September 2006 Archives

Yesterday it was trip to the Mississippi Delta to visit Delta State University; today it was a trip back to the delta to visit with faculty and students at Mississippi Delta Community College. The trip was enjoyable, I was well received, and I had some good interaction with everyone present.

The faculty is certainly interested in what they are doing and seem to be well-respected and liked by their students. The students seemed intelligent and many were interested in engineering. I met with a student group that was a little larger than I had expected and I went prepared to talk rather than do PowerPoint. I had some good interaction with the students but they were not as engaging as I had hoped for. Perhaps it was the size of the group or perhaps I was bit tired from two trips in as many days to the Delta. Regardless, I think it was a worthwhile trip.

Dateline: Home Study

Today I had a good visit with students at Delta State University. Some were thinking of transferring mid-way through their undergraduate programs, others were thinking about pursuing graduate school in the next year or so. I was impressed with the students we met and our hosts were very hospitable.

Dateline: Home Study

Actually the Clarion Ledger did call me to verify that I sent the letter. However, I was busy and could nto get in touch with them to confirm it. I also was not so much interested in it being published as I was in having read by the editorial staff.

Dateline: Home Study

The Dean gave us all a copy of the book Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton and asked that we find our strengths. The thesis of the book is that employers and employees focus on improving their weaknesses rather than capitalizing on their strengths. Through thousands of surveys, the authors, who are associated with Gallup, identified some 34 traits, or strengths, in people around the world.

When you get the book, you also get a code that allows you to complete a strengths assessment they call StrengthsFinder. We are all taking the assessment and will discuss or strengths at a staff meeting later.

My strengths, or Signature Themes, are (taken from the web site):

Learner: People strong in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.

Futuristic: People strong in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.

Strategic: People strong in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

Input: People strong in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

Achiever: People strong in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

If you want to know more about what all of those mean, then you'll need to buy the book (and Input may be one of your strengths!)..

As usual, I wasn't too sure whether I agreed with these or not so I bounced them off my sounding board--my wie. She said, yep, that's you.