Campus Climate

I want to say a little bit about the campus climate as I see it so far (within the school of nursing). In one word: COMMUNITY. It's a beautiful thing. Now, I understand that this is the honeymoon period, and it's highly likely that if you ask me about my school a month from now I will probably scream that I hate it here and I just want to come home, but right now it's awesome and I want to have some written record of how awesome I think it is, so that later when I ask myself "why are you paying $70,000 to this place?" I will remember!

1st things First: DIVERSITY! It exists! After visiting the school earlier this year and meeting with the students of color who were currently enrolled at the school, I was a little worried because there was NOT much diversity and the few students that were here were the "only one" in their specialty (ie: the only one in Midwifery, or the only one in Oncology) which isn't good because after this first year we aren't all together anymore - we're only with other students in our specialty. So, imagine my suprise to see so many students of color! There are about 100 entering students, and of that 100, probably 15 are underrepresented minority (Black, African, Native-American, and Latino) including a black male and two Native American women, which I think is very impressive when you consider there are only a hundred of us. And if you add the Asian-American students (who don't seem to be underrepresented) the number increases by probably 10. And BONUS: one of our new associate deans is a Black woman! Can you tell I'm excited? In a later post I am going to address one of my friend's ideas that she has somehow transcended race at her predominately white institution, and that all of the issues that plagued her in the beginning are no longer an issue because she simply "no longer sees color." Can't wait to talk about it!

Second: All students are on a first name basis with faculty and staff. Many times it was emphasized that faculty and staff were to be addressed by their first names, which is not easy to do when you're not accustomed to it. But I love the idea of it. Imagine walking around the school addressing the director of your program by her nickname (as in my case). It changes the whole tone of the academic environment. I just hope that the exceptions to the rule (aren't there always exceptions?) make themselves clear, and soon!

Third: My student mentor is great! Every new student is assigned a student mentor from the year before her, usually within the same specialty. I happened to get a student that is raved about by the administration and other students.

Fourth: The clinical+research+teaching focus is heaven for me. I have had this "you simply can't do it all" conversation with a couple of seasoned nurses, and it hasn't been a very positive experience because they say you can't teach and research and practice at the same time. But here, they seem to have figured it out, and it's a big deal. The PLUS is that we are actually taught by the people who are actually doing the research (not always the case at Research I institutions) and our clinical instructors also currently practice in the field. The CON is that our professors are really, really busy and you must adhere to the office hours to get in contact with them, AND class can be cancelled without any notice (in the case of midwifery).

So there it is. At midterm time, remind me that I love this place!