Mona Makes it Happen

Ask and you shall receive… the universe has responded with MAIL! I can’t even believe it! I have received 17 pieces of mail this week so far. My wall is getting decorated with all of your incredible words of encouragement and colorful advice (June-Bugg). Keep it coming… I love it! You are the best friends and colleagues ever! I feel so blessed and grateful for your support. I miss everyone so much!!

I have definitely gained a new perspective this week. I am MUCH more comfortable and letting go of some of the “stuff” that was overwhelming me last week. I am also learning how to best “balance” the demanding schedule and my need for sleep and introspection! Yes, even strong extroverts need some down time with no people.

I am finding that I am getting the most value from the panel discussions. On Monday, we heard from three female leaders about state planning and budgets. Selma Botman is the new President for the University of Southern Maine which is a public institution with 3 campuses and approximately 10,000 students. Theo Kalikow is a long standing President (15 years) from the University of Maine at Farmington which is a public liberal arts college of about 2,000 students. Lastly, we heard from Peggy Rotundo who served on the legislative committee for the state of Maine. Most of the conversation was centered on the challenges and opportunities that exist for state institutions to develop a strong academic plan and operational budget without knowing the state appropriations. It was really interesting to learn more about how important it is for the state legislator and the campus leadership to have a strong and trusting relationship. We kept hearing how vital it is to align the university’s mission with the public agenda for state budgets to continue sufficient appropriations. I think we are very fortunate at OSU to have leadership who understands this and operates from this value system. Oh... the politics are so important. Each woman offered clear and direct advice from the heart. I could have listened to them for hours!

We had a field trip on Tuesday and traveled to Temple University located in northern Philadelphia (about a 30 minute bus ride). The campus is located in an “urban setting” with great diversity all around. Temple is the 26th largest institution in the country with student enrollment approximately 37,000 and 12,000 faculty & staff. Lisa Staiano-Coico, Provost of Temple, talked about how she led the strategic planning agenda for Temple upon her arrival in 2007. She used typical methods such as making decisions based on their core values while gathering input via focus groups and committee recommendations. She was very engaging but I didn’t hear any new ideas.

Yesterday was all about strategic planning and working with groups on case studies and understanding the value of development (fund-raising) in the academic environment. We have a few VP’s of Development as participants of the institute so it was great to hear multiple perspectives on how to support the development office and when to involve campus leadership in “closing the deal”.

Today, we broke up into smaller work groups to strategize about various topics. Many of you know that I had to select a leadership project prior to arriving to the institute. My topic was to learn what female faculty need in terms of career flexibility. I was involved in a lengthy conversation about “work-life” balance that was generated by a woman who is the department chair. Faculty and staff seem to share the same stressors about how to best integrate work and life. I heard the same frustrations and self-imposed expectations for excellence in both areas of life. I prompted them a few times to ask “What do you need from your organization?” “What policies, programs, services would best support you in the quest to integrate work and life?” The conversation kept going back to what is within one’s control. What can I do? Not what can my institution/college do to help me. Perhaps, with a group of self-starters and over-achievers, they are trained to seek the answers they need internally. Of course, this is a good thing but it was interesting that no one really wanted to talk about something that was outside of their locus of control. I will keep probing to see what I can learn.

I am SUPER excited for the weekend. Derek arrives at 6:35pm tomorrow and we have the weekend free from the institute to do whatever we want! So, we plan to explore Philly, check out the Rocky statue, watch the July 4th parade and of course see the fireworks! Oh, yeah… Sheryl Crow is playing downtown too as part of the festivities… FREE!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and celebrates all that America has to offer each and every one of us! God Bless America!