The Fall Lineup

I am excited about this semester. This semester isn't really any more or less exciting than the other semesters of my graduate program, but I have two specific reasons why this semester merits blogging. First, quite simply, I've been trying to blog more. Second, I am expecting several assignments to be blogged from this semester, so I thought you should have a heads up.

Counseling Theories-- I am actually a little giddy about this class. I like theory classes, and I like this professor. This is the first class I've had with him, but he did come with us to Europe so we already have a relationship. He has already read to us from Alice in Wonderland, and if you are ever interested I'll explain to you the Dodo Verdict. This is also the class I expect to be blogging assignments from. We have several guided reflections assigned throughout the semester to help us understand our opinions on psychotherapy. The final reason that I am excited is because when I was looking at graduate programs, psychology and counseling was an area that I was heavily looking into. In the end I felt I wasn't prepared for it. Public Relations has given me information that I have used repeatedly in my program, but I think it would have left me lacking in psychology. Hopefully from this class I can either set aside those regrets, or discover my calling.

Budgeting-- I'll admit it does not actually sound like the most interesting class. There is so much that I am going to learn from it though. Top on my list is understanding the university budget. I think that I already have the basics of budgeting down, and a comfort working with numbers. What I am looking forward to is the from practice advice of my professor and our guest speakers. I can break a budget down to income and expenses, but I don't have a true understanding of how that money flows within education. I will be learning a lot in this class.

Grant Writing-- This class is going to be a little different for me. I work in our university's Sponsored Programs Office, so I will hopefully already know most of what will be presented in the class. I am excited though, because this semester I will be switching roles. At work I search for funding opportunities and try to help proposal writers think about their idea so they can be matched up with what the funders actually want to spend money on. For class, I'll get to pretend that I am passing out the money and critically review proposals. My class project is also exciting. I am working on helping undergraduates get funding to do their research. It is a grant program that I was a part of as an undergrad so hopefully, I can encourage more than normal to apply. I also like the idea of promoting undergraduate research. Far too much of my undergraduate experience was still passive. I went to class and waited for information to be given to me. I hope that promoting undergraduate research on our campus will inspire some more active learning.

Another place that you will be seeing homework from, is my trip to Europe. We had an assignment while we were there to keep a journal. I plan on typing that up and sharing it (with pictures) here.