When I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Political Science, one of my favorite professors said something I will never forget.  He pulled me aside on my graduation day and said, “Congratulations.  Your education is something that can never be taken away from you.”  I didn’t realize the depth of his statement until I reflected on it later.

“Something that can never be taken away from you.”  Think about that for a moment.  Not only do I have the physical symbols of my completed degree – a diploma, a cap and gown, a copy of my transcripts.  More importantly, I have the knowledge I learned throughout those four years.  I learned theories and application.  I learned social skills and critical thinking.  I learned how to work as a team and how to manage my time.

As my students progress through their education at SPS, I know that they are learning more than they could ever realize.  They are receiving a quality Saint Louis University education in the classroom.  They are learning about themselves as individuals, as leaders, as members of a team and as employees. The skills and knowledge gained at SLU will be with them for the rest of their lives – often in ways they can’t identify.

If you are thinking about taking that next step to pursue your educational goals, just remember that your education can never be taken away from you.  You will carry it with you always and it will change you in a positive way.

During the Fall 1, 2012 term, I had the opportunity to teach an English 150 class (“The Process of Composition”) in The Learning Studio as an Innovative Teaching Fellow.  The high-tech room—with its wall of screens, moveable furniture, and available tablets and iPads—is reason enough to want to teach in the space.  An added bonus includes collaborating with an instructional designer from the Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning; I was fortunate to work with Michaella (Kella) Thornton, the Assistant Director of Instructional Design.

English 150 is often one of the first courses a student takes at SPS.  Some students have been out of school for a while and may not have written a formal essay in many years.  With these considerations in mind along with the potential of The Learning Studio, it was decided that I would pilot a special section of the writing course as theme based, wherein everything we read and wrote about would be related to food.   I had taught a similar course several years earlier while working at another university and had experienced the benefits of such a curriculum.  Not just something we  all must eat every day to survive, food offers a lens through which to examine politics, gender, class, race, identity, heritage, health, sustainability, agriculture, literature, film, and culture, to name only a few related concepts and disciplines.

As we prepared for the course, Kella and I determined that we would ask the students to participate in a course blog and Twitter.  I had never blogged before and had my doubts about Twitter, but since I was going to ask the students to be involved in these activities, I concluded that I needed to know how they worked.  Several months prior to the course’s start, I therefore started posting to a blog about food-related topics in and around St. Louis (I wrote about food years ago for CitySearch and often focus on how food and literature intersect in my academic writing, so this was not a new topic to me).  I also opened a Twitter account and started tweeting.  Shortly after I began tweeting my blog posts, George Mahe, St. Louis Magazine’s Dining Editor, contacted me about writing for the magazine.  I quickly changed my mind about Twitter ‘s usefulness.

The connections I made through writing for the magazine proved invaluable for the course.  I invited three members of the local food community into the class as guest speakers.  All three guests—Reine Bayoc, chef-owner of Sweet Art ; Maude Bauschard, owner of Maude’s Market; and George Mahe—spoke not only about food but also about writing, particularly how important effective communication is regardless of one’s job or major.  Bayoc, for example, is currently writing a memoir, so her appearance during our food memoir unit made perfect sense.  At the time, students were working on their own remembered person/event paper in which the memory had to be connected to food in some way.  Thanks to The Learning Studio’s design, we recorded all of the guest speakers’ presentations.

Academic writing can sometimes seem arbitrary, particularly in entry-level courses.  Students often wonder what the larger purpose of an assignment is and approach the course as something “to get out of the way” before moving on to their major courses.  The practice of writing in and of itself provides a great means of improving one’s skills, and that’s the implicit understanding often made explicit to the students.   When writing is tied to a larger purpose, however, and the instructor and members from the outside community participate in writing on a regular basis and reinforce the need for deliberate practice, the students come to understand how important writing is well beyond the classroom; ideally, they also come to value how a basic composition course can help to launch their studies.

For an overview of the course, click on this link to see a presentation outline that Kella and I used when we presented at the Focus on Teaching & Technology Conference at UMSL last November.

I decided for this blog posting that I would provide some insight regarding jobs in the field of Criminal Justice and Security Management.

If you’re interested in highly coveted government job, check the Internet under “Office of Inspector General” and see how many hits you receive. MANY jobs are in the federal system, some requiring no degree, some a baccalaureate, and others an advanced degree. If you are interested in being a Special Agent (you can not apply until you’re 35 years old and older if you have military experience), agencies such as the Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Post Office require advanced degrees.

However, the Drug Enforcement Administration and almost all of the Offices of the Inspector General require a bachelor’s degree and might hire you with limited professional experience. Special Agent positions in the Offices of the Inspector General and law enforcement agencies do not have some of the “blood and gore” that local and state law enforcement people confront, with the exception of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The advantage of the Criminal Justice and Security Management (CJSM) degree is that it opens your options to the private and the public sector. To be a supervisor of security, you will need some entry level experience, or come from a law enforcement agency.

When I say entry level, I do not necessarily mean a security guard, although many security positions pay more than what you might be currently making. Starting from the ground level as a security guard, unless the salary is higher than your current salary, is not the best move for advancement. Loss prevention investigators or a support position with a security division might be a better start.

If you’re currently in law enforcement, you cannot assume that moving into a private sector management position will be easy, because you lack the terminology and culture of private security (“Talk the talk, and walk the walk”). The CJSM degree will help you with that.

To help you get started in your job search, check out some of these resources:

• Drug Enforcement Administration
• State and Federal Police Careers
• Federal Jobs Locator
• Corrections and Probations Jobs
• Loss Prevention Jobs

If there are other good places to start, please feel free to comment and share.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/djackmanson/3870849170/

The 2010- 2011 school year is here! August is one of my favorite times of the year. A new school year, list of classes, and a fresh start…what more could an academic and life-long learner love?! Students have returned to campus – either filling seats in our classrooms or actively participating in online discussion boards. Summer routines are fading, and for the Nontraditional Billiken, fall schedules are evolving into weeks packed with work, class, and personal activities, such as children’s soccer games and scout meetings – and for those students in the sandwich generation, parents’ appointments and doctors’ visits. The weather is starting to cool, which is a much needed relief in the St. Louis area, and as the seasons shift, undoubtedly, change is everywhere.

For the most part, I see students (and faculty and staff) catch the wave of excitement for the new school year and quickly adjust to the fast-paced schedule. Students become accustomed to life on the go and tend to manage their responsibilities remarkably well. During the hustle and bustle of daily routine, students are challenged not only to meet their work, life, and school demands, but are also challenged to expand their worldview by learning about new ideas and thinking critically about familiar concepts. In being part of SPS’s learning community, students are continuously growing and developing, even though students may not make the time to fully recognize these changes as they occur. Being immersed in the daily grind, students may be prevented from seeing the big picture – why they chose to be part of SPS’s learning community in the first place.

In this first week of school, I know that students are inundated with course syllabi outlining eight weeks of course requirements and the daily hassles of preparing for a new term. I notice how quickly students tend to adjust to overdrive! Instead of becoming absorbed in the details, I encourage students to stop and take a few moments to pause and reflect. Think about why they choose their major or program of study…how they contribute to SPS’s learning community…what they will do after graduation…what they are called to do in life. Reflection is an integral component of learning and development. In taking the time, even just a few minutes a day, to pause and think about the big picture, students gain perspective about those exciting changes that are happening each day.

Not only does reflection enhance personal and professional development, reflection is at the heart of the Jesuit mission in which Saint Louis University was founded. There are a number of resources available to students who would like to learn more about reflection and spiritual development. SLU’s campus ministry offers a number of programs, and some are even customized for a busy lifestyle. Our distance learners who cannot access SPS’s campus might check out a comprehensive mission website, organized by campus ministry at one of our fellow Jesuit institutions, Creighton University. Whether or not students decide to participate in formal methods of reflection this week, I encourage all of them to take a deep breath, pause, and remember why they are doing what they are doing now and who they are called to be. It’s one way to acknowledge not only the moment but also the possibilities that await.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekkaia/126094248/

If you’re a student, a manager, or even a CEO, it helps to have a high level of intelligence. Being able to think critically, to see the bigger picture, to understand complex phenomena can be very important to success.
But, how would you answer if I asked you this question: Is it better to be extremely intelligent or to be an effective communicator?

Beyond the obvious answer (it’s better to be both), my perspective is that your ability to communicate your thoughts and ideas is way more important than your overall level of intelligence.

Before you ask me for some solid research evidence to support my argument, let me tell you that I have no systematic data available, nor am I aware of any studies conducted on this topic. However, I could provide a list of students who were highly intelligent but were unable to effectively convey their thoughts in speaking and writing. I could also provide a list of students who were of average intelligence but were able to effectively communicate their thoughts in speaking and writing. Which group performs better?

In an undergraduate curriculum, such as our Organizational Studies Program, students who can effectively communicate their thoughts in speaking and writing far outperform those who cannot, regardless of their level of intelligence. In speaking with some previous students, the need for effective oral and written communication extends to their work roles as well.

So, what does this mean? It means that even if you are highly intelligent, you should be looking for ways to sharpen your speaking and writing skills.

At Saint Louis University (SLU), several opportunities exist to enhance students’ use of written and oral communication. SLU offers a Writing Center to assist students in improving their writing skills. The School for Professional Studies offers both writing and public speaking courses as a part of its core curriculum. The Introduction to Organizational Studies (OS) major offers an opportunity for students to sharpen their writing and public speaking skills even further, and numerous courses within the OS major provide opportunities for continual development in writing and public speaking.

Whether you are a current SPS student or a professional long finished with your formal education, consider what you can do to become a more effective communicator. Improving your communication competencies can unlock opportunities you never knew existed and, perhaps most importantly, you will be able to improve the way you interact with those around you – your co-workers, friends, spouse…and even your children.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/turtlemom_nancy/1914397629/