10 Minutes With Tipton: PC’S Michael Carley
10 Minutes with Tipton originated in January 2022 on the Education Page. Students in the After School Education and Safety (ASES) Program at Tipton Elementary School take time to Zoom with individuals in the community to ask them questions about their jobs, lives and strategies they can use in their own lives to help them become college and careerready.
Michael Carley, director of institutional research, Porterville College
What is your job title/ role in our community?
“I am the Director of Institutional Research at Porterville College. In my job, I am the lead data person at the college. I keep track of the types of classes students are enrolled in. Their grades, college majors. This data helps us plan better so students can be successful in their classes.”
Please tell us a little bit about yourself - Your background, where you grew up, your family.
“I grew up in the Visalia area in a little town called Ivanhoe. My family moved to the valley when I was nine years old. Before that my father was in the military and we moved around every three years. We had lived in San Diego, Florida and Alaska. I was a first-generation college student. My dad was a mechanic and my mom worked retail. I had to learn how different things worked. Like how to enroll. Luckily, I found a few mentors who helped me out.”
Can you tell us about your role at Porterville College? Can you tell us what you do every day at your job?
“My days vary quite a bit. We may be working on data for a grant, or a program to help get money for a program that will help students. The data may also help someone see how their program is working.
I also serve on the strategic planning committee where we discuss goals we want to see happen and they are mostly around improving graduation rates and helping students.
One thing we have been successful on is revamping the English and math classes so students are more successful in those classes. Instead of them taking three English classes and two to three math classes they can take one class to help them get through college more efficiently and fewer of them will drop out.”
What do you love about your career? What do you dislike about your career?
“I love being able to help people. It’s usually a group effort. I can’t say I do much myself. If I can be part of a group and help students earn a college degree and get a job that helps me feel like I did something meaningful with my day.
One of the things that can be a challenge is that it depends on faculty, deans and secretaries. There’s a lot of coordination that goes along with what we do and that’s a good thing. It can be complicated and it can be hard to manage this kind of project. It’s kind of like a group project at school. We have to be sure to work together even when we disagree on certain parts.”
Would you encourage others to pursue your career?
“I definitely would. It’s changed a lot in the time I’ve been here. I’ve been doing some version of this for 24 years here. When I first started I was only the second person in this position in our district. In the college district, we have 14 positions because people will always need data to help them make decisions.”
What is something that might surprise members of the public (either about you, or your career)?
“A lot of things. I like to do a lot outside of work. I have a 16-yearold son. I like to listen to music. I am a writer. I used to have a column with the Porterville Recorder. I have self-published a couple of novels and a nonfiction book about my family.”
What advice do you have for young people who might be pursuing your line of work?
“It’s not so important what degree you get you can get into institutional research. You can do this with a degree in business, or education, or one of the social sciences, like psychology or sociology. Both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees are in sociology.
As long as you like to play around with numbers and encourage people to think about how education works. If you like to think about how to improve things and ask why things are the way they are (in a respectful way, of course) and how they might be improved.”
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
“Ten years is a long time. I might still be doing this, or I might be retired. I probably will still write, even if I’m not working here anymore I will stay connected to the college and community in some way. I will always find a way to learn. You should never stop learning.”
Anything else you would like to add? (Maybe a current, or past project you’re proud of?)
“One of the things I’m proud of is we have improved our graduation rates. Students are earning their degrees and certificates sooner and they are transferring to four-year colleges if they want to continue their education. Achieving that wasn’t just me and it wasn’t just one project. It was a lot of people working together and a lot of small projects working together to achieve it.
You have to know that the little things matter.”
Camila enjoys art. Karla enjoys art and loves to swim. Both students are in the fourth grade at Tipton Elementary School and are in the After School Education and Safety (ASES) Program.