Collegiality on Campus

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Dr. Janni Aragon | Leave a comment

Today’s Friday Fun Facts is a reminder. A reminder for me and others that when you work on a college campus–all the other employees are your colleagues.

At times the environment we work in on a college campus is stressful. The students’ stress vibrates off their bodies during certain points in the term. It’s always wise to confer with colleagues about student needs.

When conferring with colleagues across campus, remember that you are on the same side or the same team. We are all working together on this microcosm. And, this microcosm is ultimately smaller than you think.

Never say something via email that you would not say to someone’s face. Likewise, never say something on a voice mail or via a phone call that you would not say to someone’s face. I remember this instance a few years ago when a colleague across campus raised her voice at me, when she had incomplete information. I finished the phone conversation and assumed that she was having a bad day. Later, though, I wondered if I should follow up with a memo. I did not–I let it go.

Remember that while this is the students’ campus–it is your workplace, so act accordingly. A campus might seem really “chill” and laid back, but it is still your where you work.

Get out of your department or silo and meet people across campus. Yes, get out of your comfort zone and network. It’s healthy and you’ll make new friends.

I look forward to you comments about this post.

Rehashing Reverb: 2012

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Dr. Janni Aragon | Leave a comment

I’m shamelessly borrowing the theme for this post from the University of Venus and the #Reverb11 theme for December 29th that was about Habits and 12 things your life doesn’t need in 2012. I’ll amend it and speak to less than that for the post. At first it seems very easy to think of 10-12 things that you don’t need in your life—bills, debt, and perhaps grumpy people. But, when you sit back and think more thoughtfully, you take stock of what you want and don’t want in your life.

1. I don’t want so many excuses. It gets really frustrating to hear excuses. Own your education, your job, and your life. You do have some control. Particular to students, once you graduate most of you will look back at your 5.1 years as an undergraduate and think about how lucky you were. Yes, you will, and some of you email me or send Facebook messages August- November wishing that you were back in school. You wish that you could go back and try harder or spend more time on that one assignment. To this I say, own it. Own your responsibility. For people who aren’t students this also applies. Before you say, I can’t—think about why you can’t. What is your motivation or lack thereof. What is holding you back?

2. I don’t want to complain about the weather—so I won’t. I spent 2010 and 2011 taking special care to not complain about the weather as much as I used to and I’ve even attempted to embrace it. This is hard, as I fully admit to being a weather princess. I grew up used to Spring and Summer and now in the Pacific Northwest I get four seasons. OK, I don’t get the Winters that Alberta, Manitoba and most other provinces get, but I still get colder weather than I’ll ever become accustomed to. So, I endeavor to complain less!

3. I don’t want negative energy in my life and this includes tightening the inner circle of good friends. I’ve come to realize that I have had a few friends in my life who really thrive on the negative and are passive aggressive. I’ve tried to walk away and limit my time around these people, as I notice that I leave a coffee date thinking about some petty comment. I don’t have time for the negative energy and will protect my time more so in 2012.

4. I don’t want to feel bad about working lots, but need to balance this with more quality time with my family. I need to work smarter and as soon as I figure this out successfully I’ll sell the secret! Seriously, since I live my life term to term, my schedule fluctuates. I need to have better control of the schedule, but also admit that I do need two long days of work or else I have to work on the weekend. Whoever thinks that academics work a 40 hour work week should shadow me or my countless colleagues across campus.

I do think that four things complete my list for now. I’ll keep you posted about how I work on these points. I have control over all of them—my reaction. I’ll have to remember that!

Using Social Media to Help You Make Connections

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Dr. Janni Aragon | Leave a comment

Today I’m going to share my notes from Russel Lolacher’s ( @ruslol ) talk at #UVIC in September. His talk “How Using Social Media Can Help You Get the Job You Want” was well attended and I was thrilled to see him speak to each individual student who descended upon him after his talk. For many conversant with social media my notes might seem obvious. The talk was really geared for college students, who we know are mostly on Facebook, but for many the rest of their social media footprint is small. Lolacher gave some honest advice and often used himself as the example, which really makes his presentations that more effective and endearing. I have heard him speak on numerous occasions and if you need someone to talk about social media–ask him. But, note that his work for the BC government keeps him busy. Lolacher is the Social Media Director for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. This position, Social Media Director, was the first of its kind in the BC government and I am hopeful that it will not be the last.

My notes and please understand that I have fleshed out these points. This is not verbatim from his talk:

1. Talk to people. Go to Tweet Ups or Meet Ups. Meeting people and expanding your networks can help you with your job search. Lolacher noted that he spent about 18 months meeting people and networking before he got his current position.

2. Don’t go online if you not focused. If you’re not sure what you want, be careful. Try to figure out what you’re trying to do. If you want to become a food blogger, then go to the food related blogs. Try to make connections with other bloggers or people who are immersed in that community.

3. Don’t sound desperate. You need patience as you endeavor in this expansion of your networks. It’s going to take work and you might be scared at first. Take someone with you to an event.

4. Get on Linked In and participate in the community. Be strategic and ask questions. Many of the companies that you’re interested in are on Linked In–engage with them.

5. Get a business card! Paper and online. You can use About Me Visualize Me, Flavor Me, Beyond Credentials and countless others. Make sure that your paper business card includes links to your social media footprint.

6. Related to all of these points–make sure that your social media footprint is acceptable for networking and a future employer. Review the photos with your tags on Facebook. Are they all “clean” and appropriate. You do not want an old photo or comment on Facebook or elsewhere to influence your hiring, promotion, or other important work related matter.

7. Find your passion, find your niche!

Lolacher said more, but I was trying to pay attention and then realized that I should take notes and share! If you feel like a newbie, schedule a coffee with someone who you know that has a larger online presence. Make sure that you are honest with this person and go from there.

Learning to Say No: Boundaries

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Dr. Janni Aragon | 2 Comments

I am still learning how to say no at work and in my personal life. I am an energetic person and I like to do things and have a sense of giving back—be involved in the communities that I belong to. This includes on campus, off campus, both kids, and other communities that I engage with in my daily life. The only problem—there are only 24 hours in the day and I am not cloned, yet!

I am venturing into year three of working with my door completely shut at work. It took me a good six months or so to feel completely comfortable with that. I really thought that my previous open door policy was sound and important. Then, I came to realize that I had to get work done and that as an Undergrad Advisor I had students at my door all the time. The best advice was from a colleague who suggested that I shut my door. Now, I no longer have any issues with the door shut and establishing boundaries when I am available and not for office houring.

The virtual advising, though, is something that I’ve had to come to grips with, as students will email at all hours of the day and advising questions are important and in some instances time intensive. This Summer, like most, I was in California for a month and was not available for advising. I had the usual auto-email explaining my absence. I made a special point of acknowledging emails and directing most students to the department for the advisor of the week. And, this year I didn’t feel guilty about it.
This is an ongoing process for me, though. I find that I’m getting better at saying no and directing the student or other request to a more mutually convenient time. I have to say that most reactions are fine. No one is put out that I cannot make a coffee date for two weeks or that they have to wait a week for my office hours.

As a fan of sci-fi and fantasy I will admit that the cloning in #BSG intrigues me. I would have a clone to do certain work, but I would save the real me for enjoying life!

A New Term Begins

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Dr. Janni Aragon | Leave a comment

This is a re-imagining of a post from a year ago. I have updated and made appropriate changes.

It’s that time of year when most college students are thinking about the upcoming school year. From conversations in my office or via email, there are also positive ideas about how students will do things right this term. I applaud this. It’s great to come to the new semester or school year with an open mind and a good attitude. This is a slow teaching time for most regular faculty (note this doesn’t include the sessional instructors or adjuncts as they are called in the United States, who usually have to teach full-time in order to stay afloat). One of the things that we forget though, is that this time of year is very busy for advisors and others who help students figure out courses and other important matter that is important to student success.

This quick note is a reminder for patience. Patience for the frantic student who needs a little reassurance about classes and I have to remind myself for this. I have a process that I know that I need to go through to find out more about the students’ record, but I have come to realize that so many students really want reassurance that they are doing things right. For instance, I am finding that I am fielding more emails where a student really wants advice. “Which classes should I take?” A few have actually said, I want to know your recommendations. This is a big responsibility for me. Typically the student who asks, has already taken a course with me. So, I need to think about his/her interests and weigh my knowledge of the department’s courses. At first I would suggest all our courses, but now I am more careful. This is not based on content, but rather thinking more strategically about the student and her/his interests and possible grad school interests.

And, recently in my office hours, I told a student if you really feel that you don’t like an instructor and the course subject, drop the class. Numerous studies have demonstrated that a student is apt to do better in a class that she or he is more interested in and if the student’s transcript is questionable, I find that this is more accurate. Strong students will generally do well in most of their courses. For some students this is just more work and I’ve come to realize this.

However, I do think that students should push themselves and work outside of their comfort zones. One common response from students is that they have heard that a colleague is a GPA buster. I always smile at this and explain that if the student wants to focus on Area A, for instance, in grad school that she absolutely needs to have a class with said colleague. The majority of the students come back to my office the next term and thank me for my suggestion.

I think that when I am queried–it is acceptable for me to make course suggestions to students. I am one of two undergraduate advisors in the department this year. Students can trust that when they contact me (or the other advisor) they are going to get an honest answer. I know that some of the answers do not make them happy. Looking at the calendar I have exactly two weeks until I am back in the classroom. I’m excited, but want to enjoy these last few weeks. And, I hope that the students are, too.

Maclean’s Article about Dutch Women: Class and the Welfare State

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Dr. Janni Aragon | 2 Comments

Last week Macleans ran an article by Claire Ward, “The Feminism Happiness Axis: Are Dutch Women Powerless, or Simply Smarter Than the Rest of Us? The article can be found: http://awe.sm/5RZQ1 The first thing that I find most interesting is the immediate connection to feminism with work, family life and happiness. I’m so thankful that feminism has made my life complete and I embrace my politics head on, but why must the media make the knee jerk connection to cookies, family and feminism. While I enjoy cooking and especially baking, it has nothing to do with my feminist politics. This is where we see how strong stereotypes are about the alleged man-hating, mother, children hating, angry feminists. If I had a dollar for every feminist I met like this, I wouldn’t have a dollar.

The media needs to get clued in to the fact that feminists comment or write about institutions that have not given women a fair shake. Nowhere in Of Woman Born does Adrienne Rich say that she hates mothers (like herself) or that she hates her children. No. Her classic book is a wise, provocative rumination about the institution of motherhood and the lack of choices that women have or had for her generation. It’s not quite as sexy to say that we feminists are cultural critics or public intellectuals. No, it’s easier (lazy) to say that we hate men and that we judge other women for “opting out” of the workplace. The opting out discussions typically miss the inclusion of a class analysis and how women who can opt out have class privilege thanks to their partner’s income. Likewise, there is an assumption that these women are opting out forever, when some are taking time off to raise their children until primary school. Like most issues, there is so much here.

Getting back to the Macleans article, though, what is really missing is a class analysis. I’d also like to see an immigration/refugee and race analysis, as well as the basic demographic analysis. There is more to this study and our understanding of what is going on for women. I want women to feel happy–happy in the home, workplace, parliament, congress, farm, university, etc. But, I want a full picture of what this will take. And, I do not want to see the scapegoating of feminisms. If we want to point fingers, we have to look in the mirror. We have to also think about what constitutes success. And, we have to look at social welfare programs, education rates, leadership rates, and so much more. This is a rather detailed, important conversation that it going to sell lots of magazines!

What Macleans has artfully done is offered data from an interesting study and spun it about feminism-blaming and guilt. Here, we have a small country with a strong welfare state. This is not a fair comparison to the US or Canada for that matter. As social scientist, I want to see the study and I want to see demographics disaggregated and then compared to other nations. This study offers us food for thought and no more. But, alas, the spin cycle is whirring.

Managing Expectations

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Dr. Janni Aragon | Leave a comment

This is probably an annual exercise that I go through each year as the new school year looms in front of me. I need to manage my expectations for how much work I can get done during the day or any week. Of course, as an educator I have to constantly manage my expectations about student work and it has to vary between the first year student and the honor’s student.

Thinking of students~ I’m always amazed at how few will complete the assigned readings. Some students will share that I just need to assign less if I want them to complete the readings. Well, I have trimmed the numbers of readings over the years and still find that I’m in the same situation. This term, I’m actually contemplating no exams in the third year level course and more of a focus on writing and reading with different exercises. I like to mix things up for them and for me.

One student comment noted why so many of our classes have a student presentation component. It’s not busy work. I feel it is important for the students to give presentations in front of their peers. And, I speak to good or strong presentations in letters of reference or on the phone as a job reference. So, I will not cut that assignment out of the course outlines.

I am thinking of ways to work smarter and I am not sure if a day dedicated to my own projects will work. Instead, I find that few hours blocked out makes more sense–a day can slip away during the 13 week term. I don’t have the answer, as each term is so different, but I know that it’s a continued struggle to manage my own expectations about my productivity. These next two years I’ll have reduced teaching load, but my administrative work and attendance at campus wide meetings will increase markedly. I know that managing my expectation will continue to be an ongoing exercise.

How do you manage your expectations? And, how do you manage your productivity?

Dr. Janni Aragon

You have questions, I have answers!

Tag Archives: work

Collegiality on Campus

Learning to Say No: Boundaries

A New Term Begins

Managing Expectations

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