What if you had four uninterrupted hours?

By Joyce Boatright

What if you had four hours that you could set aside for your own professional development? What would you want? I’m serious; I really want to know.

On Conference Day, set for Thursday, Feb. 19, the planning committee wants to set up sessions that are meaningful to you. We’re asking everyone what he or she thinks would be a valuable use of time.

For example, the Developmental Studies department has decided to use the time as a planning session for developing its short and long term goals for the department. Faculty members are looking at the projects they hold near and dear to their professional hearts and asking, among other things: what do they want to expand, keep, delete?

Some departments only have one or two people, but we hope to successfully face that challenge. If we can determine that there are shared needs that cross department lines, we’ll develop a session and, if needed, call in a facilitator/ speaker/ expert to put it together. For example, there could be an interest and need for a session on writing conference proposals so you can get out there and make a reputation for yourself outside the college.

For those of you in campus security, in grounds keeping, in human resources, in student services, or any of the other numerous departments outside of direct instruction, this is your opportunity to say what you’d like. For example, some service areas may desire a session on handling difficult people or on developing conflict resolution skills. This is your chance to have a say in what professional development sessions are planned for you.

Give me your ideas and I’ll let the rest of the planning committee know so we can work on developing a Conference Day that makes good use of your time. Email me with your suggestions: Joyce.Boatright@LoneStar.edu