school. Matt Harmon: He's on that list of we will find you because he is now an alum. And we have found you. Patrick Leahy: We know his father too. Matt Harmon: On a lot of levels, everything that President Leahy and I talk about here on the podcast is always centered around what's going on in the university and the point we've tried to make me being a two-time alum and being here for a long time as well is how to elevate Monmouth. It's always been, we've used this phrase on the podcast, a hidden gem at the Jersey Shore, which sounds great, right? Except you don't necessarily want it to be hidden anymore. You'd rather it just be the gem at the Jersey Shore for people to be involved with. And we've talked about things like the Springsteen Center and the different institutes that we have on campus and the expansion of athletics and the different academic programs. I'm curious where you see Monmouth going in the next five to 10 years to remove that word hidden gem and just have it be this unbelievable gem at the Jersey Shore. Richard Veit: Well, I think one of the things that's going to shed sort of more light on Monmouth moving forward is the Bruce Springsteen Center because that is a national institution that's going to be right here on our campus and is going to draw people from around the world. So I think that is something that's going to have a transformative effect. I think what we're doing on the academic side of the house is also really, really important. Building out new programs like our relationship with Netflix and film, that's going to be critical. I think that's going to put a spotlight on us that hasn't been there before in an important way and kind of raise the profile of the institution in an important way. And I'd also say our athletics, right? I think important good work is happening there and I'm really excited to see we've been in the Coastal Athletic Conference for a few years now, Coastal Athletic Association, but I think we are with some wonderful schools there, some really high performing schools and we're running with the big dogs as it were and we're doing very well. So I'm excited about that. I think those three things, they're going to move this institution forward. Patrick Leahy: How nice is it to hear the chief academic officer tell athletics here? I mean, I think you would agree that most of our student athletes are performing in the classroom- Richard Veit: At Patrick Leahy: A very high level. Sometimes at higher level as a group than the student body as a whole and Rich has the chance to go to academic conferences because the Coastal Athletic Association also has a Coastal Athletic Academic Alliance and Rich just came back I think from the meetings with all the other provosts. And as Dr. Vite pointed out, the opportunity for Mama is to find collaborative opportunities with Drexel and Stony Brook and Northeastern and William and Mary. I mean, that's next level stuff for us academically. And remember, part of the whole driving force behind going to the CAA was not just raising our competitive profile, which it clearly has, but it was to associate with super regional, if not national universities. And that is helping our academic brand as well as our athletic brand. Matt Harmon: We talk on the podcast often about the challenges in higher education, probably something like what you were just at talking and meeting with provosts of other universities within the CAA. I would imagine some of it is in that realm, like what do we need to do to make sure that where we are maintains and how we increase because there are obvious challenges right now in higher education. Richard Veit: Yeah. I'd say the two big challenges, and we spent a lot of time at the CAA meeting out at Stony Brook talking about them. The challenge on the athletic side is NIL and how are we going to deal with this? How are all of our institutions dealing with that? So that's a challenge. And on the academic side of the house, I'd say it's AI And how are we going to figure out how our students can have an excellent education, learn the AI skills they're going to need to be competitive in the job market once they leave, but also not sort of give up the basic skills that you need as part of college education because so much of that can be done by AI now. So really interesting discussions and Monmouth is sort of at the center of these discussions with our peers. I was really proud of that. Matt Harmon: University provost, senior vice president, Dr. Rich Vite joining us here on Monmouth Matters, wrapping things up for the academic year. All right, let's get into your passion, which is archeology. You still are involved with the actual digs of finding things from a historical level. We need a camera crew to go one day and get our university provost down digging. Is it shovel in hand? Richard Veit: It is shovel in hand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Matt Harmon: Keeps Richard Veit: Me in shape. Matt Harmon: That's what you really do deep down enjoy. Richard Veit: I do. I do. Matt Harmon: Not that you don't enjoy everything else. No, Richard Veit: I enjoy the day job too, but I love doing that. So yeah, I'm interested in the archeology of American history. So think like Colonial Williamsburg or Jamestown. And the stuff I'm focused on right now is the Archeology of the American Revolution, which is the 250th anniversary of the Revolution. So I love getting my hands on the past, love working with our students and sort of turning them on to history from a different perspective. So it's fun. You should come visit. Matt Harmon: I would love to. Patrick Leahy: What is so fascinating to you about the American Revolution? Richard Veit: With the American Revolution, the thing that fascinates me about it is I think that the questions people were asking 250 years ago are still relevant today. I don't think they've gone away. So we're part of this experiment that continues and we're still trying to figure it out. And it's fascinating looking at the experiences of people 250 years ago, whether they were soldiers or civilians, men or women, wealthy or poor, and how they lived through this tumultuous time as we're living through another tumultuous time. Matt Harmon: Take us through how it starts if you're going to go do a dig. Is it, "Hey, this is going to be a good area?" Or how do you know where you would even go to find something that might be buried? And I'm thinking because you're talking about the American Revolution on its 250th anniversary we're in I guess kind of a hotbed, right? I mean, New Jersey and Monmouth County was a pretty important part of that. Richard Veit: Yeah. Going back to my mixed sports allegiances, right? So New Jersey is between Philadelphia and New York. So Philadelphia was the capital of the young United States. New York was held by the British for the entire war. So a tremendous amount of the actual fighting happened in New Jersey and huge armies camped in New Jersey at places like Norristown, Jockey Hollow, Middlebrook. In terms of finding sites, the beautiful thing about having been engaged in this for a couple decades is at this point people are coming to Monmouth and saying, "Hey, we have a project. We know you do this. No one else really in the state has as well developed a program. Can you help us?" So our current project is at the home. It was once the finest home in New Jersey in 1700s, the home of a fellow named William Alexander Lord Sterling, who was an American major general and a really interesting political figure and also a complicated figure. So it's been a ton of fun. Matt Harmon: When you hear President Leahy, our provost talk and be so passionate about what he is still involved with, I don't know. To me, as someone who works in the communication department as a faculty member, I love hearing that. Instead of it's just the day-to-day job, no, go out and still do what it is you love and want to be involved with. Patrick Leahy: It's just a reminder to me that the heart of the matter is what Rich just talked about. The heart of the matter. Everything we do here boils down to ultimately Rich taking a group of students on an actual dig in how blessed it's in our backyard Basically in our neighborhood. Rich taking those students on an actual dig is the heart of the matter at any college or university and it is true here. In the end, that is really, really what matters. Everything else that we do just creates like a context so that that can happen. And the work that you do with students in this very Michelle studio or what an English, I saw a class conducted the other day out in the Erlanger Gardens taking advantage of the nice weather and I walked out on the veranda and looked down the engagement among a faculty member and in that case, 20 students, that is the constant reminder that the heart of the matter and what is worth fighting for and fighting to protect is that opportunity for faculty members and students to engage. That is where the magic happens. And when Rich talks about it or when I call him and he picks up and I hear the wind blowing, he's like, "I'm out on a dig." That is just a perfect reminder of what we're all about here. Matt Harmon: Couple things before we take our last break, we'll come back with our student segment. I'm curious, and this might be really hard for you to answer on the spot, what is the most unique thing that you have found? Richard Veit: That's a tough one because a couple different things come to mind, but working on a project some time ago in Hamilton Township, a bunch of colleagues and I found a spear point, Native American spear point that was 12,000 years old. That's about as old as anything you can find in North America and the fellow who found it was my friend Frank Risuto, Monmouth Matt Harmon: Along. Who got you? Richard Veit: Who got me here. And we were in a team of three people. The third person got named Paul held it up and said, "Is this anything?" And we squealed with delight. I mean, that was really an exciting moment. I Matt Harmon: Mean, did you know right away? Richard Veit: We knew what it was. Matt Harmon: I'd only seen it in Richard Veit: A textbook Matt Harmon: Before. We've struck gold. Richard Veit: Yeah. Matt Harmon: All right. So that's unique. How about this? What is the thing that has been your favorite? Something that if that's the most unique, what's been your favorite? The thing that when you found it, you didn't want to give it up. Richard Veit: Well, let me tell you my favorite project. So you've heard of Napoleon Bonaparte, right? Famous individual in world history. Napoleon after the Napoleonic Wars is imprisoned on a small island off Africa. His brother, Joseph, older brother, flees to America with the Spanish ground jewels and builds a house in Bordentown, New Jersey that is essentially an American palace and he's like this diplomat almost in residence there. And we got to work on that property for about five years with Monmouth students. We were invited in by the current owners, Divine Word missionaries and sort of found the remains of this New Jersey palace. People in fact called him the king of New Jersey when he was here. That was so much fun. Just best experience. Matt Harmon: Last question. What is the thing that if you could find that you haven't, you would want to? Richard Veit: Oh, I'd love to find something at William Alexander's house this summer with his name on it or something directly related to the revolution, like a button that says USA. That would just be a hoot. Patrick Leahy: I have a suggestion. I'd like to put you and a team of students on a search in the Great Hall Richard Veit: Because Patrick Leahy: I'm convinced somewhere in there is a safe with a ton of money in it or jewels or something. I just can't for the life of me find it, Rich. So maybe you guys can go to work on that. Richard Veit: Sounds good. Matt Harmon: If we see construction crews outside the administrative building, we'll know what's going on. We'll take one more time out. We'll come back. We've got a fun segment to wrap up our semester podcast here, which will be the students asking questions of the university president and the provost, and maybe the president and the provost asking questions of the students as well. We're back right after this on Monmouth Matters. Early May, wrapping things up for a Monmouth Matters podcast series with university president, Dr. Patrick Leahy, faculty member Matt Harmon joined today by senior vice president, university provost, Dr. Rich Vite, having fun talking about his path through his three decades here at Monmouth. We'll finish up as we did in December with a student centered segment, which is students asking questions. Last time in December, you had as the students just one option. It was ask the president a question. You can now throw in a question to the provost as well. These are completely unscripted. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we're going down the right path. That is always our hope here on Monmouth Matters. John, you've been the man at the mic for most of the academic year. I'm going to let you have first crack at a question. Jonn: Very much appreciated. I've got a question that I think both of you guys could definitely answer. You had spoke earlier on the evolution of campus since you've been here. How has that looked for students? How student life has been, how students operate here from then to now? Have you seen a shift in kind of how the students are on campus? Richard Veit: I think there has been a shift in that there are a lot more opportunities for students to become involved in all sorts of activities on campus. So I think during that time period, we've seen really powerful co-curricular opportunities develop. MCX has a long history, but this is a much better studio than where MCX began and I think we have the Michelle's to thank for that. We see things like the debate team, Model UN and now pre-law society here on campus. So lots of cool opportunities that cross over between academics and other activities that are happening. I think that's a plus. And I'd also say it strikes me that Greek life has become stronger. We have a really, really solid vice president for student affairs in Jim Pilar and I credit him for much of the transformation that has occurred. Patrick Leahy: Well, I'll just add I've only been here seven years, so my perspective is a litle bit more limited, but I was walking the other day and taking some delight in the creation of the Center for Entrepreneurship in Bay Hall that we created a couple years ago. The Part and Broadcasting Center over in the Ocean First Bank Center, the Nagi Common right out front of the student center, the way we've retooled the Great Hall. So I hope, John, that those small investments, every one of which was a small investment. I should say too, 100% supported by third party donors as well, every one of those projects, except for a great hall. But those other three all through the generosity of donors, I hope that's evidence that we will continue to invest in the student experience here. Matt Harmon: Not many that remember the third floor of the PlanGear Center of the student center that had WMCX at the top of it. That's where I started my broadcast career. Happy to say. Nick, you're up. Graduating senior, Nic. I Nick: Know. Matt Harmon: We've held his grade just so that we could get this question at the end. Nick: I had to make sure you put my grades in. I did see that you're, at least from your side of things, my grades are in, so we're good to go on that end. My question for both of you guys, I guess, would be as a graduating senior, what's the most common praise you both hear from alums about the university? As I feel like right now, the university, I don't want to say it's at its peak because I feel like it's always improving, but I would say it's at probably a much higher high than at least when I got here as a freshman. Richard Veit: So what I hear most often is praise for faculty members. The faculty members like Matt right here who've worked with you, people come back and that's often what they remember. They remember that, they remember their friends, but those shared experiences that sort of set Monmouth apart. And I think that's what we're good at. I think that's why Monmouth is a great university to attend. And those connections continue as President Lahey was saying earlier, like really through the rest of your life. So congratulations on your impending graduation. Can't wait to see you walk across the stage. And thanks for a good question. Thank you. Patrick Leahy: Just let me add, a lot of times, almost without fail, faculty member, I mean, excuse me, an alum will say, "Wow, I was on campus and it's totally different." And I always say, "If it's not different From when you graduated, we're not doing our job. We're not investing enough to try to stay current." But I always say it's like that's not the heart of it, as Rich just said. The heart of it is people will come back and say to me, is Dr. So- and-so still there, or I just ran into him the other day or her, or I'm still in touch, or they just came to my wedding, or whatever. As Rich just said, those are to steal a line from Bruce Springsteen. Those are the ties that bind. It is not where you lived and what the campus looked like at the time. It is the people who made that experience so special. Matt Harmon: And we've seen that selfishly, I'll say within this building the Plangier Center and the Department of Communication over the course of the last couple of weeks, we had the 30th anniversary of Hawk TV and so many alums coming back. Just last week we had our student award ceremony and then culminated that Provost Fight, you were part of it with recognizing John Morano, who's retiring after 38 years and people that he taught 30 years ago were back on campus just to be part of that. That again is always, I always say this, it's kind of what Monmouth is all about. Richard Veit: Yeah, it's the community really that makes this place special. The buildings are great. The campus is remarkably beautiful, but I think it's those personal connections that set us apart. Could I jump back to something before in terms of the question about the transformation of campus? I really should have said something about the Great Hall. So when I got to campus, the Great Hall was a very quiet space. It was almost, I hate to say it like a mausoleum or something. There wasn't a lot of activity in it. And now that feels like the heart of campus with students studying in there, with the cafe. It's really been transformed and I think that's elevated the experience for everyone here. So I think for me, what a great move that was. Matt Harmon: Yeah. You only walked in there if you had a class somewhere randomly in the building or if you were in trouble and forgot to pay your bill. Those were the reasons that you walked in there. Patrick Leahy: That's what the students said to me, Matt. They're like, when I first arrived here, they're like, "Nobody goes to the great hall." He's like, "You can only get into trouble there." And I said, "Well, that's got to change because it's our marquee building on campus and we wanted to make sure it's put the use in support of the students." Matt Harmon: Nat, you're up. Nat: So this kind of goes in theme with the maturing of the university with the recent recognition of the university as a national institute, how does that change if it has changed anything on your guys' end and what do we need to keep doing moving forward to keep getting higher in those rankings? Richard Veit: Yeah. So I think that new ranking is a tribute to the hard work of faculty and students really over a period of time. So we have gotten there because we've been doing the right things in terms of research and a lot of that research has been driven by our School of Science in particular and the Urban Coast Institute. Now that we're at this point, what I would say is we don't want to fall back. We want to keep moving forward. So that means selective investment to make sure that we can continue to bring in substantial grants that help students do good work that they otherwise wouldn't be able to and I'm excited about that possibility. I think we're moving in the right direction and it's really exciting to be in this role as we move into this new period in the history of Monmouth University. Patrick Leahy: I'll just add that I think this recognition will allow us to continue to recruit really first rate faculty members, especially the designation as a research college and university. I think that hopefully sends a signal as you're hiring, Rich, to faculty members, that this is a place that values that. And we'll try to the extent that we can create space, time, resources so that original contributions to knowledge can happen here. And the beauty of this, I've always said this, not only here, but at other places at which I've worked the beauty of research and scholarship here at this university is that most of the time the faculty members collaborate with undergraduate students, right? Now, those opportunities at bigger places are reserved for the master's and the doctoral students. And because so much of our experience here is undergraduate, not that we don't have great graduate programs including four doctoral programs, but most of that work in the school of science and elsewhere I suspect engages undergraduates. And you talk about a high impact activity, have an undergraduate working on a research project and maybe even produce a paper, take it to a conference, that's really unique and that's why our students should be thrilled about this. It keeps the faculty current in their fields and that redounds positively in the classroom, but also it gives more students opportunities to collaborate with them on that research. Love it. Matt Harmon: Frank, Patrick Leahy: You're up. Richard Veit: Hi guys. So as of yesterday, finals are officially over and we are now transitioning into the summer phase for the university. I was wondering, this question can apply for either one of you. If there are any specific goals that you guys have for the university over this three, four month summer break before students come back in the fall? Richard Veit: I think- Go ahead, Rich. In my area, the thing that's the big focus for this or end of the semester and beginning of the summer is going to be putting forward our new strategic plan that I've been working on with Emily Miller Gonzalez, Professor Harmon, and a number of great colleagues. So excited about bringing that to fruition this summer and that will give us sort of a roadmap for the next five years here at Monmouth. And it builds off past strengths and it has some new directions. So that will be our big summer project. Patrick Leahy: And we always spend the summer, Frank, on ways in which we can continue to enhance the campus. We're still very active in the summer. In fact, there's really active summer sessions, five of them to serve students, but a lot of that work is done online. So it gives us an opportunity to work on the campus. So we're finishing the Northwest Campus Development Project, that work that you see happening up and around the police station in the softball field, that will be finished. We have a bunch of different office moves that may or may not be that noticeable to students, but we have to get that done this summer. We actually are retooling our bookstore, our campus store. We're going to be working on that this summer. So there's a ton of work that we do to try to make sure that when the students return on mass in the fall, they feel even that much more proud of the campus. And that's always a focus in the summer. Longer term, I agree with Dr. Vite. It's getting our new fear strategic plan. It's really a renewal, if you will, of our existing plan because our existing plan is going so well in terms of being a national leader at Integrating Excellence and Access that we just decided, you know what, let's roll that over and keep that momentum going. At the end of the next five year period, we will be on the eve of our 100th anniversary as an institution. So we felt like that's the right time to start all over again from scratch, but we're making so much progress. Let's just roll over some of the big themes and really focus on what are some of the objectives that we want to meet. Matt Harmon: I thought everything just closes in the summertime. Everyone just disappears. Isn't that what happens out of place?That's not true. That's a myth. Patrick Leahy: A lot of people still ask me, "Oh, you work in Matt Harmon: Education. Patrick Leahy: What do you do all summer?" Work. Work. What do Matt Harmon: You do all Patrick Leahy: Summer? Matt Harmon: Keep working. Keep working. All right, Luke: Luke. This question's for Dr. Leahy and Dr. Vite can follow it up if he'd like. Chef Lei, he is cooking you dinner tonight. What would you like to see on the dinner table? Patrick Leahy: Have you seen some of Chef Lee? Luke: Oh, like he cooks? Patrick Leahy: You're referring to my son because I am no chef. It's my son, Jac. But if I had my choice ... Wow, that's a tough one. I mean, he made one the other day that I would summon again. It was salmon stuffed with crab meat. I don't know if you saw that one, Luke, but salmon stuff with crab meat. Never heard of Luke: That Patrick Leahy: Before. I had neither. I think I would order that if he's listening. That's what I would order tonight. Can you make sure this clip gets to him somehow, Luke? Yeah. So that's what I would have. What would you have, Rich, if you had a big Richard Veit: Hair? Oh, I can't compete with that. Can you get DoorDash from the Laguna restaurant? Because I'd love to have a servant. Luke: Might be a good idea. Matt Harmon: I love it. Great. How about other way around? From the president to the students or from the provost to the students? A final question. Patrick Leahy: I guess I would ask, I'll let Rich ask the final question, but you students that are returning, what do you do with the summer? How do you treat the summer? Jonn: Like Patrick Leahy: What are you going to do? How do you think of it? Matt Harmon: I know where you're going to be. Jonn: Yeah. So as someone going into my senior year now, I realize this is probably the last summer in my life where I can really be a kid in a sense because the following summer is the job hunt and the stress that comes with that. But to Professor Harmon's point, I will be at Lava Golf in La Vallette doing work in an awesome spot. So Matt Harmon: Completely random question, right? I am down last summer having something to eat at no free ads, but we'll do it. Crabs Claw, which is an amazing place, been there for a long time in Lavalette. Walking out of the restaurant with my wife, I look across the street, there's a mini golf place right across the street and I'm like, I know who's over there. I ran over and there's John who's working the mini golf circuit in Ocean County. I mean, it's a killer place, right? Jonn: It's the best, right on Route 35, right next to the beach. Because of the Crabs Claw, all I do is get live music, air conditioned hut, happy people, smiles. It's the best. If it was a job that I could live off of, I'd work there forever. I really would. Patrick Leahy: So the key there, John, would be someday when you graduate, you can't live off of one of those, but if you had like 50 of those around the country, maybe that would be interesting. Matt Harmon: Franchise lava golf. We've come up with a fantastic Patrick Leahy: Idea. How about real quick, some of the other students? Matt Harmon: That would be Nat, that would be Patrick Leahy: Frank. Frank, what are you guys doing? Nat: I've got an internship lined up that starts tomorrow and then in August I'm hoping to visit my roommate down in Florida because she lives near St. Augustine. So that's what I'm hoping to do. Oh my Matt Harmon: Gosh. Great. Great. Frank, come on up and let us know your summer plans. Frank: So I am returning to my job at Oak Tree Lodge in Nettune for third straight year. It's a great job. It's like a catering place. We host parties there every summer. We have schools for the end of year parties. We have weddings. We have a bunch of diferent stuff. Oh, great. It's a lot of fun. It's a good gig. And then honestly, a lot of it is going to be prepping for post-grad too. I am graduating after the fall next year. Patrick Leahy: Oh, Richard Veit: Are you? Okay. So I'm getting a semester early. So I think starting that process getting ready for life after college, I think I'm definitely going to spend some of my time this summer focusing on that. Matt Harmon: Fantastic. And our final question from this side of the table to our students, we will leave for our provost. Richard Veit: Oh, geez. What to ask? So what has been your best experience here at Mama? Matt Harmon: Why don't we give that to Nick and Luke since they are graduating. There are two that are heading off of campus. Richard Veit: Because I want to hear it so that we can replicate it for other students. Luke: Yeah. I would say the marketing and production opportunity I had with athletics and Kelly Valentine, Dr. Likey knows I hosted the basketball games for most men's and women's games and I'm just a student, like that's not like an outside job or like I have an outside contract. That was literally just me signing up for a on campus job my freshman year and just having that opportunity to do that. I think that comes with having like a smaller kind of school and then obviously being D1 in athletics is a huge advantage because there's spotlight on that. I mean, we have CBS coming in and showing those games and of course we're on flow sports and stuff Richard Veit: Like Luke: That. So I mean, people say to me all the time like, "Oh, how did you do that? " I mean, that's just like a crazy gi. And I'm just like, I just signed up for a job freshman year and it kind of just snowballed into Patrick Leahy: That. Such a nice job. He did such a nice job as the in game announcer and I coveted the chance to use that t-shirt gun that you've ... Oh Luke: Yeah. Patrick Leahy: So maybe next year the next in game announcer will let the president have a track at it. Matt Harmon: He's a student employee of the year right here. Patrick Leahy: Wow. Is that Luke: Congratulations? Patrick Leahy: Right Luke: On. Patrick Leahy: Congratulations. Luke: I got it. Thank you. Appreciate that. Matt Harmon: Luke, great job. Nick, I'm going to give you the final word. Nick: Yeah. I mean, I would say pretty similar to Luke. I didn't work for marketing, but I worked for Monmouth Digital Network, so people who broadcasted all of our athletic events. I remember coming in as a freshman. I went to meet with Mark Morman, who was kind of in charge of everything at the time who was no longer here, but I asked him about getting in front of the camera and broadcasting games and he said students don't really get those kinds of opportunities. Student radios where you can go and get all that. But this year as a senior, Andrew Kurtz, Antoner and the rest of the athletic department trusted me and I was able to call a handful of games this year for men's soccer, women's and men's lacrosse and a couple of baseball games as well. You don't get those experiences anywhere else, quite frankly. Two weeks ago, I was in Indiana visiting one of my friends and I met a kid who was doing the same exact things as me, but at Indiana and I was telling him the experiences I had versus the experiences he had and he couldn't relate. He wasn't able to do anything that we were able to do. So to be able to get these kinds of opportunities at Monmouth, I mean, you really can't find them anywhere else, which is what makes it such a gem. Richard Veit: That's fantastic. Thanks for sharing that with us. Matt Harmon: We love it. Love to hear it. Love to hear it. Luke and Nic, congratulations. We'll see you next week at graduation for our entire student production crew, John, Nat, and Frank, those that will be back, the Marcom staff, President Leahy, they've been great coming over, supporting us as well during the course of the year and Dr. Vite, Provost Vite. We appreciate you coming in for our last episode of this academic year. Richard Veit: Thanks for this opportunity. Appreciate it, Matt. Matt Harmon: President Leahy, we'll chat soon. Patrick Leahy: Well, I hope so. This has been a great year and I'm so grateful to you, Matt, for your energy around this whole effort. It was Matt's idea, Rich, to do this podcast in the throes of the pandemic and it's just maintained its energy ever since and it's thanks to Matt Harmon. Matt Harmon: To all those, I appreciate that, President Lay. To all those graduating, enjoy the time we We'll talk to you very soon for full coverage of all things Monmouth. Go the university website at monmouth.edu for our entire student crew. Thank you so much for university president, Dr. Patrick Leahy. I'm faculty member Matt Harmon. This has been Monmouth Matters. Jonn: All episodes of Monmouth Matters, the president's perspective are available for download and listening pleasure on Apple Podcasts and the university website, mammoth.edu. Technical assistance is provided by engineer Eric Reischer and Dr. Aaron Ferguson. The show is produced by Nick Giantonia, John Grano, Chloe Gosk, and Frank Horley. The executive producers and hosts of Monmouth Matters are university president, Dr. Patrick Lahey and faculty member, Dr. Matt Hartman. Thanks as always for listening.