Category Archives: Hixson Opportunity Awards

New beginnings.

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13590270_10103364426733820_5248952781808075244_nAugust 21, 1995 was the first day of the fall semester at Iowa State University. In addition to being the beginning of a great academic year, it was also the first day at Iowa State for the inaugural class of students in the Hixson Opportunity Awards and was my first day as director of the program.

It has been a joy to welcome twenty-one classes of Hixson Scholars to this amazing university. Iowa State has been a fantastic place to work and I have loved being part of such a dedicated community of students, colleagues, and alumni.

I will step away from my daily role with the Hixson Program at the end of July to become president of the National Student Exchange consortium. I am lucky to continue as a member of the Hixson Program Advisory Board and guest speaker in Hixson Seminar.

My dear friend and assistant director, Allison Severson, will take the reins of the Hixson Program. Allie joined us as a grad student in 2010, and then full time in 2011. She will become director of the Hixson Program and Iowa State NSE on August 1. Allison is the perfect choice to lead the third decade of the Hixson Program. Our students will be in good hands.

Join us to celebrate on Wednesday, July 20 from 2-3:30 PM in the Hixson-Lied Student Success Center atrium. There will be cake!

It’s not only a national debt crisis

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Helping students understand how to effectively manage student loan debt is a bit of a project for me. I spend much of my professional work counseling first-generation college students, most of whom have high financial need. I have shared my views on the student debt crisis here, here, and here.

Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus present some excellent alternative plans for lowering student costs in higher education by encouraging students to choose community colleges and state institutions.  And although I disagree with their portrayal of unscrupulous financial aid officers when describing the individuals at my own institution, I do not doubt that they are out there.

The next subprime crisis will come from defaults on student debts, starting with for-profit colleges and rising to the Ivy League. The parallels with housing are striking. In both, the written warnings aren’t understood, especially on penalties and interest rates. And in both, it’s assumed that what’s being bought will rise in value, in one case the real estate, in the other the salaries which will accrue with a degree. One bubble has burst; the second is already losing air.

Little things

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Some days it’s the little things. Like discovering that you packed extra underwear when weather delays your travel leaving you stranded far from home. Or when you get an email out of the blue from a student you have not heard from in a while.

I’m writing to thank you and the Hixson program for all that you have given me.  Not just the class, the opportunity to be a seminar leader or the scholarship money, but also the staff. Yesterday, I was in the student lab doing a little homework when your graduate assistant came in and I had a really great talk with him, just about how our semesters were going.  Anyway, it makes me really appreciate the program and especially the people surrounding the program.

 

image by Charles M. Schulz

New socks. Two socks. Whose socks?

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There are some days that throw us off balance. How we react to those days is how we define ourselves.

We are in the midst of a One Week of Twitter assignment in our first-year seminar class. This is my favorite tweet of the week (so far).

May you wear no socks in the shower today.

Oh, The Places You’ll Go

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Congrats to our new Hixson Scholar graduates and everyone else celebrating their academic achievements this month. Special props to one of our 2004 award recipients, Tyler Dohlman, who just completed his DVM.



But the unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective. The paths are infinite and the results uncertain.

~Jon Stewart (2004 commencement address to The College of William and Mary)



So…get on your way!




photo credit Christopher Gannon/TheRegister

I’ve gotta feeling…

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There was a day last week when my work day began at 5:45 a.m. with a two and a half hour drive to a meeting and concluded fifteen hours later in a final class meeting with our very talented peer mentors. And I was smiling. Because on days like that, I’ve gotta feeling that I have the best job in the world.

Little Engine That Could

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April is what it is in Student Affairs.
Without doubt, it is one of the most challenging thirty day stretches
that those of us in the field face annually.



A holiday, one campus festival, and an out of town soccer tournament.


I think I can, I think I can.


57 graduation notes to send.


I think I can, I think I can.


Three budget forecasts to review.


I think I can, I think I can.


Two graduate assistants to hire.


I think I can, I think I can.


Two annual reports to complete.


I think I can, I think I can.


One birthday party to plan.


I think I can, I think I can.


562 scholarship applications to read.


I think I can, I think I can.


One research paper to write.


I think I can, I think I can.

Token of Appreciation

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The peer mentors that work with our scholarship program make me exceedingly proud. They are a selfless, giving, hardworking bunch, doing what they do for recogntion only. They are students of character.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired and success achieved. ~Helen Keller

April is the cruelest month?

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In the next thirty days, I will read more than 550 scholarship applications and help 100 students afford a college education. April is my busiest month, and by awarding nearly $1.5 million in scholarship dollars, also the most significant. We find students who wish to fulfill their dream of a college education. Every minute counts as we finalize application files, review FAFSA information, and crunch through committee reviews, all before May 1.

Ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu has a good reminder for me this time of year.

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.


Digital Storytelling: Adventures in the First-Year Experience

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Like many institutions, my university participates in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to measure programs and activities that enhance student learning and personal development. The purpose of NSSE is to help identify areas to improve the undergraduate experience in and out of the classroom.

The scholarship program that I coordinate hosts a first-year seminar course each fall for the 100 recipients of the award. The course is loosely based on the University 101 model framed by John Gardner when he was at the University of South Carolina. It follows an orientation and transition format and includes community-building activities for our program. We have a large group lecture for one hour each week and students meet in recitation groups of a dozen students for a second hour weekly.

In the NSSE spirit of enhancing the course experience and engaging our students, we try to integrate fun and a bit of technology for student projects. Our latest adventure was digital storytelling. Staff and peer mentors selected random movie genres, and a student from each recitation section drew from the genre options. We shared examples of digital storytelling and creating storyboards. We suggested task assignments such as videographer, actor, writer, and film editing to help the project go more smoothly. We made certain to review campus computer labs for the appropriate editing software in advance and provided this information to students. Finally, we stocked up on sale priced Flip Camcorders and gave this assignment to students:

  • Create a media project that embodies the transition to college and your first semester experience.
  • Final Project: No longer than 5 minutes and must include a flash mob.

The final productions were screened during our class “Film Festival” complete with popcorn and soda. Students were encouraged to vote for “Best Picture” and create award categories to fit the projects. Winning productions were featured on our student-run cable news channel.


There were a few bumpy roads throughout the ten-week project, but overall the response and student evaluations of the project assured us that students were engaged and most importantly, community was achieved. On an unexpected side note, our first semester grade point average rose to the highest level in five years, with no change in entering student academic profile. Of course we already look forward to repeating the project with our next student cohort.


Check out the final productions and let me know what you think.

Mystery/Thriller

Blair Witch

Western

Romantic Comedy

Action/Adventure

Musical

Crime/Gangster Part I and Part II

Zombie