Academic Heeds Her Own Advice to Pursue Degree
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| Barbara Christe |
At Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), almost half of our bachelor's degree students are full-time employees who desire or are pushed to earn a college degree. After years of encouraging practicing managers and technicians in our field to consider the benefits of college achievement, I took my own advice.
I recently finished my doctorate in higher education administration, designed to help me better support my students and my two degree programs. During the long process, I often spoke with my students, encouraging them to stay focused on degree achievement. But I would end these conversations knowing I had to listen to my own recommendations.
Earning a college degree in a nontraditional way is a very challenging, humbling experience. It also adds stress to already overbooked lives. At times, I was completely discouraged and unsure I would succeed. On several occasions, I questioned why academic credentials have substantial value when the content of my courses seemed disconnected from my workplace.
Earning my PhD seemed like a hazing designed to destroy me. These concerns mirrored my conversations with my stressed students. Finally, as with the driven and focused students at IUPUI, the finish line appeared and the diploma was awarded.
The pursuit of my doctorate offered me the opportunity to better convey the importance of higher education to my students and healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals. Both our society and the workplace validate achievements in many ways, but significantly through a college degree. As a result, earning a diploma and wearing academic regalia offers an opportunity to expand our ways of thinking and explore tangential topics that may seem to sidetrack our professional careers. However, perhaps we should recognize the importance of self-enrichment and discovery for ourselves, and not necessarily for our bosses.
My research to complete my degree focused on the factors associated with the persistence of engineering technology learners. Unlike almost all other types of students, engineering technology learners are particularly goal-focused, deeply connected to the major and discipline.
While this finding presented a surprise to some educators, many people in engineering technology fields (including HTM) already understood the connection between degree and discipline. We share a passion for our career track and are driven to succeed. Our academic path documents these goals.
So, I share my achievement and graduation accolades with the many Purdue Boilermakers who have made it through all of the 40 or so courses required to earn our bachelor's degree. They have listened to me encourage, prod, and push toward the end.
I have e-mailed images of the Purdue diploma to hang on a student's refrigerator to serve as encouragement. The stress of conflicting and competing responsibilities ends with the satisfaction resulting from two accomplishments: personal intellectual development and the knowledge that a diploma meets a particular hallmark of professionalism.
The need for higher education may always be discussed and debated but the requirement for a ceaseless desire to learn and grow is the framework of our discipline.
—Barbara Christe, associate professor and program director of Biomedical Engineering
Technology at Indiana University–Purdue
University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
AAMI News: June 2013, Vol. 48, No. 6