August of 2017: The OTA Program Director of 17 years notified us that she took another job at a university in North Carolina and would be leaving just prior to the start of the fall semester. I immediately stepped in to serve as the Interim Program Director. While I was able to hire a temporary faculty member for the year, I still had to complete the extensive job duties of the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator (AFWC), while mentoring our new, temporary faculty member.

January of 2018: ACOTE 5 year interim report due. Completed while teaching, managing, directing, organizing fieldwork, serving on committees and overseeing an ARC grant (Development of Community-Based Teaching Clinics) left by my predecessor.

August of 2018: Curriculum needed to be updated to meet new ACOTE standards. ACOTE took 119 relatively simple curriculum focused standards and narrowed it down to 61 complex standards, many of which make little sense and all of which need to be taught and assessed throughout the curriculum.

December of 2018: Final report due for the ARC grant.

May of 2019: I’m required to go through a national search to keep my job as the OTA Program Director. Honestly, I was hurt by this and it still bothers me to this day. I was told this is good practice and college policy, however since then I have observed occasions where we did not complete national searches to fill interim positions.

August of 2019: Karen Weis was hired to serve as assistant professor and AFWC. RELIEF!

March of 2020: Pandemic begins.

May of 2020: Karen Weis leaves JCC to take a job at Saint Bonaventure University. Kathy Grace (part time faculty and support) resigns to spend time with her family. NOTE: Karen was in charge of fieldwork students. Fieldwork halted when Covid hit. So I had to figure out how to find new placements for all of our students so they could finish their fieldwork. Most healthcare facilities would not allow people other than employees in their facilities. It took a lot of creative problem solving to figure it out. Most students did not end up finishing until November of 2020; the final student finished in February of 2021. In the meantime I had to figure out how to modify the curriculum to teach in a pandemic. And then I had to teach it all…

August of 2020 - May of 2021: The college refused to replace Karen Weis so once again I was doing everything myself IN THE MIDST of the pandemic: teaching, mentoring, advising, fieldwork coordination, accreditation, committee work, college wide leadership. We hired 2 part time faculty/support personnel to assist. {SIGH}

March of 2021: We were cited by ACOTE because we are required to have 2 full time faculty, which I had repeatedly told administration. I had to respond to the citation and justify why we were in this position and then write reports until we had rectified the situation.

August of 2021: Jessi Swanson began as the new OTA faculty and AFWC. AMEN!

August of 2022: Preparation for ACOTE Self Study begins (could be due as early as June 2023). Deciding what our “post pandemic” OTA program will look like begins.

Summary of strengths some compiled from Lead Now 360 and others from recent student evaluations:

1. Passionate/enthusiastic

2. Positive attitude

3. Knowledgeable

4. Hard working

5. Engaging

6. Dedicated

7. Creative

8. Diligent

9. Reliable

10. Approachable

11. Trustworthy

12. Skilled communicator

13. Prepared

Summary of areas of improvement, some compiled from Lead Now 360 and others from recent student evaluations: Sarah could improve:

1. Organization skills

2. Approachability

3. Worrying about what others think

4. Expressing impatience

5. Being judgmental

6. Boundaries and knowing when to say no

7. Prioritizing tasks

8. Listening skills by allowing people to finish thoughts before responding

9. Being open to different perspectives

10. Assistance with student learning (PPTs review sheets, quizzes only after material has been taught)

11. Time management

12. Delegating tasks

13. Being kinder to myself

The past five years have been extremely stressful, yet I persisted, much to the dismay of many people around me. My grandmother always said “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” I am a firm believer in that. If I wasn’t I probably would have resigned in 2020. Lucky for the college that I am motivated by a good challenge that requires the use of my creative problem solving skills. In spite of and because of the emotional and mental roller coaster I have been on the last five years, I have developed into a different person. I am more confident in myself and the value I bring to JCC, however I am less patient with lack of action, lack of vision and general complacency I see in some of my colleagues. I have diminished tolerance for inefficiencies and for people who don’t just do what they should do, students included. I used to be afraid to speak my mind because I didn’t want to say something people would disagree with me on. I am now much more assertive and while I care what people think, it doesn’t stop me from advocating and voicing my perspective, particularly about issues I think are troublesome for JCC. In my quest for improved assertiveness, I have been intentional at being open to others’ perspectives which has become a cornerstone of my leadership philosophy. We are better as a college when we truly hear and understand perspectives of those around us and then make decisions based in part on those perspectives.

Late in 2020 I embarked on a journey of self discovery when I hired a professional coach. Part of me was desperate to figure out my current and future path in both life and in career pursuits; the other part of me just needed a structured way to think about and analyze my life. It was the first time in a long time that I invested in something for my mental well-being. I was burned out. The coaching journey has been full of self-reflection and discovery. I’ve identified my values, assessed my strengths, formulated a personal vision statement, and developed goals based upon where I want to be in the future. Goals were developed largely based upon my self-reflection, but also from feedback from others, particularly through the Lead Now 360 process. The insights have really helped shape my decisions and have provided me with a compass to use when unsure of how to respond to situations.

Overall, I am proud of the person I am today. Yet I know there is always room for improvement. I look forward to seeing where my journey takes me in the next 5 years.

Generally speaking students feel I am an effective teacher. I would agree. I regularly use a variety of teaching and learning tools to meet the different learning styles of our students. They notice and appreciate that. They recognize I am knowledgeable about the subject matter and that I typically present material in an understandable and interesting way. I know I am always willing to listen to students, however not all students agree with that, which brings me to the students' critiques of my skills. It’s always hard to read through criticism, but I take it all very seriously. The top three areas that I need to work on, as noted by students, include: organization, approachability, and more learning resources.

Organization skills

Description: I have struggled with organization skills my whole life, but I also crave organization. I’m not completely disorganized, in fact I have lots of things I organize well (note this e-portfolio was organized by me!). My brain just creates organization in different ways and it often takes me lots of time to come up with systems of organization that work for everyone. I’m effective at coming up with organization systems for small tasks, for example improving efficiencies with committee agendas and minutes. Larger tasks that are complex are much harder for me to organize. Because I am a creative problem solver that thinks mostly outside of any box, I tend to think about ALL OF THE POSSIBILITIES when creating a structure for organization, which makes it extra challenging to figure out what won't work and create a system that does!

Factors: Not to make excuses, but the last five years have been very trying with organizing all of the changes that have been thrown at me (see timeline above). Coupled with the fact that it is time consuming for me to create complex systems, and time was a lacking resource, organization that made sense to EVERYONE fell a bit by the wayside. Much of what I created made sense to me, but not always to others, especially students. Add on to that our accreditation standards changed to being extremely complex which required major modification to the curriculum. I will say that only a handful of students noted organization as an area of improvement - for the most part my classes run smoothly. However I do recognize it's something I need to work on, mostly because it's a frustration for ME!

Plan: The theme for myself for the year is SIMPLIFY. As I work through tasks I’m looking for ways to simplify them. Delegating tasks to people with more skills in certain areas is a necessity for me. For example Jessi is VERY ORGANIZED so having her create systems to help improve organization, at least at the program level is something I have started to do and plan to continue to do. Additionally, she knows I am working on simplification and organization so I am always running ideas by her and seeking suggestions on ways to improve and make what goes out to students easier to understand. Currently my schedule fills up quickly with classes and meetings and I don’t have time in my day to work on my classes. I plan to block time in my schedule to prepare for my courses each week.

Approachability

Description: Most students find me approachable but others find me intimidating. It’s hard to change who you are and honestly I don’t see myself changing because of the perspective of a few students. However, I can be more intentional with my approachability.

Factors: I cannot control who I am, yet I understand that being a confident woman, who is honest and direct can be intimidating. This can be especially true for students who lack confidence themselves, which I’ve seen more and more over the past few years. In fact I started an informal confidence club for students where I teach and then students practice strategies for improving their confidence. Another compounding factor to my approachability stems from the stress I have been under over the past five years along with being overly busy. I just don’t have extra time to be on their demand. And when they show a lack of responsible behavior and then make excuses for it, I have limited tolerance.

Plan: I already do a number of things to help students see me as a less intimidating person. I try to show them my vulnerability by sharing relevant (sometimes embarrassing) stories about my life, making a “fool of myself” at pep rallies, getting in the dunk tank, taking silly pictures of myself with them, and I plan to continue to do more of this. For some it’s enough. To step it up, I plan to be very transparent with my students at the start of the fall semester and let them know that I am working on this. I will have a discussion with them on ways I can be less intimidating (although many may not respond). I will tie this to their own abilities to give and receive constructive feedback and will model the behavior.

Learning Resources

Description: I struggle with this one. On one hand I want to listen to students’ needs and do what I can to help them be successful. On the other hand I have an obligation to prepare them for the real world, which doesn’t typically include holding their hand through everything. Students want power point presentations for class which I don’t always have time to create (nor am I convinced they are always an effective teaching tool). I tend to give quizzes at the start of class to inspire students to complete their reading. They would prefer I give them after I teach them the material. They want review sheets, they want to better understand the relevance of material and want to know how long they should commit to doing the work needed.

Factors: Could I improve teaching and learning? Of course, there’s always room for improvement. I lack time to dig into each class and make some of the changes they are requesting. I teach 9 preps in a year. None of which are repeated from semester to semester. Additionally, I have not kept up on new and improved teaching and learning strategies, so taking some training would be helpful, but time is a factor there as well.

Plan: Here are some things I plan to do to address this area: include relevance statements/class goals for each assignment and lesson so students can see how the content is related to the knowledge they need to have for the profession; invite the learning center to speak to our students more often; add approximate time frames for how long each homework assignment/project should take; review each project assigned in class and provide time for Q and A; build use of textbook resources into the expectations for classes (many of their textbooks have chapter PPT’s and quiz questions available online for students to access, but many of them don’t do so); complete trainings related to improving teaching and learning (ie effective use of PPT).

One thing I know I have to work on is celebrating my accomplishments, understanding my value, and giving myself credit when credit is due. In order to help me keep this in the forefront of my mind, I created this Point of Pride list. I plan to review this regularly and add things as they come up so I don’t lose sight of all of the things that are good about ME!

1. I am a very strong woman who looks into the face of adversity and figures out a way through it!

2. I take initiative. When I set out to get something done, I get it done.

3. I choose to take the high road, when possible.

4. I have an innate ability to read a room. I can usually sense the energy of people and can tell when they are totally lost or completely enthralled. This is extremely valuable in the classroom and in any other meeting or presentation I am in as it affords me the opportunity (in most cases) to easily correct the course depending on where people are at.

5. I treat others with respect and show my gratitude whenever I can. For example, OTA has hosted periodic luncheons for our support staff and last year I bought and delivered dinner for our custodial staff (ANYTHING THEY WANTED - they chose steak and lobster!).

6. I intentionally build relationships with people from all facets of the college: faculty, IT, custodial staff, marketing, counseling center, maintenance, adjuncts, administrative support, board of trustees, FSA, athletics…..I don’t know everyone, but I like knowing as many people as I can. Relationship building takes intentionality and some listening/communication skills, but it’s not difficult and is ultimately the most rewarding part of what I do here! Ways I build relationships:

   • Welcome new employees to campus with an email, stopping by their office or volunteering to serve as a new employee mentor.

   • Serve on cross functional task forces/committees/work groups: PAC, commencement task force, pep rally planning group….

   • Participate in college wide activities that help build camaraderie: pep rally, door decorating, sip n paint, baseball games.

   • Host social events and invite the whole campus to attend (I love getting to know my colleagues outside of work): Happy hours, bonfire…

   • Attend college wide events for the community: concerts, plays, athletic events…

   • Present trainings/information to other constituent groups: staff development day, BoT retreat

   • Attend BoT meetings.

   • Take time to catch up with people in the hallways or the cafeteria.

7. I’m proud that I don’t settle for mediocrity.

8. I have a good sense of where we need to go as a college. It’s innate. It took me a long time to trust my intuition, but I embrace it now and it’s usually right. Just ask my husband :-)

9. I love being around happy people. Happiness is contagious and happy people get things done!

10. I’m addicted to being productive. There are worse addictions!

11. I work hard. I am not lazy. I am dedicated.

12. I am honest, direct and forthright. I call it like I see it. If I feel like I have something to say I will say it, in the least offensive way possible (at least that is always my intention).

13. I question things. I am observant and notice things that are “broken”. I have found on a number of occasions that processes have been fixed because of things I questioned.

14. I am a builder. I wear a pink tool belt when I demolish a room, build a wall, replace electrical lines, or install plumbing. I’m in no way an expert but I know enough to figure things out!

15. I have no problem advocating for what I think is right. I try to think through all angles before speaking up.

16. I appreciate hearing different perspectives on topics so I can better understand….

17. I’m an open book - 100% genuine. What you see is what you get and I wouldn't have it any other way!

18. I hate hypocrisy, therefore “I say what I mean and I do what I say…”

19. I love making people happy.

20. I am a skilled educator who is always trying to improve student success, whether they realize it or not.

21. I am a master at figuring things out!

22. It is my duty and my honor to give back to the community through civic engagement.

23. I care…..

24. I am sensitive to people’s emotions: if they're happy, so am I. If they are sad, I often cry…..

25. I cheer for the underdog!

26. I genuinely want to make a positive impact on my world and inspire others to do the same in their world.

27. I provide excellent customer service, oftentimes going the extra mile to help our students (AKA customers) out.