For Greg Hauswirth, a database administrator from Spencer, Iowa, the satisfaction of completing his degree was the motivating force behind going back to school. “My only goal was to complete something that I failed to finish a very long time ago,” says Hauswirth.
Angela Steines was fortunate to have an inspirational supervisor early in her work life, the kind of manager that made sure that her door was always open. So when Steines was given an assignment in her Foundations of Leadership class to interview an inspirational person in her life, she knew just who to choose. “My supervisor always made a point to remember the important life events of all of her employees, says Steines. “She also knew when we were particularly busy and would ask what she could do to help us get caught up.”
Matt Moore is paying it forward in his role as mentor for the University of Iowa Venture School in Des Moines. The Venture School is designed to accelerate the startup process while increasing new business success.
“Ventures don’t tend to fail from a lack of business planning, they tend to fail because of lack of customers, says Moore. “As a mentor, I open up my rolodex to connect them with interview subjects, help the teams formulate their questions, and provide perspective on the answers they get.”
When Ellen Brandau decided to complete her Bachelor of Liberal Studies (BLS) from the University of Iowa, she had no idea how much an online learning experience would prepare her for her next career opportunity. But that’s just what happened.
When Tyler Hahn began his Bachelor of Applied Studies (BAS) degree with an emphasis in creative writing, he dreamed of working in a library. Not only has he achieved that dream, but is now working on his third draft of a novel called Savage’s Letter. Hahn completed a substantial portion of the first draft of this book in his undergraduate novel writing course.
“The class focused on different dimensions of writing and each lesson built upon the previous one,” Hahn says. “The instructor always offered constructive criticism which greatly improved my writing over the semester.”
“Things don’t always work out how you originally intended, but that doesn’t mean that you give up,” says Ellonyia Yenney, Bachelor of Applied Studies degree candidate, spring 2015. Teaching life lessons to their children seems to be a common theme among nontraditional distance students like Yenney. “I wanted to let my son, Lazarus know it was never too late to complete a life goal. For Yenney, this meant returning to school after a 20 year absence while working full-time in a position that required travel.
Along with a group of 100 military personnel, UI student Donna Macek proudly carried the United States flag onto the football field at Kinnick stadium during the pregame ceremonies on Saturday, November 1. Macek served 10 years active duty in the United States Air Force before joining the Iowa National Guard 18 years ago. While on active duty, she worked in Logistics and Funds Management. During that time Macek also completed her Associate of Applied Sciences (AAS) degree in Accounting from Western Iowa Technical Community College (WITCC) in Sioux City, Iowa in 1998.
You might wonder, “How is it that Chris Kelly, December 2011 BAS graduate decided on the University of Iowa for his degree even though he lives over 1000 miles away in New Jersey?”
Working with computers and data collection has always been a goal for Sheila Allison, but she knew she needed additional training and education. Luck met preparation when the job she had always hoped for was posted on her employer’s job line. Allison applied and was offered the position of Medical Records System Administrator at Mercy Cancer Center in Mason City, IA. One of the conditions of employment was that she complete her bachelor’s degree within five years of hire. Condition met: Spring 2014.
Leesa Fair had a goal to achieve by her 50th birthday—to walk across the stage and receive a Bachelor of Applied Studies (BAS) degree from the University of Iowa. "The main reason I did this was simply to prove to myself I could," states Leesa.
She wasn't alone. Leesa and her son, Benjamin both started at the University of Iowa at the same time, and both graduated together in December 2012. Ben graduated with a BA in Computer Science.