Spring 2012 - Clarion University

ReaLizing
DReams onLine
Andy Lingwall, Ph.D.
Communication
Phyllis Griffin and Audrey Smith are adult students,
parents and working moms who returned to school after
several decades of life in other places to work toward
Liberal Studies degrees with concentrations in WGS. Both
utilized Clarion’s Virtual Campus to realize their dreams of
attaining a college education that will benefit others.
“This degree program has helped me to understand
where people are in their lives, and how to better relate to
them,” says Phyllis, age 56, resident of San Antonio, Texas.
“I am able to use what I learned every day on my job - to
relate to different people’s behaviors and cultures.”
Phyllis graduated from Clarion in May 2010. In her
career and personal life, Phyllis uses her new knowledge to
help anyone she can in the community.
“For example, when I was riding the bus regularly to
work each day,” she says, “I got to know a young lady who is
a single mother. I helped her and her two sons get to school
each morning so that she could graduate from high school.”
Based on that experience, Phyllis observed that the
bus authority needed to adopt some new policies to make
the riding experience easier for parents with children. As a
project in Dr. Deb’s class, she wrote a proposal to the bus
authority suggesting changes.
Audrey, age 53, a mother of 10 children and single
parent since 2002, resides in Barre, Vt. She stayed on
course for a Spring 2011 graduation while home-schooling
several of her children, writing three books and running a
business raising AKC-registered Pugs.
“My WGS coursework at Clarion has been so
empowering,” says Audrey. “It has inspired me to learn new
things, and helped me to understand my own life and the
world in so many different ways.”
According to Phyllis and Audrey, online courses
were a challenge at first, but they quickly learned how to
make it work to their advantage. Both Phyllis and Audrey
noted that their online learning experience has gone
smoothly all in all, and that their professors have been
accessible and supportive.
“On the class website, Dr. Deb used discussion
boards and group projects to put all of us students in touch
with one another,” says Phyllis. “She encouraged us to share
all of our life stories. This was phenomenal for me, because
as an African-American woman, I have lived through so
many stages of race relations and the women’s liberation
movement in this country.”
Audrey says that Dr. Deb went beyond the class
to encourage her students to excel in other areas of their
lives. “She actually called me several times to include me in
various WGS activities, and helped get me inducted into
Tri-Iota, the WGS Honor Society. She is a highly involved,
passionate professor. You feel that she knows about you,
and that she cares about you.”
In a literature course she took with Dr. Juanita
Smart, Audrey recalls that Dr. Smart provided prompt
and supportive feedback on her writing, and ran a wellorganized
online course.
Phyllis added that Dr. Donna Ashcraft utilized web
technologies, including podcasts, to reach her students
each week. “The podcasts were phenomenal,” she said. “I
would listen to them each day while I got ready for work. The
convenience of it was outrageous! Sometimes, I would work
on assignments late at night while the kids slept. The flexibility
was unbeatable.”
Finally, Audrey appreciated being able to make
some friends in the WGS program. “It really helps to have
someone to relate to informally, so you can support each
other through all the ups and downs.”
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