For the past 21 years, I have been teaching as a part-time lecturer at a number of colleges and universities in California (where I am originally from) to Canada, and now in Michigan, where I reside. I had always wanted to teach, even when I was earning my undergraduate degree, and when I began working in advertising during the dot com bubble and was offered an opportunity to teach a marketing class for UCLA, I jumped at the chance which ended up being the start of my ‘academic career’. Throughout the many years that I have taught undergraduate and MBA students in a number of business school programs, I have found my situation odd in that I never had the opportunity to go back and earn a graduate degree of my own. Life simply got in the way — marriage, kids, businesses, part-time teaching, all of them time-consuming and demanding endeavors. Only recently, at the ripe old age of 49 (50 at the start of my first semester at UM-Flint) did I finally have the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree to not only better connect with students I teach, but to also push myself to broaden my understanding of and appreciation for business and the business of teaching.
It’s funny because I see my experience as an MBA student to be an ethnographic study of the MBA student experience. I am learning SO MUCH about what it ‘feels like’ to be a student and it has dramatically increased my level of empathy in more ways than I can count. Before I was accepted to the program, I attended an open house and was delighted by a flier for the King Chavez Parks Future Faculty Fellowship. It read like it was tailor made just for me! I actually couldn’t believe my eyes because I never thought such an opportunity existed, so I had to read it three different times to make sure I was seeing straight.
I didn’t expect to be awarded the fellowship, understanding that these opportunities are highly competitive and selective, but was truly humbled to receive the good news. I had always pursued my MBA as a professional development project to better equip me with tools that would assist me in teaching MBA’s, and I intend to continue teaching upon graduation from UM-Flint.
