January 4, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I would agree that there is no substitute for the totally immersive impact that living on campus as a young person provides. As a graduate of Miami University - no, the other one - I look back on my college days as a time when my intellect, if not my intelligence, got it's greatest boost. In the shelter of it's tree-lined walkways between Georgian brick classrooms and dorms, I learned as much about myself as I could and enough about my lessons to graduate with a sense of accomplishment and anticipation, that soon ran into the "real world". It was not until much later that I realized that most of the important things I learned had little to do with my "degree" and much more to do with me. So, yeah, if there was a job opportunity on or around the Oxford, Ohio campus of MU, I'd go back.
January 4, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Raised, educated and employed in Alaska (with the exception of a one year contract gig in SF Ca) to this day.
Love the place, but the Winters seem to be getting a bit colder and longer as the bones get a bit older and at some point, the wife and I will depart for different pastures in which to raise our puppies. But, wherever I go, Alaska will always be home.
Michael D. Fox,
There are jobs that open here in AK. Keep an eye on the hospitals and some companies like Resource Data (RDI) and a few others. ACS Alaska and GCI have openings now and again.
You could also look at the State job offerings, http://www.state.ak.us and follow the links, but those pay a bit less, and the benefits are not what they used to be.
January 4, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Very cool comments and sounds like everyone has had some interesting experiences out there. Congrats to those of you that are in the place you love.
I love where I'm at now, though I'd go back to C'ville. The delay in posting was due to sneaking off skiing today with my son 🙂
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January 5, 2008 at 5:40 am
Yeah! Go Redski...er...Redhawks!
Would I go back to teach? Yes. Would I go back to work? Depend$. Right now I'm living and working in SW Florida where the weather's great but a technical job market doesn't exist.
Interesting that I lived in Lebanon for 15 years...a 30-45 minute drive away...and never went back except twice that that was only because I took a shortcut home when in Indiana. Life was too busy.
Dave Diehl '81
January 5, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Thanks very much for the tip. I might give it a try as soon as I can get my son free of the joint custody deal. Lived three years in Fairbanks and three in SE Alaska. Maybe I'll try Anchorage next time.
Michael Fox
January 8, 2008 at 6:58 am
I went to the University of South Carolina and since graduation, have worked in the Columbia, SC area, except for a seven-month contract in Cedar Rapids, IA. Columbia is a great place to live. The Rapids is a great place to cool off in the spring and summer; we don’t have the traffic gridlock of Atlanta or Charlotte. Lake Murray is a great place to boat, water-ski and play.
Cedar Rapids was a nice place. I got an opportunity to water-ski on the Mississippi River by the Quad Cities and also the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids. Now if they could only do something about their winters…
January 9, 2008 at 4:53 pm
My first real job out of college was in Ithaca, NY at my alma mater, Cornell University, working in their Administrative Programming Services department. I worked with a great group of people who really knew their stuff. I learned a lot and was given a lot of responsibility even at a relatively young age.
Then later, while at Oracle, I worked for several years as a technical sales consultant to Higher Education institutions across the U.S. and had the pleasure of being able to visit and work with many different colleges and universities. There is definitely a different kind of work environment in Higher Ed insitutions than you will find in most corporations. There is in general a more relaxed, friendly, lower-pressure atmosphere with more of an emphasis on teamwork and doing the right thing for the institution and its stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the surrounding community. And of course there are the benefits of the campus facilities, academic offerings, and various sports, cultural, and other events. There is also a certain feeling of being part of a community you don't get at the typical corporation.
While we all (hopefully) have healthy nostalgic feelings towards our college towns and experiences, I also believe it's true that we bring whoever we are to wherever we happen to go. In other words if you are happy in one location, in general you will be happy in another location as well, and vice versa. Of course there may be real advantages to some locations which will make it easier to be happier in life, but simply going back to a place which we have happy memories of will not guarantee that being there will magically make us happy. There is also much truth to the saying "You can never go back", whether that's to a college town or to a hometown, because so much has changed in the meantime, especially ourselves.
Although I have great memories of Ithaca, I don't have a strong desire to move back there, but at the same time it's not something I would rule out either, given the right circumstances. Ithaca is located in the picturesque Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, and Cornell is a great university located on one of the most beautiful campuses anywhere.
Go Big Red!
January 14, 2008 at 11:05 am
I'm coming late to this thread, but I recently had a phone call from the alumni association of the public university in a small town in Illinois where I graduated. The caller purported to be a student there, and began to read from her script about why now is a good time to contribute. I gently interrupted her, and told her "I will never, ever, ever, ever, INFINITY ever" (we had just watched Big Fat Liar again with my kids) send them any money. She paused, and asked why. "Because everyone there, from my professors and TAs, to the cafeteria workers, to the clerks in the student aid office, to the guy at the hardware store, seemed to go out of their way daily to tell me how unimportant I was (out of 28,000 students) and to show their contempt for me at every turn." She audibly gulped, and said, "I'm sorry you were treated that way." I thanked her and we hung up. I can't complain too loud; I met my wife there (also a BS in Computer Science), and we are coming up on 27 years of marriage. But I repeated the experience to my wife, and she agreed with my assessment of the school and culture. So congrats to those of you who had good experiences in college. I didn't.
April 17, 2008 at 2:03 pm
My son is accepted by UVA this fall as incoming freshman. Is there any benefit for employee's children studying at UVA eg free tuition?
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