Being the New Guy

For anyone who is currently transitioning into a new job, you can probably relate to this post.  I started at GVU in mid-August and it has been a whirlwind ever since then.  Thankfully, everyone here has been welcoming and extremely supportive as I find my way.  From learning how to use the phones to faxing a document, the first week you feel absolutely helpless.  Tasks that wouldn't have taken any thought at your previous job, end up consuming an hour of your time. You spend much of your time meeting new co-workers and trying to remember their names.  You're in meeting after meeting trying to catch up on three years' worth of information while trying to juggle other projects that were waiting for you months before you started. Just as you start to get your sea legs, you decide to start a blog. ;) 

I love my new job and think the GVU graduate program has a lot to offer central Iowa.  Now it's my goal to make sure central Iowa knows it, too.

Now I Know Why Paula is Crazy

As I posted last week, I was one of the judges for GVU's street painting competition on Sunday.  I judged alongside three new faculty members.  It was fun to judge with them because we had gone through new faculty orientation together and since the start of school we hadn't visited too much. So it was nice to catch up with them. 

It was interesting to see how each individual went about judging the paintings.  We had one judge who made up her own scoring system to aid in her decision, another judge walked slowly around the paintings taking everything in and the other judge (my favorite) looked like he was judging at the Westminster Dog Show. In a very formal manner, he walked swiftly through the paintings as if he knew exactly what he was looking for and then stood at the end of the street gazing over the entire group of the paintings. After a bit a pondering, he made a brisk stroll back through the paintings.  He knew his "Grand Champion" before we had even finished getting halfway through. (Don't worry, I already joked with him about being a dog show judge).  They're all great and we had a good laugh about it!

There was some added pressure to the competition for a couple of reasons.  #1 - I didn't realize the clubs receive cash prizes for placing: 1st place- $200, 2nd place - $150, Third place - $75.  #2 - all of the students stand around the street staring at you as you judge their painting they had painstakingly worked on for the past three hours.  The four of us were surrounding by students with no way out.  If they didn't like the decision, they could have easily stoned us to death.

We had to make some tough decisions because there were many deserving paintings and now I know why Paula Abdul is insane.  Well, she might have been crazy prior to American Idol, but being on that show couldn't help.  Anyway, in the end, I believe we came to a good decision and awarded prizes to the appropriate clubs.  We even had a tie for 3rd place.  I would like to publicly apologize to the Viking Council for having to spend an extra $75 because we couldn't agree on 3rd place!

Move Over Simon Cowell

Next week is Homecoming Week at Grand View University and it will be an exciting time for everyone on campus, especially the students. Grand View started a football team last year and it seems to have added to the "homecoming experience." Now, I've only been at GVU since August, but I've been told that, prior to adding football, the homecoming game was actually a soccer match. Nothing against soccer, but that just seemed a little weird to me. Although, they didn't have a football team, so what do you do? Anyway, the student body president contacted me a few weeks ago to see if I would like to be one of the judges for the street painting competition. I enjoy volunteering for these types of events, so I gladly said I would do it. I worked at Drake University for five years and they have a popular street painting competition during the Drake Relays in late April, but I never was asked to be a judge. That got me thinking...well, no one questioned me about my artistic ability (I don't have any) and if I have any experience judging a similar competition (I haven't), which really made me question the validity of the competition. That would be like American Idol asking someone with no history of being involved in the music industry to be a judge on the show...seriously, that would be like asking Ellen DeGeneres to be a judge...wait a minute.

Make a Name for Yourself

Last Friday, I attended the annual Young Professionals of Iowa Conference in Des Moines.  Grand View was one of the sponsors and since I'm considered a "young professional," I was excited to attend the sessions and promote our graduate program. I visited with some great people from all over our great state and had the pleasure of listening to the featured keynote speaker, Scott Ginsberg.  He is best known for wearing a nametag 24/7, I believe, for almost nine years....get this, he even has a nametag tattoo on his chest.  He is high energy...just think of the kid in elementary school who couldn't sit still in class and then at recess would run around in circles the entire time.  Scott has been featured on 20/20, CNN, and the Today Show, just to name a few and has written eight books, but the best part is that he doesn't take himself too seriously.  I encourage you to check out his information - Hello, My Name Is Scott.  He had a ton of great information during his presentation and the one quote that I keep thinking about is this..."Make a name for yourself, or someone else will make one for you."

Hello, Blog World

Well, I guess it's about time that I start a blog.  I have read blogs for quite a few years, but I've always thought...what would I write about and why would people keep coming back.  Why not write about what I know best.  After working in higher education for over seven years, I have dubbed myself, "The Graduate Admission Guy."  Now, before my brother-in-law throws a fit, let me say that it's a play on his Morningside College blog called "The Mside Admissions Guy."  He has worked in undergraduate admissions for a few years now and has been faithfully writing his blog for over a year, I believe.  So I thought a graduate school admission blog would be a nice angle and frankly, my name has a better ring to it, Jim.

So for anyone interested in graduate school, whether just considering it or currently applying to schools, hopefully this blog will assist you along the way.