Dr. Joshua Mendel, Chief of Staff at MCLA, shares his journey from growing up in the Berkshires to guiding students, partnerships, and community engagement across the region. He reflects on service work, leadership development, and the experiences that anchor his approach to higher education and family life.
In this episode, Dr. Joshua Mendel, Chief of Staff at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), joins Dr. Dennis Rebelo to trace a life shaped by service, community commitment, and long-standing ties to the Berkshires. Josh begins by revisiting his early childhood in Adams, where outdoor exploration, a tight-knit community, and supportive parents helped form the foundations of curiosity and relationship-building that continue to guide his work today. He shares memories of growing up alongside friends who later became surgeons, professors, and creators—early indicators of the environment that shaped his values.
Josh describes his pathway from college student to leader in higher education, beginning with pivotal experiences at Assumption University. A key turning point emerged through his involvement with campus ministry and the Mexico Mission program, where immersion in service work and life within an Otomí community offered lessons in humility, reflection, and the power of shared responsibility. These experiences became anchor memories that still guide his decision-making, reminding him to slow down, observe, and lead with awareness.
After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees at Assumption and working in student affairs at Endicott College, Josh returned to the Berkshires to join MCLA. His roles evolved across admissions, transfer support, advancement, and program development, including helping re-establish the college’s MBA program. He explains how his work blends student success, faculty support, regional partnerships, and community connections—an approach rooted in understanding people, aligning values, and ensuring that outside organizations contribute positively to student experience. Josh also recounts his first collaboration with the Berkshire Innovation Center and how trust, follow-through, and careful relationship-building shaped his involvement.
Throughout the episode, he reflects on MCLA’s mission as a public liberal arts institution and its national recognition for social mobility, emphasizing the college’s ability to support students who are determined to create better futures for themselves and their families. In the final portion of the conversation, Josh speaks about fatherhood, describing how he and his wife nurture the interests of their twins through exploration, learning, and shared experiences. For Josh, service extends from his professional life into his parenting, and he wants to be known most for being a good dad.
Links
MCLA: https://www.mcla.edu/
Berkshire Innovation Center Accelerator Program: https://www.berkshireinnovationcenter.com/accelerator-program
Narrative Research Group: https://narrativeresearchgroup.org/
For questions or insights: Shannon [at] narrativeresearchgroup [dot] org