Small token? Big impact.

A view from the classroom chair...

As I said in my previous entry, I plan on writing in this blog to give you a ground-level look at the UST classroom – I apologize I have neglected you on that duty…it seems adjusting to being a student again and balancing a full-time position has required more effort and time than I originally thought.

In July, I committed to sharing moments of interest/inspiration that surface in my classes with you; that is not to say that none have occurred since July, but finding time to pen them has been challenging and often gets trumped by reading statistics or briefing business law cases.  However, I was recently touched by an inspirational act of one of our full-time faculty members in the classroom and thought it worthy of noting in this forum to give you a glimspe of the great people and things going on here at UST.

The faculty member I speak of has expressed throughout the semester of how much he respects our (me and my classmate’s) decision to pursue our MBA degree--for many of us, the positive confirmation is welcome as we spend countless class hours chasing a goal that, at times, is difficult to clearly define the value of due its intangible nature.  As a proud member of the UST MBA admissions staff, I know the MBA does, and always will have value (I encourage you to read this great article written by our Assistant Dean that articulates this).

It is well known that our faculty come to work at St. Thomas everyday to teach and develop students – this is their number one priority and it is clear by their words and actions.  Never have I witnessed such an explicit gesture of their commitment to this, however, as when my current professor delivered a handful of emotionally-charged words to our class this week.  While speaking of how he respects our commitment to St. Thomas and the degree, he ended the address by presenting us with a small token of his investment in us – a simple dollar coin that we could carry with us through our short time at UST to remind us of our commitment and goals.  More importantly, he reminded us of the support that will always be there to help us in achieving our goals.

Small token?  Yes.  Big impact?  Certainly.