Pace tabbed as one of the '50 under 40'
Joel Pace unflinchingly admits his regard for academia: “I’m one of those guys who loved college so much I never really left.”
Pace earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees at Morehead State University, started his career there and moved up the ladder.
Now, at 38, he’s director of MSU’s Ashland campus, and he likes it so much that they may as well start thinking about which building to name after him. Because he’s not going anywhere.
“The academic environment is unique,” he said. “People come from all over the state, the nation and the world to exchange ideas.”
The regional campus Pace oversees is one of five in the MSU system. What started more than 30 years ago as a few night graduate classes for teachers now is housed at Ashland Community and Technical College.
It offers both undergraduate and graduate courses. Degrees offered include nursing, business administration, education, social work and others.
And Pace “is the face of Morehead State in the Ashland area,” said vice president of university relations Keith Kappes. “I was one of the people who nominated him (for the director position), because he had the personality, the organizational skills, the institutional background and the knowledge to represent us well there.”
Pace, who will begin his second year as director in May, sees student service as a major facet of his job. Many students at the campus are non-traditional and first-generation college students; his mission is to get them and keep them.
“Joel is someone who is dedicated to students and student success,” said associate provost for academic outreach and support Daniel Connell.
“He is deeply concerned about students being able to achieve their educational goals and he also believes that through collaboration and cooperation he can address a lot of the educational issues in northeast Kentucky,” Connell said.
Pace credits his background in enrollment and student services. That’s where he entered the MSU payroll.
And it was at that time he saw a parade of students who dreamed of getting a college education, but fretted about making it happen - coming up with the money to pay tuition, shoehorning class time and homework sessions into their schedules.
“I’ve been fortunate that all my positions at Morehead State University have been designed to get students into college,” Pace said. “I understand the fears and problems first-generation students and non-traditional students face.
“So I’m well attuned to the services they need to support them.”
And that¹s as important now as it was then, Pace said, because working in
close tandem with ACTC is a key to MSU Ashland’s future. And the community college actively courts first-generation and non-traditional students, many of whom go on to Morehead to complete their degrees.
MSU’s Ashland campus offers junior and senior classes, drawing largely on ACTC students who earn associate degrees and transfer.
The two institutions have developed numerous transfer agreements, called 2+2 agreements, under which ACTC students earn their two-year degrees and then transfer all the credits to MSU when they enroll there to work toward their bachelors’ degrees.
The burgeoning relationship with ACTC is a real sign of Pace’s leadership, Connell said. It takes a mind attuned to working in tandem to achieve goals.
“That’s really important to Morehead State, reaching out and partnering with the college and also with the community.”
The Ashland area has great potential for MSU, Pace believes. It¹s a medical and educational hub, with what he says are some of the best school systems in the state.
He has initiated community projects, placing interns with the city, for instance.
Pace’s wife, Lora, also works for Morehead State as first-year programs director. They have two children, 10-year-old Bethany and Alex, who is 6.
Pace is the son of Randy and Peggy Pace of West Point and a graduate of Bullitt Central High School.
Posted with permission from The Independent of Ashland.
Posted: 3-31-08
