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Summer 2008

Nancy Bauer
A KSU Adult Learner Impacting the World!

Follow her advice and you, too, can say, “Going back to college has been a blast. I have enjoyed every minute of it – writing research papers, getting frustrated, attending classes, making friends. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.”

When reading an adult learner student’s self-description on a pre-interview questionnaire, you sometimes are surprised during the actual interview by what is inside the “package”. Our newsletter interviews begin with discussion starter questions, number one of which is a brief background. Married twenty-five years, a stay-at-home mother of three children (now age seventeen to twenty-two), loves to travel, read, play tennis and bike—not a description that elucidates the impact of Nancy Bauer on her various environments.

Beginning her Kennesaw State University experience in Fall, 2004--a year after her oldest child, daughter Lesley, started college--was to complete her journey for an undergraduate degree that had begun in Fall 1972. She attended Southwest Texas University (1 year), then University of Houston, (2 years), and University of Minnesota. Part of the delay was the result of changing her major three times and part were the activities that consumed her time due to the choice to devote herself to raising her children. Of course, raising children meant for Nancy being involved with PTA and multiple other projects of personal interest. There wasn’t a question of not completing her degree. Nancy was influenced by her mother, who had earned a Ph.D in Education Administration and her lawyer father. She specifically decided that getting her degree would be a better role model than just preaching to her children to go to college. Her life was full and she had many interests, but everything she was reading, plus new learning passions, caused her to decide it was just time. At that point, noticing that much had transpired while she was involved at home, Nancy decided on an International Affairs major and a Geography minor to catch up with world events.

Her early family experiences involved her in volunteer work, and may be one reason for her extraordinary design, creation, and implementation of programs that impact. Among other positions, Nancy has been Atlanta coordinator for The One Campaign, a grassroots awareness raising campaign to make poverty history (www.one.org). She also developed a successful Nike retail business in a tennis club where she was working part time. Others watching her work saw her natural ability and pushed her to finish her degree.

By just being herself--a social, independent, confident personality, and a natural leader with a proficiency at networking,--opportunities seemed to have present themselves. Wherever Nancy was, someone she was talking to was just the right person to point her in the direction of the next resource.

Here at KSU, Nancy was at first disconcerted to have to take a Regional Geography freshman class, when she had so many credit hours. But when she met the professor, Dr. Lynn Patterson, Assistant Professor of Geography and Anthropology, she found a mentor who encouraged her to follow her dreams. She traveled to Argentina on a hybrid study abroad program this summer with Dr. Patterson. While there Nancy and three other students, all recipients of a CARET undergraduate research grant, conducted research on the social entrepreneurs, sustainable business and how they might interact with sustainable development. The research was presented in Charleston, SC at the SEDAG Conference as a poster presentation. It is hoped the project in Malawi will be in place as early Summer of 2009. Nancy has started a non-profit business with a focus on empowering women and developing communities with hopes to have projects in Argentina and Malawi.

Nancy had an idea to conduct a bike drive to collect used bikes to send to a part of the developing world. The KSU Geography Club was started as a way to get students involved in the Bike Drive. Forty-nine bikes were collected, repaired and are being sent to a community of farmers and factory workers in Kasese, Uganda. These experiences have helped her “move from should do thinking to can do thinking.”

What advice would she offer to a new adult learner about the journey? “Having a sense of humor about yourself and the others around you is essential. Hard work is essential too – doing homework and going to class. I always tell people that I don’t think I’m clever enough to not study and skip classes! Relax! Enjoy every minute you have in your classes. Check your attitude at the door – in the classroom it’s you, your fellow students and the professor.” For the needed campus support, Nancy says, “I have been very lucky to have a great mentor in Dr. Patterson, as well as a great advisor in Dr. Tom Doleys.”

Kozetta Jane Harris
An Adult Learner who is gleaning more from college than a degree…

" Ultimately, I believe that my decision to return“ to college has been a catalyst and a foundation for many changes in my life — some positive, some not. If we are lucky, we are always a work in progress - that is a good thing. "

Due to financial constraints, Kozetta completed only two years of college in 1982, and then worked in the information technology field for fifteen years. Moving from Portland, Oregon she made a career change in Atlanta to a non-profit professional position. After six years working in an AIDS prevention education/advocacy organization serving women of African descent, she decided at the age of 43 to change careers again. Though she thought she was too old to go back to college, she was reminded by her sister that she would be the same age whether she went back to college or not.

Enrolling at Kennesaw State University, though she knew that she wanted to continue working for social change, she wasn’t sure which major would reflect her passions and give direction to her future. Kozetta experienced a temporary frustration typical of adult learners--sorting through an accumulation of life experience and work skills to decide on a new career goal. Even when the purpose seems clear, potentially every class can cause old dreams and new interests to surface. After much soul-searching Kozetta realized that “teaching would fulfill her desire to support, empower, and nurture positive changes in the lives of young people through a degree in Middle Grades Education.”

A lack of financial resources has been her most vexing challenge, requiring her to make some “extremely difficult” decisions. Adjusting to life as a full-time student with the continual schedule changes and a shift in thinking were first year challenges. Kozetta found it difficult to adjust to “thinking philosophically and abstractly as a student after over 20 years of thinking practically and concretely” as a working professional. She is always processing information and is determined to learn from her environment. She says that her challenges will continue to “deepen her awareness, confidence, and faith.”

Kozetta’s advice for other students would be for them “to avail themselves of all the services offered on campus and to meet KSU halfway.” In her experience, being “honest, open about her goals, and willing to work hard” has received positive response, encouragement, and support from faculty and staff. She has taken her own advice seriously, realizing that “adult learners have the advantage of knowing the value of self-advocacy”, even though “she originally did not expect much in terms of personal service from a university the size of KSU.” She explored and received resources offered by many campus departments and has been pleasantly surprised and grateful for the amount of “sincere support” received in addition to “invaluable stories shared by other women her age and older.” Kozetta especially appreciates, and has profited most from, the “perfect combination of resources, warmth and encouragement” provided by staff and student employees of Adult Learner Programs in the Lifelong Learning Center. She states that “some days I walk in there feeling completely overwhelmed--just being in that space, something about their energy and their genuine concern is all it takes to make me feel better about my situation.”

As an adult learner, Kozetta lives the persistence necessary to earn her college degree. She is a smiling communicator and interesting conversationalist. Her last pieces of advice to support other adult learners —“Don’t give up too easily. Value yourselves enough to give your future every possible chance. Persevere even if you aren’t sure that you will experience tomorrow the success you envision today.”

Marianne Tomashefski
Georgia Executive Women’s Network (GEWN) Scholarship Winner

It used to be that way—you didn’t argue with it, it just was the way it was--college was for boys, tech schools for girls. No matter. After she worked in a low-paying job for a while, this adult learner realized that it would not be possible to support her daughter while working as a retail clerk. She enrolled in college, received her AA degree in Clinical Nutrition, and went to work. During the next 20 years, Marianne Tomashefski worked in a variety of management roles for a major food service company’s operations, marketing and sales teams eventually generating more than $18 million in new business clients.

Retirement from her career field and her daughter’s graduation from college meant that the time was right to go back to college. As frequently happens for adult learners, Marianne was following her inner drive—work motivated not by need, but by interests and passion. Marianne is also quick to point out that even with her years of “street-wise” business experience her employer was reluctant to promote her to more senior level positions because she lacked a formal four-year degree. And while making the decision to put her professional life on hold was a tough one, she knew the long-term benefits of returning to finish her degree would far outweigh the challenges of returning to school, especially since she knew she had the full support of her husband and family behind her. Choosing Kennesaw State University (KSU) to complete her degree also played a key role in returning to school. Because the suburban location of KSU was so close to her home, the variety of majors offered, and the opportunity to also complete a minor in gerontology, she enrolled in 2006. Actually deciding on a major can be difficult for adults who are defining new life goals, so in her first semester at KSU, Marianne took advantage of one of the valuable resources at KSU, the Counseling Advising Programs Services (CAPS). From the testing and career counseling offered, she gained an understanding of her future career goals and confirmed that she was on the right path as a communication major. Marianne’s advanced education interests led her to search the KSU Web site for classes in gerontology, eventually leading her to the Caring Center and her future mentor, recently retired professor of sociology, Dr. Barbara Karcher.

Marianne has experienced what she advises for other adult learners—integrate into campus life as soon as possible, exploring all outside of class opportunities; find something that you want to do—and join a registered student organization. She has been active in the Gerontology Club, recently helped raise funds for the annual Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk, has volunteered with VKSU and is an Odyssey Peer Mentor. Marianne has also been accepted as a Student Assistance for Leadership in Teaching (SALT) student to assist Dr. Womack in her communication research project, and began a paid internship in January with the Georgia office of AARP for the Communication Director. It isn’t any wonder that she would be one of two KSU GEWN scholarship winners — she is a leader.

It wasn’t that life was a straight line or a single interest consistently guiding her, although, as one of four children, she did learn early how to be productive in all endeavors. She has been sewing since she was 11 years old and, in fact, sewing for others supported her through her AA degree. She quilts and embroiders, organizing her embroidery work samples in catalogs. And she also reads historical fiction. In order to do all that, Marianne has learned to pace herself, and that leads to another piece of advice Marianne would like to pass on--don’t overload on credit hours.

It is not so easy to come back to college as an adult who is already a professional, used to selective learning, and proficient at management. Marianne states that she had to “learn to listen closely to the Professor for key statements from their lectures to streamline her note taking.” She learned to take relevant, specific notes, and importantly, to enjoy her time here at KSU. Her life after coming back to college has changed; slowed down, and she doesn’t have to get on planes or conference calls as much which has given her more time to explore Atlanta area quilt shops! For now, she can spend more time at home, and also be engaged in campus activities. She is already making plans for her Masters degree in Gerontology or a Communication-related field. No matter that it took a while, Marianne is an example of adult learner persistence. With her usual professional composure and creative energy, she will find the way to blend her passions for Communication and Gerontology to achieve her lifelong goals.