You’re on your own.

  And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy

who’ll decide where to go.”

Oh, the Places You’ll Go

So, stop for a moment and think about your sources of ‘things to know.’  In our busy world, many of us have tried and true places to gain information about things we care about or are interested in.  But sometimes when we get busy we can find ourselves only going to the same sources and without knowing it our world narrows instead of widening.  If our only source of news is one TV station and the local newspaper, we’ll miss huge areas of the world and we’ll miss ideas we disagree with or issues we never heard of before.  If we only visit with our family or the only people we know on campus are in our office, we lose the chance to hear a different perspective or see things through another’s eyes.

“I do not like

green eggs and ham!

I do not like them

Sam-I-am.

You do not like them.

So you say.

Try them! Try them!

And you may.

Try them and you may, I say.”

Green Eggs and Ham

And what are we reading- the same magazine every week or always books from the same genre?  I love mystery novels and science fiction so those sections of the bookstore are where I always head first.  But when I travel, I love the big airports with good bookstores.  It’s there that I’m mostly likely to see and pick up a random assortment of books that catch my eye.  And while I do read non-fiction, I learn a lot from novels when I’m willing to read widely.  (Just recently I gave my husband a reasonably accurate thumbnail sketch of the life of Napoleon.  I knew this information not from my college course in French history or from reading a biography of Napoleon and Josephine.  I knew it from reading the novel Desiree when I was a teenager.)

“Think left and think right

and think low and think high.

Oh, the THINKS you can think up

if only you try.”

Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

So where are you finding ‘things to know’ and ‘thinks to think’?  Take a moment to identify your list and if it seems repetitious or narrow, try something different this week.  Maybe open a different section of the newspaper, or walk to a different shelf in the library or bookstore, or even start a conversation with someone you don’t know well. 

Our commitment to education shouldn’t be just about the students we meet; it should also be about us and our education, our learning, our growth and development. 

“So you see!

There’s no end

To the things you might know,

Depending how far

beyond Zebra you go!”

On Beyond Zebra.

Best wishes,

Gage

All quotes from Seuss-isms:  Wise and Witty Prescriptions for Living from the Good Doctor 

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Announcements/Events

Dr. Gage Paine was the director for this year’s New Professionals Institute (NPI), held at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana from June 16 through June 20. 

NPI is the preeminent professional development opportunity for new student affairs professionals in the south. Co-sponsored by NASPA Region III and SACSA, NPI is an intensive, interactive week of learning, sharing, networking and professional and personal development. This unique opportunity allows new professionals to draw on their first years of experience to improve their effectiveness and to learn from others. It is a time of professional and personal renewal and assists new professionals in the development of their careers.

UTSA’s Bryan Heard, Athletic Certification Specialist, Registrar Office, was one of the participants, all of whom come from all areas of student affairs: student activities, orientation, career services, residential life, recreation, judicial affairs, admissions, Greek affairs, counseling, international services, and more.

From Bryan Heard:

NPI was a wonderful professional experience. The institute provided a unique setting in which the faculty and participants were able to explore the issues, solutions, and challenges facing Student Affairs’ Administrators. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to network with so many colleagues and mentors, and I am looking forward to applying what I learned here at UTSA.

Misty Kelley and Tom Baez Attend NASPA and SACSA MMI-Mid Manager’s Institute at Eastern Kentucky University June 7-12.

The Institute provides numerous opportunities for mid-level professionals to enhance and develop new skills, provide resources to influence effective change, and to explore leadership opportunities for continued growth in the Student Affairs Profession.

The Institute provides opportunities for participants to enhance their skills and rapport with their supervisors and/or staff to achieve things together that they could never achieve alone. The Institute sessions will be presented in a variety of formats including invited speakers, faculty presentations and panels, small group discussions and case study presentations. All sessions will be highly interactive.

From Misty Kelly:

The Mid-Manager's Institute was the best professional develop opportunity I have had to date.  I learned so much about myself as a professional as well as the immense about of resources and support I have in my colleagues.  I am excited to maintain the relationships that I built during that short week in Kentucky!  I now feel re-energized and motivated.

From Thomas Baez:

The (MMI) Mid Manager's Institute took place at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, KY (R). It was well attended and included Student Affairs staff (directors, asst. and assoc. directors) from universities across the south (from Florida to Texas). 

The faculty included other directors, deans of students, and vice-presidents. We learned about the value of Student affairs as a profession and shared about the challenges we all face. We received presentations on leadership development, utilizing the Strengths Quest in management, developing assessment plans, using generation theory as way to work with diverse staff and students, and threat assessment issues.

The most rewarding part was to develop new collegial relationships, work better together to be effective, and managing campus politics. It was a broadening experience for me to recognize that all together we form the profession of student affairs- after all we all have the same mission.

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