Major transitions should always involve pause and reflection. Initially, when I put in my resignation as Director of Online Education at the fastest growing university in Ohio, all I was thinking about was the future. Since my #1 strength in the Strength Finders test is “Futuristic”, this is not particularly shocking to me. However, knowing this has created a self-awareness that reflection is critical for my ability to maximise my future.

So much has been learned in the past seven years. While I have experienced different status’ with the university over those years, whether it be consultant, coordinator, part time director, or full time director, all of them culminate into the experience of an online adult start-up degree program …. well, many programs. Hired as a contractor for instructional design for a non-existent online program, I was given liberal experimentation opportunities, and you had better believe I grabbed them! I had forgotten about all of this; but in the celebration of my last day, I was honoured to have the university President, Provost, and the Dean of the adult college (my boss) publicly remind me of these accomplishments. As all of the dust settled and I had the long drive home back to North Carolina, it started fully registering just how fortunate I was to have experienced those opportunities at my age, and thanked God that I had the wits to take advantage of it.

Something that will stick in my mind for many years to come will be the personal challenge that the Provost gave me as he was leaving. Loosely quoted, he said “you have given so much to the university, now it’s time to give to the Academy” in the scope of publishing and being active in my contributions to higher education.

Thank you …. and I will.