About
What is your advising philosophy? Through my listening, intuiting and probing, I help students kindle the flame within – guiding them in discovery, embrace and pursuit of their authentic academic passions. I guide my students as they find solutions to their immediate challenges, pursue pathways both known and just revealed, and look deeply at what they really want from their LSA experience. I also relish connecting students with the opportunities this university affords – unrivaled in depth and breadth amongst American universities -- to pursue their interests
During my college days, as a student looking to an academic advisor, I wanted someone who cared about me holistically, helped me discern and build on my academic interests, and spoke to me frankly. This vision is universal and timeless – and one I try fulfill to the best of my ability for every student who walks into my office.
What was your path to Newnan? My passion for academic advising got its start in the academic turmoil of my own college experience, when I dearly needed – but did not have available – quality academic advising. Ever since, at stops both on campus and otherwise, I have made myself readily available as an advisor, guide and mentor. I honed my advising skills as a campus chaplain at Georgetown University, and later on as a congregational rabbi. I’ve now come full circle, providing students with what I needed as an undergrad, guiding them as they make their everyday academic decisions and as they craft a vision for their college career and beyond.
What do you enjoy about working in Newnan? I love working at Newnan, well beyond the powerful moments of the one-on-one advisory sessions with students. I have never worked in a place with such amazing, supportive colleagues – each unique in their own journeys, yet jointly committed to serving students. It’s a place that works – where each individual matters and makes a difference, yet where no individual is bigger than the college and mission that we serve. It is an enormous relief to know that, if I happen to be sick one day, systems are in place to make sure that the needs of my students will be well-served. Newnan is a wonderfully fertile ground for advising approaches, where I can glean tactics from academic advisors both veteran and new – and where it is not only encouraged, but lovingly demanded, that we seek out our peers for the (many) answers we don’t know, the sides of the equation we may not understand. Newnan itself provides an excellent model for learning and growing.
Class you loved and why? I fondly remember two classes I took with David Donald, the eminent Civil War-era historian at Harvard. I was shaped as much or more by the professor, his delightful temperament, and his engaging and embracing teaching style than I was by the compelling content of his classes. Prof. Donald created a safe, nurturing and joyful space for learning in what was often a cold and overly competitive collegiate environment. Prof. Donald conveyed a sense of deep care both for his content and his students. He didn’t just keep office hours, but also stayed late after class to field plentiful questions. Moreover, in teaching about the tragedies of Reconstruction, using the vehicle of America’s tarred past, Prof. Donald also engendered my gratitude for America’s present and optimism for its future. He taught me as a student of history and as a student of life.
