By Lydia Reeves Timmins, University of Delaware

Those lazy days of summer—a cliché I always avoided as a TV newsie—turned into reality for me over the past two months. As I write this today, July 31, I have exactly one more month before classes start August 31. One month to prepare for part two of my professional life, and one month to prepare to send my firstborn to kindergarten. Quite a momentous Fall shaping up!

In my last post I expressed my concern about developing a syllabus that would carry me through a whole semester. Making a rundown that would last more than an hour or two was always a challenge—I couldn’t conceive of a syllabus for 14 weeks! Fortunately, I shared my concern with one of my new colleagues who uttered the magic word. Outline. He suggested that I only give exact dates for exams and University holidays, and let the ebb and flow of the students and their understanding of the material determine what we cover. Brilliant! Suddenly, I felt so much calmer. I will be able to focus on what is being learned, rather than sticking to a schedule. So I can spend more or less time, as needed.

My office is coming together, slowly. I finally have a place to display my Emmy nominations and various memorabilia from political conventions and what-not. I set up my voicemail, my very own printer and spread my kids’ pictures on my windowsill. Plus, my name is on the door and on my mailbox—and it’s GLUED there. No Velcro for easy removal in this job!

As I sat in my office the other day, I could hear a conversation from my colleague two doors down. He and another professor were discussing the limitations of research on people when they know they are being studied. So unlike the basic newsroom conversation! And I realized I understood everything they were talking about, and even had an opinion here and there (although I didn’t jump into the discussion, as I would in a newsroom). It was a good feeling and helped me to realize I HAVE made the right choice.

 

 

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From Newsroom to Classroom...

Good for you, Lydia, and enjoy your first semester in your new profession. On the onre hand you will find academia is much unlike the deadline driven world of news -- except where your classes and students come in. You will find a bit of culture shick as a faculty member walks by your office at 4:30 p.m. on the way out the door complaining of a long day, and you will yern for some of the resources you had available in the newsroom -- especially story and object lesson examples. But, as I did after 16 years in the classroom, you will find the teaching after life to be satisfying and rewarding, and the young minds you help mold will never forget you.

Best wishes for a successful "second career."

Ken Keller
Former News Director and Professor Emeritus
Southern Illinois University