Staff Spotlight: From Work-Study to Studying the Way We Work

The executive director of strategic initiatives is determined to make an impact on student success by helping ensure that every unit in the division of finance and administration stays focused on the college’s mission. 

Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives Marcus Richardson '08 '10 M.F.A. 

Marcus Richardson ’08 ’10 M.F.A. knew when his college acceptance letters started to file in—from SUNY Binghamton, Penn State, Ithaca—that those $30,000-range price tags would mean one thing. His mother, a nanny and Trinidadian immigrant, “would have spent every single cent she had to send me to school,” he says.

So, he hid them. The first in his family to attempt to navigate the American higher education system, he didn’t know to apply for financial aid. After a gap year, a taste of the workforce, and a renewed commitment to his education, he applied to Brooklyn College.

This time, because he applied through the Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge program—better known as SEEK—his acceptance letter came with an offer to help fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

It changed the course of his life. While studying in the Television and Radio Department, he received a federal Work-Study grant and began what would turn out to be a 10-year stint in the college’s Office of Financial Aid, where he worked his way up to director before being named the college’s executive director of strategic initiatives two years ago.

You were offered a job in the Financial Aid Office, but you had been planning for a career as a documentary filmmaker. What made you switch the trajectory of your career?

When I started working here, I realized I loved what I was doing. Because of my own experience trying to finance my education, I loved what financial aid did for students. I loved what it stood for. I knew the system and I was good at talking to students.

That all translated to me being good at my job, so I was offered a full-time position before I finished my master’s degree. And I never left.

How did your experience in that office impact your outlook and shape what you do now?

I loved those early days. I could have stayed in financial aid, but it’s an area that has lots of rules and regulations. I saw how things that were completely out of our hands had an impact on a student’s aid. I saw students with $3,000 bills because their New York State Tuition Assistance Program funding fell through. Maybe they weren’t taking the right courses that led to graduation and they wasted their time and their money. It was heartbreaking. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch did an interview once at the end of his term where he said, “If I knew I wanted to be mayor, I should have run for governor of New York.” So much was decided at the state level. That’s how I was starting to feel about financial aid. We were the last car in the train. Some of the problems started far back and we weren’t in a position to rectify them.

I began my Ph.D. in leadership and policy in urban education in 2016 at the CUNY Graduate Center and it allowed me to take a step back and think about where I could have an impact. I realized that I needed to be on the other side. I wanted to work on issues like student success, graduation and retention, curriculum alignment. I wanted to work on big projects that were more strategic.

What kind of projects?

In my new job, I look at things like how you connect something happening in purchasing or facilities to the goal of the college. We want to tie everything in finance and administration into the mission so that every unit is working toward the goal of the college itself.

I want to take this portfolio, at the direction of the senior vice president for finance and administration, build large cross-pillar initiatives, and work with various finance and administration cabinet areas to address concerns such as divisional assessments and tightening processes. I’ve worked on everything from making sure that reentry goes smoothly to helping shape and coordinate the open forums so that we could be transparent within the college community.

I will also work to bring back the administration of the Performing Arts Center at Brooklyn College. That’s a good fit for me because I have a background in musical theater. I remember big shows there when I was growing up. Central Brooklyn has very few venues of this size supporting the arts.

The exciting part is that every time I finish a project, I can move on to something else, so my job keeps changing.

Do you get as much satisfaction since you are not working as directly with students?

Accrediting bodies used to focus more on academics, but now everything at the college needs to support the mission. Colleges and universities haven’t traditionally looked at student success from a money perspective. That’s part of what I am doing. I don’t want to see students in good academic standing drop out because of a snag on the financial side.

It all comes back to our core purpose of access to education. It’s all related to graduation and retention. So, working on these things gives me a lot of satisfaction. It makes me feel useful. It’s my “why.”