WEBVTT 00:00:01.320 --> 00:00:09.320 All right, hello, this is Shay Brenner and Joshua Party. 00:00:09.788 --> 00:00:17.788 Interviewing Alexandra Aragon on February 15th at 10:43 a.m. In the Honors 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:25.056 hall advising offices. This interview is part of the Barrett Oral History 00:00:25.089 --> 00:00:28.806 Project. Our goal is to preserve a record of Barrett's history in honor of 00:00:28.839 --> 00:00:32.467 our 30th anniversary. Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down 00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:37.445 with us and share your experience. All right, so just to kind of kick 00:00:37.478 --> 00:00:41.885 things off, um, how about you just say like how you did you come to bear 00:00:41.918 --> 00:00:48.065 it? Absolutely, um, I started working here in 2008. Um, I was pretty new 00:00:48.098 --> 00:00:52.347 to Arizona. I had lived here about a year, um, and my undergraduate 00:00:52.380 --> 00:00:55.906 experience was at Fordham University, which is a small liberal arts school 00:00:55.939 --> 00:00:59.866 , um, and so I was really drawn to Barrett because I felt like it was 00:00:59.899 --> 00:01:04.426 mimicking that small private experience in the context of a larger 00:01:04.459 --> 00:01:07.986 university and I really wanted to work with students, so I was fortunate 00:01:08.019 --> 00:01:13.717 to be hired in as an academic advisor for the college. 00:01:13.750 --> 00:01:18.046 So you um you had been in Arizona for about a year. I so I did a little 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:22.727 bit of research on you um so I know this was after so you did Teach for 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:26.245 America for a year out of college and then you this was your first uh job 00:01:26.278 --> 00:01:29.686 after that, correct? Yes, so I was actually a fundraiser for Teach for 00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:32.811 America, so I wasn't teaching in the core. I was helping them secure 00:01:32.844 --> 00:01:37.242 funding to support the Phoenix region and I had just finished a master's 00:01:37.275 --> 00:01:41.301 degree in counseling and higher education, so um I had worked as a 00:01:41.334 --> 00:01:46.171 graduate student, but this was my second job out of college and you know 00:01:46.204 --> 00:01:52.016 really the start of my career in higher education. 00:01:52.049 --> 00:01:56.456 So how would you say um that helps you with maybe your advising experience 00:01:56.489 --> 00:02:00.576 to move up towards being now the head of advising affairs? Yeah, 00:02:00.609 --> 00:02:06.055 absolutely. I began as a front line adviser and we were a much smaller 00:02:06.088 --> 00:02:09.696 office. We were actually still in the old Barrett complex, so we hadn't 00:02:09.729 --> 00:02:14.255 even moved to this new facility and I had a very large caseload of almost 00:02:14.288 --> 00:02:19.930 700 students, um, and then I was part of a period of tremendous growth, so. 00:02:19.963 --> 00:02:24.362 After my first year as a new advisor, I was expected to train and mentor 00:02:24.395 --> 00:02:28.441 new advisors that came in, so I, you know, really had to think about how I 00:02:28.474 --> 00:02:31.642 had learned the elements of the job and how I could help others understand 00:02:31.675 --> 00:02:35.721 our role um and then just how we were going to scale the experience up as 00:02:35.754 --> 00:02:39.821 we were able to grow. So over the years I took on a lot of special 00:02:39.854 --> 00:02:43.761 projects, um, managing our thesis process, doing things with the website, 00:02:43.794 --> 00:02:47.521 working with faculty, internships at one point, um, and I was just really 00:02:47.554 --> 00:02:51.536 lucky to. Do a lot of different side projects so as I progressed in 00:02:51.569 --> 00:02:54.946 leadership it's been really important to me that now that I supervise 00:02:54.979 --> 00:02:59.547 others I really understand what their job is because I've done it myself 00:02:59.580 --> 00:03:04.305 and I still advise students um even in this role so I'm still a part of 00:03:04.338 --> 00:03:08.427 what I'm supervising and I love working with students so that brings me 00:03:08.460 --> 00:03:13.305 joy to keep doing it um but I think it helps me be a legitimate leader 00:03:13.338 --> 00:03:16.850 because I am also working alongside my team um and. What I asked them to 00:03:16.883 --> 00:03:22.411 do, I'm expecting myself to do as well. Awesome OK and then so you talked 00:03:22.444 --> 00:03:25.592 a little bit about like how you had different projects you were doing. Can 00:03:25.625 --> 00:03:30.092 you maybe talk about any of those or what became of some of them? Yeah, so 00:03:30.125 --> 00:03:35.491 one in particular was our thesis workshop um so historically we had put on 00:03:35.524 --> 00:03:39.251 workshops just as an additional opportunity for students that they weren't 00:03:39.284 --> 00:03:44.005 required so um with with feedback from our faculty honors advisors we. 00:03:44.038 --> 00:03:48.316 Actually instituted a policy that all students would be required to 00:03:48.349 --> 00:03:51.275 complete a thesis workshop before they could progress into enrolling in 00:03:51.308 --> 00:03:55.686 our and because we knew we would not necessarily be able to offer enough 00:03:55.719 --> 00:04:01.916 in person opportunities to meet that demand, we had to create an online 00:04:01.949 --> 00:04:05.717 version of that and so that was a project that I took on. We created a 00:04:05.750 --> 00:04:10.275 blackboard course and I was in charge of making sure we had videos um so 00:04:10.308 --> 00:04:13.941 just all of the sort of production. Management that went into that the 00:04:13.974 --> 00:04:17.942 scripts, the location, recruiting the individuals um helping with the 00:04:17.975 --> 00:04:21.661 editing process and I'm really excited because actually just this past 00:04:21.694 --> 00:04:25.421 summer we with the move over to Canvas ASU is moving away from Blackboard 00:04:25.454 --> 00:04:29.221 , we completely redid the whole workshop so there's new videos, there's 00:04:29.254 --> 00:04:32.611 new materials um we had feedback from students so it's just a little bit 00:04:32.644 --> 00:04:36.502 more streamlined um but yeah, something that I had been involved with a 00:04:36.535 --> 00:04:40.580 really long time ago kind of came full circle this past year when we 00:04:40.613 --> 00:04:46.336 renewed it, so to speak. Oh, OK, that's really cool. Um, so what are some 00:04:46.369 --> 00:04:51.536 of the, so you, I know you've been here for like 10 years now, so maybe 00:04:51.569 --> 00:04:56.296 what are some of the changes you've seen or even overseen, um, if you 00:04:56.329 --> 00:05:00.705 could just talk about any of those. Definitely, um, I mean one kind of 00:05:00.738 --> 00:05:04.906 significant change is just overall tracking. So when I first arrived we 00:05:04.939 --> 00:05:08.765 did not have a DARS report for honors. um I think it's easy to take that 00:05:08.798 --> 00:05:12.426 for granted now that the degree audit system is, you know, available for 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:16.906 every major and that's available to honor students. So we were actually 00:05:16.939 --> 00:05:21.086 tracking honors credits in Excel spreadsheets so every single student. We 00:05:21.119 --> 00:05:24.895 had an Excel spreadsheet that we would manually update and it obviously 00:05:24.928 --> 00:05:29.127 didn't speak to a system, so we never knew what students were up to until 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:32.846 the end of the semester when we would look at their transcripts and then 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:37.026 manually input and it took all summer just to even update people's credit 00:05:37.059 --> 00:05:41.015 sheets so the students really had to rely on the advisors. I mean, 00:05:41.048 --> 00:05:43.666 obviously some students I think were savvy enough to have their own. 00:05:43.699 --> 00:05:47.106 Tracking systems, but there's just a lot of uncertainty about honors 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:50.765 credits, um, and then that meant we weren't doing a great job of reporting 00:05:50.798 --> 00:05:55.226 or forecasting. So a huge change that's occurred is that we were approved 00:05:55.259 --> 00:06:00.507 by the university to participate in DARS. We had a DARS encoder dedicated 00:06:00.540 --> 00:06:03.986 to honors as part of some of her other responsibilities. We have the 00:06:04.019 --> 00:06:08.887 honors audit. It captures lower. And upper division credits and now we're 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:13.205 even at a point where due to the automation, um, when people have hit all 00:06:13.238 --> 00:06:17.166 their honors milestones, they're automatically processed for graduation. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:20.486 So it's a lot of behind the scenes work, but it's really reduced a ton of 00:06:20.519 --> 00:06:24.205 manual effort and considering how large we've grown, I mean it was just 00:06:24.238 --> 00:06:28.245 essential that we kind of get with the times and use the technology 00:06:28.278 --> 00:06:32.846 available. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:37.866 OK, yeah, no, I, I always use the. I'm glad it's and I like that there's 00:06:37.899 --> 00:06:40.736 the upper division one because I entered an upper division. Oh, very nice 00:06:40.769 --> 00:06:44.187 , 00:06:44.220 --> 00:06:48.455 really convenient. Good. Um, so, um, OK, so you talked a little bit about 00:06:48.488 --> 00:06:52.656 some of the changes. How would you maybe like to see change further like 00:06:52.689 --> 00:06:57.286 in the future, the next 30 years? Yeah, oh my gosh, absolutely, um. I mean 00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:03.346 , I think that you know in terms of advising specifically we want to keep 00:07:03.379 --> 00:07:07.645 personalizing the experience as much as possible, you know, really knowing 00:07:07.678 --> 00:07:12.127 the students, um, continuing to be creative about ways that we deliver our 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:15.437 services like right now we're kind of tied to a pretty traditional model 00:07:15.470 --> 00:07:20.286 of, you know, an office that functions 8 to 5, um, but we started to look 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:23.687 at things like group advising for second year students because that's a 00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:26.711 little bit of a more unique. Experience um I've actually been running some 00:07:26.744 --> 00:07:30.870 of those groups as kind of an experiment and they've gone really well um I 00:07:30.903 --> 00:07:36.192 think that we could do more even with like virtual office hours or just 00:07:36.225 --> 00:07:39.390 like some participation participation over technology. I would never want 00:07:39.423 --> 00:07:43.711 to replace that in person component but like just accessibility um with 00:07:43.744 --> 00:07:47.390 quick questions right now we have a walk-in model uh which we're proud of 00:07:47.423 --> 00:07:50.512 because we're open all day for people to drop in but once again that's 00:07:50.545 --> 00:07:56.265 just the 8 to 5 so I think. Expanding on that somehow would be interesting. 00:07:56.298 --> 00:08:00.416 Um, I definitely want to see like continued collaboration with faculty 00:08:00.449 --> 00:08:05.346 and staff just in general like you know knowledge about what each party is 00:08:05.379 --> 00:08:09.305 doing and um like for instance I think it'd be interesting if a study 00:08:09.338 --> 00:08:12.745 abroadship, for instance, had a faculty member and maybe an advisor who 00:08:12.778 --> 00:08:16.705 helped like chaperone or run trip logistics or even like you know did 00:08:16.738 --> 00:08:21.791 advising abroad with the students. It's like that could be just a fun way 00:08:21.824 --> 00:08:25.563 for people to like take advantage of the resources but in a different 00:08:25.596 --> 00:08:28.683 setting um and then I think just always our partnership with the 00:08:28.716 --> 00:08:32.962 university you know we hold a really special place um within ASU and I 00:08:32.995 --> 00:08:37.442 think it's easy for a university of this size to feel kind of territorial. 00:08:37.475 --> 00:08:41.002 Everyone's really concerned with their college with what goes on and you 00:08:41.035 --> 00:08:44.792 know we're in the unique position that our students are in every college 00:08:44.825 --> 00:08:49.058 so. I know in my role, I actually feel very personally invested in every 00:08:49.091 --> 00:08:52.577 college. I want to know how they're doing. I want them to be thriving, and 00:08:52.610 --> 00:08:56.678 I think that they care about us, but it isn't always that same level of 00:08:56.711 --> 00:08:59.258 investment because they're doing their own thing and I'd really like to 00:08:59.291 --> 00:09:03.338 see this as more united, like, oh, we want to know how our Barrett 00:09:03.371 --> 00:09:07.737 students are doing in relation to the college and you know we want to be 00:09:07.770 --> 00:09:12.755 um kind of going back and forth a little bit more so. Yeah, I, I actually 00:09:12.788 --> 00:09:18.436 read a short interview you did, uh, somewhat recently, and the one thing 00:09:18.469 --> 00:09:22.515 you talked about was how, um, like there was an extremely unique sort of 00:09:22.548 --> 00:09:26.116 honors experience because you could study two totally different fields and 00:09:26.149 --> 00:09:29.927 you wouldn't be able to do that. Yeah definitely I mean I think that can 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:33.326 really come out in the thesis in particular that's another kind of dream 00:09:33.359 --> 00:09:36.956 of mine I think going along with the colleges is that we would see a lot 00:09:36.989 --> 00:09:41.206 more pathways to the thesis we'll never want to lose that ability for 00:09:41.239 --> 00:09:45.525 students to have a unique experience like this is my idea, very specific 00:09:45.558 --> 00:09:48.275 project that I've been working on since high school and you know I wanna. 00:09:48.308 --> 00:09:51.746 Follow that passion, um, but for a lot of people, a huge stumbling block 00:09:51.779 --> 00:09:54.826 is that they really don't know what they want to do or they feel like 00:09:54.859 --> 00:09:58.427 there's really no process to follow because it's extremely open ended and 00:09:58.460 --> 00:10:02.145 I would just love to see more colleges and faculty say you know this is 00:10:02.178 --> 00:10:05.586 something that we're working on this is a very specific pathway you apply 00:10:05.619 --> 00:10:09.885 to it you follow these steps and at the end you have. A thesis that you 00:10:09.918 --> 00:10:13.167 produce and that it benefits maybe that college like it helps them write a 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:16.486 grant or it helps with the center that they have so that there would be 00:10:16.519 --> 00:10:20.436 like a mutually beneficial exchange um but that our students would feel 00:10:20.469 --> 00:10:23.525 like they were following a program I think that would just make some of 00:10:23.558 --> 00:10:27.645 them feel more secure and will probably help us see like a higher level of 00:10:27.678 --> 00:10:33.196 completion overall. Uh, you mentioned accessibility that the office runs 00:10:33.229 --> 00:10:37.875 from like has a set timetable. Uh, Barrett is unique in that almost all 00:10:37.908 --> 00:10:40.917 the honor students live on campus, like right here just outside this 00:10:40.950 --> 00:10:44.316 building and across the street in Vista. How do you as like the director 00:10:44.349 --> 00:10:48.236 of advising now see that as a benefit for students when they are pursuing 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:52.236 their academic career in Barrett the honor? Absolutely. I mean, I think 00:10:52.269 --> 00:10:55.696 just the fact, uh, you know, living on campus in and of itself is hugely 00:10:55.729 --> 00:10:58.576 beneficial. There's a lot of research that shows that that can just lead 00:10:58.609 --> 00:11:02.596 to higher success rates, um, and the fact that we are in a complex, I 00:11:02.629 --> 00:11:07.287 think, you know. They're able to access advising offices as well as the 00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:11.486 staff and deans, um, but just even having that smaller community of you 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:14.606 might not know every person in Barrett, but it's small enough that people 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:18.525 look familiar, that it does feel like its own neighborhood. I think when I 00:11:18.558 --> 00:11:21.265 was in college, the whole university felt that way because it was 00:11:21.298 --> 00:11:25.356 essentially the size of Barrett, um, and it was in the middle of the Bronx 00:11:25.389 --> 00:11:28.635 and we were in New York City, and but we had our own. Kind of island. And 00:11:28.668 --> 00:11:32.596 when I left college and actually moved into Manhattan, I was struck with 00:11:32.629 --> 00:11:36.917 how lonely that was. I hadn't really appreciated that when I was a student 00:11:36.950 --> 00:11:41.196 and I left my dorm, people were smiling at me. They were waving to me um 00:11:41.229 --> 00:11:43.956 and obviously like in the middle of New York City, that's actually not 00:11:43.989 --> 00:11:47.956 necessarily like common behavior. So I think our students, even if they 00:11:47.989 --> 00:11:52.186 don't realize, are benefiting just from that social network. That occurs 00:11:52.219 --> 00:11:55.866 here, um, but then I know I was talking to a business student recently 00:11:55.899 --> 00:11:59.265 like you can strike up conversations and because people are from different 00:11:59.298 --> 00:12:02.427 disciplines, it could also be like an academic network or an 00:12:02.460 --> 00:12:06.936 entrepreneurial network where these are really bright people and the idea 00:12:06.969 --> 00:12:10.986 is that whatever people end up doing um or pursuing, they're going to tap 00:12:11.019 --> 00:12:17.336 into the network that started kind of like organically here in Barrett. 00 00:12:17.369 --> 00:12:22.775 sorry, no, you, uh, for study abroad programs, how do you think that 00:12:22.808 --> 00:12:25.936 benefits students? like what experiences do students gain from study 00:12:25.969 --> 00:12:30.755 abroad programs that make Barrett's so unique compared to like just ASU in 00:12:30.788 --> 00:12:33.657 general and maybe other universities that you've experienced? Absolutely. 00:12:33.690 --> 00:12:38.135 I mean, I think just to start any travel is just a really eye opening 00:12:38.168 --> 00:12:41.255 opportunity for students. Um, it's just very important to have that 00:12:41.288 --> 00:12:46.667 perspective shift. Of seeing a new place and experiencing a new culture. 00:12:46.700 --> 00:12:51.775 With the honors trips in particular, um, the diversity of the student 00:12:51.808 --> 00:12:55.505 body that participates is probably one of the unique elements that it's 00:12:55.538 --> 00:13:00.025 not necessarily major specific, um, and even that the classes are not 00:13:00.058 --> 00:13:03.547 particularly focused on like a specific discipline, like, oh, these are 00:13:03.580 --> 00:13:08.145 management courses, um, they're really rooted in the tradition, the 00:13:08.178 --> 00:13:12.157 history, the culture. um, of the place, so they're more focused on the 00:13:12.190 --> 00:13:17.015 destination if you will, um, and I think then the whole honors experience 00:13:17.048 --> 00:13:20.986 in theory is designed to then have you weave that back in. So there would 00:13:21.019 --> 00:13:24.395 be additional maybe HON courses that you could take it could influence 00:13:24.428 --> 00:13:29.076 your thesis directly or indirectly so that hopefully the requirements of 00:13:29.109 --> 00:13:33.116 our program, you can actually capitalize on your study abroad to even 00:13:33.149 --> 00:13:37.236 enrich that further. 00:13:37.269 --> 00:13:42.467 So, um, when you're looking at different honors halls here, uh, in Barrett 00:13:42.500 --> 00:13:45.706 , looking at different colleges, for example, the Fullerton schools, they 00:13:45.739 --> 00:13:49.226 have Tucker House which is just for engineering majors, you mentioned that 00:13:49.259 --> 00:13:52.066 one of the unique aspects of Barrett is that there's multiple disciplines 00:13:52.099 --> 00:13:57.385 working together. Uh, do you have any input on how students are arranged 00:13:57.418 --> 00:14:01.856 in the honors halls? Are they like. Uh, arranged by major or they arranged 00:14:01.889 --> 00:14:07.297 by discipline and how does that like does that benefit study groups and 00:14:07.330 --> 00:14:10.657 studying and coming back to advising, how does that work for the benefit 00:14:10.690 --> 00:14:14.015 of the student at the end of the day. Yeah, absolutely. So I personally am 00:14:14.048 --> 00:14:17.816 not necessarily um holding any weight in these decisions, but I do know 00:14:17.849 --> 00:14:22.717 that we have some communities here so that there is a business community, 00:14:22.750 --> 00:14:27.838 engineering, and Herberger. But if a particular That's in that major 00:14:27.871 --> 00:14:32.279 wishes to be outside of that community, they may. So that's significant to 00:14:32.312 --> 00:14:35.319 me where it's like, well, I just want to live in housing, but not 00:14:35.352 --> 00:14:38.679 necessarily in the business community. I want to just be placed with any 00:14:38.712 --> 00:14:42.240 student. And then even for those communities, they don't occupy the whole 00:14:42.273 --> 00:14:45.760 building, so they actually still get to benefit from having a diverse 00:14:45.793 --> 00:14:50.439 building of others. Um, so I think it's kind of both sides. Like it is 00:14:50.472 --> 00:14:54.582 really beneficial when people understand your situation. I think Herburger 00:14:54.615 --> 00:14:57.782 is a great example of that. It is very stressful for freshmen with the 00:14:57.815 --> 00:15:01.861 milestones that come up and the demands of the studio. I think it's nice 00:15:01.894 --> 00:15:05.702 that they have each other, but then I know it's a split floor, so I have 00:15:05.735 --> 00:15:09.273 another student who's pre-med and she's on that floor, and she was 00:15:09.306 --> 00:15:12.861 actually saying it is truly like half the floor is her burger and the 00:15:12.894 --> 00:15:18.742 other half is CLAS, but they're friends and they talk and she's just found 00:15:18.775 --> 00:15:24.096 it really interesting. To be around those artistic people. So yeah, I've 00:15:24.129 --> 00:15:27.005 had people with concerns like, well, I'm missing out. I'm not in Tucker 00:15:27.038 --> 00:15:31.875 House. It's not that far. I think if anything, it's good to be stretched 00:15:31.908 --> 00:15:35.245 you can still go over there, you can visit, and we want them to visit here 00:15:35.278 --> 00:15:40.044 too. It's a two way street, but it never hurts to meet others who are 00:15:40.077 --> 00:15:43.966 different from you, as well as have that comfort of the familiar. So I'm 00:15:43.999 --> 00:15:48.627 glad that we have kind of like a blend, basically. A ball and going off of 00:15:48.660 --> 00:15:53.188 that topic, what do you think about the Vista del Sol uh Community Center 00:15:53.221 --> 00:15:56.388 now that it's a main hub for Barrett students, upper division Barrett 00:15:56.421 --> 00:16:00.789 students, uh, how did that uh occur and what were the processes behind 00:16:00.822 --> 00:16:05.019 that like once Barrett expanded to like start using that facility as upper 00:16:05.052 --> 00:16:08.668 divisions? Yeah, that's a great question. It was a pretty organic process. 00:16:08.701 --> 00:16:13.292 So you know when we initially came over here, the plan was that all. Of 00:16:13.325 --> 00:16:16.811 Barrett living would take place here in the complex. Um, we didn't 00:16:16.844 --> 00:16:21.890 necessarily know at that time how big we would grow and Vista was our 00:16:21.923 --> 00:16:25.691 competition. When students were told, you know, it's a two year living 00:16:25.724 --> 00:16:28.731 requirement, so it's time to sign up for sophomore year, they would say, 00:16:28.764 --> 00:16:31.571 but I want to live in an apartment. I want to have a kitchen. I don't want 00:16:31.604 --> 00:16:35.092 to have a meal plan. I want you know kind of that next step. They wanted 00:16:35.125 --> 00:16:38.571 to go live in Vista, um, and we weren't affiliated with them. So it was 00:16:38.604 --> 00:16:41.963 actually really gratifying. the way it worked out to say, well, now you 00:16:41.996 --> 00:16:46.115 can live there because we have this partnership. So I think it's really 00:16:46.148 --> 00:16:49.235 important that it is different, that it is that apartment style because 00:16:49.268 --> 00:16:51.953 that's a good experience for people to have. I mean, it's nice that they 00:16:51.986 --> 00:16:55.885 can still stay on the side if they want to. Um, and actually I definitely 00:16:55.918 --> 00:16:58.875 have students that live over there that still have a meal plan, so you can 00:16:58.908 --> 00:17:03.755 still have that security blanket if you're not planning on cooking. um, 00:17:03.788 --> 00:17:06.857 but I think what I would like to see too is a little bit more. Back and 00:17:06.890 --> 00:17:10.607 forth like the plan is not to have freshmen over there at this time, but 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:13.257 we do have human event classes and I just think it's really important that 00:17:13.290 --> 00:17:18.056 we keep having the first year students also engage just to see what it is 00:17:18.089 --> 00:17:21.607 , but also to have that mentorship because the one concern was if we 00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:25.297 really are separated so much, then first year students don't get the 00:17:25.330 --> 00:17:28.497 benefit of their older peers. So we're going to have to just be 00:17:28.530 --> 00:17:31.937 intentional and make sure that keeps happening so that it isn't like 00:17:31.970 --> 00:17:37.585 totally isolated. And uh going back to the time you mentioned that when 00:17:37.618 --> 00:17:41.226 DARS was introduced to Barrett was super beneficial, I understand that 00:17:41.259 --> 00:17:44.305 there's a new student student services building being built over in the 00:17:44.338 --> 00:17:48.906 Vista complex so how do you think that'll have an impact on advising on 00:17:48.939 --> 00:17:53.506 honors students in general? Absolutely. So despite you know our smaller 00:17:53.539 --> 00:17:58.628 size right now, there is still some sectioning off of certain. Services, 00:17:58.661 --> 00:18:01.987 um, and so the idea behind a student center is that it really does become 00:18:02.020 --> 00:18:06.059 this one stop shop for everything that needs to occur, so you have your 00:18:06.092 --> 00:18:09.628 advising, but you also want to talk about internships and then you need 00:18:09.661 --> 00:18:12.649 some career guidance and then you're gonna take, you know, a professional 00:18:12.682 --> 00:18:15.149 development leadership course and then we're gonna have you apply for a 00:18:15.182 --> 00:18:18.507 national scholarship and if you don't do all those things in one day, but 00:18:18.540 --> 00:18:22.909 you also can hang out because there will be just open. Space as well. So I 00:18:22.942 --> 00:18:27.880 look at it almost like an MU. I mean, it's another hub for students, but 00:18:27.913 --> 00:18:31.310 just that convenience factor. Like I'm in this study group and we're 00:18:31.343 --> 00:18:35.310 talking about our thesis, and we all have a really specific question. 00:18:35.343 --> 00:18:39.550 Let's just go upstairs and ask advising, and they'll tell us. So just this 00:18:39.583 --> 00:18:43.950 idea that um the convenience factor, and then I think even just for the 00:18:43.983 --> 00:18:47.743 staff, I mean it's much more of a chance to collaborate because people get 00:18:47.776 --> 00:18:51.351 busy and they try to make meetings, but when you are in the same space, 00:18:51.384 --> 00:18:54.941 it's more organic that you're having conversations in the hall, you're 00:18:54.974 --> 00:18:58.312 bumping into each other in and out of work, you're eating lunch together 00:18:58.345 --> 00:19:02.312 and like those things do benefit the students like when the staff can 00:19:02.345 --> 00:19:05.592 really work together, um, that's kind of like when the creative stuff 00:19:05.625 --> 00:19:11.256 happens that ultimately benefits the students as well. 00:19:11.289 --> 00:19:16.315 So, um, OK, we've talked about a lot of stuff, um, so, but I think one of 00:19:16.348 --> 00:19:20.026 the really. I, I don't know, I really, I, I still live in Vista as a 00:19:20.059 --> 00:19:25.127 senior because I think it's convenient, um, uh, so, um, I know you're 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:28.347 talking about some of the things maybe like you're not quite in charge of 00:19:28.380 --> 00:19:31.467 like so what exactly do you oversee maybe more specifically? Yeah, 00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:36.147 absolutely. So I oversee academic services so I directly supervise the 00:19:36.180 --> 00:19:42.006 Tempe advisors here, so I help hire them, train them, so I'm definitely. 00:19:42.039 --> 00:19:45.516 Overseeing more of our logistical processes. So when do we offer 00:19:45.549 --> 00:19:48.877 mandatory advising? When do we put holds on students? How do we 00:19:48.910 --> 00:19:53.436 communicate with them? How do we implement systems like DARS, automation? 00:19:53.469 --> 00:19:57.117 We've had to make decisions about different tools that we've had built for 00:19:57.150 --> 00:20:00.597 us. Um, we have an online scheduling system that was something that I 00:20:00.630 --> 00:20:04.717 helped you know research we looked at different groups, we had meetings. I 00:20:04.750 --> 00:20:08.406 had to propose it to the deans because it has a. Cost associated um then 00:20:08.439 --> 00:20:11.847 we had to go through a period of testing we recommended changes to the 00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:16.446 system, so those are things that I participated in. I work with the other 00:20:16.479 --> 00:20:20.446 campuses in kind of an advisory role, so those advisors report to the 00:20:20.479 --> 00:20:24.887 associate deans, but we've, um, you know, have a relationship and actually 00:20:24.920 --> 00:20:28.045 almost all of them at one point worked at Tempe, so we were even 00:20:28.078 --> 00:20:32.107 colleagues at a point in time, um, which just makes. Make sure that we're 00:20:32.140 --> 00:20:36.097 staying consistent like they're allowed to have some deviation so for 00:20:36.130 --> 00:20:39.226 instance West does a little bit more of a group advising model like they 00:20:39.259 --> 00:20:43.097 have historically, but I want to know that we're all using the same thesis 00:20:43.130 --> 00:20:47.617 folders that we're all adhering to the same contract deadlines um and then 00:20:47.650 --> 00:20:51.137 I just am responsible for pushing out information you know since they are 00:20:51.170 --> 00:20:56.347 separate, just keeping them in the know on you know different things, um. 00:20:56.380 --> 00:20:59.766 I meet with the Dean's office, so for instance, like we'll talk about 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:03.666 course scheduling, so I'm in charge of the new student orientation. So our 00:21:03.699 --> 00:21:08.887 dates, I deliver a speech, I help manage the logistics, um. I've been 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:13.446 giving feedback most recently on like honor sections versus honors 00:21:13.479 --> 00:21:18.097 contracts this whole thesis pathway idea so different areas like that um 00:21:18.130 --> 00:21:22.285 but I'm directly supervised by the assistant dean of students so I mean 00:21:22.318 --> 00:21:26.285 really this is all her area and I just kind of you know, support her goals 00:21:26.318 --> 00:21:31.446 and vision but handle like daily operational kind of things um and then 00:21:31.479 --> 00:21:35.166 another aspect of my job is our partnership with all the other academic 00:21:35.199 --> 00:21:39.097 units. So once a month there's a big meeting on campus for all heads of 00:21:39.130 --> 00:21:45.055 advising called AAB Advisor Administrative Board, and we come together, we 00:21:45.088 --> 00:21:49.335 give updates and reports, um, but for me, like I was saying earlier, it's 00:21:49.368 --> 00:21:53.815 also about relationships like how's it going, what's new in your you know 00:21:53.848 --> 00:21:57.916 um world because then when we have a student issue like I want to. I can 00:21:57.949 --> 00:22:03.117 pick up the phone and say like, Hey Casey from CLAS help. We have a shared 00:22:03.150 --> 00:22:06.276 student. That's definitely something I usually emphasize first, like, oh, 00:22:06.309 --> 00:22:10.597 our student who's a bio major, because it is, but I think people forget 00:22:10.630 --> 00:22:15.996 right away. Um, so how can we help our student? And that took a while. 00:22:16.029 --> 00:22:19.496 When I first took the role as manager, I was replacing someone who Very 00:22:19.529 --> 00:22:23.776 well established and respected and it took a while for people to get over 00:22:23.809 --> 00:22:29.097 like who are you? you know and start trusting me um and seeing that I was 00:22:29.130 --> 00:22:33.097 reliable and that I would follow through and that I would support them. I 00:22:33.130 --> 00:22:36.335 remember really clearly early on we had a student who was really upset 00:22:36.368 --> 00:22:39.776 about a decision that was made um in the College of Liberal Arts and 00:22:39.809 --> 00:22:43.325 Sciences. And wrote something to the effect like, you know, Barrett will 00:22:43.358 --> 00:22:47.166 back me up on this and um you know I had to come in and say like you know 00:22:47.199 --> 00:22:50.127 I'm really sorry that this is happening but actually the decision that was 00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:54.726 made by CLES is what we support because that is the appropriate decision 00:22:54.759 --> 00:22:58.206 um and I know that meant a lot to them because they were like wow like we 00:22:58.239 --> 00:23:01.041 really. I didn't think you would do that. I was like, well you made a fair 00:23:01.074 --> 00:23:05.121 call and I mean obviously like I want what's best for the student, but in 00:23:05.154 --> 00:23:09.281 this situation like we do support that and so how can we kind of come 00:23:09.314 --> 00:23:13.722 together so some of the job is just that kind of thing like this meetings 00:23:13.755 --> 00:23:17.897 and you know getting out there and stuff like that. Uh, you talked about 00:23:17.930 --> 00:23:21.335 like coordination with the other departments here in Tempe. Uh, could you 00:23:21.368 --> 00:23:25.055 talk more about the coordination between campuses because now there's 4 00:23:25.088 --> 00:23:30.097 campuses that's part of. And it now has a major influence across the 00:23:30.130 --> 00:23:34.956 entire like Phoenix Tempe metro area. So uh how does Barrett advising 00:23:34.989 --> 00:23:38.456 specifically like monitor students as they go across campus with the 00:23:38.489 --> 00:23:42.467 shuttle system, like make sure that everyone's all working together under 00:23:42.500 --> 00:23:48.097 one towards the same goal. Yes, great question. So our systems track all 00:23:48.130 --> 00:23:52.006 students. So when we have reports, for instance, on, you know, the status 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:56.753 of our students, like what year they're in. Honors credits, all of them 00:23:56.786 --> 00:23:59.822 always show all campuses, and then you can filter out if you're looking at 00:23:59.855 --> 00:24:03.941 your specific campus, um, and then we have a shared note system. So any 00:24:03.974 --> 00:24:07.422 notes that I put in about my advising interaction can be seen by advisors 00:24:07.455 --> 00:24:11.422 at all campuses, which really does occur, I think, between downtown and 00:24:11.455 --> 00:24:15.023 T0B the most frequently like just yesterday, someone who's a journalism 00:24:15.056 --> 00:24:19.303 student is a Spanish minor here and she was like, Well, can I just do my 00:24:19.336 --> 00:24:22.788 mandatory advising here? Yeah, absolutely. But it was helpful to see the 00:24:22.821 --> 00:24:27.467 notes from her downtown person, you know, just to give context. Um, we 00:24:27.500 --> 00:24:31.467 hold a weekly advising staff meeting at Tem B, but the other campuses are 00:24:31.500 --> 00:24:35.438 invited. They're not expected to physically come, but they can call in or 00:24:35.471 --> 00:24:39.507 Skype in. Um, they do that if we had meeting guests typically, but if they 00:24:39.540 --> 00:24:43.227 don't, we just send them the meeting minutes as like a best practice. And 00:24:43.260 --> 00:24:46.507 then once a semester, all campuses come together and we just kind of 00:24:46.540 --> 00:24:51.264 rotate where we hold this for like a half. Day all advising meeting where 00:24:51.297 --> 00:24:53.853 we can just catch up with one another. We might do professional 00:24:53.886 --> 00:24:57.274 development and then just sort of get on the same page like how's it going 00:24:57.307 --> 00:25:02.195 ? Any issues? And then as needed, I will go travel to the other campuses 00:25:02.228 --> 00:25:06.264 like maybe once a semester just to check in um downtown, for instance, it 00:25:06.297 --> 00:25:09.153 had a lot of transition. They had a new dean, so I was going there a 00:25:09.186 --> 00:25:12.514 little bit more frequently. Um, then there was a period where they were 00:25:12.547 --> 00:25:15.994 short staffed and so we actually had one of our advisors work there 00:25:16.027 --> 00:25:20.111 halftime. Like they did advising here and then spent two days down there 00:25:20.144 --> 00:25:22.919 and that was a good example of the partnership. Like I know they would 00:25:22.952 --> 00:25:28.601 help us if necessary. um and then it sounds silly, but we use Skype for 00:25:28.634 --> 00:25:32.560 Business IMing so like throughout the day we can just IM each other, which 00:25:32.593 --> 00:25:36.081 is really helpful actually. The whole college is on that, so like you know 00:25:36.114 --> 00:25:38.601 Vista, it's not really it's going to take me 10 minutes to walk there. So 00:25:38.634 --> 00:25:44.627 if I can IM admissions, I might do that just with a quick question. And 00:25:44.660 --> 00:25:48.065 talking more about the unique experiences of Barret across 4 different 00:25:48.098 --> 00:25:52.956 campuses, you mentioned how here at Tempe the uh collaborative nature and 00:25:52.989 --> 00:25:56.627 the small nature of the Honors College campus allows students to interact 00:25:56.660 --> 00:26:01.565 more frequently with each other. Um, how does the design of the Barrett 00:26:01.598 --> 00:26:05.666 complexes on the other three campuses also help with that same feeling of 00:26:05.699 --> 00:26:13.699 mutual like coordination and. Um, Like mutual coordination. No, absolutely. 00:26:13.750 --> 00:26:18.516 I mean, obviously they're smaller in scale, but um each other location 00:26:18.549 --> 00:26:25.367 has a specific Barrett hub, so downtown, that's in um The university 00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:29.607 center so they have a suite in a pretty busy area so you know downtown is 00:26:29.640 --> 00:26:33.526 a good example like there's not necessarily a lot of university space like 00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:36.565 real estate is you know primed down there so I think it's great that the 00:26:36.598 --> 00:26:40.486 students can come in and just even hang out between classes, but the dean 00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:44.967 is there the advisors, there's faculty, so that's kind of where they come 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.387 together and then Weston. Holly have beautiful suites where there's a 00:26:49.420 --> 00:26:52.906 place for the students to hang out, you know, the computer lab. I mean, I 00:26:52.939 --> 00:26:57.186 love West in particular. They have a larger commuting population. They 00:26:57.219 --> 00:27:00.186 have a kitchen for the students. They have a microwave, they have a 00:27:00.219 --> 00:27:03.746 refrigerator where someone can put their lunch, like just those elements 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:08.467 that are important to them. Um, and it's funny because their walk-in model 00:27:08.500 --> 00:27:13.006 here. Tempe, we schedule times on people's calendar to have walk-ins, and 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:17.647 there it's like way more organic where they'll just sort of even go to the 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:20.847 students like there's a bunch on the couches and they're like, Oh, Liz, I 00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:24.075 have a question, and she'll just sit down with them. So given how small 00:27:24.108 --> 00:27:27.206 they are, she's able to, which I love. Like here that would be a little 00:27:27.239 --> 00:27:30.756 bit more challenging, um, but they're able to do that at the smaller 00:27:30.789 --> 00:27:36.585 places. And uh if we go back a bit more to the study abroad programs 00:27:36.618 --> 00:27:40.446 offered at Barrett, um, how does that in addition to like benefiting 00:27:40.479 --> 00:27:42.825 students just for providing cultural experiences and diversity of thought 00:27:42.858 --> 00:27:46.647 , how does that academically help students like with honors credit, honors 00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:49.545 courses, and how does that like translate towards their progress to a 00:27:49.578 --> 00:27:53.946 degree? Absolutely. So I mean in the longer study abroad experience, you 00:27:53.979 --> 00:27:58.406 could earn up to 9 honors credits. For upper division, so that's like a 00:27:58.439 --> 00:28:03.285 whole semester's worth right there. Um, 3 to 6 credits is fairly common, 00:28:03.318 --> 00:28:06.166 and they mean at a minimum 1 credit if let's say it's like a global 00:28:06.199 --> 00:28:11.246 intensive experience. So there's always an honors credit outcome, which is 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:15.176 helpful. Um, there's a requirement to do upper division outside the major 00:28:15.209 --> 00:28:18.676 credits and all of those trips count for that. And then I think kind of 00:28:18.709 --> 00:28:22.717 like an indirect benefit though is just another faculty connection, which 00:28:22.750 --> 00:28:26.516 is helpful with the thesis. Even if the thesis isn't directly about your 00:28:26.549 --> 00:28:30.236 study abroad experience, those are pretty diverse experiences, and I think 00:28:30.269 --> 00:28:34.305 it is common that that professor either will connect you to someone who 00:28:34.338 --> 00:28:38.151 will be. Thesis director, they might be a reader or they're just going to 00:28:38.184 --> 00:28:42.071 be a source of support when you're feeling stressed um so I'm always very 00:28:42.104 --> 00:28:46.950 thesis driven and I think that those trips have a direct impact on people 00:28:46.983 --> 00:28:50.871 having like a more positive experience and definitely a stronger network 00:28:50.904 --> 00:28:56.926 to draw from. So one of my favorite things about Barrett is that we do 00:28:56.959 --> 00:29:03.956 offer those like HON 394 classes um like this one I get more credit for 00:29:03.989 --> 00:29:10.127 and um I took like the design Sun Double stadium last year um does 00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:15.127 advising have any impact on those at all or? Um, so the faculty really do 00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:19.766 get to choose on those, um, but I mean indirectly I know that's something 00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:23.522 I've been advocating for like I think it's very. important that we think 00:29:23.555 --> 00:29:26.762 about marketing those classes because some of them are a little bit more 00:29:26.795 --> 00:29:31.881 obscure. And so unfortunately it's easy for them to be overlooked. And so 00:29:31.914 --> 00:29:35.041 we just want to make sure like are we putting up the right kind of flyers 00:29:35.074 --> 00:29:39.281 ? Should there be a direct email maybe to certain majors just to get more 00:29:39.314 --> 00:29:43.440 eyes on the class? Um, there have been occasions where maybe one was 00:29:43.473 --> 00:29:47.361 really underenrolled and so the dean's office asked me, like, can you send 00:29:47.394 --> 00:29:51.881 this to students or can you promote it? So we definitely promote them and 00:29:51.914 --> 00:29:55.805 then You know, I've just been a part of conversations about how can we 00:29:55.838 --> 00:29:59.285 continue to maximize our efforts. The Sun Devil Stadium was a really 00:29:59.318 --> 00:30:02.406 important example because that was a collaboration outside of Barrett. It 00:30:02.439 --> 00:30:05.946 was unique because it was short. I mean, it wasn't the whole semester. Um 00:30:05.979 --> 00:30:10.666 , it was hands on. The competition. There were just a lot of cool elements. 00:30:10.699 --> 00:30:13.085 And so I mean personally, I would love to see us continue to be creative 00:30:13.118 --> 00:30:17.006 , so that not only do people get honors credit, but they have a very 00:30:17.039 --> 00:30:20.967 unique experience because that's kind of what our whole aim and Barrett is 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:26.815 to just keep making it different. So what is sort of your maybe vision of 00:30:26.848 --> 00:30:32.726 making be like that optimal place for student? To like. Absolutely. I mean 00:30:32.759 --> 00:30:36.565 , I think more and more there's so much pressure when you enter college to 00:30:36.598 --> 00:30:40.006 right away be specialized, to right away be thinking about what's the most 00:30:40.039 --> 00:30:44.127 lucrative career path, what's guaranteed, times are uncertain, how will 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:47.236 you make money. And those things are really important and we you know we 00:30:47.269 --> 00:30:51.156 hear this information like, well, you still need soft skills. So I mean, I 00:30:51.189 --> 00:30:55.877 just want Barrett to be a place where we provide a solid liberal arts 00:30:55.910 --> 00:30:59.436 foundation because there is still a lot of value, especially in terms of 00:30:59.469 --> 00:31:04.305 those soft skills to human event, liberal arts, argumentative writing, but 00:31:04.338 --> 00:31:08.516 that because of the security of the honors framework, knowing, well, I 00:31:08.549 --> 00:31:12.236 have to meet these requirements, it would allow people to take creative 00:31:12.269 --> 00:31:15.877 risks so that you know people would feel. Like I know I'm going to finish 00:31:15.910 --> 00:31:18.926 my major. Be in Barrett does not prevent me from doing that because it's 00:31:18.959 --> 00:31:22.607 supposed to be supporting your major up, but that we could get to a place 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:27.196 where people truly felt, oh, but I'm, it's OK for me to like try this 00:31:27.229 --> 00:31:31.406 other thing, or it's OK for my thesis to be something really different, um 00:31:31.439 --> 00:31:34.847 , because that doesn't mean I won't get a great job. In fact, it might 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:38.805 help someone get a better job or a promotion later. So I'm not sure 00:31:38.838 --> 00:31:41.805 exactly what that looks like yet because I know we have a lot of 00:31:41.838 --> 00:31:45.137 conversations with students about the value of honors. And that's a hard 00:31:45.170 --> 00:31:48.936 concept. Like it is more philosophical. It's very personal and 00:31:48.969 --> 00:31:52.736 individualized to people. What I found myself saying more and more is 00:31:52.769 --> 00:31:56.496 what's your why? What's your reason? What's your motivation because it's 00:31:56.529 --> 00:32:00.097 really different than your friends and it's really different than mine. So 00:32:00.130 --> 00:32:04.696 that sort of introspection um and and letting people know like it's OK 00:32:04.729 --> 00:32:07.815 that your reason is different, um, so it's like I think just a little bit 00:32:07.848 --> 00:32:11.736 more time for that, but a lot of security where it's like, let's look at 00:32:11.769 --> 00:32:15.305 really successful alumni. Let's continue to hear their stories so that you 00:32:15.338 --> 00:32:18.545 also see, oh, it did help them, because I think that makes people 00:32:18.578 --> 00:32:22.946 ultimately feel like it's worth it, um, so that they just continue to see 00:32:22.979 --> 00:32:26.627 the value of their investment. It's a financial investment. It's an 00:32:26.660 --> 00:32:30.815 intellectual. It's an emotional investment to do honors. It's hard. It 00:32:30.848 --> 00:32:35.226 gets stressful. So we want people to feel supported, um, but also have 00:32:35.259 --> 00:32:39.647 that reassurance that well, OK, it's not a 100% guarantee, nothing is in 00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:45.565 life, um, it is kind of that like. Insurance policy if you will, towards 00:32:45.598 --> 00:32:50.256 maybe, um, you know, more unique experiences in the future. Could you 00:32:50.289 --> 00:32:54.377 maybe talk a little more about um the importance of like that liberal arts 00:32:54.410 --> 00:32:58.097 foundation? I know for me as like a business student, like I definitely 00:32:58.130 --> 00:33:02.535 struggled with that and my brother does as a finance student. Of course, 00:33:02.568 --> 00:33:07.835 absolutely. um yeah, so I mean I think the human event at its core 00:33:07.868 --> 00:33:12.857 foundation is thinking about building habits of the mind, which really 00:33:12.890 --> 00:33:18.508 means like tackling questions that do not have easy. answers don't have 00:33:18.541 --> 00:33:22.429 clear outcomes and are really open to interpretation, and it's funny 00:33:22.462 --> 00:33:25.909 because I feel like it's business students in particular who really are 00:33:25.942 --> 00:33:29.350 the ones who are going to tackle that. Like how is the industry going to 00:33:29.383 --> 00:33:34.060 change? How will we continue to meet the demands in a global society, in a 00:33:34.093 --> 00:33:38.268 technology evolving world? There are no answers because these are brand 00:33:38.301 --> 00:33:42.709 new things. And so even though it can feel really disconnected, when you 00:33:42.742 --> 00:33:46.842 read primary text. And you're forced to come up with your own answers, not 00:33:46.875 --> 00:33:50.043 what someone else said, and it's really dense and difficult and you have 00:33:50.076 --> 00:33:54.361 to struggle through it. You are sort of building that muscle to deal with 00:33:54.394 --> 00:33:57.922 those questions that will occur um and being in a situation where you have 00:33:57.955 --> 00:34:02.283 to speak up and there's people next to you who totally disagree and it's 00:34:02.316 --> 00:34:05.722 like kind of uncomfortable, that's training for when you're going to be 00:34:05.755 --> 00:34:10.361 confronting that in the workforce or politically or you know what have you 00:34:10.394 --> 00:34:14.316 so. I think we can continue to do a better job of like being explicit 00:34:14.349 --> 00:34:18.206 about those parallels because right now you know I mean I love the faculty 00:34:18.239 --> 00:34:21.537 and you know they're all academics it's like we just love it like love of 00:34:21.570 --> 00:34:25.615 learning and it's like yes but it also does connect I think to these more 00:34:25.648 --> 00:34:29.135 practical like life skills um and so with the student center that's 00:34:29.168 --> 00:34:32.180 actually another outcome is to start kind of bringing. That together by 00:34:32.213 --> 00:34:35.901 also talking more about like leadership development career building and 00:34:35.934 --> 00:34:40.789 how what we've always done in honors the dots are all there, but let's 00:34:40.822 --> 00:34:45.180 draw a more clear connection so that people feel like it's worth it to go 00:34:45.213 --> 00:34:49.421 through this experience because you will come out um like that much 00:34:49.454 --> 00:34:54.376 stronger and diversified. Oh, Barrett, like, at least for me as a freshman 00:34:54.409 --> 00:34:57.776 , seeing my older sister who's gone through the entire thing and graduated 00:34:57.809 --> 00:35:01.537 with honors, uh, definitely I can see the worth of Barrett, and it 00:35:01.570 --> 00:35:05.416 culminates in the honors thesis. So could you explain more about the 00:35:05.449 --> 00:35:09.736 honors thesis, what exactly it is, how that correlates with your. Uh, 00:35:09.769 --> 00:35:12.905 education and how that relates to your undergraduate degree and your 00:35:12.938 --> 00:35:15.787 future career. Yeah, definitely. So I mean like we were just saying with 00:35:15.820 --> 00:35:19.345 the human event and building those skills, that's a pretty controlled 00:35:19.378 --> 00:35:22.986 environment. The professor plays a huge role in mentoring and sort of 00:35:23.019 --> 00:35:27.635 training the students um it's it's a lot of hands on. So the thesis has a 00:35:27.668 --> 00:35:31.307 similar outcome, but you're more independent. So the idea is that you've 00:35:31.340 --> 00:35:34.905 now evolved to the point through your human event or history of ideas, 00:35:34.938 --> 00:35:39.499 through your contracts. Courses, just life maturity. You've arrived at a 00:35:39.532 --> 00:35:44.010 place where you can identify an area of interest and you can essentially 00:35:44.043 --> 00:35:49.651 convince a professor to collaborate with you. Um, and that in and of 00:35:49.684 --> 00:35:54.441 itself is a pretty challenging thing to do to you know not only approach a 00:35:54.474 --> 00:36:00.050 faculty member, have them agree to sponsor you, but then be willing to 00:36:00.083 --> 00:36:03.954 adapt and shift so that you come up with a shared idea. I think a lot of 00:36:03.987 --> 00:36:07.834 people have a misperception that you as a student will spend all this time 00:36:07.867 --> 00:36:10.593 coming up with the perfect idea and then a professor will just sort of 00:36:10.626 --> 00:36:15.235 appear and say like, yes, good job, when really you'll identify areas of 00:36:15.268 --> 00:36:18.514 interest because that's how you'll know who to speak to. But what really 00:36:18.547 --> 00:36:21.474 occurs is that you are interested in these things. You find a professor 00:36:21.507 --> 00:36:25.274 who feels similarly has a background, and then together you 00:36:25.307 --> 00:36:28.954 collaboratively come up with an idea, um, which often means compromise, 00:36:28.987 --> 00:36:31.657 where it's like you thought it would be. One thing, maybe it's another, 00:36:31.690 --> 00:36:35.338 maybe through the project development a whole new idea emerges that you 00:36:35.371 --> 00:36:39.059 hadn't even thought about. So it's really more of like that mental 00:36:39.092 --> 00:36:42.258 training. So when you leave, yes, you have a product and you learn 00:36:42.291 --> 00:36:47.418 something, but you also learn the skills of persuasion, evolving, 00:36:47.451 --> 00:36:51.818 compromise, dedication, um, failure because there's always moments of 00:36:51.851 --> 00:36:55.218 failure throughout the process. Hopefully they're small, um, but 00:36:55.251 --> 00:37:00.282 disappointment, you know. Time management, it's a lot. And so I think 00:37:00.315 --> 00:37:04.802 that's where we feel like it will you'll see it play out again in various 00:37:04.835 --> 00:37:08.842 stages of your life, um, but we want you to also have that tangible 00:37:08.875 --> 00:37:11.883 benefit of like, look at this thing that I did that I'm proud of, that I 00:37:11.916 --> 00:37:15.041 have a letter of recommendation from someone that now knows me in a really 00:37:15.074 --> 00:37:19.122 different way than just being a teacher in a course I took, um, but was my 00:37:19.155 --> 00:37:24.856 mentor. Um, so that's kind of what we're hoping you'll get out of it. And 00:37:24.889 --> 00:37:29.057 uh just tying everything together about the accessibility of Barret, uh, 00:37:29.090 --> 00:37:32.296 the study abroad programs, the honors thesis, how it all provides a super 00:37:32.329 --> 00:37:37.416 unique experience for honor students to grow them academically and uh as a 00:37:37.449 --> 00:37:41.986 person before they graduate. What do you think about the honors colleges, 00:37:42.019 --> 00:37:46.807 uh, terminal like terming Being the gold standard now in the United States 00:37:46.840 --> 00:37:50.945 after only existing for about 30 years, like how do you, uh, seeing that 00:37:50.978 --> 00:37:55.595 it has gained this, uh, title, what do you see in the future that, uh, 00:37:55.628 --> 00:37:59.557 overall could like improve the entire experience and bring Barrett, uh, 00:37:59.590 --> 00:38:03.316 make Barrett even more like innovative for the future generation of 00:38:03.349 --> 00:38:07.477 students. Yeah, I mean it's a big title to carry, you know, so it 00:38:07.510 --> 00:38:12.497 definitely holds responsibility that we need to maintain our standard um 00:38:12.530 --> 00:38:16.776 so definitely keep that level really high, um, but being in a place like 00:38:16.809 --> 00:38:20.776 ASU that's already so innovative, it just means that we also have to be 00:38:20.809 --> 00:38:24.327 open, um, just like we've asked the students to be in human event, how 00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:28.816 will we answer questions that don't have easy solutions, um, not get too 00:38:28.849 --> 00:38:31.885 comfortable with doing things just because that's the way they've always 00:38:31.918 --> 00:38:36.720 been. And you know, listening to what our students are saying and meeting 00:38:36.753 --> 00:38:41.041 , you know, realizing it's a whole new generation that have new needs um 00:38:41.074 --> 00:38:45.081 and a lot to offer. where are our traditions and things that we hold as 00:38:45.114 --> 00:38:48.872 core values, but how can those continue to be expressed in creative ways 00:38:48.905 --> 00:38:53.081 because I think you can maintain your sense of identity and tradition, but 00:38:53.114 --> 00:38:58.081 try new things and if they fail, own it and move on and you know that will 00:38:58.114 --> 00:39:01.945 keep us kind of at the top of our game. 00:39:01.978 --> 00:39:07.586 All right, that's, well, I think this is very good, thank you. I don't 00:39:07.619 --> 00:39:13.776 know any final words of advice or anything? I mean, I think, you know, I, 00:39:13.809 --> 00:39:18.217 um, I'm in my mid-thirties and so I have a lot of friends who have changed 00:39:18.250 --> 00:39:22.497 jobs many times and it's pretty unique to have stayed around a job for so 00:39:22.530 --> 00:39:26.155 long. I've had different roles, so I've I've been evolving, but. It really 00:39:26.188 --> 00:39:29.635 is, I mean, bear it. I know that sounds kind of cheesy, but I do really 00:39:29.668 --> 00:39:34.276 love it. I love being a part of ASU. I really believe in what we're doing. 00:39:34.309 --> 00:39:37.675 Um, I think that we will be around in 30 more years. I think that we will 00:39:37.708 --> 00:39:42.581 continue to move forward, um, and so it's just really Exciting to be a 00:39:42.614 --> 00:39:46.401 part of all of this and you know see what the students are doing. I mean, 00:39:46.434 --> 00:39:51.102 being an advisor is all about helping shape the future, so knowing that 00:39:51.135 --> 00:39:54.861 like we're putting this out in the world just is a really exciting thing 00:39:54.894 --> 00:40:01.171 to be a part of. OK, awesome. Well, there's the final oh yeah the final 00:40:01.204 --> 00:40:09.204 statement, yeah. 00:40:11.409 --> 00:40:16.686 All right, um, OK, cool. Uh, thank you for your participation. If you have 00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:20.526 any more thoughts to share later, please feel free to reach out and if you 00:40:20.559 --> 00:40:26.655 have any questions about this interview or the 30th anniversary. 00:40:26.688 --> 00:40:32.095 30th anniversary of oral history project. Please contact Vice Dean Nicola 00:40:32.128 --> 00:40:34.840 Foote. Yeah. Thank you for your help. Thank you.