Tonkin to You!

 "He's not concerned with yesterday He knows constant change is here today He's noble enough to know what's right But weak enough not to choose it He's wise enough to win the world But fool enough to lose it" So go the lyrics to Canadian power trio Rush's 1982 single "New World Man."  Drummer and lyricist Neil Peart passed away from cancer this past January, casting a shadow on the hearts of many music fans (including this author).  His great drumming, and, just as importantly, poetic musings on the human condition, remain as a soundtrack to our lives.  Neil's prediction that "constant change is here today" could also have ended with the phrase "to stay."  The COVID-19 pandemic thrust nearly every working person and student on the planet into a churning snow-globe of both complications and possibilities.  Concepts once considered experimental or theoretical (i.e. an entire population working from home) materialized in fron...

  There are lots of different titles for students who enter college without a major.  Undecided.  Undeclared.  Exploratory.  Open major.  These are all attempts to put some kind of qualifier in front of a student and to give the faculty context as we try to guide our charges into picking an academic path. We are humans, after all...and we crave order and labels. This past fall, I was honored to have been chosen to guide a class through a one-credit, low stakes course called "Exploratory 101: Finding YOU."  Though I found the title a little overwhelming (at 47, I'm still "finding me"), I really enjoyed where the university was headed with the concept.  The title didn't include "finding a job" or "picking a vocation," but conveyed that the person should come first. When I say the course was "low stakes," that term did not equal "unimporant."  Instead, the class was meant to NOT put additional burdens onto students regard...

...isn't all bad. As a business instructor at a small, private university, I enjoy a unique vantage point to see life from a lot of different perspectives.  I've got to keep up with what's happening within my chosen disciplines (human resources, information systems, and management) while interacting with young people every day.  These developing adults are great sources of feedback; without a doubt, they will share their feelings and their "filters" are not as developed as their older peers.  This honesty is something for which instructors should be grateful; our students, in essence, are telling us what to teach them..   In many ways, it's our job as teachers to consume the news of the world around us and to transform it into a form that our students will integrate, evaluate, and dissect.  It's wild to look back in January and see just how much has actually taken place since the "before" time ended.  As a matter of practice, I begin most of my c...