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In the final episode of the Harry Potter movies - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - Dumbledore tells Harry that "help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." He goes on to say, "I've always prided myself in my ability to turn a phrase. But I would, in this case, amend my original statement to this: help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who deserve it." Something between these two statements is probably the truth. At least, that has been my experience in my professional career. The most important thing I have learned is to recognize that I need and deserve help to be successful - and that I need to ask for it often.
Mine has been a career that has included positions in government and higher education, with the last 25 years having been spent working at four postsecondary institutions in the United States and Canada. In all cases (and I mean all cuses), I have been blessed by having a caring and supportive mentor (sometimes more than one).
As a high school student, I had an incredible history teacher by the name of Mr. Kelley who always took time to talk with my friends and me after school about how history lives in current events. He opened up the excitement of learning in a way that led to an awakening of my intellect and a lifelong thirst for knowledge across academic disciplines.
While in college, I connected with Edwin Pert, who then served as clerk of the Maine House of Representatives. I met Mr. Pert while hitchhiking (it was safe then) to attend extracurricular events. He and I had many conversations about the role of government in changing society and improving the lives of all of us. His down-to-earth communication skills, which were as much about listening as speaking, became the basis of how I relate with peers to this day. Mr. Pert also guided me to staff positions in the Maine House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
I was blessed along the way to have had many excellent faculty mentors who gave me the confidence to complete four degrees with a number of work gaps in between. I remember three...