How to make the most of the summer after your junior year: The college search begins
June 03, 2019It’s the summer after your junior year, and you cannot wait for senior year to get here! However, it’s easy in all that excitement to pass by what can be the most powerful tool in your belt for securing your top college choice: THE SUMMER!
Post-grad funk: It's a real thing
May 21, 2019New graduates, I’m here to tell you about the “real world.” It’s a place I wouldn’t often recommend to others, but we all have to grow into it at some point. “Adulting” is a journey we have to take. I remember those last few weeks before graduation so well!
Med-school-ready & having fun: Why I chose to study bio-med at Ouachita
May 17, 2019I grew up surrounded by medical professionals; the majority of adults in my life have worked in the medical field in some way. I think I acquired an affinity for science because of that. When I was still in elementary school, I asked my mother for her nursing books so that I could learn about the disease that was making my grandmother sick.
Faculty profile: Glenn Good, Busy having fun
May 15, 2019For Glenn Good, teaching at Ouachita for 43 years was more than a good job. It was a good time. “I didn’t have trouble going to work,” Good said. “Usually, I had an 8 a.m. class. Students didn’t like it, but I didn’t mind it.” Good was offered a job at Ouachita in 1969 to teach Pre-Engineering, Intro to Physics for Pre-Professionals – his favorite class – and Science for Elementary Teachers.
Alumni profile: Kim Fischer ('82) Practical help, spiritual purpose
May 15, 2019Government employee by day, pickleball enthusiast by night and weekend warrior with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC) Disaster Relief ministry – alumna Kim Fischer has been using her gifts, talents and experience to make a difference in the lives of those in crisis for nearly 15 years.
Honest to goodness: Faculty & staff explore meaningful work
May 15, 2019This year, I was appointed to lead an initiative on the mission of faculty and staff to guide students toward “lives of meaningful work.” It started off like a bad round of Jeopardy. At first, I thought the answer I was seeking was “What is meaningful work?” By April, however, the question had become more specific. At Ouachita, we aren’t talking about any or all work. The heart of our work at Ouachita is studying. So the question for us Ouachitonians is “What makes academic work meaningful?”
Distinguishing between calling and career for a life of meaningful work
May 15, 2019Every semester I pass on to my Spiritual Formation classes an important distinction that has helped me think about meaningful work. These are usually first- and second-year students with a lot of questions. So, I add more questions to the pile. I begin by asking them things like, “Why did you come to college anyway?” or “Did you come to college just to make more money with a better job?”
Closing thoughts: Preparing for lives of meaningful work
May 15, 2019At the beginning of the academic year, I used my Convocation address to help us initiate a university-wide conversation on the theme, “Lives of Meaningful Work.” It’s a phrase from our mission statement that speaks to one of Ouachita’s desired outcomes for graduates: that you will be prepared for such lives and work.
Staff profile: Sherri (Greer '81) Phelps, An advocate for our people
May 15, 2019Sherri Phelps always knew she wanted to work with people, but when she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech pathology from Ouachita in the spring of 1981, she hadn’t anticipated a career in human resources. When Ouachita offered Phelps and her husband, Bill (’81), jobs at the university, it was the beginning of four decades of service to Ouachita faculty and staff. They knew then that they were being called to lives of meaningful work right here at their alma mater.
Staff profile: Shane Seaton, Modeling creation care
May 15, 2019Growing up, Shane Seaton loved playing outside, hiking, camping trips with his family and going to summer camp. He also spent a lot of time outdoors with friends during college in Oklahoma, where he earned a B.S. in business administration from Southern Nazarene University. But it wasn’t until later that Seaton realized how transformational those outdoor moments had been. Now, those are exactly the kinds of experiences he seeks to provide for students at Ouachita.