May 21: Professional Enrichment

I realize I'm very far behind in uploading my photo a day.  Although I've been good about actually taking photos, and mostly good about sending them to blogger (you can email photos to your blog, it's cool)...I haven't been good about actually uploading them to my site.  The goal is to get caught up with the photos.  In that effort, there may not be as extensive of descriptions as would otherwise have been...but if I can finally get my blog caught up, certain individuals who shall remain nameless can stop pestering me about it ;)  In all joking, I'm thankful for friends and family who take the time to keep up with my life through this venue.

We had our student affairs development one day conference this week.  Dr. Margret (Peggy) Barr came and spoke.  Not only was she a fantastic scholar and professional in student affairs...she's hilarious.  She sang us a song she wrote about the Vice President of Student Affairs blues.  She had the audience rolling!

May 19: CSA(A) Everywhere

I wonder if one of the College Student Affairs Administration students put these letters in this order. I cannot be certain, but when I saw it, it made me think of CSAA (yes, I realize it's missing another A, but it wouldn't have fit on the display anyway).

 

April 24: CSAA Banquet

The annual CSAA banquet was a wonderful time of celebration.  I was asked to give the doctoral student speech.  For the presentation, I did a modified version of pecha kucha which is a form of presentation with 20 pictures for 20 seconds each.  I was honored to be asked.  I was even more honored to win the outstanding doctoral student of the year.

Dr. Cooper awarded me this outstanding doctoral student of the year award.

The three speakers (doctoral student, faculty, & master's student).

April 14: Dr. Mullendore's Farewell

Today we celebrated Dr. Mullendore's farewell to the profession and to CSAA faculty.  He has been counting down the days to retirement since I started ;)  Unfortunately, the cake from publix didn't turn out quite like a golf course. Ha!

Dr. Mullendore right before he was the VP for Student Affairs at UGA.

Shannon R. Dean

April 8: Petting Zoo

Yes, this is a college campus, and yes, they had a petting zoo in the student union quad.  Just another day at UGA. :)

April 5: International Street Festival

International Street Festival is a wonderful event held in downtown Athens.  Faculty, staff, students, and the community come out to celebrate a variety of cultures.  There are performances and musical acts, and 30 tables with international activities to try.  We had approximately 5000 people show up, and stay for the day.  It was a huge success and I'm excited to have been a part of it!

We couldn't have done it without an amazing group of volunteers!

March 28: Georgia Feminist

A new group of students, faculty, and staff are trying to propose a women's center at Georgia (for the 3rd time).  This time, in order to raise awareness, they are also selling Georgia feminist shirts! I love it, and love that it raises conversations about the inequities among genders at UGA and elsewhere.

March 23: Global Leadership Institute

Our global leadership institute certificate (GLI) program ended with a half day capstone seminar.  Cory did such a wonderful job with GLI this year and I'm proud of these students for sticking with this and really investing in their learning around global social justice issues.

March 6: Newly Minted PhD

Friends, let me introduce to you, Dr. Phil Badaszewski.  Ohh, and uga edu.  Yep, the college of education is giving out uga's (pronounced ugg-ah) for you to take with you and #ugaedu or something like that...anyway, we are also taking uga to NASPA this year.  WOO.  I digress.  Today, Phil defended his dissertation and officially became Dr. B.  Thus, a group of us went out to celebrate the newly minted Dr.  Congrats!

February 26: GA Feminist

The University of Georgia doesn't have a women's center on campus.  This is rather odd considering many other colleges have one.  As part of a movement on campus started by students, Student Government (and a bunch of others) are trying to get a center passed by the administration.  They are also selling tshirts to raise awareness and support for women's equality...moreover, all the proceeds go to local charities.  I purchased mine today!

February 14: Friday Fundip

This year I gave out fun dip valentines.  Some were cherry flavored and some were berry which changed colors.  Three of the four grads got the color changing (it was ironic that Whitney ended up with the cherry and she was out of town).  Anyway, the three coined it Friday Fundip and sent me this picture.  I love working with these people!

February 13: Snowshoeing

...not really.  There isn't actually enough snow to snowshoe.  This morning, however, I convinced Tiffanie to go for a walk.  Since yesterday, we've probably had 2 inches of ice and another 1-2 inches of snow.  It looks beautiful, although slick.  The sun is warming up and the roads will get clearer, however, it may not happen in time to open for tomorrow.  Only time will tell.

January 21: Heat Wave

My office has been getting warmer and warmer as the temperature outside has been getting colder.  This is not a bad thing, however, when your office becomes a little oven over the weekend and it starts to feel closer to 80, then it becomes problematic both  for working and for my chocolate.  Little did I know this wouldn't be the worst of the heat wave through the office!

January 14: Annual Report

I spent most of the work day compiling the annual report.  No, it's not due until July 1st.  However, I want to make sure that the transition to the new director is smooth, thus I'm doing all I can to help.  

The other thing I did throughout the day was hound Hank in the registrars office.  Last week I found out that they were waiting to pull my names and email addresses until I got IRB approval.  However, if they had read my request carefully, they would have known it was approved.  I even included the IRB approval number.  Grr.  Between this goof up, and them not allowing graduate students to request, I'm on my last bit of patience with them.  Hank told me he'd work to get me the sample.  At least he's followed through with emailing me about details.  This is a step in the right direction.  Thanks Hank.

November 19: President Morehead

November 19th marked the investiture of the 22nd president of The University of Georgia, Jere Morehead.  They held a very formal ceremony to honor and induct him as president.  Faculty, staff, and students spoke about their support for him.  The governor, Nathan Deal, and Hank Huckaby were also in attendance.  I think Jere Morehead will do good things for UGA including increasing fundraising and research opportunities.  Although he has many priorities, students are at the heart of what he does.  His very first item as acting president was a breakfast with students.  I think that speaks volumes for his commitment to seeing UGA continue to provide quality education and enhance the academic mission for students.  I was glad I was able to attend the ceremony.

November 11: IEW Thanksgiving Feast

International Education Week (IEW) is an event that happens all of the U.S. For us, we partner with the office of international education to host a variety of events and lectures throughout the week.  Monday was the kick-off and we (in partnership with some a church and some other groups) held the 14th annual Thanksgiving feast.  There was food, a skit, a voluntary prayer…and I even said a few words of thanks.  The food was delicious and we have over 200 people in attendance (these pictures were taken before the event started).  The evening was a success and a wonderful kick-off to this crazy long week.

November 8: Protest March

Earlier this week someone posted racial and derogatory slurs on various student groups Facebook walls.  If you want the story, you can read it here.  Essentially, this individual was posting was telling students they don't belong at UGA, and that UGA should be for White Christians. Side note & soap box…it makes me angry and sad to see people who claim to be Christians and Jesus followers writing such hateful things. I think most things Christians agree on is that Jesus was clear on two things: love him and love others.  I could go on, but this post isn't necessarily about that.

In just a few days, these student groups who were targeted organized a peaceful march to bring awareness to the racism, homophobia, and other social issues on this campus.  

I was so proud of our students; this is activism.  They sought to bring awareness to issues they face on this campus, and I was glad to see so many students, faculty, and administrators show up in support.  

 

November 2: Power Outage

Saturday morning around 8:30am, there was loud bang outside.  Then, there was no power.  Unfortunately, this is the second time this semester this has happened.  Last time it was because of a squirrel; rip.  Not knowing how long it would be out, I just kept waiting.  Five hours later and a few false starts, the power was back on.

I am so grateful for electricity... especially as it means I was then able to watch the Bulldogs beat the Gators!  I said, it's great to be a Georgia Bulldog. 

Oct 30: #WARfortheOAR

Every year, the Georgia v. Florida football game is a big rivalry game.  A few years ago the two Student Government Associations (SGA) decided they wanted some sort of trophy to exchange for the winner of this game.  This giant Okefenokee oar is just that.  UGA has had the oar for the last couple of years.  This weekend is the big game, so the oar will go down for the game and remain with the victor.  Well, in anticipation of the game, SGA went around campus to stir up excitement.  Although the oar has been in Tate for awhile, I wanted to make sure I got a picture of it before it went to the game (in case it doesn't return).  

As you can see, the oar is about twice as tall as I am.  The other side of the oar has the Florida mascot and seal on it.  Hopefully the oar will return to Georgia after the game this weekend.  Go Dawgs, sic 'em. 

October 23: Campus Ghost Tour

I've been trying to go on the campus ghost tour for FOUR years.  Yep, Mallory and I tried to go our first year, but it was canceled because of a light drizzle.  The second year, we forgot.  Last year, we had conflicts.  So this year, I was determined to go.  AND I did, only, because I was running late and Tiffanie and I wanted to stop at Jittery Joes first, we missed going with the group Mallory was with. Regardless, Tiffanie, Laura, and went from station to station around north campus hearing stories of confederate soldiers, students, and others who had met untimely deaths (for one reason or another).  The history was fun, and the latte kept me warm as we roamed.