Joy In Mudville: My return to SNU

Thursday, January 17, 2013

My return to SNU - professor style

How strange it is to be a professor.

I have spoken to many classes over the past few years, thanks to requests by former professors and also thanks to unique position I have being a fulltime social media professional. While social media can be an intriguing profession, it is my roots in public relations that I feel is the biggest strength for me to succeed at it.

Many of you know that I have a public relations degree (from UCO), that I worked at Jones PR downtown for nearly 4 years and that I have now been at VI Marketing and Branding (in the PR department - although full-time at Social) for about a 1.5 years, but did you know I also have a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education?

I graduated in December of 2005 from Southern Nazarene University with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education (I originally went to SNU for Theology - changed majors after 2.5 years). SNU is where I had my "college experience" and feels like forever since I had walked on the grounds.

Over the holiday break I received an email asking if I was interested in filling in for a professor all spring (who now had to potentially cancel the class for other reasons). It didn't take me long to know I wanted the opportunity. The only catch was the timing, Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11:00 to 11:50. This would have to be discussed with multiple people as I know leaving work for an extra hour in the middle of the day could cause an issue at the office and considering Marek and I went down to become a single car family in November, having the car in the middle of the day (when she needs it to drive to work) will take some major coordinating.

Thankfully, I surround myself with people who "get me" and know that this is something I wanted to pursue. The potential hurdles and issues could all be resolved with some sound communications and planning. One week into the class - so far so good.

None of the 14 students skipped class Monday or Wednesday...I'm guessing it's because of the good-looking professor.