GreatRidge Station

Last Friday was a tough day, because I had to say farewell to two people who made a significant difference in my life. We held a dinner in their honor last Friday evening.

The first, Glori Sundberg, was the program director for the MAOL program at Bethel University, and I’ve had the privilege of working with her for the past few years. She recently decided that it was time for her to take some time off and move on from that role.

One thing about Glori: I could never just say hello. Her enthusiasm for the program and its students was contagious, so when I would drop by her office for a quick visit, it took us no time to start talking about how to make the program better. Her enthusiasm fed my own, and she will be sorely missed. Glori is a true, collaborative leader, and she built a solid team and then helped us to accomplish great things. Though she was one of my bosses, I never felt as though I worked for her, but always with her. She helped all of us excel at the art of teaching adults.

Bill Johnson has been my mentor at Bethel since I first came there as an MAOL student in the late 1990s. In addition to serving as my mentor for my thesis project, he was instrumental in getting me hired as an adjunct instructor when my degree was complete, and he has continued to challenge and encourage me along the way.

Now I had endured a spectacularly unsuccessful B.S. degree from a low-rent university in an adjoining state. I’ll never forget the day I got back a paper that had earned an F; when I protested to the professor, he informed me that the paper was too good, and therefore I must have plagiarized it. In retrospect, this may have been the wrong thing to say, but I asked him why he had so little confidence in his ability as a teacher. I came away from that school with the certainty that I would never return to academia. Bill interviewed me for admission to the program, and we talked frankly about my earlier academic career. I was accepted, but only on a provisional basis.

Bill was my first instructor in the program. He set the bar spectacularly high, and I had great fears that I would not be able to do Masters’ level work. I was wrong. Thanks to Bill’s insights and encouragement, I thrived. The quality of my work (and the grades I earned) continued to surprise me. Under his mentorship, I not only survived, but thrived.

Quite simply, Bill Johnson is one of the people who changed my life, and I consider him a gift of God. We have become friends, though I could never repay him all the good he has done for me. I continue to be indebted to him, since he is also serving as a visiting member on my dissertation committee.

Both Glori and Bill demonstrate that real leadership takes place in the messiness of day-to-day life. While I’m certain that I will remain in contact with them, our relationship changed with our farewell dinner on Friday. I wish them both well, and I offer them my gratitude. Godspeed, good friends.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 6:03 am and is filed under Delight, Encourage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.