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I think a lot of things are
uh... points of pride. But, not least of which is the masters of liberal studies.
Which,
from when I first came to campus, seemed like a reasonable thing to do. If
liberal studies
uh... is a core strength,
then why aren't we building on that and having
that same kind of focus at the graduate level?
And it's turned out to be uh... a dream come true. What's really important is what's
really happening in the classroom,
and as an administrator, you can sometimes forget that.
So, now that I'm back in the classroom,
I could probably
reverse it and become even a better administrator, as I understand now, even
more directly what the issues are here.
You can understand,
I've taught courses at every institution I've been at
uh...and you don't really know the students
until you teach the students,
because each institution's culture is different
each student body is different.
But to come to an institution
you know, where the mission is lived, uh...
that's impressive. You don't see that often.
Uh... a new emphasis on scholarship, for example.
Uh... a lot of faculty contributing, faculty and staff, by the way, contributing to new
scholarship, new knowledge, uh...
I'm proud of that, I think, in a focus on undergraduate research, the focus that we
put on getting undergraduate students to work directly with faculty and staff in their
laboratories, in their studios, you know, in their studies
on major projects um... is exciting.
The fact that I could come to St. Norbert College, and with the help of
a number of people across the institution, you know, from the Office of Communications
to
to the Office of Instructional Technology to be able to put together, you know,
a cable television show and to share with a lot of people outside the institution the
[inaudible] tremendous resource that we have in guests who come to this campus,
you know, and to be able to take that conversation and broaden it out to a larger community, that was gratifying.
Well, this has been uh... an extraordinary journey, in many many ways. Uh...
when I
accepted the position here
this was the first time since my undergraduate
institution, which was De Paul University in Chicago.
But I actually
would come to work
at an institution dedicated to the Catholic intellectual tradition.
So it was a coming home
in a lot of different ways for me.
I had been at public state institutions all prior to coming to St. Norbert College
and so this was a real sea change for me, but a good one.
Again, the institution is is more than just a series of individuals it's, it's
the good work that a group of people do over the long haul.
Not one individual. Not
some superstar. It's really the community that gets behind ideas and makes them happen.
And, the ones, when the committee gets behind an idea, it will live. When it doesn't, it will fall away.