Read Brandon’s opinion piece in The Daily Memphian linked here or shown below.

By Ronald L. Brandon, The Daily Memphian Guest Columnist

Nearly 30 years ago, I came to Christian Brothers University looking for an opportunity.

I was 25 years old and working full time. I attended college somewhat hit and miss over the years, and I knew that without a degree, I was going to struggle to move forward professionally. At the time, CBU was the only place in Memphis where I could pursue my education full time at night.

I received a Pell Grant, set aside for students with significant financial need. I worked during the day and went to class at night. I wasn’t thinking about becoming a university president. I was trying to get an education and build a better life.

CBU gave me a way forward.

Today, as president of the university that changed the trajectory of my life, I think often about the students across Memphis who are looking for that same thing: an opportunity.

They are why CBU matters to this city. And they are why CBU is reimagining its approaches for a new era.

For more than 150 years, Christian Brothers University has educated students who have gone on to teach in Memphis classrooms, lead businesses, serve organizations, strengthen neighborhoods and care for people throughout our community. Approximately 70% of our graduates live and work in and around Memphis. 

Our impact is measured not simply by how many students come through our doors, but by what becomes possible because they did.

That idea is central to our Lasallian mission, and today it is also being recognized nationally.

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education led by the American Council on Education designated CBU an Opportunity College and University, a distinction recognizing institutions that do two things well: provide access to a college education and translate that opportunity into well paying jobs for their graduates. CBU isn’t just opening doors to that education, we’re helping our graduates turn that education into greater opportunity for themselves, their families and our community.

At CBU, 98% of graduates are employed or enrolled in graduate school within six to 12 months of graduation. Those graduates are entering a Memphis economy that needs talented engineers, educators, healthcare professionals, technology workers and business leaders.

But our responsibility is not simply to continue doing what we have always done.

The needs of students are changing. The workplace is changing. Memphis is changing. CBU must change with them while remaining faithful to who we are.

That means developing academic programs around emerging opportunities in areas such as aviation, technology, cybersecurity and allied health. It means working more closely with employers, educational institutions and community organizations. And it means creating more pathways for traditional students, working adults and others who may need a different route to a college degree.

There are encouraging signs of momentum.

This fall, CBU welcomed an entering class nearly 26% larger than last year’s. Recent major gifts, including Bob and Paula McEniry’s $6.2 million investment in the university, are helping create new opportunities for students and demonstrate growing confidence in CBU’s direction.

We are grateful for that confidence. We also know we have to continue earning it.

CBU has faced real challenges in recent years. We should not minimize them, and we should not allow them to define us. Our responsibility is to make the choices necessary to ensure this university can continue serving students and Memphis for generations to come.

That requires us to keep asking a simple question: How can CBU matter more?

How can our programs respond to the needs of Memphis? How can our partnerships create opportunity? How can our faculty and students contribute to this community? How can we help someone imagine a future that may have seemed unavailable before?

I know what can happen when a university gets those questions right.

I walked onto this campus as a student looking for a way forward. I found an education, a career, a community and ultimately a calling I never could have imagined.

I met my future at Christian Brothers University.

There are students across Memphis looking for theirs.

Our job is to make sure they have the opportunity to find it.