Well, this is a new adventure for me and one that I hope will include you if you are colleague on the faculty, a staff member, a student, or simply a friend of Southeastern Louisiana University. The mission of my work here is to be a "Web 2.0" showcase for the good things - the very good things - that are being done by all of us at Southeastern.
Sometimes in a crisis, we do lose sight of the big picture. At times like this, it is easy to point to what others should be doing - or not doing - and who should be cut - but not us, of course (recalling the hurricane prayer that goes something like, "Dear God, please let it {insert name of storm here} hit them, not me!"). Indeed, in the face of the perils we now see, some may not want to take the lead, recalling what happens to Samuel L. Jackson in one of the great movie scenes of all time from Deep Blue Sea:
Yes, we may have uncertainty in our jobs. Yes, we may have far fewer resources at our disposal than we had in years past. Yes, we are all having to stand shoulder-to-shoulder to do more with less. Yet, day-after-day, we continue to carry out the mission of the university, to serve the needs of our students, and yes, to do great things professionally in our research and writing, to do great things in the classroom, and to do great things with the local community.
Some may think of this effort as being that of a "cockeyed optimist," but I think that it is exactly what we need in this time of crisis. Think of all that we as Americans, as Louisianians, and as a part of Southeastern have overcome since the university's founding in 1925. Just to name a few:
- The Great Depression
- World War II
- The turmoil of the 1960s and the Vietnam War
- The inflation and gas lines of the 1970's (think of that if you are commuting today from Baton Rouge, Slidell, New Orleans, or beyond to attend/teach here at Southeastern!)
- Disco
- The Iranian Hostage Crisis
- The Impeachment of a President
- September 11th and the two wars that have followed
- The Great Recession
- ...and Justin Bieber
And now, this is our crisis - our test - and how will we respond? Let's take the advice of that great philosopher in song:
"When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going"
----- Billy Ocean (and hey students, just picture the fact that many of your professors actually danced to this!)
And so, this is YOUR forum. It is not intended to be a place to talk about the negative - there are other sites on the Web for that if you wish to do so. It is not intended to interfere or replace the university's own public information and outreach efforts. Rather, this is intended to be a way for all of us who truly care about Southeastern and the future of our great institution to showcase the positive. It will be a way to tell - in an unfiltered way - the success stories that can be found from work being carried out by our faculty, staff, and students all across our campus and indeed, all across the Northshore Area of Louisiana and in many cases, across the country and around the world. While there are indeed dark clouds surrounding us in the economic and budgetary realities we face, we - the faculty, staff and students - continue to "fight the good fight" and do good works - and in many cases, produce outstanding results in research forums, in the classroom and online with our teaching, in the arts, on the sporting fields and courts, and in many underpublicized ways in the communities in which we live and work.
So, I invite you to share your stories here. I will "moderate" this forum and share my own stories, but I hope that the great majority of the content will come from you! To that end, I am providing you with this email address (dwyld.kwu.southeastern@blogger.com). By emailing your written (and visual) material to this special email set up for this purpose, you will be feeding material for inclusion on this website. I will update this site daily to provide this real-time information to all who care about Southeastern to share with others, both in person and online in your own social networks. Just be sure and clearly identify yourself with your name, position, and email at the end of your email to the blog site. Want an example - look at the fine work being done by my students in the College of Business to publish their papers in editorially reviewed, online publications (see the list of related articles at the end of this post for links to a sampling of these works that have been published by students over the past year!).
If you wish to join me further in this effort, you can become a permanent contributor to this blog to tout things being done in your department, in your college, in the community, or even in your own sport or on the stage. Just email me at mail to: dwyld@selu.edu to assist me in this effort.
Now we begin this great experiment in the World of Web 2.0 and participatory media. This is today the world in which I work, so I hope you will join me in this cause. And even if you can't contribute content, please do follow the site and forward the postings on to your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and in other online networks.
Let's stand up and work to publicize on the Web all that is going on at Southeastern. In this time of crisis, let's take the attitude of John Belushi:
And to close, let's take advice from an unlikely source - yes, Rocky Balboa (my apologies to my colleagues in D. Vickers - hey, I'm a BUSINESS professor!). This is a favorite clip of mine that I now share with students at the end of each semester. Watch, as it has a special message for all of us at Southeastern at this time:
(BTW, If you want to share this clip with your students, it is at http://wyld-business.blogspot.com/2010/03/career-advice-from-of-all-people.html).
Let's us show some courage now to "keep moving forward!" Let's show why we are wild - or Wyld - about Southeastern! Finally, let us show that we are resolute and can face an uncertain future with faith that we are "fighting the good fight" for Southeastern every day in our classrooms and hallways, in our labs and in the marsh, and in the community. So, in the words of Timothy (words that have always meant something special to me as a {former} marathon runner, but now more than ever in the uncertain environment we face now), let's have the courage to show who we have been, who we are today, and who we will be in the future:
I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
I have kept the faith.
David C. Wyld (dwyld@selu.edu)
Professor of Management
College of Business
Southeastern Louisiana University
P.S. An Important Point: This blog is not endorsed by, funded by, supported by, controlled by, (insert your verb here) by the Administration at Southeastern Louisiana University. All the input you see here is being done by faculty, staff, and students who care about Southeastern, and we are taking our own off-duty time and effort to use this space to publicize the things that are being done, today, on our campus and in our outreach beyond.
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