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Last week I received an email from human resources about celebrating 20 years at Stevenson University.
And I used to think the 13 years I spent at the Baltimore Orioles was a long time.
When I taught my very first semester at Stevenson in January of 2000, I was pregnant with my son, Matthew, and was hired as an adjunct professor. Now, Matthew is a junior in college. When you look at it through that lens, a long time has passed. I moved into full-time teaching in 2008, when Stevenson changed its name from Villa Julie College to Stevenson University. Prior to my time at Stevenson, I began teaching part-time at various community colleges while working at the Orioles starting in the All-Star Year of 1993. All this to say, I’ve been teaching for a while now.
When people say “time flies,” what they’re really saying is “I can’t believe what’s behind me” and we look to the future, knowing life is pretty fleeting.
Last year, I had the honor of being named one of the inaugural Teaching Fellows at the university. I can honestly say that after all these years of teaching, being a part of this team of five has been one of the best aspects of my life as a teacher. Working with others who have the same passion for teaching as I do has made the challenges we face currently with remote and hybrid learning that much more palpable, because we all continue to learn from each other. We support one another, and we support the greater Stevenson community. It has been an honor to serve in this capacity.
As well, working alongside my fellow communication colleagues and those in the School of Design has afforded me opportunities I will cherish, such as co-teaching a class, collaborating on programs, teaching special topics courses, and helping to create our master’s in communication studies. The list of things that we have collectively done has been so worthwhile.
And finally, the students. They are the reason I get up out of bed every day. They are the reason I work tirelessly to incorporate integrated learning into the classrooms. They are the reason I can lay my head on the pillow at night and feel as if I’ve accomplished something, especially when I see our graduates go out into the world and become successful and happy. The reward that comes from this type of work is heartening.
Twenty years have passed at Stevenson, and I still feel excited by the prospect of waking up and getting to roll my passion into fostering lifelong learners every single day. I’m truly thankful for these past 20 years.
