Technical training increasingly important in workplace

Richard I. Gouse has been president of the New England Institute of Technology and its predecessor – the New England Technical Institute – for 40 years. His first job was as a laborer at a Massachusetts trade school founded by his father and grandfather.
After four decades on the job, Gouse’s vision remains as important as ever. This year has marked a particularly important time for the school, which recently moved into a new campus in East Greenwich. Additionally, NEIT implemented a two-year tuition freeze for students who enroll before Dec. 31.

PBN: Is seems that education has been an integral part of your life? Why is that?
GOUSE: While I never dreamed of being president of a college, it is where life has taken me and every step along the way made sense to me. With so much involvement in technical education in my family history, I guess it’s just in my DNA.

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PBN: Why did you start the trade school?
GOUSE: The really most important thing is that they are usually the first to graduate from college. They often didn’t like school and had bad experiences with their education, but in any case they found the courage to go back to school and earn a degree and find a good job. And I think that’s pretty heroic. I think it’s one of the greatest qualities of Americans and I get a thrill every year when I go to graduation and see those students who have succeeded. That’s really what has driven me over the years.

PBN: How did you and your father become involved with the predecessor to NEIT?
GOUSE: In his particular case it was that he had sold the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Trade Shop Schools. The Massachusetts Trade Shop Schools was one of the early ITT schools [and] now is one of the nation’s largest chains. And he had a contract with them, which he fulfilled and he wanted to go on and do something independently. He had known Mr. Earle over the years and Mr. Earle called and said, “My school is really in trouble and would you want to help?” I was in Providence because I went to Brown. … I had gotten accreditation for the Rhode Island Trade Shop Schools and that was one of the first things that needed to be done over at New England Tech, so it was kind of a natural thing for me. PBN: After 40 years as president at NEIT, what is the most important thing that you think you have learned about education?
GOUSE: When I started with only 10 employees I was actually the admissions director, the financial-aid director, the human-relations director, the purchasing director. … I did just about everything. There was nobody else, so I really learned the whole business of running a school from kind of the bottom on up.
The most important thing that I have learned – and what I want the community to understand – is that technical education is on the way to being elevated in the public’s eye. What used to be perceived as a roll-up-your-sleeve kind of image is going to be replaced by an image consistent with the advanced technology that’s involved. … It’s a very important thing for the community to understand that these are graduates that we are going to be providing that are at such a high level as technicians that they actually are going to have the ability to take the highest level of technology and integrate it into an employer’s workplace.

PBN: Is there any one thing that you are especially proud of your students for?
GOUSE: I’m proud of all of them because this is really a commitment that they make that is unusual usually, for their families. This is above and beyond, especially in a period here where a lot people are really scratching together whatever they can to just get by. These kids have committed themselves to get a college education. It’s not a small commitment in time or finances. So as far as success is concerned, we’re just finishing up a $100 million project here on this building. I was very proud to see that the lead contractors were New England Tech contractors and their employees were New England Tech graduates who took incredible pride in what they were doing because they were actual graduates of the school. PBN: What is it that you think potential students need to know to make sure that your school is for them?
GOUSE: What they have to do is they have to come out here and when they do, they’ll be [shown around] by students who will be able to give them first-hand advice and information about the school from a student’s perspective. We think that’s very important, because let’s face it, a student who says, “I’m interested in computers or I’m interested in cars,” has a general idea, but doesn’t really have an in-depth idea of exactly what they’re getting into. So it’s very important for them to actually visit the school and meet the students and get a first-hand glimpse of what it’s like to be a student here and what it requires.
And a lot of times students come with a lot of anxiety about taking liberal arts classes and so on. It’s really good for someone who’s actually experienced and is in the programs already to tell them what it’s like.

PBN: How has enrollment been in the years you have been there?
GOUSE: When we started we had 70 students; now we’re at 3,000.

PBN: Why did you implement a tuition freeze?
GOUSE: We are setting it so if they are committed to coming next fall the tuition will be fixed the entire first two years. It’s our hope to be able to give as many people a chance to come here [as possible]. •

INTERVIEW
Richard I. Gouse
POSITION: President and board of trustees member for the New England Institute of Technology
BACKGROUND: Gouse graduated from Brown University in 1968 and started the Rhode Island Trade Shop School, overseeing the initial accreditation of the school by the National Association of Trade and Technical Schools. In 1971 he and his father, Julian Gouse, bought the New England Technical Institute. Shortly after, his father died and Gouse assumed the presidency. In 1976 Gouse led the effort to change the New England Technical Institute into a nonprofit, degree-granting college and renamed it New England Institute of Technology.
EDUCATION: Certificate of study from the University of Poiters in France in 1963; Bachelor’s degree from Brown University, majoring in economics and minoring in education, 1968
FIRST JOB: He manned the tool crib for a machine-shop lab at the Massachusetts Trade Shop School, at age 13.
RESIDENCE: Barrington
AGE: 64