My husband and I recently retired from our work in higher education. The thought has crossed my mind several times, “So where do I go from here? During the past five years I have participated in a virtual Faculty Commons book study group that has greatly enriched my life and my teaching. During a recent […]
In the summer of 2021, I was offered the opportunity to teach engineering. Having had a career as an engineer, I made sure that I sought God’s guidance for my decision, and God gave me peace about the idea of moving from Florida to South Carolina. So I did. I understood that if He wanted […]
Fifteen years of teaching online courses has taught me many things, but nothing prepared me for the wave of shared pain and loss I witnessed during the pandemic. As campuses closed down and students scrambled to finish their degrees from bedrooms and kitchen tables, I felt a deep sense of responsibility not only to teach […]
I miss the university classroom. I am retired now, but I spent 35 years preparing teachers in K-6 early childhood and K-12 special education. I loved interacting with university students and watching them blossom into superb educators with a passion for teaching those who learn differently. I also miss networking with my colleagues in the “iron sharpens […]
At the beginning of 2024, I learned about the Faculty Commons movement in Cali through Carlos Esteban Cuervo, who is with Faculty Commons here in Colombia. Later, several Christian professors began meeting to encourage one another. Among the activities, we began reading the book Una Historia Mas Grande;La Metanarrativa De Dios (A Grander Story). The authors’ testimonies were wonderful […]
For some unknown reason, this past academic year was a challenging season for me. I think juggling the demands of academia while raising a toddler has left me physically exhausted and emotionally drained. The pressures felt unrelenting, and in the midst of it all, I found myself slipping into survival mode: showing up, performing, but […]
We were enjoying our empty nest. After many years teaching math in high school and technical college, I accepted a full-time university position in 2019. I got to know students and peers in class and around campus. Little did we know what 2020 held in store. The pandemic came and affected all of us. Then […]
They aren’t very big. But students like them. Each year the School of Nursing sponsors a “Destress Fest” before final exams. Some students take the handouts about stress-reducing strategies, but all of them seem to gravitate to stickers. A Resurgence There is a resurgence of interest in stickers — they end up on Macbooks, Hydro […]
Please join me in considering a hypothetical situation: let’s imagine you are back in your fourth year as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. Your career is going exceedingly well. You’ve been publishing well, the teaching is coming along surprisingly well, and you have been welcomed into a team of three senior professors with whom you will […]
During the COVID lockdown of 2020, I joined a Faculty Commons online book group for women. We gathered from across the U.S., and even as far away as Florence, Italy, to read and discuss Sent by Heather and Ashley Holleman. What began as a simple book discussion grew into something deeper: fellowship, spiritual sharpening, and friendships. We […]
