The Dream Dean

Thursday, June 30, 2022, was my last day at UNCG.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022, will be my first day at Davidson-Davie Community College.

Here’s how I came to ending one chapter and starting a new chapter…

• A year ago (July 2021), I had a meeting with my “new” boss at UNCG to talk about me and Life Design Catalyst work. Needless to say, it wasn’t the most pleasant conversation. I found out how much Life Design Catalyst work was valued on campus DESPITE student success metrics that were much better than most – if not all – academic-related programs on campus.
• In September 2021, the staff in the Health and Human Sciences (HHS) Advising and Personal Development Center (myself and two other colleagues) was asked to provide thoughts on how advising and personal development should be integrated moving forward in the future. I wrote an extensive report outlining a way forward.
• In October 2021, I found out that they weren’t interested in anything I had to share. HHS administration ignored my report.
• In November 2021, HHS Administration decided to move away from Life Design Catalyst work and utilize resources to focus on registration and scheduling. At that same time, they informed me that my role would be to take on a caseload of students for advising and registration.
• In December 2021, I completed the Character Resume to really think about my “What’s Next?” I also applied and interviewed for ONE position.
• In January 2022, instead of quitting my job, I had conversations with a few members of the Life Design Catalyst Tribe about my work situation and decided to “retire” from UNCG – a little earlier than I expected.
• In February 2022, I accepted the job (part-time) as the Coordinator of the Legacy-Men of Color Program.
• In June 2022, I decided to share the resources to create the Character Resume with a few brave souls (several hundred, to be exact).

Why am I sharing this with you? Because after completing the Character Resume in December, it became CLEAR to me how I wanted to spend my time post-retirement. If I can’t engage in transformational work (not transactional work), I won’t work. By understanding what I’m here to do and what matters, I laid out a plan that provided me the impetus to find “places” that would allow me to do this work on a regular basis.

No registration and scheduling, no baby-sitting, no bull-shit.

The Character Resume provided me the blueprint to say, this is what matters most, this is what I have to offer, this is what I can do with passion and purpose. Take it or leave it. This is how I want to live my life in my SEVENTH decade!

I hope the Character Resume provides you the same clarity and direction regarding your answers to “What now?” and “What’s next?”, especially in these turbulent times. I look forward to helping others on their journey, writing the next chapter of their “Book on Life.”