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from VCCA Journal, Volume 8, Number 1, Summer 1993, 30-33
© Copyright 1993 VCCA Journal
R. Stephen Nicholson, President of Oakland Community College in Michigan, wrote the following "ode" to the future of the community college movement that attempts to define vision. While the poem was written about community colleges, I believe that it has something to say about the work of all of us in higher education as professionals and as people.
No easy task or simple plan
To form a place where mind meets mind
And time meets tomorrow. Of all man's accomplishments
The motion of ideas from mind to mind...Is most complex
Most fragile and easily flawed
By distractions large or small.
As fragile as a dew-laden spider's web
As essential as air or water
As clear as dawn on a mountain peak
As varied as the desert's early bloom...A learning place.
No longer sequestered by distance or walls
This college must ride astride the
Volcanic changes of today
If we are to have a tomorrow.
And so we plan and build
An expression of hope and confidence
In many yet unborn...In ideas yet unthought
In undreamed dreams
In a tomorrow which begins today.
We build not isolated expanses
Which inspire by size and grandeur
But rather form a place
Whose miniature views and quiet spaces
Create a view of the wide world.
Like Spanish missions old
Whose walls turned back both heat and wind
And sheltered all who entered.
We build a plan...A place where time stands still
Where each student finds his way
To build a tomorrow which transcends...Today
To become more than he could be...without this place
To discover...The richness of man's cumulative
Intelligence,...The excitement of...The application
Of that intelligence to life.
These open doors...For All...Who seek today
Tomorrow's dream,...Who take today
That first courageous step...To meet tomorrow's challenge
Yet these doors...Close out all that
Hinders, distracts, and flaws
The infinite process of passing ideas...From man to man
From mind to mind.
Doors for all...Who live today and...Dream of a
tomorrow
With riches life and peace,...An open door we set
To knowledge and understanding,
A place so quiet one can hear the past
So busy one can know the present
And so full no one departs less than...He entered.
A Master Plan...That encapsulates...man's pride in his past
Man's passion for the present,...Man's faith in his
future.
In all the universe...Only man...Plans.
For me, this bit of poetry says that in order to move forward personally and professionally, we must be aware of where we've been, and of the steps in the path of becoming what we want. It says that we can't do it alone but must rely on others to help shape the path of our vision.
What do you do if you don't like the path you are walking on? Are you stuck with where you are and what you are?
I submit that you are never stuck; you can always change. While this may not be easy, it is possible. Many of you spend long hours counseling students on career searches and have never once asked yourselves the very questions about your job that you tell the students to ask about theirs. Why not? Are you afraid that you may not like the answers?
We must take time out of our schedules annually and ask ourselves "Is this what I want to do until I retire?" If the answer is no, then we must begin to evaluate the contributions we feel we are making and either make some new ones or leave.
How do we make new contributions? The following strategies have worked for me. There's nothing magical about them, so please don't expect miracles. They're just simple things that you can do to make your career what you want.
(1) Develop an understanding of the total organization. What are its goals? Where is it headed over the next five years? The next ten years? Who's in charge? Where do you see yourself fitting within the organizational structure?
Regardless of the position you currently hold, whether you are part of the clerical staff, a paraprofessional, a counselor, part of the teaching faculty, or an administrator, you need to take your organizational pulse annually.
(2) Examine your own skills. Are you doing everything you can to keep current in your field? Counselors, for instance, complain more than any other group that there is just not enough time to do professional reading. I have had the benefit of working with two groups of counselors in Virginia and one in Texas, and I know that there are some counselors who have time to do all sort of things -- many of which are totally unrelated to their positions as counselors--while others are so overburdened that it is normal for them to miss lunch, be unfamiliar with the latest news on the grapevine, and be seen on campus day and evening.
I believe that there has to be a happy medium ground in there somewhere. We know that those who are carrying light loads are not going to complain. Surprisingly, those who are carrying a heavy load won't complain either -- at least not to someone who can do something about it. Everyone else on campus will know they are miserable but they keep accepting assignments. Why? Is it because they are such good team players that they just can't say no? Is it because they want all of the glory? Is it because they are trying to make themselves indispensable? Do they just like to stay busy? All are real reasons; however, I believe that these people need to help their co-workers grow by letting go of some of their workload. That way everyone will experience success, failure and frustration equally.
(3) Make suggestions on how to improve things. Many of you have been in one place for more than five years, and you have seen things done the same way for a long time. Take a leadership role; read journals and newspaper articles, and ask cohorts at other institutions how they do things. If their way sounds smoother, suggest that your group do things differently.
(4) Volunteer for assignments outside your current area when possible. Not only will you meet people outside of your own area, but you will gain an insight into the workings of the other units on your campus. Grant applications, committee activities, and the campus governance process are just a few examples of the kinds of things that would offer you some variety in your daily work.
(5) Give back the same praise that you want bestowed on you. This lets your co-workers know that you understand and appreciate the time and energy they put into the job they did and improves morale in the work place.
(6) Ask yourself what impact home makes on your career. Often, external factors make more of a direct impact on morale and job performance than anything that occurs within the work place.
Do your family and friends contribute to the feeling of "Why am I here?" that you often feel when you drive into the parking lot? If so, you must find ways to effectively deal with their impact. While that may not be the easiest thing you'll ever do, it will be important. Not only will you feel better emotionally, but probably physically also.
These are all ways to reduce frustration and failure by planning for your own success. I am firmly convinced that we make our own happiness and subsequent successes. In order to do that, we must take control of our own lives and learn not to let our lives take control of us. My personal strategy for success may be best summed up in the words of my eighth-grade teacher. Trying to explain the meaning of the civil right riots in Alabama and Mississippi, she told us two things that stick with me today.
The first is that regardless of your complexion, black people are the most important people in the world; otherwise white folks wouldn't be making such a big deal over them. Today, regardless of your gender, ethnic background, or station in life, you must tell yourself that whenever people are trying to keep you from accomplishing something, that you are important or they wouldn't be trying to keep you back.
Secondly, she told us that we are all Americans and that the word ends in the letters i-c-a-n, I can, and that she never wanted to hear us say what we could not do until we had tried it. Please keep these two ideas in mind as you work to make the world of higher education a place where others will want to follow in our footsteps.
Belle S. Wheelan is President of Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg, Virginia.