New president for Southeast Technical College

Dr. Cory Clasemann is the new President of Southeast Technical College. He assumed the position in July, succeeding Dr. Robert Griggs, who led the school for the past eight years.

Dr. Clasemann most recently held positions as Assistant Vice President at Gardner Institute and as Vice President for Student Success/Assistant Vice President for Institutional Research at Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana. He holds a B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication from Creighton University, M.A. in Organizational Management from University of Phoenix, and Ph.D. in Higher Education from Indiana University.

A Minnesota native, Dr. Clasemann is a Vikings fan, a Twins fan, and Minnesota sports fan in general. He is also an avid runner and has completed 25 half marathons since 2017.

How did you choose your career path? What drew you to higher education?

In many ways I feel like I fell into it. I originally went to college to be in television. However, when I graduated I realized I loved working at a college more than I loved the idea of doing the news. There is a special energy that exists on college campuses, which is one I have never found anywhere else.

As I continued advancing in my career and being able to see the impact of my work on students, this connection to the work I was doing only grew. I always tell people that graduation day is my favorite day of the entire year. Watching graduates celebrate with their families is a tremendous feeling. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee there will be a tear in my eye at some point during each ceremony watching a student who overcame a large challenge, or a parent who went back to school to create a better life their family, walk across the graduation stage. I truly feel called to do this work, and I cannot imagine doing anything else.

What appealed to you about Sioux Falls, Southeast Tech, and this position?

There are two things that really attracted me to this position. First, it was immediately clear to me how talented the faculty and staff at STC are, and how deeply everyone cares for students. Their ability to connect with students is a huge reason the institution is ranked among the top 10% of all two-year institutions in the country. As someone who has spent his career within student success, this immediately won me over.

Second, coming to Sioux Falls feels like I’m coming home. I was born and raised in Minnesota through the age of 18, with seven of those years spent in Windom. I did not know if I would ever have the opportunity to return to the upper Midwest, so it felt like everything aligned with this position, and I could not be happier to be returning to my roots.

What is one of your goals for your first year on the job?

One of the main areas the college will need to focus on over the upcoming year is creating a new strategic plan. Approximately every five years the college begins the process of aligning its strategic priorities, resources and energy based upon institutional mission and workforce needs. We are again at that spot in the cycle, which is always an exciting time for an institution. Given the continued growth both in population and in industry within the area, the creation of a new plan comes at a great time. This plan will help us determine where we want to focus academically, how to better support students, how we can partner with the community, and how to be a better work environment for our faculty and staff.

This is not just an internal project for the college. We will have opportunities for both the community and for employers to provide input and where they think STC should focus over the next 3-5 years. We will share more information on this later in the fall.

In your opinion, what should the relationship between STC and the Sioux Falls business community look like?

As an institution whose mission is focused on preparing students for the workforce, it is critical that the college and the business community have an extremely close relationship. Southeast Tech should be an economic engine for the community, training workers for jobs with the skillsets employers need. This is only possible if we work closely with each other and if the college ensures employers are partners in the educational process.

Another way we can partner is by identifying ways to provide students with hands-on training while at STC. Students learn best by “doing,” so finding businesses and organizations willing to provide students with opportunities where they can practice the skills learned in the classrooms creates workers better equipped to hit the ground running from day one on the job.

Southeast Technical College has seen some significant growth and change in recent years. What is an area of opportunity that you see?

Although we have experienced some growth in recent years, I think, and hope, we are only at the beginning of that growth. Given the unmet need for skilled workers, the increasing number of companies in the area, and the constantly changing and evolving workforce needs, the need for Southeast Tech to continue educating a larger number of students to meet workforce needs is only going to continue increasing. This means the college must continue to expand recruitment efforts to new areas in ways that expand the student population, while also identifying opportunities to increase the number of students we are educating – particularly within in-demand fields.

Additionally, we know that education is not just about meeting the needs of today. STC must be prepared to change its curriculum as employers’ needs change. Further, we need to be nimble and able to implement new programs as workforce needs dictate. If we take too long to implement a new program, we have missed the window needed by employers. We must react quickly, or else we risk setting the entire region back competitively.

Are there any current or future disrupting forces that you will be keeping an eye on?

Technology is advancing so rapidly that it is constantly changing the way we do business; as a result, it is changing both what we teach and how we teach it. This was accelerated by the pandemic, as we were forced to do things many never thought possible – and had to determine how to do it within a matter of days.

Technology can make it hard to predict what the exact workforce needs to look like even a few years from now, so it is important that we create curriculum that’s flexible enough to adapt to a changing world. There is not a program that we teach at STC that has not been impacted by technological advances in some way. It is unlikely the pace of these changes will slow in the near future, and it is unlikely that we can anticipate all the changes likely to occur. We must continue to work with industry partners to adapt to these as quickly as possible.