Matt Bergman, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at the University of Louisville (UofL) teaching both undergraduate and graduate students. Anyone that has the opportunity to work with Dr. Bergman can tell you, he has found a calling working with students who have not been able to follow the traditional college path. He works with adults who have an unfinished bachelor’s degree but have completed some college, maybe even decades ago.

The reasons for leaving college before completing their degree may vary, but all of these students’ stories share a common thread—they all found the courage and the drive to come back and finish what they started.

Dr. Bergman and Dr. Joann Olson, a senior scholar from Texas, recently published a book chronicling the experiences of these students. A full description of Unfinished Business is available from the publisher.

We sat down with Dr. Bergman for a quick Q&A, to learn more about Unfinished Business. Here is what he shared:

I love that you titled your book Unfinished Business—it is very fitting. How did you land on that? Were there any other contenders for the title?
MB: The title has been in place for over four years. It came to me in a conversation with a student and right then I knew it captured the essence of what these adult learners are thinking as they consider a return to college.

I think anyone who gets to work with you knows how passionate you are about reaching and connecting with this group – adults with some college but no degree – and helping them cross the finish line. What inspires you to dedicate yourself to supporting this demographic?
MB: This group has so many life experiences and a ton of professional expertise to draw from when they re-engage with the academic setting. It is so amazing to learn alongside them as you introduce a complex theory and watch them make direct connections to their real-life work. It is truly research-to-practice the whole time they are working through our degree. The commitment to getting an “A” in every class is palpable. They don’t like to settle for anything less. They are trying to serve as an inspiration to their children and they want to model the kind of grades they expect from their kids.

Unfinished Business is a collection of student stories and I know each student’s journey is unique, but is there one story that really stands out to you?
MB: There are too many to really identify one particular story. However, if I had to pick one or two, I would start with Phillip Alier. He is one of the “Lost Boys from Sudan” who had to walk 1,000 miles to their freedom, many years ago. As he said at a book launch event, he came to America with nothing. He only had a bag full of a couple of documents and an X-ray to prove he wasn’t bringing any diseases to this country. His journey is worthy of a whole book itself. He is actually searching for a partner to write a biography. I encourage those reading this and wanting to connect with him to please reach out and we can get that project rolling.

I also love the story of Joe Jacoby. A three-time Super Bowl Champion and four-time Pro-Bowler, Joe came back to finish his Unfinished Business in his 50s. He had a nagging feeling that he needed to finish the degree for no other reason other than to prove to himself that he could get it done. He had all of the accomplishments in the world but he left UofL to pursue his dreams in the NFL and didn’t finalize his last bit of course work. He enrolled in the Organizational Leadership and Learning (OLL) program at UofL and was able to make direct connections from the course content to his businesses and his coaching efforts. It was a perfect match and we are grateful that he and Phillip are graduates of our program.

You have been leading the UofL initiative to get these students to come back and finish their degree. Is this a national trend? Are more universities making similar outreach efforts?
MB: We recently started a university-wide Comeback Cards initiative facilitated under the leadership of Dr. Gale Rhodes and Dr. Beth Willey. Through our Institutional Research Office, we identified students that were a couple classes away from the finish line and reached out to recruit them back to complete their remaining requirements. With the support of the Provost’s office, we have been able to recruit, enroll, and graduate 50 students that have graduated in 2019. These people had been separated from the university for a wide array of reasons, but we were able to offer small scholarships to re-engage and get them to graduation. It has been a labor-intensive process that involves a large number of offices across campus, but it has been worth all of the effort to get 50 people to the finish line within six to eight months of rolling out the Comeback Cards initiative.

This is definitely a national trend. Colleges and Universities across the country are going into their student databases to find these individuals that haven’t finished and are facilitating innovative programs to get these people to and through their final requirements. Places like University of Memphis, Wayne State University, and the University of South Carolina have been models that we have used to put our initiative together. This is not a “give-away” type of program. These students are hungry to finish their degrees so their level of commitment is high when they re-enroll. We just have to find them, help them get started, and then get out of the way.

What would you say to someone who is reading this interview and is on the fence about coming back to finish their degree?
MB: There is no perfect time to come back. So, that means the time is now. There will always be competing responsibilities pulling you away from the goal of finishing your degree. However, UofL now has services and programs that are tailored to the needs of working adults. Whether you want online, evening, or a mix of the two, you can find a way to carve out enough space in life to get your degree completed. We are done saying “we will give you another chance” and instead, we are saying, “please give us another chance” as an institution. We have changed policy and practice to create a flexible and convenient path to your degree. Give us another shot and we will help you fulfill your long-held dream of completing your degree.

What unique benefits do you feel like online learning offers adult students who want to complete their degrees? Do many of your students choose this option?
MB: There is no doubt that the flexibility of online learning is the key to many students’ success. The “life load” that people are carrying is an important consideration as people return. Online makes it possible to balance that “life load” with a sprinkling of relevant, rigorous, and research-based content that will make your life better if you engage with it. I hear every day how the content in OLL is changing people’s lives for the better. They feel more empowered, more confident, and more prepared to move forward in their careers because of the exposure to our curriculum. It is a wonderful situation that drives me every day to find and connect people to UofL.

If you’re ready to take the leap and finish what YOU started, find out more about the B.S. OLL program at UofL or all of UofL’s online programs. Our faculty and staff are ready to provide the guidance and support that adult professionals returning to school need, from start to finish.

Purchase a copy of Dr. Bergman’s book Unfinished Business.
Author: Matt Bergman, Ph.D., Program Director/Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership, Evaluation, & Org. Development, College of Education & Human Development, University of Louisville, 502-852-7753, matt.bergman@louisville.edu.

Interview conducted by Caitlin Horsley, Online Learning marketing coordinator