Advising world full of surprises…

Adviser reflects on 23 years in the game

By Debra Chandler Landis
Editor

Students can surprise us for the good and the bad.

As is inevitable in college media advising, I experienced both.
And sometimes, we may forget that students arrive with life experiences, and as a result, may handle changes and challenges more readily than we might expect.
For example, this past spring, I dreaded, for whatever reason, telling the editor-in-chief and assistant editors of The Journal, the University of Illinois Springfield student newspaper, that i was retiring after 23 years on the job and that the university seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace to hire my successor. I wanted to tell then first before telling the entire Journal staff.
When I told  the editor-in-chief about my upcoming retirement and plans to develop a home-based  free-lance writing and editing business, she said something to the effect of, “Retirement isn’t a time for sadness. It’s a time to celebrate the person, recognize accomplishments, and consider opportunities ahead. We will have a party for you.”

Continue reading “Advising world full of surprises…”