I returned home yesterday after a WONDERFUL four days in San Antonio, Texas for the 31st Annual Conference on The First-Year Experience, hosted by the NRC, and I feel completely rejuvenated and excited about our profession. This annual professional conference is among my favorite professional development experiences, as it provides plenty of outstanding practical sessions and a plethora of theoretical and research-based presentations, that compliment each other so well. I appreciate that the sessions I went to with conceptual takeaways to consider implementing in my programs were rooted in a theory-to-practice framework, providing clear justification for implementation and often provide clear assessment capabilities for such programs. Beyond the sessions, there are also fantastic exhibitors and publishers who provide great resources, as well as opportunities to meet and hear from some fantastic and influential authors. The nerd learner in me is so excited!!

At the 2012 FYE Conference, I found two themes in the content of the sessions I attended: Balance and Reflection. The first is one of the buzzwords in our profession that we preach to our students and staff regularly, and unfortunately often do a pitiful job living it out ourselves. In one presentation, the presenter said she overheard someone on her campus refer to her as a pinball - always bouncing around from one meeting to the next, never in her office or accessible, etc. - which led her to provide an opportunity during a conference session for participants to stop and reflect on their own lack of balance, and identify one personal goal to implement in order to begin setting better boundaries. I felt so connected with this colleague, and found her session to be the most beneficial to my conference experience. In our profession, it seems we rarely take a moment to reflect on ourselves and identify ways to find a healthier work-life balance. The questions she and her co-presenter provided will hopefully prove to be useful with my team on campus, and I hope we are able to dedicate time to reflection sometime this spring.

Which brings me to my other theme: Reflection. Not only did this session (and another fabulous one on authenticity and spirituality) provide conference participants with the time and space to reflect, but many of the other sessions I attended provided fantastic frameworks within which to introduce and/or implement structured reflection into our programs and courses on our campuses. Many of these sessions provided theoretical models and research findings to support many benefits from structured reflection, including the development of critical thinking skills and the understanding of and commitment to values-based living and the importance of wellness - which, of course, connects back to my first theme of balance. I am so excited to take time considering our programs and courses and identify ways to introduce more intentional structured reflection!

Beyond the professional development love, conferences also provide me with the opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and friends from around the globe, which is always wonderful in the moment and sad when it ends ever-so-quickly. During this particular conference, I was able to spend quality time with two of my best friends, to reconnect with other fabulous professionals, and to meet some great new people in the process.

At the start of the spring semester, I decided to build today in as a vacation day, partially due to my birthday yesterday, and also because I knew I would be super tired after two very busy months and an exciting conference experience, and I must say, I feel GREAT! During the balance presentation, one of the questions posed was what I would do if I had an unexpected day off after the conference, and I was thrilled to answer that question, knowing that the day off was coming soon.

Today, I slept in, read and responded to birthday wishes from friends and family on facebook, ate at one of my favorite places, read for pleasure, went shopping, had dinner with a great friend, and came home to write this reflection on my conference experience before watching an episode of Greek. What a WONDERFUL way to end my day!

For most gainfully-employed people, the work week means spending more time in the office than any other location. I ran across this great article that identifies ten strategies to improve your happiness in your job, and loved how much of the responsibility is placed on the individual. Truthfully, you have the power to love - or hate - your job.

Check out the article, and consider what things you can do today to make the most of your experience. You cannot change others, but you can certainly change yourself!

During the summer between my first and second years of graduate school, I interned at Suffolk University in Boston. My co-intern rekindled my love of reading, and I picked up a fantastic summer read, Three Junes by Julia Glass, which I flew through before having to head back to South Carolina to finish my Master’s.

Upon graduating in May 2007, I found I had much more time to pursue pleasure reading than before, and began to read avidly. I had originally thought my newfound love of reading was, in fact, new, but upon further reflection, realized I had quite the extensive history with reading - both for pleasure and academics.

As a child, my private elementary school participated in the Pizza Hut Book It! Reading Incentive Program, which turns 25 this year. Genius, really. After all, what’s a better incentive to read than pizza? I recall reading the entire Indian In the Cupboard book series (to this day, my favorite children’s series). I also remember my Dad’s encouragement and support of this hobby. Having purchased The Chronicles of Narnia, he offered to reward my finishing the series by purchasing a toy of my choosing from Wal-Mart. (I chose the Bang-a-Rang Attack Raft from the movie Hook…)

Being that my love for reading began with Pizza Hut’s program, it only made sense to unofficially name the Higher Education Book Club after the program.

Book It: The Higher Education Book Club began in Fall, 2007 when Allison and I decided to read Blink together. It slowly grew to its current membership of 19 dedicated higher education professionals on our campus. We meet every other week to discuss the book we’re currently reading, and find ways to apply it to our personal and/or professional lives. So far, the club has read (and I recommend) the following:

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary by Joseph Michelli
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown
Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas
Goat: A Memoir by Brad Land

Beyond Book It and other personal reads, I also loosely participate in a book club with friends from South Beach, whom I first connected with through the chorus, when I have the time to dedicate to another read.

Posts tagged with The Book Club will share insight into the books I’m reading, and provide you with a glimpse of what turns me on to an author, a plot, a character, or other things literary. Some may be full-fledged reviews, where others may share an inspirational quote or thought-provoking moment, or possibly just to a reference to a recommended read.

Recommendations always welcome. :o)

Happy Reading!