From Professor to President: Leading Washburn Forward | Dr. Mazachek

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Meeting President Julian Mazachek

Above all, Washburn delivers a personalized education that you won't find at larger schools. Learn more at washburn.edu. All right, today we have the presidente of Washburn University, Dr. Julian Mazichek. Thanks for joining us today. It's great to be here.

Thanks for letting me be here.

Absolutely. Thank you so much. Tell us a little bit about you. What's your backstory? How did you get to Washburn?

Okay, I'll tell it very briefly. Um, but I started in Topeka. My mom is from Topeka, from Topeka, graduated from Topeka High. My dad's from Junction City, grew up. They got married. We started all of us kids. There's I have four, uh, I have three, three siblings, and uh born here in Topeka. But we moved uh wet we moved east um when I was about six, and then uh and then went to school in Missouri. Uh have an engineering degree from Missouri S T. Wow. And then did all my graduate work at the University of Kansas, met my hubby at Missouri S T.

Did you do grad school in engineering as well?

No, I made a change. My husband tells me that I was a little bit of a trader to engineering, but I uh I really fell in love with business. So is this guy?

He's a trader to engineering. I have an engineering degree I've not used one time.

I think I use it in my thinking and all of those things every once in a while. Problem solving problems, always problem solving, yes. But uh um, but yeah, I love fell in love with business, and so I ended up getting an accounting degree and a PhD and then came to and then came to Washburn uh to be a professor. Wow. And I came to this uh great institution because um I had a good friend who told me that I would love it because they care so much about their students and they're devoted to teaching and being excellent in the classroom. And she said that's gonna be a great fit for you, and it was, yeah. And so I've been at Washburn now for except for about nine months. I've been at Washburn for 34 years.

Wow.

And um I did fall in love with Washburn and uh the alumni and the students, and and so I've had a great opportunity to serve. I started as a professor, then I was able to serve as the dean of the school of business. Then I spent a number of years leading our Foundation and Alumni Association. I was the provost for about six years, and and now I'm the president.

Yes, wow.

From Engineering To Accounting Research

I feel I'm I'm committed to this uh institution. I I do love it. I have two of my three children graduated from Washburn, so I have a passion for it in many ways. Yes. Yeah.

Do you mind if I so what is an a what is a PhD in accounting look like? Because I imagine I imagine like a grad a graduate degree is that maybe similar to like that helps you get a CPA or something like that?

No, no, no. You actually by the time you finish your master's degree, you have everything you need to get a CPA. So it's really they they train you to do more research, you take some more advanced classes so that you can begin to um maybe lead in accounting and being able to write in that area.

Okay, so you can contribute to making the body of accounting more effective. You're doing research.

Research and writing.

That's wild. That's an interesting thing to think about, a PhD in accounting.

Oh, yes, I think.

Leading From Within At Washburn

Come on, but you did it and you were a uh professor here in accounting and business. Wow. And worked your way up. Well, now you're the president. Let's go.

So is it pretty normal that presidents of universities kind of work their way up and they're usually, you know, grown internally, or is it sometimes outsourced?

You know, that's a great question. It is not normal to grow internally. Usually you have to move around between different institutions, even to advance in your career. And it just, I was very fortunate here at Washburn to be able to advance and grow uh right here in place. And we work diligently to make sure that we provide those opportunities for our very best um faculty and staff leaders here so that they feel like they can stay at Washburn. Wow and have an awesome experience without having to move all over the country and leave a place that they love.

I mean, I even think how great is that for Washburn, though, to have a president who's been a professor, been a dean, you work your way up, and so you know what all of your faculty's thinking, what they're going through. I mean, what a unique position you're now in.

Yeah, and some people I've known, uh I've known like Paul Wagner, I remember when we hired. I remember when we hired him. Wow. And I many of our faculty, I do remember when we when we hired them or when I started and they were they were uh colleagues just a number of years ahead of me. And uh so I feel very blessed that I've been able to uh stay in the same place and have these long-term relationships and be able to see this institution really grow grow and flourish. Yeah.

So if you just if you just coach a team, then you would have done almost everything there is to do at Washburn. You've almost done every role.

Quite a bit. That is true. Yes, yes. I feel, yeah, yeah. I'm I feel very lucky.

That's awesome. Well, it seems like uh, you know, as semi-outsiders, I mean, we don't work for the university, but um seeing all of the progress of buildings and there's all kinds of new things happening right across the street at Washburn right now, uh, over the last how five, ten years, maybe, it would seem to me as an outsider that a lot of that is because of you stepping into this role. Like now there's this new sense of vision. Is that true? Like it that's I maybe this is a hard question to answer, bragging on yourself, but it seems like you came in and brought a lot of new vision and momentum with you.

Well, I will say that some of that uh has to do with the fact that uh the role that I was in before I um took a before I left. I I did leave for nine months, went down to Texas uh to be the president of uh Midwestern State, but I couldn't stay away. I I ended up coming back. And before I left, I was in I was in the provost role, and we had spent quite a bit of time planning for the future before I left and really thinking about what we needed to do to take Washburn uh to the next level. And some of that was buildings, some of that was programs, um, some of that we we reorganized some things a little bit so that people could work together in ways they hadn't worked together before. And so I had the opportunity to, when I when I came back, to actually start to put a plan around those ideas and be able to see those come to life. Wow. And so it did feel like a lot of energy all at once. Uh, but we had really been talking about and getting ready for this uh before for many years. Yes.

Wow. What exactly is a provost?

Space Housing And Parking Realities

So they're over all of the academics of the institution. Okay so really the core, uh the heart of the institute, of any higher ed institution. All the professors, all the deans, anything that really oversees and and serves students. Cool. Yeah, yeah.

So let me ask you this. Uh Washburn is every year it's growing. There's always a new building going up, it feels like. At some point, I feel like Washburn is gonna run out of space. Oh. And maybe we are already there. Are there plans to uh you know buy more space, evolve? I mean, I know you have some other campuses with Washburn Tech and other things, but I guess what's what is the 20-year plan? Because we're running out of space.

Yes, yes, yes. You know, in today's day and first of all, I just want to say in today's day and age, a 20-year plan is too far in advance. I mean, really, you know, we used to talk about 10 and 20-year plans, and now we are reinventing our plan or reimagining plans every three to five years because everything is changing so quickly. And and we have to be responsive uh so to ensure that our students are ready for whatever the world holds for them, and so they can achieve their their goals and dreams for their careers and their lives. And so we really have tried, we look, we look long distance, but we always leave ourselves open to be able to adjust to what's happening in the world and with everything that's happening in AI and technology. We know that the world's going to be different, actually different than any of us can imagine today. Sure, yeah in 20 years, right? Or probably in five years. I mean, if you would you read all the tech stuff, they'll tell you that we won't know what it's like next year. So um, so anyway, but uh but we have uh we do have a plan for that. We've been thinking quite a bit about what what does the future look like. We believe, and I still believe, humans are wired to be together. And so we always talk about, oh, well, maybe people will just do everything online, they'll just learn everything through AI online. We don't believe that. There's something powerful that happens when humans come together that can't be replicated with technology. And so we we believe that will still be the case. So we think about do we have enough space? How do we need to make sure that people can move to Topeka and be a part of a community here at Washburn University, Washburn Tech? And um, but believe it or not, our campus, we do still have room on our campus to build a couple more buildings. Okay. I know it's hard to believe, yeah, but we do, and we have we are we are most challenged right now thinking about the future of housing and what is going to happen with students like to live on campus, they like to live very close to campus.

Right.

It's a safe environment, and so we're we are we are right now trying to work through how do we how do we build more housing that students want to be a part of because we know that's one of the the most constraining factors for us being able to grow is having the housing that students want for campus. Because people, you know, when they when they move here from out of town, um parents and and the students, they they want to know where they're going to live, they want to feel good about where they're living. And uh we know that there's a little bit of a shortage in in Topeka, Kansas, in housing.

Yeah.

And so we're we're working hard to develop a plan and and and determine how we're going to proceed. But we're always looking at uh areas around the campus that we might uh want to acquire if it makes sense.

Yeah.

If it makes sense, and um and be good partners in our neighborhoods and be able to attract more people to this great city.

Wow, that makes sense. So you're I'm sure you can't say anything official, but you're considering, hey, do we need more residence halls? Do we need more where would those go? How does it what would that look like on campus? And uh man, it's it's interesting to me as I like when I if I were to think about that, I'd be like, oh yeah, like hey, we could fit a building right there, but then you need like parking lots. Yeah, and that takes so much more space than you imagine. Yeah. Engineer. Yeah.

Parking lots, and um, we don't and and surface lots take up a lot of space. And so we've we've been talking quite a bit about um when will we have to have the need for a parking garage.

Oh yeah.

And and we're not we're not excited about that. Yeah. Uh however, you can you can multiply the amount of spaces that you have, take up less of a footprint. It's very, very expensive. And right now we don't charge for parking because we have we have surface lots. And so we're trying to stay with surface lots as long as we possibly can.

Yeah.

But you're right, eventually you have to ask yourself, should we do parking there or should we should we build a parking garage so that we can have some more green space or another or another building or something like that?

That's something not paying for parking is something that as a student they don't take for granted versus at other universities. So I went to Washburn and it's funny you even mentioned that. They would always tell us because we'd go into class, we were late, you know, I had to park far away or whatever. It's like it beats paying for parking, you know, a little bit of walking or you know, just a minute late.

Well, I went to KU and I had to pay for parking, and it was the worst. I lived in the residence halls on campus. I was an RA for several years. I loved living on campus, but paying for the permit, which only worked in my residence hall parking lot.

Yes, yes.

Which was brutal. So there were some years I was like, I wonder if I can get away with not paying. You know, I'm a broke college student. And you're, you know, you're an RA, they pay free housing, which is awesome, but you get like a $50 stipend a month, you know. So it's like you don't have a lot of extra cash for anything. And so I was like, I went multiple semesters. I'm gonna not pay a parking thing, I'm just gonna park. And you're just hunting for like an hour, hunting for a spot in the neighborhood around, and I'm like, this is brutal. So Washburn is amazing. Like when we moved to Topeka, I'm like, man, the parking on campus is free.

This is great.

It's amazing.

Something else that I wanted to bring up that Washburn students don't take for granted. When I was there, I was I lived in Lincoln Hall.

Uh-huh.

And I had uh oh I had the dining bucks for whatever the I don't remember the name, the dining that was associated with Lincoln. And when I was there, I also am from Topeka. So I didn't always love eating there because I always knew all the local restaurants, or I'd go home with mom and dad, and so I had all this money. And I eventually was like, okay, this isn't worth it. I'm not using my money. You know, I don't like Lincoln Hall dining. I'll tell you what, the the semester I moved home, I wish I had Lincoln dining. And right now, as I'm planning my meals for the week as an adult, it's like, gosh, what I would do for a subway sandwich at Lincoln Hall. Yeah. Yes, what I would do to have bucks at dining hall now. Yeah. So they they do not take it for granted. I I know it. Yeah. They should.

It's hard when you're in the moment, then you don't know how hard it is not to have. It's hard to not take it for granted.

Go at midnight and get chicken strips. I know.

You don't know how amazing it is until it's gone.

Yeah. Now I'm eating cereal at midnight.

Or chocolate milk with every meal. Oh man. Game changer.

Yeah, and you didn't have to get in your car and drive anywhere. You didn't have to pay for it to be delivered. I know.

Yeah, you're in a safe environment.

That's so true. So true.

Growth Scholarships And Low Student Debt

Yeah. Yeah. So what what are the things you are most excited about right now as the president of Washburn?

So the there are a number of things that have been exciting for me. I will, I will say the one at growth has been really important to us. And when I was here before and and when I came back, it was really important to me that Topekans felt like they had a place to pursue higher education. And so we have, I think, done a great job of making it possible for for Shawnee County, folks from uh students from Shawnee County to find a pathway to either technical education, to a four-year degree, to a law degree right here in their own backyard. And and being able to um say that they know higher education is a choice that they can make. Yeah. And affordably. And so uh we're we're we're we're very proud of that. And I think our our numbers have shown that over the last three years. We've grown and our undergraduate population, we've grown by about 23%. Wow. Yeah. At Washburn Tech, we've grown by about 25% in their adult population. Yes. So it is uh That's huge. We know that some of the things that we're doing, some of the scholarship programs that we have initiated have made a difference. Students are sitting in our classrooms that didn't uh maybe didn't think that uh university or tech was a place for them. Wow. And now they have uh they have a different future that they've been able to imagine. We're really proud of that. Um we have the lowest debt in the state of Kansas of uh uh college students. Wow. Uh any four-year institution. And so you can you can choose an excellent education at Washburn and you can find a way to graduate with the lowest debt possible, if any. Only about 35% of our students have to take out any debt at all. And so yeah, of our undergraduate students, it is that's so low.

35%? That's amazing.

Yeah, it is.

So I know when I was applying at Washburn, you know, they have the general academic scholarships you can apply for, you know, your GPA, ACT, you find them. And then it was my second year I declared as a business major. They had the same thing in the business department. They did. And I didn't know about it my first year, and so I just applied and I got double the amount of scholarship. And it's like I'm not that bright, but they have it, they have it for everybody. That's awesome.

Yeah, so I want I I I do want to talk about that. That's something else that is exciting about Washburn and what has happened through the years. People who've come to Washburn have been, they feel like their life has been transformed. And so we've had donors through the years, those are some of the scholarships that you received in the school of business. We've had donors through the years that at the either the end of their life um or uh while they're still living, they're giving significant amounts of of uh gifts to the university to benefit students. Wow, and scholarships made such a difference to so many of our students because we have a long history of first generation students and uh and they feel like scholarships really made it possible for them, and they and that is still the number one hurdle why students don't choose to go to college is finances. And so we know scholarships are still as important today, if not even more important, because the cost is even higher than it used to be. And so we've received these tremendous gifts through the years from um alumni that have that have allowed us to do amazing things for students. Now we are receiving gifts like we've never received before for buildings, so we're able to do some amazing things for buildings, which I'll talk about in just a minute. But I'm just so grateful. I cannot um I cannot express enough gratitude for the people that have graduated from Washburn, that love Washburn and have donated to make it possible for uh our students of the future um to have be able to pursue education and have a have an outstanding educational experience while they're here.

I got a bone to pick with Cody Foster. They redo the AE building five years after I'm there, and it's like, gosh, that would have been nice. Yeah, but yeah, is that dumb?

So no, so Advisors Excel Hall is one of the the buildings that if you were to drive through campus today, you'd see that it was it doesn't look like it's finished, but it is um it was the former Henderson Hall, and it's our largest classroom building on campus. It's really yeah, about 25% of our classes are held in that building. And so it is uh we're completely renovating every square foot. We've added a little bit of square footage to it and uh made it into a modern state-of-the-art uh building for our school of business and for our um our division of social sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. We have our dean's offices for business and for the College of Arts and Sciences that'll be in there. Yeah, it's uh we have a forensics lab in there, our psychology clinic is going to be uh in there. Yeah, yeah. It's it is exciting. That's and now it is we will open it in um students will be back in there in January of 27. Okay, and so we have one. It is, it is. So we have one more semester uh of uh students and faculty being all over the campus. Uh but uh yeah, we will actually cut the ribbon, we believe the end of October, first part of November. That's it.

That's gonna be so cool. That's crazy because they it seemed like they fully gutted it. We did, like it was uh it was like basically one step away from demolishing the building. So I mean to be done this quickly is it is it's amazing, it's kind of wild to think about.

Yeah, we went down to the columns basically. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Wow. What I think's funny is I don't know if you've been in the building, but it was a nice building to begin with. Like, you know, it wasn't like that it was this run-down Henderson Hall, you know. I how are we taking classes? It was a nice building. As someone who, you know, was in it every other day. I mean, uh when I heard they were redoing it, I was like, okay, like this is gonna be awesome if they're redoing this building.

Yeah, seriously. Wow, that's amazing. And then you have the law building just a little bit.

Yes, we opened the law building just uh two two years ago. Really? Already two years ago? Oh, it might have been nope, it's been three years ago this summer. Really? Yes, yes.

It doesn't seem like that long ago.

I know, I know. So we we hosted our first class in the fall of 23 in that building.

Wow.

And uh it is phenomenal. And so our our law school, you know, our law school is 123 years old. And uh we have had a great law school for for decades and decades. And uh we have seen just such a tremendous growth since they've moved into that building. We we laugh. The dean would tell you that um if anybody comes to visit the building, they say yes, they're going to be a student of ours. Not only do they meet outstanding faculty, we have we have an amazing program and with outstanding faculty and staff. And uh, but then they come to the campus, they come to Topeka, they come to see that building and they're like, This is where I want to study.

Yep.

So we have we are almost at capacity. We this year we believe when they enter, when the final class enters this fall, we'll be at capacity for the law school. And um, we have the highest credentials ever of any any class we've ever had enter was this fall, uh this past fall. I mean, it's been An amazing story to tell.

So by you mean highest credentials, you mean like their grades coming in and things like that. So just quality of student.

Yes. And then they take a they take an entrance exam, so to speak. They take the LSAT. And uh um yeah, highest credentials and LSAT and GPA. Wow. Yeah.

The thing about Washburn's campus, though, too, is it's not like 15 years ago it wasn't nice. And now it's really nice. One of my really good friends was a tennis coach at Washburn. Yes. And he told me that when he was doing recruiting and walking around with kids on campus, he said if he could get a recruit to campus, it was done. Yeah. Like, you know, if he could convince them to take a visit to Topeka, Kansas, and once he got them there, like it they were gonna get them. And that was 15 years ago. So I can only imagine all of these upgrades you're doing. One, it's great for the students that are here, but it's probably great to attract students as well. Yeah. Being able to show them all these things. Even as someone who's, you know, I'm not a law student, or I wasn't a law student, or I wasn't an athlete, so I didn't use the athletic building, the track and field, but it's still really cool to be able to say, yeah, that's my university.

Yeah. That is interesting. What's your I know you said you don't have, you know, it's not wise to maybe have 10, 20 year plans. What's your dream for what Washburn could be, you know, 50 years from now? Like how big could Washburn be? Like in your mind, like, you know, years and years from now, is this like, you know, is it three or four times the footprint? Is it like 10,000 students? Like, what's what's your dream of like we could be we could be like this?

She doesn't do 20-year plans, but she'll do a 50 for us. I'm just asking for a dream, not a plan. I will tell you uh Washburn, a proud sponsor of this podcast, wants to keep its homegrown talent here at home. Graduates of Shawnee County High Schools and homeschools can be eligible for the Thrives Scholarship. Other local graduates may qualify for the Promised Scholarship. Meaning you can go to Washburn tuition-free.

Learn more about these incredible opportunities at washburn.edu. Washburn is just right. Just for you.

Yeah, I don't want to misinterpret what I said. I am always planning. So I'm always thinking ahead.

Of course.

Um, but it doesn't, uh they're not as meaningful. 20-year written-down plans aren't as meaningful as they used to be.

Totally.

Um, however, I do have a dream and a vision for Washburn because people ask, they, they, they ask, you know, what do you want to be? We we all ask that. What do you want to be when you grow up? And and um our we believe our institution is actually exceptional at being able to connect with students and being able to create relationships. And um we believe the magic to that is smaller classrooms with faculty who really care and want to get to know their students and want to have um interactions in the hallways and and when they're studying, not just in the classroom. And um we believe that that's achieved by not being too big. So people ask us that all the time. How big do you want to be? I believe that we could grow by another 30% or 40%, and we can achieve uh that that we believe that's what we do differently. We believe that's what makes a difference when we talk to alumni and students. Um we what when we talk with alumni, this is not this is not true at every institution, but when we speak to alumni, they always are telling us about this a certain professor. Or I have this story about these professors that made a difference. They they they really challenged me to be better than I thought I could be. And they know them, and or they'll say, and I'm still in touch with my professors. Wow, and that doesn't happen at every institution, no, did not happen at my institution. And and your institution was great, yeah, but we do things, we we have a great institution, it's just different. Yeah, and so we want to keep doing what we believe is the magic of Washburn and the magic of Topeka.

Wow.

And so we we uh we think that we can grow between uh between eight and ten thousand students, and so that would be that would be good growth for us, by the way.

And still keep that cohesion in that wow.

You know, I can even speak to that. That's compelling. When we launched this podcast about a year and a half ago, when we put out our first episode, I remember I had three Washburn professors comment on our first post saying, Hey, this is really cool, Justin. And at that time, I was five years out. It wasn't like I was fresh out. I had several of my professors comment, uh, which I think is really cool. Um you know, I don't keep in touch with them on a personal level, but the fact they remember my name enough to comment or they see this, like yeah, that was one of my students really speaks to that.

Yeah.

That is cool.

Yeah, yeah, we love that.

Yep. That's very compelling because I I think that is ultimately what people are looking for, is they're looking for connection, even probably more than they're looking for good job credentials and things like that. I think they're looking for, man, where do I belong? Who are my people? You know, and I think even if people can't articulate that in that way, I I don't know. My experience is I think people are really craving that more than they think they are. Yeah. And so to come to someplace like Topeka, which is funny because still to this day, it seems like you know, we still have the persistent, you know, nagging kind of brand in Kansas is like, you know, why would you go to Topeka? But when people come, you know, it's like it's like you said, if if you can get them to a visit, it's like, oh my gosh, this actually has everything I'm looking for. Uh-huh. You know, there's a lot here that I didn't realize was going to be here. Yeah. And if you don't believe it, just ask Paul Wagner. That's right.

Because we're awesome now. We're awesome. We're awesome now. That's right. I think we showed you that clip off air, but we have a clip of, for those who don't know, we have a clip of Paul Wagner who joined us. He's the uh president professor. Biology professor, president of the Striders Run Club. We interviewed him about Washburn, and he just said, We're awesome at this point.

You should drop that clip right.

Now we're awesome at this point. What?

That's awesome. What we're what we're awesome at this point.

Why Topeka Works For Students

But yeah, super funny. Yeah. Uh well, do we want to switch to maybe just some Topeka questions? Yeah, yeah. So, name the podcast, Topeka Insider. Um how you've been in Topeka all your life. You said you went to Topeka High.

I nope. My mother went to Topeka High. I actually grew up in uh Missouri. I graduated from a high school in Missouri. Mom and dad moved away, and then in the mid-80s, they moved back here. Okay. And um uh to take care of their moms uh in Junction City and here in Topeka. And uh, and so my husband was in Kansas City after we got married. I I ended up in Kansas City. That's how I m that's how we made it back to Kansas.

Yep.

And then eventually made it here to Topeka. Yeah. So I've been here for 34 years. So yeah. Absolutely. Most of my life. Yeah.

Plenty of experience in the city. Yeah. What do you think uh when you're talking to outsiders or I mean you probably talk to lots of university presidents as you're just uh collaborating? What do you think Topeka has going for it when you when you're bragging on your city as a whole? Absolutely. What do you think Topeka has going for?

I think it's a blessing to be in the Capitol. I mean, there's so much activity that happens here that doesn't happen any place else in the state because of the legislature and and all the work that goes along with the state agencies that are located right here. Um and I think that's exciting. I think we have a business environment that is thriving and growing. And people who come to school here have opportunities for jobs while they're working, well while they're while they're students, they can work in their discipline while they're here, get real world experience. They and they can go to school full time, they don't have to commute any place. Um and and we have a great relationship with our business community and our students. If you look around, if you're sitting around any table in Topeka with leaders across the city, I just want you to notice how many of those folks are Washburn graduates.

Yeah, yeah, so true.

And how many of them might only be here because they came to go to school at Washburn and they fell in love with this great city and they wanted to stay here and make it even better and call it home. And so, yeah, I I think Topeka's a fantastic uh city with much um, so much to do here. Um, and what we don't have here, we are so close to Kansas City. Oh my word, you just drive an hour uh to we're in an hour, we're at the airport. In an hour we can go to Kansas City and do whatever you need to do and come back home. Um but most of the time you can do most of what you need to do right here in our own in our own backyard.

I tell people that all the time when they're relocating to Topeka. It's like, hey, you know, if you want to get season tickets to the Chiefs, you can do that. If you want to go, you know, Manhattan and watch all the K-State games or go to KU, KU Bass, like you can do all those things, but you don't have to deal with some of the maybe repercussions of a bigger city. You know, you get to live in Topeka, you have more affordable housing, more the cost of living is lower, no traffic. Right. Um and you can still piggyback on all the perks of those cities if you want to. Oh, yeah.

Just moved to Topeka a month ago.

Okay.

From near the Kansas City area, near the Legends. She would be, you know, go to Legends all the time, you know, things like that. And uh she was shocked at just how much is in Topeka. And she like visited us and stuff, but she'd never really like gotten the lay of the land before. So now she's living here, she's exploring, and she's like, I didn't know we had that restaurant, I didn't know we had that store. I thought I was gonna have to drive to Kansas City to go to there. And we're like, no, we have you know, Sam's Club, we have you know, all these kinds of places, you know. It's it's kind of crazy.

Do you know we're one of the top three Sam's clubs in the nation? Really? We're right here in Topeka Kansas. I didn't know.

I didn't know that. No Costco. That's why. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. But yeah, yeah. Cool. That's amazing.

It is.

Well, do we want to switch to some rapid fire?

What A Municipal University Means

I had one question uh before we do that. Um so Washburn is a city university. Is that what it's called?

We are a municipal university. Municipal.

What exactly does that mean for us and how is that different from, say, like a state university or something like that?

So we are we receive um okay. So the a municipal university is one that's tied closely to the the city, and what and we were here uh pretty close to when Topeka started. Wow. Washburn University started. And uh, and we have been tied to this this community ever since. It's our primary area that we serve. Um and this community supports us. If you look at your if you look at your property tax, you'll see that we re we receive a small mill levy that helps us um keep our campus beautiful. Uh you will also you you might also know that we receive a sales tax. I have been receiving that for a number of years. Uh property tax before that, and it's tied to this, it's tied to this community. So not surprising to you, uh, we are tied to this community and making sure that this is the number one place that we serve. And so we're always looking for ways that we best serve Topeka, Kansas, and Shawnee County.

Wow.

And um, and then we serve abroad our our our next concentric circle would probably be our Northeast Kansas area. And that's really where we where we focus all of our efforts, and and those are the businesses that we focus on serving. Um however, we it's since the 1960s, we also receive a state operating grant. Um and that happened. Um the state wanted because we're a public institution, and this happened at Wichita State too. They were a municipal university, they joined the regent system, we didn't, but they also became uh or they started receiving state funding. And so um that's important for us. It is we about 15% of our funding comes from the state. Wow, so it helps. Yeah, very much so.

So it's kind of a both and, but there's a unique priority on this the citizens of the city that we're in uh that is just different than state university. It is cool. That's very cool.

Yeah, and and um however, I I do want to share, you know, any any institution, whatever city that we operate in, we recognize that's not just true for Washburn, but we recognize how important our communities are and how we contribute to our communities being strong. And so we want we want to be an em we want to be part of that and we want to play uh play our role and and fulfill our responsibilities and making sure our communities thrive.

Yeah, cool, that's cool.

Yeah, come on.

So let's talk about Topeka Thriving. Topeka thriving. Uh some of these you might not be able to answer. Okay. Uh I'll do what I can. Well, we're gonna give them to you. But we're gonna ask you anyways.

Okay.

Uh so you know, I recognize the the challenge of you know, you're in a lot of relationships with a lot of different people. But do you have any favorite local restaurants?

Oh my word. You know, putting her on the spot. You put me on the spot.

And if you don't want to say a favorite, you can play the fifth. If you don't want to say a favorite, what's one you're going to go to recently?

I have I have several. Can I can I say several that I like? Absolutely.

Fire away.

Okay, so um uh I have to I have to really think I really like blue mousse. Yeah, I've always liked blue mousse. I really like iron rail. Yep. Um those are probably my two. Those are probably my two. At Iron Rail, I always get barbecue.

Oh, yes, that's what I get. I get the barbecue mac and cheese.

Oh, I've never done that.

It's when I go to Iron Rail. Tell about the burnt end platter. Yeah, it's good too. When I go to Iron Rail, it's like, you know, I don't even go, I don't even need a menu. Like I'm going there for the pulled pork mac and cheese. But uh it does sound really good. Do you have a favorite coffee shop?

A favorite coffee shop. You know, I will tell you that that one's hard because uh they they're all a little different.

Yep.

I tend to like the ones right around Washburn because we I frequent those quite a bit. So that would be circle and the coffee bar.

Yeah.

Coffee bar is good.

Yeah, they're both and they're different. You have a different vibe at them, and but I go I go to both of those, yeah.

Yep. I go to circle when I want to see people. I go to coffee bar when I want to get something done. Yeah, that's true.

There are people there working at coffee bar, there is no doubt about it. People out with their laptops and stuff. And they're open later, which is nice.

Yeah, when it was PTs, I lived there as a Washburn student. Did you? I lived there as well.

And it's so close to campus. So close, yep.

Yeah, I lived there. Um, but go to a date night. If you're gonna have a date night in Topeka, what are you doing?

Hmm. Probably going to a Washburn basketball game.

Great answer. Good answer.

To be honest.

I like it. Yeah. Lee Arena. We we just talked to Brett Ballard about this, but Lee Arena, that has been a complete makeover and so cool.

Yes. It is transformational, actually. If you go in there, you feel like you're at a Division I school. Yeah. Yeah. Uh we love that. Yeah. The the uh our new bleachers, our new floor, our new lighting. Video boards. The video boards are amazing. Cap Fed Room as well. Cap champion suite. There is nothing like it.

I have a friend who's been in the Cap Fed room before, but you haven't yet? I haven't. He hasn't gotten the invite from Catholic. He was he was there for some event, and then I think I think Coach Ballard asked him about it. And he's like, Oh yeah, I was there. And he's like, could basically could have invited a friend and didn't. And I was like, so it's cool. I guess this is we're just podcast friends, not real friends.

Well, we'll have to take care of getting you in there. Yeah, that's a it's a neat place.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Brett Ballard told us that they're putting up uh they're not quite done with the they're done with the state the basketball court, but they're gonna do like a history of Washburn wool, and they have the old floor and the old W. Yes. Yeah, that'll be really cool now. They pick it up. Yeah, yeah.

You'll see that over the next year. We're going to redo all those hallways around there. So it'll be an experience walking through there.

Yeah, there's there's so much potential for those hallways all the way around.

All the way around.

Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing.

Yeah. Uh, you're doing a home project.

Lowe's. On the new president's manner.

Exactly. You are fixing something in the president's manner. I am. Lowe's. Hypothetical question. Hypothetical question. Lowe's Home Depot Menards. What's your go-to?

Oh my. Oh, dude, you are asking me hard questions here. Uh actually, uh I uh menards for certain things, and um usually Lowe's. Okay, yeah, okay. Yeah. Okay.

That's funny. We uh he John's a Home Depot guy. I'm a Menards guy. And I'm just gonna stereotype you and guess here. My guess is you're probably not doing a lot of home projects.

Not right now, but we used to. Yes.

Our running joke is that people that pay people to do home projects go to Minards. People who actually do them themselves go to Home Depot. John does a lot of his own stuff. I don't know how to do anything.

So only on me and Justin. Basically. Yeah. Yeah. The the the survey pool is two people. That's true. So thoughts?

I I like to switch it up. I like to go to all of them. Even like Ace is a good one.

Oh, Ace has great things. They have different things than the other stores, too. Agreed?

I go to all of them. That's a cop-out answer. Yeah. Menards is definitely the most fun to go to. Yeah, for sure.

Well, where can you go and get peanut butter and on your roofing? Exactly. Where can you go do that?

I would say that is that is the number one reason we that people give when we ask them why they go to Menards. They're like, well, you can get milk and cereal and two by fours, you know, at the same place. It's funny. I also I I actually I probably most frequently go to Waters Hardware right here. Oh, yeah. I probably go there the most by far. Yeah. I was there yesterday. Uh for the.

Waters is ace, aren't they?

Are they? They might be an ace. I think they are. They're definitely like they feel like an ace. They're like a small local, but they have 90% of the things I need on a random thing. Yeah. Uh what else? Crazy. Uh do you play golf?

Uh lightly, yes.

Do you have a course that you enjoy playing?

So I do uh Topeka Country Club. No, yeah. Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. Treat yourself.

Love it. Come on. That's awesome. Finally, where could people find you at? If they want to connect with you or connect with the university, are you on social media? What would be the best way to get connected with Washburn?

The best way is to look me up on our Washburn site and just put my name in and you'll you'll go right to my office and they'll be able to get a hold of me. I am on social media. I've been a little quiet this year, but um I'm getting ready to kind of rev back up again on Instagram.

Getting your memes ready to post on social media.

Did I what?

Getting your memes ready to post.

I I you know I I have to get better at that. I'm getting them ready, yes. And the the young people are keeping me uh on on my toes.

Well, you heard it here first. You can find her on TikTok.

Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a staff that is encouraging you to try like social media trends and stuff?

Yes, yes. Actually, the student, we we work with the students, and the students are the are they lead us uh in great ways. And so, yes, I've done some things, I'm like, really? Students will like that? And it's am I being pranked? It gets 15,000 views. Okay, all right. I don't know what's going on, but yes, that's great. Cool. Well, Dr.

Mazichek, thanks for joining us. This has been awesome. We appreciate your time.

Well, thank you. Thank you for having me here today. Thank you for letting me talk about Washburn.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And thank you so much for what you're doing, man. It's exciting just to see the university grow. And uh, you know, the city obviously benefits from you know your leadership and the university thriving. So it's exciting. Thank you very much.