“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.” This is one of my favorite quotes from novelist C.S. Lewis (1952), that inspired me to reflect on my experience at Brandman and the positive influence change can have on both student and faculty support systems.
In 2015, when I was first asked to begin contributing to the “new Brandman Blog,” it seemed only natural that I would talk about ‘why’ we are all here – our students.
In May of 2018, during the year that I transitioned from Student Services to Academic Affairs, our colleague Matt Venegas, Assistant VC of Business Development, Strategic Business Development, (with his own original humor), shared with me that I had ‘officially become a Brandman statistic.’
I had the honor of being awarded the C.A.F.É. Award for RESPECT (CAFE Awards 2013), one of our institution’s pillars of excellence. (I also had the privilege, the year prior, of being asked to serve on Chancellor Brahms’ inaugural awards committee, where I helped to coin the title of the C.A.F.E. awards themselves).
In 2015, my colleagues in the School of Business honored me with the Faculty of the Year Award.
And in 2017, I was honored with the overall Faculty of the Year award for Brandman University.