Blog

To the delight of our entire team at UI, David Burge, Executive Director of Enrollment Services, joined us for our February Fellows’ Forum. My colleague Mike Meaney shared a great idea for a conversational icebreaker where we described a seemingly random, almost bizarre and yet profound event that happened to each of us in our lives so far. It was neat to hear personal stories from my colleagues that we had never shared before, and coincidentally, it was a great transition for our guest to actually talk about the eye-opening and happenstance events that led to his current career path. Mr.

“The best and worst news you could ever hear”: Fellows’ Forum with Melissa Werner, CSEP

Continuation from Part 1

A conversation with long-time members of the Office of the President

Is it worth operating in an ecosystem where the only speeds are fast and faster and where the intensity of projects almost never desist?

My son, Benjamin is currently fifteen months old. He says over thirty words now, but I am proud to say that his first word was ‘mama’. While I did win the competition with my husband of whether he would say mama or dada first, the win was a little anticlimactic because Benjamin does not reserve the word ‘mama’ just for me. He uses the word as a request, and he will say it repeatedly to anyone until his need is met. For example, if he wants to be picked up by his dad he will tug on his dad’s legs and shout “mama, mama, mama”, or if he wants another bite of food he will say “mama?”.

Our class of 2017 ASU MasterCard Foundation Scholars completed a series of high-energy orientation events prior to the start of the fall semester. UI Fellows designed and led workshops that addressed health and wellness, elevator pitches, norms in American communication and research opportunities at ASU. 

Health and Wellness

Last month, my friend, Paul Maurice Johnson, lost his battle to cancer at the age of 29. He left behind his wife and four year old son. During his funeral, we remembered Paul as a great friend and a man who possessed a remarkable ability to be optimistic about everything. Even through his daily challenge of being sick from cancer treatments, he constantly checked in with friends communicating genuine excitement and care for those he knew. Paul saw his problem of fighting cancer as an opportunity to inspire people to continue on in their own battles whatever they may be.

The current state of Arizona is not the Arizona We Want, as determined by the Center for the Future of Arizona. But last week, Arizona made huge strides in addressing the complex challenges we face at the 2014 Arizona Leadership Forum, an ongoing movement that convenes leaders in nonprofit, corporate, philanthropic and civic sectors to communicate, collaborate and lead together for the social, economic, and cultural advancement of our state.