September, 2011 - University of the Incarnate Word

ADMINISTRATIONPage September 2011www.uiwlogos.org15UIW grad returns to help students seek careersBy JoAnn JonesLOGOS PHOTO EDITORTony Almendarez graduated in businessfrom the University of the IncarnateWord, but he’s returned to take care ofsome UIW business as the new coordinatorof Career Services.“My mission as coordinator of CareerServices is to foster employer and campuspartnerships to create an ongoing interestin the employment and internshippotential of UIW students and alumni,”Almendarez said.Almendarez returns to UIW froma background in hospitality. For severalyears, he was the concierge for the MarriottRiverwalk and the Hyatt Regency.“My background is in hospitality,serving guests,” Almendarez said. “In away, I am still in the service industry, butthis time I am providing a career serviceto students.”Almendarez said his interest in highereducation came from volunteering in thecommunication resource center at a communitycollege in Corpus Christi. There,he helped students with their speechesand communication homework.Now, Almendarez is helping studentsfind potential internships and jobs withthe many services offered through CareerServices.“One of my main duties as the coordinatorof Career Services is job development,trying to build relationships withemployers and increase interest in UIWalumni and students.”In addition, Almendarez said hewishes to increase campus awarenessabout the Office of Career Services,which is a free educational service availableto all UIW students.“I think that students are really unfamiliarwith what Career Services doesand offers. I think [more awareness] isbeneficial to the students, to really utilizeour services. Some of the services thatCareer Services offers are resume andcover letter assistance, career counselingand on-campus recruitment. We lookand seek individual companies, big andsmall within the community, to come oncampus to do recruitments.”Recently, the U.S. Department ofState and Northrup Grumman participatedin one of Career Services’ oncampusrecruitments.Career Services also offers mockinterviews, career workshops and careerassessment tools, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which is typicallyused to help undeclared majors find a“Is it live or is it Memorex?”That was a long-running and effectiveadvertisement by Memorex, a recordablemedia company and now a brand of Imation.Accompanying that tagline was asong or music effecting physical objects,such as a high note breaking a glass.This year I am writing a series of articlesabout virtual environments, whichI have defined as: any technology thatenables us to communicate other thanface-to-face, in-person. In this articleI get to the heart of the matter: Whatdoes it mean to be face-to-face and whydoes it matter?I am hoping my article might provokeyour response or discussion because I amheading an effort to write a guide forteachers at the University of the IncarnateWord about the use of virtual technologyfor education and I need your opinion.During our first School of Media andDesign meeting this year, the topic happenedto come up and it led to a heateddiscussion about the relative merits ofteaching in a traditional face-to-faceenvironment as opposed to using virtualtechnologies.Last spring, I was a member of a UIWcommittee to regulate the use of virtualtechnology in place of Main Campus,face-to-face, class sessions and the majorityconsensus that resulted from anotherheated discussion was that face-to-facecould only mean the situation wherepeople were physically near one another.I was of the minority opinion that itreally does not matter if you cannot tellthe difference or the difference does notmatter for what you are doing, which iswhy I differentiate between “face-to-face”and “face-to-face, in-person.” I can understandthe rationale behind opposingviewpoints, but I also want to understandwhy this topic seems to have an emotionalaspect whenever it’s discussed.In this Part I article I want to sharesome of the reasons people give for whyand when face-to-face, in-person is moreappropriate than virtual and suggestsome underlying concepts behindwhy this topic seems to elicit theemotional reactions I frequently experiencewhen I hear it discussed.A cursory look at literatureranging from student testimonialsto CIO White Papers reveals tome that looking someone in theeye helps to build trust and minimizesmiscommunication. Writers referto honest face-to-face communicationand to its warmth. They seem to preferface-to-face communication as a meansto convey appreciation (having enoughrespect or consideration to see someoneface-to-face) and as the only acceptablemeans to provide someone with seriousfeedback or criticism and when assigningimportant tasks or resolving conflictsamong people.Still others recall the days whenneighbors actually conversed with eachother -- people still do in certain neighborhoods-- and lament that society is indecline because of virtual communication,which I feel is a convenient excuse for acondition that virtual communicationdid not cause. Some point to the healthy(mental and social) aspects associatedwith human contact (in the proximaland communicative sense). Others pointto the impersonal nature of virtual communicationsand the trivial relationshipsestablished virtually vs. the real ones thatface-to-face interaction can foster. Stillothers point to the higher likelihoodfor more caustic comments and extremereactions that might not be experiencedin face-to-face interactions.Malcolm Gladweel in “The TippingPoint” points out that much of communicationis non-verbal and that messagesand emotion can be conveyed withoutwords in face-to-face communication.Another argument is that in face-to-facecommunication, participants tend moretowards self-control than virtual communication.This is a quick first look at some ofthe arguments on the topic. How they,including other opinions, research andconcepts on this topic pertain to educationwill be the focus of my next article.This is my fifth article in this series. Ihave written about the impact of socialmedia, thinking and writing in 140 charactersor less, and what I have learnedfrom live and virtual birds. As always,I invite your feedback and dialogue. Iparticularly invite discussion and opinionon this topic.E-mail Youngblood, head of theComputer Information Systems program,at youngblo@uiwtx.educareer path that will bestsuit them.One of Career Services’largest tasks is tohold the annual springjob fair.“The job fair, whichis scheduled for March,is designed to help UIWstudents and alumni findjobs or internships,” Almendarezsaid.Whether a senioror a freshman, studentsTony Almendarezare encouraged to usethe services provided byCareer Services, such as Career Circuit,which lists full-time and part-time jobsand allows students to upload their resumeinto a job database.“I think that it is really important forstudents to understand that they shouldstart planning for their success early on,especially for freshmen. They think thatgraduation is four years away. But if youwant to put it in a different perspective,they have 48 months before they graduate.When you think about it in thoseterms, there really isn’t a lot of time, so itis really important to plan early and planahead. It’s always good to be prepared.”Almendarez said he hopes to helpstudents find their potential.“Every day is different,” Almendarezsaid. “There is nothing monotonousabout this job. Every individual studenthas a different story, need or want. Itmakes my position very unique in thatI get to meet these students one-on-oneand learn about them and sometimesempathize with them because of similarbackgrounds or experiences.“We want our students to be successful.I am a graduate of UIW, so I have avested interest in making sure that UIWstudents do well.”‘Is it real? Is it virtual? Why does it matter? Part I’By PhilYoungbloodLOGOS STAFFWRITEREDITOR’S NOTE: The Logos mistakenlyoverlooked Professor Phil Youngblood’sregular column in the August 2011 issueand broke his string of 51 consecutivecolumns.JOANN JONES/LOGOS STAFF