Iowa Road Trip

This might be the only Iowa-related song I know. It's "Iowa Stubborn" from The Music Man, performed here by Chaffey High School of Ontario, CA (see more here):



Fun, huh? Okay, that is related to the topic of this post only in that the word "Iowa" appears in both.

I just got back from Ames, IA, where I presented at a regional conference of the National Academic Advising Association. Mary Jo, my former boss from Dickinson State University--who is now at Iowa State University (in Ames)--and I presented a panel with one DSU colleague on training university students to serve as peer advisors for freshmen and transfers, and we presented a second panel with another DSU colleague on bringing together a university's academic affairs and student affairs division in a joint academic advising effort during students' First-Year Experience.

Unlike all other conferences the past couple years that I've attended and presented at, for which I've flown, this one we got to and fro by driving. It was a long drive: about 11 hours, including brief stops to buy refreshments and meals or use the restroom. We had nice accommodations in Ames, though. The hotel where we stayed is run by ISU (and students in its Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management program) and has a conference center where most of the conference events were held. The opening and closing events of the conference were held on campus in the Gerdin Business Building, which is a nice, relatively new facility. Monday evening a few of us returned to campus for a guided tour by two students, who walked us around the lovely campus and told us brief histories of several of the buildings. With a student body of around 25,000, you can imagine that it's a large and sprawling campus.

Everybody whom I met at the conference was so genuinely friendly and down-to-earth, and all the conference sessions were worthwhile--and our presentations were well received, too. I reconnected with a gentleman who was a classmate of mine in a graduate course on educational foundations several years ago, and I made new friends with colleagues at other ND institutions of higher education. Also important was the chance to spend time with Mary Jo and her daughter, Lucinda. They made us (the DSU contingent) a delicious breakfast Sunday and joined us for supper Monday and breakfast Tuesday at The Café, a misleadingly simply named restaurant with a French theme and incredibly delicious food. (Without Mary Jo, my colleagues and I had a great meal Sunday night at Legends in the Campustown section of Ames.)

Seeing them, having a chance to visit and to vent about the stressful goings-on at work, and successfully delivering (and now being done with!) both presentations has restored my mental health somewhat. And being back now in the House of Blonde Beauties certainly helps, too!