Nov 4, 2011
A funny thing happened to me when I wrote, spoke, and connected with people about following their Map4 Awesomeness: I was reminded that I needed to follow my own map.
In order to truly embrace my passion, define my purpose, foster my promise, and engage my pursuits I need to make a rather large change. So after half a decade of teaching at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), I have decided that Spring 2012 will be my last semester teaching within the Department of Art. I am grateful that my department head continues to support my pursuit of all things awesome. This change is bittersweet; although, I will miss my students, I am excited to set forth on a new journey.
In the meantime, I will continue to teach and to give my students my very best. My last teaching day will be in late April and my other responsibilities will officially conclude early August. If you are not in academia, you might be wondering why I am making this announcement now—6+ months before my teaching duties wrap up. Even if you are in academia, you might be wondering “why now?” I want my students and my department to have the best opportunity for a productive candidate search. This means an official search needs to start right away in order to fill my position by August. Yes, everything in academia takes a long time.
At this time, I will not recap my favorite moments or reminisce about things that I have learned from this experience. Frankly, I’m still writing the pages of this chapter and it’s just too early to write the conclusion.
You might be wondering “what’s next?” Here’s the thing: I am not going into details, well, at least not yet (spoilers!). Although, I have some really exciting opportunities in the works, I am open to new possibilities. My future inevitably holds opportunities to embrace my passions:
Even though, I’m not going into details now, I can guarantee you that I will continue to: make awesomeness and do good.