# data[].attributes.headline
In 1985, my mom without my consent informed me that she signed me up and paid the entry fee to participate in a 1/2 Ironman Triathlon when she lived in Kauai, Hi. I was @ the age of 23 and coming off a college varsity soccer season but otherwise had no other training. With less than absolute certainty or choice, I convinced myself I could do this. I showed up at Hanalei Beach along with 200-300 fellow competitors.  All the best triathletes of the day were there (Mark Allen, Scott Tinley) as ABC Wide World of Sports was televising the event. The event opened with 1.5 mile swim across Hanalei Bay. I felt okay, when I got out of the water, scrambled up to park picnic shelter to lace on my running shoe for a 13-mile run from Hanalei to Heana and back.  I knew I wasn't going place when I was running to Heana, because the top athletes, both male and female were already running back to their bikes. When I eventually  to get my bike, my mom declared, "If you hurry now, you can catch them."  By this time, I'm starting to feel it, and I told her, "Mom, all I want to do right now is eat my bagel."  I started  the 52-mile pedal to Poipu with 10 other stragglers. At this point, all I wanted to do was cross the finish line. It was clear that the 10 of us were not really competing, so I settled into enjoying the blue sky and white puffy clouds and I set my sights for Poipu.  As I neared the end of the race, I was spent and sore. The first place male finished in 2.5 hours; first female took 3.5 hours.  At 6.5 hours, I finally turned the corner and could see the finish line. I noticed that all the vendors, including the promised massage therapist were gone. In fact, my mom, sister, and step father we also not there. No one was around but the guy waving the finish line flag. When my family showed up  and without beat, my mom says, "Kathy, we need pictures. So get back on your bike and ride across the finish line again."  Really?  Seriously?  "Yes, yes, you have to do it!" She was unrelenting.  The replay of the last 20 feet of the 1/2 Ironman Triathlon was probably the roughest part of the whole day.  We got the picture and now headed to the after party celebration luau.  All the other athletes had eaten and were now dancing  as if nothing had happen.  I, on the other hand, I got a plate, listlessly watch the dancing, and then asked my mom to take me home. To this day, I am very proud that I finished this 1/2 Ironman Triathlon in front of 5 other hapless competitors!

# data[].attributes.subject
In 1985, my mom without my consent informed me that she signed me up and paid the entry fee to participate in a 1/2 Ironman Triathlon when she lived in Kauai, Hi. I was @ the age of 23 and coming off a college varsity soccer season but otherwise had no other training. With less than absolute certainty or choice, I convinced myself I could do this. I showed up at Hanalei Beach along with 200-300 fellow competitors.  All the best triathletes of the day were there (Mark Allen, Scott Tinley) as ABC Wide World of Sports was televising the event. The event opened with 1.5 mile swim across Hanalei Bay. I felt okay, when I got out of the water, scrambled up to park picnic shelter to lace on my running shoe for a 13-mile run from Hanalei to Heana and back.  I knew I wasn't going place when I was running to Heana, because the top athletes, both male and female were already running back to their bikes. When I eventually  to get my bike, my mom declared, "If you hurry now, you can catch them."  By this time, I'm starting to feel it, and I told her, "Mom, all I want to do right now is eat my bagel."  I started  the 52-mile pedal to Poipu with 10 other stragglers. At this point, all I wanted to do was cross the finish line. It was clear that the 10 of us were not really competing, so I settled into enjoying the blue sky and white puffy clouds and I set my sights for Poipu.  As I neared the end of the race, I was spent and sore. The first place male finished in 2.5 hours; first female took 3.5 hours.  At 6.5 hours, I finally turned the corner and could see the finish line. I noticed that all the vendors, including the promised massage therapist were gone. In fact, my mom, sister, and step father we also not there. No one was around but the guy waving the finish line flag. When my family showed up  and without beat, my mom says, "Kathy, we need pictures. So get back on your bike and ride across the finish line again."  Really?  Seriously?  "Yes, yes, you have to do it!" She was unrelenting.  The replay of the last 20 feet of the 1/2 Ironman Triathlon was probably the roughest part of the whole day.  We got the picture and now headed to the after party celebration luau.  All the other athletes had eaten and were now dancing  as if nothing had happen.  I, on the other hand, I got a plate, listlessly watch the dancing, and then asked my mom to take me home. To this day, I am very proud that I finished this 1/2 Ironman Triathlon in front of 5 other hapless competitors!

# data[].attributes.body
Greetings all,

A couple weeks ago I sent an email titled “HRCS Collaborations.”  The email could be condensed into this one sentence.

When we merged our programs into one department, this coincided with a university initiative to create interdisciplinary synergies, spearheaded by Academic Positioning (AP).

When we gather for our HRCS faculty meeting on Friday 10/2 at 3pm, I will ask all of us to reflect on these three questions.

1. What brings HRCS together as a department around the shared concept of community well-being?

2. What are the possible intersections between our programs that create synergies, or conditions such that the total effect is greater than the sum of the individual effects?

3. What is important to you?

In this spirit, I’m thinking of our current challenges as future opportunities. Below is the zoom link for your convenience.

Kathy

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I tried to think of a non-job related challenge to use but I give myself most of my challenges to overcome. A work-related challenge relates to my former job running Campustown (Ames). I was challenged to bring more community members to the district. We held an event in the summer that was very popular, but I was asked to provide more event opportunities during the school year, in an area that didn't have the best reputation in town and it was very hard to get anything 'fun' passed in the district through City Council at the time. Through a lot of planning and work (and very successful events with no issues for several years in a row), the Friday Afternoon in Campustown music and beer garden event became an annual event during football season (actual date moved around based on weather and ISU Homecoming). We showed that events could happen in Campustown during the school year. It helped that we charged  $5-6/beer-that seemed to skew toward an older audience
-KH

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Two examples.

1. I quit playing football as a sophomore because I felt I was too busy and didn't like the people I was playing with. A neighbor told me my reasons were not good enough and challenged me to go back. I found the time, and learned to have a greater appreciation for those that I played with.

2. While writing my dissertation, my chair pointed out that I was very weak in my analysis and told me he wouldn't sign off until I was clearly the most expert person in the room on the topic. His words stung, but it encouraged me to work much harder, and ultimately the final product was much better.

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How can EPFLS take on substantive leadership on DEI initiatives?

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Part of my second job out of college was with the Fort Dodge paper. Everyone on the news staff took turns serving as the Friday night editor (for Saturday morning) needing to create and oversee the production of the final front page for the morning edition. I was the newbie, but my boss always treated me like the young professional he expected. A little scary--you were "it" to figure out what stories came across the wire to lead with and complement original content. The one night I always recall was when something came across the wire about some hostages in Iran, and I went with my gut that this was important as the lead story (even in north central Iowa). Of course, I didn't know right away how significant it was, but the fact I figured it out added to the foundation of "I can do this" at the beginning of career.

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Mentor JD/ALJ asking hard questions, difficult questions – taking a “legal bus trip”

I have challenged by faculty to: consider an administrative career path; reflect on long term goals and career advancement; participate in policy discussions and development; teach new, challenging courses; make multidisciplinary connections in research = Mission Impossible Goals; high bar; stretch challenger

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I have asked IAE colleagues these questions to discuss and will pose to my faculty:
Which of the current preservice teacher education issues are most daunting?
•	Theory to Practice: For many preservice teachers, the transition from coursework to fieldwork is disheartening… and the transition from student teaching to fist-year teaching is equally problematic. The studies in this cluster reveal that novice teachers struggle with the reality of schools where policies emphasize student test scores, scripted teaching, and prescribed course content and instructional pacing and where teachers are given little support for collaboration and inquiry (Cochran-Smith, Villegas, Abrams, Chavez-Moreno, Mills, & Stern, 2015)
•	Field experiences: Teacher candidates are often at the mercy of the most readily available field experience placement and/or teachers, and therefore, may or may not have the opportunity to observe any effective teaching practices (Cochran-Smith, Villegas, Abrams, Chavez-Moreno, Mills, & Stern, 2015).
•	Field experiences: Teacher candidates are often at the mercy of the most readily available field experience placement and/or teachers, and therefore, may or may not have the opportunity to observe any effective teaching practices (Cochran-Smith, Villegas, Abrams, Chavez-Moreno, Mills, & Stern, 2015).
•	Behavior & Classroom Management: Teacher preparation programs do not appear to provide enough content related to behavior in order to prepare teachers to work with the heterogeneous population of today's schoolchildren. We found that only small percentages of teacher certification programs provide instruction concerning behavioral management practices to support students with more challenging problem behaviors (Flower, McKenna, & Haring, 2016)
•	Professional vs. Technical: Results of 3-phase longitudinal multiple-case study “caused us to question whether teacher preparation programs are preparing teachers to use professional judgment or training them for technical compliance” (Scales, Wolsey, Lenski, Smetana, Yoder, Dobler, Grisham, & Young, 2018, p. 7)
•	Preparation for the Changing Demographics: The ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds of students in PreK–12 U.S. schools are becoming increasingly diverse. However, the teacher candidates (TCs) populating teacher education programs are, overall, not representative of this student diversity (Barnes, 2016)
•	Program Accountability: High-stakes standardized student assessments are increasingly used in value-added evaluation models to connect teacher performance to P–12 student learning. These assessments are also being used to evaluate teacher preparation programs, despite validity and reliability threats (Brady, Heiser, McCormick, & Forgan, 2016).
•	Alternative Paths: Teacher Preparation for Profit or Prestige? With increasing awareness of the importance of teacher quality for student learning, education policy leaders have turned their attention to the national teacher training programs as a potential target for reform. One proposed strategy is to increase competition for university-based programs by encouraging new program types (Lincove, Osborne, Mills, & Bellows, 2015). 

# data[].attributes.body
I have asked IAE colleagues these questions to discuss and will pose to my faculty:
Which of the current preservice teacher education issues are most daunting?
•	Theory to Practice: For many preservice teachers, the transition from coursework to fieldwork is disheartening… and the transition from student teaching to fist-year teaching is equally problematic. The studies in this cluster reveal that novice teachers struggle with the reality of schools where policies emphasize student test scores, scripted teaching, and prescribed course content and instructional pacing and where teachers are given little support for collaboration and inquiry (Cochran-Smith, Villegas, Abrams, Chavez-Moreno, Mills, & Stern, 2015)
•	Field experiences: Teacher candidates are often at the mercy of the most readily available field experience placement and/or teachers, and therefore, may or may not have the opportunity to observe any effective teaching practices (Cochran-Smith, Villegas, Abrams, Chavez-Moreno, Mills, & Stern, 2015).
•	Field experiences: Teacher candidates are often at the mercy of the most readily available field experience placement and/or teachers, and therefore, may or may not have the opportunity to observe any effective teaching practices (Cochran-Smith, Villegas, Abrams, Chavez-Moreno, Mills, & Stern, 2015).
•	Behavior & Classroom Management: Teacher preparation programs do not appear to provide enough content related to behavior in order to prepare teachers to work with the heterogeneous population of today's schoolchildren. We found that only small percentages of teacher certification programs provide instruction concerning behavioral management practices to support students with more challenging problem behaviors (Flower, McKenna, & Haring, 2016)
•	Professional vs. Technical: Results of 3-phase longitudinal multiple-case study “caused us to question whether teacher preparation programs are preparing teachers to use professional judgment or training them for technical compliance” (Scales, Wolsey, Lenski, Smetana, Yoder, Dobler, Grisham, & Young, 2018, p. 7)
•	Preparation for the Changing Demographics: The ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds of students in PreK–12 U.S. schools are becoming increasingly diverse. However, the teacher candidates (TCs) populating teacher education programs are, overall, not representative of this student diversity (Barnes, 2016)
•	Program Accountability: High-stakes standardized student assessments are increasingly used in value-added evaluation models to connect teacher performance to P–12 student learning. These assessments are also being used to evaluate teacher preparation programs, despite validity and reliability threats (Brady, Heiser, McCormick, & Forgan, 2016).
•	Alternative Paths: Teacher Preparation for Profit or Prestige? With increasing awareness of the importance of teacher quality for student learning, education policy leaders have turned their attention to the national teacher training programs as a potential target for reform. One proposed strategy is to increase competition for university-based programs by encouraging new program types (Lincove, Osborne, Mills, & Bellows, 2015). 

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I was challenged to be a department head.

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I was challenged to be a department head.

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After about 10 years of not moving forward with NCATE/CAEP accreditation, the team determined that we could and should do this and just put our heads down and do it.  Subgroups took parts of the document, team leaders worked together to assure a consistent message was described across the sections for clarity and accepted help when needed. We finished with mostly meets expectations and a couple of exceeds.

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Yes! Air France. By not delivering my stroller and leaving me stranded with 2 kids in Denmark for a day.

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Yes! Air France. By not delivering my stroller and leaving me stranded with 2 kids in Denmark for a day.

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I would ask my department ...ARE we focused on consumer satisfaction?

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I would ask my department ...ARE we focused on consumer satisfaction?

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I would ask .....what can we do to increase student enrollment?

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I would ask .....what can we do to increase student enrollment?

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The day of my graduation with my masters degree, my faculty advisor asked when he would see me get hooded with my doctorate.  I had never considered that before that moment.  I registered one year later for my EdD

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What makes our programs competitive? How are we unique and different? How long does it take our students to graduate? What do our students think about our programs? What about those who choose not to go to UNI? 

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What makes our programs competitive? How are we unique and different? How long does it take our students to graduate? What do our students think about our programs? What about those who choose not to go to UNI? 

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How can we engage alumni and donors to be a part of the conversation

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How can we engage alumni and donors to be a part of the conversation

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How are our policies and procedures updated in a way to be inclusive and accessible to all students?

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How to improve recruitment of students?How to improve retention of students?How to improve the training of students to become more effective teachers?Are our students prepared to teach in low-performing schools?What is not necessary in our program right now?How to help students after graduation?

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How to improve recruitment of students?How to improve retention of students?How to improve the training of students to become more effective teachers?Are our students prepared to teach in low-performing schools?What is not necessary in our program right now?How to help students after graduation?

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One of the things we are working on our department is build from a quote by Joel Barker -- In a paradigm shift, the past guarantees you nothing.  UNI has had a rich legacy in teacher preparation and is recognized as a teacher preparation powerhouse. Going forward, what do we need to do, to become to hold onto that legacy and become the university that graduates the teachers of choice.