My Professional Success
 |
| Beth Adele |
Many in the world of academia gauge their success by the number
of articles they have published or by the prestige of the university or college
at which they teach. Using these criteria, my career has not been particularly
successful. As I transition to the next iteration of my odd life, however; I
will claim one small measure of professional success of which I am proud. I am
pretty sure I am not entitled to the claim but I am staking it anyway.
I first met Beth Adele in 2002/2003 shortly after joining
the marketing faculty at the University of Central Oklahoma. She was sitting at
the end of a long conference table, eagerly interviewing for the position of
Graduate Assistant to the Marketing Department as she began her pursuit of a
UCO MBA. She was hired into the position which was the beginning of our
professional relationship. The intervening years have seen her complete the
MBA, work in industry, teach at UCO as either an adjunct or a full time
instructor, make a huge impact at UCO in Career Services, and create UCO
VetHERO. She did all this while starting a family and commuting to UT Tyler for her own
Ph.D. program. During this time our relationship grew from faculty-student to
colleagues, research collaborators, and friends.
For the past three years I have had to immense good fortune
to have Beth work with me as Assistant Dean in the School of Business at
Cameron University. Now, as the School of Business has transformed into the
Department of Business in the new School of Graduate and Professional Studies,
Beth has been named interim Department Chair.
The transition is complete: Faculty-Student. Colleagues. Research
Collaborators. Friends. And, since July 1, Beth is now my boss.
Beth would have achieved all this had we never met. She has the talent, ability, and drive to succeed. I am just pretending I might have had anything to do with it. That said, I am claiming this one little success. One cannot help but be proud when their student (actually never had her in class) becomes their boss.
