My journey to the 2022 Mortenson Center Associates Program began in Cape Town, South Africa on 23rd May 2022. After leaving South Africa I flew to Urbana-Champaign via Doha, Qatar and Chicago, Illinois.
After a long journey, I arrived safely on 24th May 2022. Fortunately, for me, there were no delays in my scheduled flights and I did not lose my luggage during the trip. I was welcomed to Urbana-Champaign at the University of Illinois Willard Airport by Barbara Ford (Mortenson Distinguished Professor Emerita, Associates Program Advisor) and Amani Ayad (Diversity and Community Engagement Specialist, Associates Program Advisor). We only managed to arrive at my final destination (the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) around 22h00 central time. During my stay, I will be residing in Newman Hall, which is located at the St. John’s Catholic Newman Center.
We hit the ground running early the next day after meeting Prof Clara Chu (Director and Mortenson Distinguished Professor) and Kathleen Ebeling (Office Support Specialist) at the Mortenson Center. In addition to this each of the associates has been paired with a ‘library buddy’ who will serve as a liason between the associates and the library’s staff. It appears that the library buddies will also be there to provide some form of support in terms of providing the associates with information about the town or the University’s library. The associates were introduced to their library buddies during lunch time on the first day in the hopes that we could develop a relationship with them.
After viewing the program’s schedule on the first day, it dawned on me that this will probably be a great learning opportunity as the program appears to cover a broad range of topics. Since then each day has exposed me to new experiences. Even though I have only participated in the program for a few days, it seems apparent that what we have learnt is only the tip of the iceberg.
The program has been full thus far and even extended into the weekend – where our hosts proceeded to show the Mortenson Center associates around town and treat us to a welcoming dinner. At this dinner, the associates were afforded an opportunity to interact with each other and network with the different library buddies.
The notable events of the week can be summed up as follows:
- Completion of the DISC workplace assessment. This assessment was followed by a workshop relating to the application of the DISC profiles to different leadership styles.
- Change management session. This addressed the manner in which one can cope with change and transition.
- Visit to the University’s Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL). This included a session on active learning, ideation, flexible classrooms and study spaces as well as e-text @Illinois. Furthermore, the associates visited the media laboratory, innovation studio and virtual reality laboratory.
I have to end off now as I need to prepare for tomorrow. Even though it is a public holiday in the United States of America (Memorial Day), we will still be participating in some activities. I look forward to what I expect to be eventful week.
29th May 2022