F. Celeste Branham recently retired from serving the University as Vice President of Student and Community Services for the past 13 years. In this month’s Letter from Leadership, she reflects on her nearly 40-year career in higher education — and the “fascinating, sometimes challenging creatures — our students — whom I have cherished most.”
Dear Alumni/ae and Friends of UMF,
How odd it is to contemplate the end of a near-40-year career in higher education, from Associate Dean of Students at a private institution to V.P. of Student and Community Services in a public university…this amazing University, the indisputable jewel in the crown.
“Indeed, it has been my greatest honor to serve all of our students in partnership with my colleagues at UMF.” — F. Celeste Branham, former Vice President of Student and Community Services
I have served six wildly different presidents — from a World War Two tank commander to a chess-playing Milton scholar — all of whom had an enduring commitment to the liberal arts, as I do.
And during those years, I served with professors and colleagues who went far outside the classroom and their offices to help students succeed, always with extra time, tutoring, support, and sometimes with rooms in their homes or even loans to buy tires or fix cars so the students could get to their classes.
But it is those fascinating, sometimes challenging creatures — our students — whom I have cherished most.
Students have changed dramatically over the course of my career. Current students seek more interactive and self-guided instruction, updated curricula and methodologies, and opportunities for experiential learning and entrepreneurship. They are experts in social media even before they reach college, and, during college, they spend many hours per day, productively and otherwise, on electronic devices.
Students in 2018 are not complacent about safety on campus. They worry about balancing free speech with incivility, a lack of inclusivity, and religious intolerance. They suffer anxiety and depression at unprecedented rates, but they remain politically aware and engaged. Our students are particularly dismayed by their elders’ handling of climate issues, and they intend to do better. They also face more challenges in completing their educations, particularly financial challenges, but most nonetheless proceed with determination and industriousness.
When I look back over four decades, it is not the crises, pranks, student illnesses, irate parents, conduct issues, perennial problems, strategic planning, crafting of institutional mission statements, and/or addressing budget constraints that will remain in the frame of memory. Rather, etched in my mind is the student with cystic fibrosis who lived one year beyond all medical expectations and graduated; the student who spent years incarcerated in a federal penitentiary only to turn his life around and graduate with honors; the student who won a contentious State legislative battle as the youngest candidate while finishing his undergraduate degree; the student who survived a house fire to continue her academic studies; the student with dyslexia who fought valiantly to finish at the top of her class; the student who became an All-American against all odds; the orphaned student who needed financial assistance and guidance; and hundreds of others, each with their individual stories that I tried to help shape — all of them brave, many inexperienced, a few rebellious. Our interactions I will count among the rewards of my career. Indeed, it has been my greatest honor to serve all of our students in partnership with my colleagues at UMF.
Relationships are among the defining elements of professional careers. One is ever enriched by such relationships; one can learn and grow from them; and one can carry them along into new enterprises. I most certainly have been enriched by my relationships at UMF; I have learned and grown in their glow; and I will carry them forward wistfully and gratefully long into the future.
Sincerely,
F. Celeste Branham