Archives: On Campus
Vote for tomorrow’s myLynn today
Marketing is jumping on the awareness week bandwagon. Everyone else is having one; why not us? So, it’s official: the week of Oct. 26-30 is myLynn Awareness Week. What the heck is that, you might ask. As many of you already know, my “partner in crime” and fellow blogger, Jason Hughes, and I have been combing the Lynn community looking for feedback – about, you guessed it – myLynn. So, armed with a Napoleon Dynamite-ish election theme, we’ll be set up at tables each day (in various locations) to solicit your feedback. We want you to want us (a la Cheap Trick), and we want myLynn to be yourLynn, so help us out. You can fill out a ballot and vote for your favorite features, and/or you can stop by our table and play with our dot stickers Gensler style; and as a thank you and in celebration of upcoming Halloween, we’ll even have some treats – but no tricks, we promise.
Here’s where we’ll be and when:
* Monday, Oct. 26, Student Center lobby, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
* Tuesday, Oct. 27, Student Center lobby, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
* Tuesday, Oct. 27, Ritter courtyard, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
* Wednesday, Oct. 28, Student Center lobby, 12 – 1 p.m.
* Thursday, Oct. 29, Assaf courtyard, 10-11 a.m.
* Thursday, Oct. 29, Assaf courtyard, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
* Friday, Oct. 30, Library fountain area, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Stop by!
Brrrrrrr… baby it’s cold outside – and in
Well, finally … the 90-degree heat wave has broken. I heard on the Weather Channel (one of my favorite stations) that we had more than 15 days in a row of temperatures in the upper 90s, making it an unusually hot October, not to mention the heat and humidity of the last 6 months. So, temperatures over the weekend plummeted to the mid 50s at night. That may not sound like frigid air to the average, hearty Midwesterner, but to us, it’s plenty cold: cause for celebration for some (open the windows, break out those flannel shirts!) and chattering teeth for others.
I guess it takes awhile for our buildings on campus to catch up to this sudden seasonal temperature change, cause the a/c is still cranking away. In our staff meeting today, it was interesting to note the various forms of winter dress – sweaters, scarves, closed-toe shoes, and my favorite (below). Love the look!
So, is it cold enough for you – outside and/or in?
Look what the Internet “killed”
London’s Telegraph newspaper recently took a look at the way we work, play and even think; and in the process came up with a list of 10 traditions the Internet has “killed.” Very interesting …
Here are some (the snide comments are mine): letter writing (an obvious one, what with e-mail and all); telephone directories (you know that big, fat book with the teeny, tiny print?); music stores (can you say download?); photo albums (the kind where you take the printed photos and put them in between the clear, sticky sheets); newspapers (I’ve already said enough about that one); memory (who needs to remember anything when you can Google); and my favorite … doing nothing (even when walking down the street, people are checking iPhones, texting, etc.; it’s hard to “stop and smell the roses” when you do that)
Since this topic was right up my alley (being the “back in the day” girl and all), I thought up some others … encyclopedias and library card catalogues (have all but gone away with the advent of Google); video stores (not when you don’t have to leave home to get a video – or more importantly bring it back); bills (paying online means never having to hunt around for a stamp); shopping (again, you don’t have to leave the house with Amazon, eBay and dozens of other online sources available); sending greeting cards (have you seen the prices of one lousy, little card lately – $3.99!); the post office (just recently in the news about all the closings, since clearly nobody is sending those obsolete letters or bills through snail mail anymore); getting directions (that’s what MapQuest is for); dating (meet the love of your life online); and spelling/grammar (what happened to the English language anyway? how r u?).
All that doesn’t even take into consideration all the social media by products of the Internet i.e. mySpace, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. Now I’m not saying we revert back to the way we were, but it is sure does bring to light just how much the “times they are a changin’.” (If you don’t recognize the lyrics, Google it!)
Anyway, you get the idea; can you come up with any others?
Performing Arts Center getting all dressed up
The rough edges are quickly getting smoothed out over at the Wold PAC. The first coat of external paint is on, the framing for the sweeping front entrance is complete and the windows are also appearing. It’s finally starting to look like the renderings.
Animal Kingdom’s got nothing on us
My esteemed colleague has written recently about an on campus frog migration. And we all contend daily with the roving packs of squirrels. But today I discovered signs of something else (I think) on our beautiful – and woodland creature-friendly – campus.
Budding naturalists help me out. What was this creature walking the steps of the Schmidt building?
Seeing PINK – here, there and everywhere
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and it seems like the whole world has gone pink – from clothing to computers; cookware to cereal boxes; to, well, just about anything. No inanimate object is immune to turning pink these days. But now, football?
Have you seen the games lately? NFL football players and teams are sporting pink on towels, patches, jerseys, caps, fields, and anything else they can think of. Even the referees are sporting pink wristbands to go along with their requisite stripes, and sports announcers are wearing pink ribbons on their lapels. This “pink” breast cancer awareness campaign knows no boundaries. And I mean that in the nicest way possible, and from a marketing perspective it’s definitely a “touchdown.”
Speaking of pink – I mean breast cancer – last year, over 200 Lynn staffers and students volunteered and helped to raise over $350,000 for the American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” event. This year, the event is on Oct. 17 at Mizner Park, with our own Annie Weaver, student involvement coordinator, heading up the Volunteer Committee, and Chris Childers, our career center director, organizing the Lynn walking team, Lynn’s Knights Fighting Cancer. So, get in the pink and join them.
And though another American Cancer Society signature event – Relay for Life – is not until April, fundraisers and activities are held all year long leading up to the main event, starting this week and next with a Relay fundraiser at Uncle Julio’s Oct. 15 and the Kick Off event on campus Oct. 22 – when the “theme” will be revealed. I know what it is, but am not telling. You’ll just have to find out for yourself.
Civility an art lost on Rep. Wilson, Kanye West, Serena Williams – but not Lynn
When I heard that all freshmen were required to read the book, Choosing Civility, I thought it a rather interesting choice – but interesting in a good way. Civility almost sounds like an “old-fashioned” word, one you don’t often hear these days. But it is something we either take for granted or we notice the absence of it.
I’m part way through P.M. Forni’s book (all employees having received this very “civil” gift at the Welcome Back Breakfast), and it really does make you aware of just how many ways there are to “be nice;” how your behavior or misbehavior can affect someone either very positively or negatively. In these times of ever-growing advanced technology, the idea of being civil to your fellow man may seem simplistic, but it also seems like a lost art.
Reading the book I found myself having those “ah hah” moments: like a form of listening or non-listening he calls “disregard and proceed” – otherwise known as “it’s all about me;” or channeling your “inner designated driver” otherwise known as think before you speak, and so many other nuggets I’m sure I have yet to uncover.
“The decline of civility is a social phenomenon that is being discussed now with the frequency and intensity that was not there 10 years ago,” said Forni.
And it’s no wonder. Just recently, we witnessed 3 very public civility offenses: Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst to Obama; Kanye West’s rude interruption of Taylor Swift, and Serena Williams’ temper tantrum. What great fodder for classroom discussion using our own increasingly non-civil world around us as perfect examples.
If I can quote from another blog on the subject (don’t know the etiquette on that one, so I will anyway), “Somewhere, Miss Manners is going into conniptions. It’s been a tough week for civility in America,” said Sun-Sentinel blogger Mike Mayo.
During our 2nd annual Civility Week starting today, let’s get back to basics – basic human kindness, that is. I heard that Forni is coming to campus March 16, and I do look forward to hearing what he has to say.
So, what does civility mean to you? Or what is your most “uncivil” pet peeve?
Bookstore bestseller a shocker
Unscientific as it may be, I was at the bookstore and (me being me) asked what they sold the most of besides books. Their guess: sweatshirts!
Yes, despite our tropical location it’s the cold weather gear that wins. Go figure. (Only the latest proof, possibly, that I am easily amused AND ask too many questions!)
Making our mark in the Chronicle of Higher Education
For the first time in recent history, Lynn University is running ads with The Chronicle of Higher Education… ads I thought you might like to see. They nicely capture some of the things that makes Lynn so distinctive, not to mention some of the nice things our friends have been saying about us recently.
Why the Chronicle? Well, says our marketing director Carol Herz, the Chronicle is academe’s grey lady — a weekly publication that can safely claim to be on the table of every chancellor, president, dean and vice president at the country’s community colleges, public universities and, last but certainly not least, private colleges and universities. In short, it’s required reading for educators at the college level – as well as all those freshly minted PhDs on the job market (if you ever handle a copy, you’ll see what I mean. The classifieds section has got to be the envy of print publishing, whatever the industry!)
Ad that appeared in the Chronicle's annual "Diversity" issue.
Being within their pages puts us in good company. And it allows us to tell the adminstrators, professors and others who may be eyeing Lynn from afar, just what we’re all about.
"Making Our Mark" ad appearing now.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Lynn’s been in the Chron recently. The Washington,DC-based publication has written about “the voice of Lynn” (Joe Carey, in the College of International Communication), talked to our president and CIO Chris Boniforti for a piece on “When Generations Collide,” and ran several letters from our adminstrators and cabinet members, among other things.
But the only rival to our ad series in total impressions? Dr. Ted Curtis. Mr. Sports Management, as I like to call him (with apologies to the “Other Mr. SM”, Dr. Chad Barr), has been featured several times in the last three years in the Chronicle. This past March, it was his Yankees J-Term class that caught their attention. Before that, it was the sports management Final Four class.
But that’s enough about that. What I want to know is, what do you think of the ads?
Lynn freshman – live at The Dubliner tomorrow
Lynn freshman and communication major – Makayla Duvall (a name that certainly has a pop star ring to it) – will be taking the stage at Mizner Park’s The Dubliner tomorrow night, Sept. 30 at 9:30 p.m. The aspiring singer / songwriter will be performing her debut single “Moving On” – listen to it now on her MySpace page – and other pop-rock cover songs by Colbie Caillat, Jason Mraz, Maroone 5, Taylor Swift and Kings of Leon.
A 2009 graduate of Boca Raton High School, Makayla has already been in the spotlight with an appearance on So You Want to be a Pop Star?. And like many aspiring artists today, she’s also tried American Idol. Makayla auditioned for Season 8 of American Idol in Jacksonville, Fla. last year. Singing “I’m Going Down” by Mary J. Blige, Makayla was in the top 50 out of 15,000 people who auditioned.
“I didn’t see Paula, Randy and Simon,” said Makayla. “I auditioned for the executive producers who said I had a great voice, good stage presence and a good look, but I wasn’t unique enough for the show.”
In case you can’t make it to The Dubliner tomorrow, Makayla will be performing at other local venues like Hurricanes in Delray Beach and the Wishing Well in Boca Raton in the coming months.