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ListenGreetings,
My name is Paula Theisen and I have had the honor of serving RCTC in a variety
of roles over the past 21 years; instructor, trainer, facilitator, interim
dean, program coordinator and a lifelong student of leadership. Currently
I serve as fulltime faculty in Accounting and Supervisory Leadership as
part of our RCTC Business Department in addition to playing an active role
on college-wide committees, State & National initiatives and other priorities
to support what we do and who we serve; our students and partners in industry
and education.
Actually, my relationship with Rochester Higher Ed goes back even further.
After graduating from High School in Plainview, Minnesota, I chose to attend
the Rochester Technical College and graduated initially with the two-year
accounting degree. It saddens me to realize the financial burden of Higher
Education today compared to 1979. Believe it or not, my first year tuition
was free and the second year it was $300. At the time I was active in our
student organization and met with the College President at the time, Dr.
Charles Harwood, and tried to make the case that because our first year
was free, we should have been grandfathered in the second year.
I felt that Dr. Harwood empathized and encouraged us to share our voices,
much like our current President, Don Supalla. In retrospect, those conversations
may have been influential to my desire to continue making a difference at
RCTC and Rochester Higher Education. I remained an active alumnus, continued
my education, and returned to teach at three of the four colleges, I attended
as a student, RCTC, Concordia, and St. Mary’s.
Bill and I have three children. Genna (23, RCTC transfer student and graduate
from St. Thomas); Amanda (21, currently fulltime student at Madison Area
Technical College-MATC); and Anthony (18, Senior at Plainview-Elgin-Millville
High School). We graduated initially from technical colleges, worked in
business and industry and completed our Masters Degrees in our 40s (age,
not year!). Yes, we value education and know it is a continuous journey.
I appreciate what a gift it is to genuinely enjoy my job and I never have
trouble returning the next day. (Okay… 99.9% of the days.) The opportunities
for connecting people, facilitating to nurture an environment that creates
learning, acknowledging strengths and bringing a heightened awareness of
the best things that happen every day are what keep me coming back. I believe
in what we do and who we serve. It is that simple.
If you are a student or employee…. I thank you for choosing RCTC and
encourage you to “make RCTC memories”. Find your voice and help
others to find theirs as we create our future.
Have a great day!
Watch
your THOUGHTS….for they become WORDS;
Watch
your WORDS.…. for they become ACTIONS;
Watch
your ACTIONS….for they become HABITS;
Watch
your HABITS… for they become your CHARACTER;
Watch
your CHARACTER…for it becomes your DESTINY.
-author unknown
updated 5/21/08