24 Years of Wishing Colleagues Their Best in Retirement (and Another 20 Years to Go Until My Own)

The Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions is saying bon-voyage and congratulations to numerous scholars this spring including Drs. Barbara Wells-Nystrom, Faith-Anne Dohm, Paul Mahoney, Diana Hulse and "Ginny" Kelly. Each and every one of them mentored and helped me in my transition from a doctoral program at Syracuse into a Fairfield University life. Yesterday, the University held a special recognition for retirees at the Quick Center and I was lucky to be able to hear Drs. Diana Hulse and Ginny Kelly speak, as well as Marcie Patton from Political Science (sadly, the other retirees couldn't attend).

Dr. Peter Beyers, a colleague in American Studies and the English Department, stopped by on his way out and said, "It's so humbling to come to these events and to see the legacies these individuals leave to us. It makes me feel so much more responsible for all I need to do next to carry on their names and hard work."

I told him, "That's funny, because I was thinking the same thing."

Back in my Kentucky teaching days I remember seeing the retirements on the horizon and the importance for handing their mission onto the next generation. We watched the faces change quickly over a period of a few years, and the same is true in higher education. There's a time for everyone to say, "That's it. I'm done. It's time for the next phase of my life."

My colleagues in the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions deserve the best as they 'toss their tassel' for real. I am recognizing genuine and true happiness in their decisions and I'm inspired by the wisdom they sent our way.

Dr. Hulse has been a tremendous advocate of my work and has helped me to see the importance of love and relationships: Who Am I? Who Are You to Me? And Who Can We Be Together?

Dr. Kelly taught me the power of attentive listening, of digging deep into the relationships established through family, and the power of perseverance during troubling times. She was the first mentor assigned to me at Fairfield and I still laugh that during her first meeting with me she kept saying, "Oh, Bryan. Oh, Bryan. What will we do with you. Oh, Poor, Poor Bryan. How can we help you to keep your humor and creativity as you get beat up by the tenure process?"

She did her best to stuff me back into a box, but also applauded the fact that every time she tried to stuff me into it, I would pop back out with something new, a little zanier, and with a little more funk.

It's special to absorb the knowledge of individuals leaving a profession and I'm glad that I've made it a mission to to take in as much as I can while others leave their life's work - it's a well-deserved exiting of one of the most foolish caves there are.

So proud of them and so lucky to have been able to share a short time as their colleague and friend. They, like all the retirees this year, deserve nothing but the best.