Angela R. Logan, PhD
St. Andre Bessette Academic Director
Master of Nonprofit Administration
Associate Teaching Professor
Mendoza College of Business
University of Notre Dame
Summer! Summer!! Summertime!!!
Hello! We’ve just experienced the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. This means longer days, patio nights, and in my world, the start of the Summer intensive program for our Executive Master’s students. Over the course of two to five Summers, these students complete ⅔ of their required coursework in two-week intensive classes. We affectionately refer to the Summer experience as “drinking out of a firehose.”
And yet, what I tell incoming cohorts is that your faculty are standing in front of the firehose, taking the brunt of the impact. One of my favorite quotes goes, “Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did backwards and in heels.” I tell students that their faculty are doing everything they are doing “backwards and in Chucks” (because I teach in Converse). Regardless of the metaphor, if we are doing it right, we are pouring our blood, sweat, and tears into our students. But if the last four years has taught us anything, it’s that you cannot pour from an empty cup.
At the end of this past academic year, I planned to get a brief break before the start of the Summer session. Instead, I became “the most degreed home health aide and chauffeur” for my widower father for five weeks (I’ll dedicate another letter about that experience). Recently, I was chatting with a younger cousin, who spoke an uncomfortable truth to me. Knowing both the burden I carry about my work and my students, and my intensive caregiving season, he lovingly said, “We can’t afford for you to die right now!” This harsh truth was like a splash of cold water. The work that I do, that we do, cannot go on if we do not take care of ourselves.
What are you doing this Summer to take care of yourself? Are you taking time to gaze at the stars? Check out a live concert? Gather with your friends and loved ones on the deck? Watch fireworks? Just be?
My encouragement to you, and myself, this Summer is to do what flight attendants tell us before takeoff: “Put your own mask on first before you help someone else!” As your President, I am giving you the permission and freedom to pour into yourself, put your own mask on, and put your toes in the sand: you will thank you, and so will your students!
All the best,
Angela R. Logan
Board President, NACC