![](https://i0.wp.com/spokesman-recorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Ester-Photo-1.jpg?resize=771%2C514&ssl=1)
School has always been a place of comfort for Normandale Community College President Joyce Ester. She recalled her early years in public school as an only child who found a sense of belonging and community among her classmates.
Ester’s bus rides to the school she attended outside of her community could be tumultuous at times. Once they made it past the hateful mobs, Ester and her classmates were greeted by their supportive teachers, who ensured that their time in school was positive and reassuring.
Fast-forward to her current position as president of Normandale, where Ester works to instill the same sense of belonging in the students who attend her institution.
Higher education wasn’t originally Ester’s calling. She had previously considered going into a career as a social worker. But after working full-time as a resident director at Whittier College in California, she couldn’t see herself working elsewhere.
She enjoyed helping students navigate higher education and overcome their problems, and in a way, she had reached the type of work she wanted to do as a social worker.
What was supposed to be a one-year stint on the West Coast turned into a 15-year stay. Ester worked her way up to become the assistant dean of students and was later promoted to assistant vice president.
Before taking her job at Normandale, Ester served as the president of Kennedy-King College in her native Chicago. Though she enjoyed the work, Ester felt limited in her role there.
“I struggled with working with the system…there, and so it was time for me to look for another opportunity,” she said. “I was looking for another opportunity that really aligned with who I was, what my values were, allowed me to be the kind of leader that I believe that I am and…the kind of leader I knew I could be.”
Once she came across the position at Normandale, things fell into place for Ester. The school is a transfer-focused institution in a metropolitan area; two things immediately stood out to her in her inquiry.
Once she landed preliminary interviews, Ester spoke to the faculty and staff at Normandale about what they enjoy about the school and what changes they would welcome. Ester said that her ability to listen and learn from others has been an advantage in her work in higher education.
“I think so often leaders sometimes come in immediately and want to change and move and put their stamp on it, which sometimes that’s absolutely appropriate. But sometimes that is a hindrance for you to be able to get some of the buy-in, some of the support from the folks that you’ll be working with.”
Since Ester arrived at Normandale, the school has nearly doubled its diverse student population. She pointed out that the cohort model the college has been utilizing in some of its degree programs has allowed students to build a sense of community on campus and throughout their time in school.
Traditionally, the nursing and dental programs have deployed the cohort model for their students, but other degree-seeking programs at Normandale have utilized this model to guide students toward their goals. Ester believes that this approach to education has helped diverse populations who are more geared toward communal experiences and programming see Normandale as their top choice.
Looking toward the future, Ester and Normandale’s leadership team has oriented the school’s direction towards a list of goals as part of their effort to promote equity and inclusion. These plans are to achieve racial equity in outcomes, reach an associate degree completion or transfer rate of over 50%, and support and sustain a culturally competent and service-oriented culture by 2025.
Ester chose to reach these goals five years ahead of the timeline laid out by MinnState simply because she believed they could achieve these goals sooner rather than later. “If you give us time, we will take the time, and so I really challenged our campus to say, if this is really important to us, let’s try to do it quicker,” Ester said.
“It was really just a way to signal to myself and the campus that if this is important, if we really want to eliminate gaps and help students achieve, we need to do it sooner.”
In looking toward the future, Ester is optimistic about Normandale’s future and is reassured by the passion shared by faculty and students.
“What I am excited about is that I do believe that there is still a very critical mass of faculty and staff who really want to do good work for our students and who want to see them succeed, and I am really excited about being able to support them in kind of leading the charge to do what’s right for our students in the future.”
Support Black local news
Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.