Resolution Rundown #2

In light of President Obama sharing his favorite books of 2019, the second New Year’s Resolution I want to share is that I want to read one book per week.

Ever since graduating from college, I have not read for leisure as much as I should so I want to remedy that by taking down 52 books in 2020.

Here is a breakdown of titles I have been thinking about (listed in no particular order):

  1. “Grant” (Ron Chernow)
  2. “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power” (Shoshana Zuboff)
  3. “Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee” (Casey Cep)
  4. “Tools of Titans” (Tim Ferriss)
  5. “Tribe of Mentors” (Tim Ferriss)
  6. “Confederate Bushwacker” (Jerome Loving)
  7. “Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds” (David Goggins)
  8. “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” (Stephen R. Covey)        
  9. “The Orphan Master’s Son” (Adam Johnson)
  10. “Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever” (Bill O’Reilly)
  11. “Leadership in Turbulent Times” (Doris Kearns Goodwin)
  12. “Single and Loathing It” (Michael Dennis)
  13. “Talking to Strangers” (Malcolm Gladwell)
  14. “Becoming” (Michelle Obama)
  15. “Outlander” (Diana Gabaldon)
  16. “Bad Blood” (Lorna Sage)
  17. “Hell or High Water” (Anne Mather)
  18. “Everything that Remains: A Memoir by the Minimalists” (Joshua Fields Millburn)
  19. “Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Missions to Explore America’s Wild Frontier” (Stephen E. Ambrose)
  20. “D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Battle for Normandy Beaches” (Stephen E. Ambrose)
  21. “Nothing Like It In the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-69” (Stephen E. Ambrose)
  22. “Eisenhower: Soldier and President” (Stephen E. Ambrose)
  23. “Crazy Horse and Custer” (Stephen E. Ambrose)
  24. “Pegasus Bridge” (Stephen E. Ambrose)
  25. “Jarhead: A Marine’s Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles” (Anthony Swofford)
  26. “Handmaid’s Tale” (Margaret Atwood)
  27. “The Testaments” (Margaret Atwood)
  28. “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Reveled” (Lori Gottlieb)
  29. “Everything is F*****” (Mark Manson)
  30. “Permanent Record” (Edward Snowden)
  31. “Midnight in Chernobyl” (Adam Higginbotham)
  32. “Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World” (Cal Newport)
  33. “Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity” (Jamie Metzl)
  34. “I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversations” (Sarah Stewart Holland)
  35. “The Book Thief” (Markus Zusak)
  36. “The Fault in Our Stars” (John Green)
  37. “The Road” (Cormac McCarthy)
  38. “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (Hunter S. Thompson)
  39. “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values” (Robert M. Pirsig)
  40. “The Art of War” (Sun Tzu)
  41. “The War of Art” (Steven Pressfield)
  42. “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” (Stephen King)
  43. “The Stress Effect” (Dick Thompson)
  44. “Hard-core: Life of My Own” (Harley Flanagan)
  45. “The Dharma Bums” (Jack Kerouac)
  46. “Steve Jobs” (Walter Isaacson)
  47. “A Man Called Ove” (Fredrik Backman)
  48. “Gandhi: An Autobiography” (Mahatma Gandhi)
  49. “Dark Matter” (Blake Crouch)
  50. “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” (Doris Kearns Goodwin)
  51. “The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism” (Doris Kearns Goodwin)
  52. “No Ordinary Time: Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II” (Doris Kearns Goodwin)     

Are there any recommendations out there?

Resolution Rundown

Well, here I am again … back with New Year’s Resolutions for 2020. Leading
up to the turn of the decade, I will take a look at what I have in store.

I know New Year’s Resolutions are cliché and have become the butt of many
jokes as of late, but I think it’s as good of a time as any to audit what you
have been doing and look forward to how you can improve.

The first thing I want to accomplish in 2020 is to write at least 200
words every day.

I don’t care what it is or how much sense it makes, I just want to sit with
my laptop and pound out some wordage.

I envision this exercising becoming a daily therapy session. Whether it is a
journal entry of a crummy day at the office as I navigate my ongoing career
pivot from intercollegiate athletics into academia or a documentation of my
quest to get into better physical condition, I hope this becomes a valuable
part of my mission.

If I write 200 words every day for 365 days in 2020, I will have a 73,000-word spark to ignite my ambition as a writer.

Worldwide Impact: Tim Whitham, MS, EFO

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Fire and Emergency Response Management graduate Tim Whitham, MS, EFO is teaching a pair of Core Education courses at Fire-Rescue International, the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ Conference and Expo, this weekend (Aug. 7-10, 2019) in Atlanta.

Whitham has been the Fire Chief in Edwardsville, Kan., since 2015 and also serves as an Adjunct Faculty Member in the College of Safety and Emergency Services at Columbia Southern University.

Whitham’s courses at Fire-Rescue International (FRI) will concentrate on developing best practices for fire department leadership and helping fire departments of all sizes implement fire prevention strategies in a variety of settings.

“My first [session at FRI] investigates leadership rules of engagement for officers,” Whitham said. “It is designed to give participants a guide or a template to work from. Twenty-eight different leadership styles have been identified, but most of the fire officer handbooks for certification purposes only cover about four. None of [the text books] teach you what to do or what not to do.

“The class really focuses on traits that have been successful for company officers when out talking to people, but you have to do the same thing with your employees when you’re in the firehouse. You can’t just bark orders because you have that rank and title to go with it.”

The next course on Whitham’s FRI 2019 schedule will discuss how departments of all sizes can initiate programs to carry out inspections.

“The second class I’m teaching is about conducting fire prevention services for company officers,” Whitham said. “It is geared toward introducing how to establish a program and how you develop those company officers to become responsible for performing those inspections when you don’t have a fire prevention branch.

“[Fire and emergency response personnel] can’t go out and buy a book to understand how the prevention model and fire codes work, not to mention what needs to be done to start an inspection.”

Whitham highlighted two major factors of UW Oshkosh online degree programs that helped him become regarded as an expert in the field, the first being the asynchronous course structure.

“My experience at UW Oshkosh was great,” Whitham said. “I could complete my UW Oshkosh undergraduate work while I was going through the Executive Fire Officer program at the National Fire Academy.

“I flourished academically and professionally with UW Oshkosh because I could set my own schedule. Online learning was a great platform for me because it allowed flexibility of life to occur.”

Whitham praised the responsive and influential faculty of all UW Oshkosh online courses as the second factor.

“I had professors who pushed me to think outside of the box. It didn’t matter if it was the general education requirements or the core requirements for my degree. The professors were top-notch and pushed me to succeed. Some of them even pushed me to keep going in higher education.”

After completing his undergraduate coursework at UWO, Whitham went on to obtain a master’s degree in Disaster Preparedness and Executive Fire Leadership from Grand Canyon University.

“I was prepared for my graduate degree experience at the master’s level. I couldn’t have done it if I didn’t get that encouragement from the UW Oshkosh professors.”

When asked about his favorite UW Oshkosh course, Whitham could not pick one in particular.

“I even enjoyed the difficult math courses because I had good professors who explained the process to us. There really was not a bad course that I had. I was there to learn and really tried to take away everything that I could from each course. The courses are what you make of them.”

To learn more about the bachelor of applied science degree in Fire and Emergency Response Management at UW Oshkosh, please visit https://uwosh.edu/go/ferm.

Original story appears at https://uwosh.edu/online/future-students/success-stories/ .

Writing Prompt: Tablespoon / Misapplication / Projectile

Mr. Alonza lifted open his eyes after a recreational night of imbibing, the assortment of black lashes fluttering over his pupils.

A tablespoon of apple cider vinegar pierced through his veins like the sporadic memories from the previous evening clouding his conscious with self-doubt and regret: an awkward and unsuccessful courtship attempt when Tonya Herlowitz out to dinner and a movie, reaching unwanted paws into an opaque bin of orange slices multiple times along the bar rail or darting across an intersection without his party.

The obligatory misapplication of hangover cures follows out of desperation, all in the name of avoiding a projectile encounter.

Studying with the Stars

 

Dr. Greg Mosby-page-001

Dr. Gregory Mosby delves into astronomy’s most pressing questions.

The lead author of five abstracts found in the Space Astrophysics/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS). A contributor to seven other projects, including the Robert Stobie Spectrograph-Near Infrared (RSS-NIR) of the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). An EAGLE Middle School Science Mentor Program Astronomy Mentor as well as an RSS-NIR Lab Undergraduate Mentor and Advisor.

Similar to the nebulae he studies, Dr. Gregory Mosby has derived into a gleaming and multi-faceted entity that stands out in a crowded field. He accomplished so much as a UW-Madison graduate student in the Department of Astronomy while examining galaxy evolution, star formation and stellar population analysis. Yet he still has a lot to work toward as a NASA Goddard Space Center Postdoctoral Fellow.

After earning a Bachelor of Science in Astronomy and Physics from Yale University in 2009, Dr. Mosby was not sure where he would pursue his postgraduate endeavors. Which variables factored into his decision?

“I was choosing between two schools (the University of Florida and the University of Wisconsin-Madison),” Dr. Mosby said. “On top of being the better department atmosphere match, the additional funding was a very nice incentive to choose UW-Madison.”

Dr. Mosby utilized UW-Madison’s Advanced Opportunity Funding [AOF] Fellowships for pre-dissertator status and for dissertators to finance his intellectual ambitions.

“I also believe the community support that came with the AOF the first year was crucial in helping me adjust to a new place, network, and get plugged into resources.”

Dr. Mosby collaborated with Drs. Andrew Sheinis, Marsha Wolf and Eric Hooper as advisors to obtain a Master of Science in Astronomy.

“My research focuses enabling observations to test our current models for how galaxies evolve,” Dr. Mosby said. “Strong relationships between the black holes in the centers of galaxies and global galaxy properties suggest that galaxies and their black holes might have ‘grown’ together.”

As he sought his Doctor of Philosophy in Astronomy, Dr. Mosby combined with Drs. Christy Tremonti, Wolf and Hooper as advisors to define his passion for uncovering how star systems mature.

“By looking at the star formation histories of galaxies with black holes actively growing now, we can try to assess to what extent this is the case. My research has focused on improving the techniques we use to measure star formation histories of these galaxies with active black holes.”

As part of the NASA Postdoctoral Program, Dr. Mosby is now teaming with advisor Dr. Bernard Rauscher to assemble a research proposal titled Laying the Foundation to Find Life with HgCdTe Detectors.

Without the backing he received at UW-Madison, Dr. Mosby’s probe into galaxy research would not be shining as bright as it is today.

“I want thank each and every donor for their support of the UW-Madison Graduate School,” Dr. Mosby said. “It really means a lot and can change the trajectory of student careers. Once the barrier of funding is eliminated, the real work can begin.”

Visit grad.wisc.edu or contact the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Funding for more information.

Wisconsin School of Business Student Spotlight Revisions

This is not an official University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business publication and is only intended to serve as a display of my writing ability.

“STUDENT SPOTLIGHT” INTRODUCTIONS — Mike DeVine
Wisconsin School of Business

MBA Graduation Year: 2019 (3)

Erik Aellig
Erik is looking to advance in his company and obtain credentials for a high-level job abroad in the future. After one semester, he’s received a new job offer within his company and has improved his organizational and leadership skills.

Ashley Blinka
Four years into her current role, Ashley discovered that she was most passionate when she could develop talent and affect strategies and processes. At UW-Madison, she is honing her management skills and gaining new insights to improve her business ingenuity.

Tom Lea
A lifetime Badger relatively new to business, Tom knew he needed fresh skills to advance his career. Meeting likeminded professionals, finding a surprise passion in financial accounting, and gaining confidence in his business acumen helped him expand his influence.

MBA Graduation Year: 2018 (7)

Kim Bruksch
Armed with confidence after launching a major initiative in her previous position, Kim came to Wisconsin to cultivate her leadership prowess and develop the business skills she needs to make a greater impact in her company and community.

Julia Fillingame
Julia returned to Madison after extensive experience abroad to earn her MBA and advance her career. Specializing in nonprofits, microenterprises, and artisan cooperatives, she is building her leadership skills so she can become a more effective manager.

Jordan Lee
After 10 years in hospitality management, Jordan looked to advance beyond the limitations of her supervisory role. She has already taken a big step toward her management goal by assuming a new role with a state business development program.

Lauren Pedracine
Lauren has made two major career moves at Kohl’s since coming to Wisconsin. She was promoted from purchasing agent to senior purchasing agent before moving into marketing for her current Loyalty Coordinator position.

Jim Schadeberg
With a Bachelor of Business Education and experience as a financial analyst for Covance, Jim’s passion is evident. He is looking to diversify his skill set and equip himself to run his own company one day.

Ashley Sliter
Ashley improved her career soon after beginning the program at Wisconsin. She secured a new position during her first semester and continues to gain the necessary skills and experience to take her career to the next level.

Michael Zeamer
Michael wanted a broader perspective to expand his career options beyond his highly focused engineering background. He is receiving a broad-based business education at Wisconsin featuring collaborative learning, career planning, and networking that will help him advance.

MBA Graduation Year: 2017 (4)

Ali Baumgartner
After completing her undergraduate internship at Fiskars, Ali graduated and went on to work for the company. Just a couple years—and a promotion—later, Ali knew she didn’t want to wait to take her career to the next level.

Sam Harvey
Sam needed business knowledge to move into a new role after came from a non-business background. An industrial engineer with operations experience, he has already been promoted, moved into product management and started his own business since enrolling at Wisconsin.

Heather Kopec
Though she has undergraduate degrees in Art and Spanish, Heather wanted to open herself up to even more future opportunities. She knew she had the creative and communication skills to succeed, but wanted an increased focus on strategy and analysis.

Matthew Teresinski
Matthew earned a Bronze Star during seven years in the U.S. Army before moving to the next step of his life. He chose Wisconsin because the skills and network opportunities gained will take his career to the next level.

MBA Graduation Year: 2015 (2)

Ryan Derus
Starting as a laboratory technologist in healthcare, Ryan wanted to move into business strategy. He chose Wisconsin because he would be equipped with the versatile business skills he needed to switch careers and advance to a higher level.

Donovan Malloy
Donovan began his career in a human resources developmental program where he found he learned best by working with others to solve critical challenges. At his alma mater, he is elevating his reasoning and preparing to solve new challenges.

The Human Touch: Levin Warns that Technology May be Draining Health Care Empathy

This is not an official University of Utah Health Sciences publication and is only intended to serve as a display of my writing ability.

Fifty-six percent of all Americans own a smart phone. The term nomophobia has been coined and accepted into our lexicon to describe the fear and rush of anxiety that may accompany some when being without their phone. Computer users report an average of 66 hours per week staring at their monitor. One in eight people are addicted to the internet.

Since the advent of iPhones and MacBooks, people have grown tethered to their smart phone screens and laptop monitors, while at the same time human affection and connection has decreased in all walks of life. The health care profession is no different.

“[The thing that health care needs to change the most] is the understanding of the significance of the loss of compassion and empathy in the entire spectrum of health enterprises,” said President and CEO of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Richard Levin.

The clinician-patient must be maximized to enhance the hospital visit experience to its fullest potential.

“In every health encounter—institutional, ambulatory care, it doesn’t matter,” Levin said. “The availability of technologies that actually make a difference over the course of an illness, and the acceptance by clinicians of the need to be efficient, to follow the value equation—which is value equals quality over dollars—has caused us to lose sight of the fact that this began and must remain a human interaction between clinician and patient.”

Levin believes two factors, keeping the importance technology in perspective and responsibility of hospital leadership, can ensure that human interaction remains paramount in health care.

 Deemphasizing Technology in the Patient Experience

The prominence of technology in protocol and procedures has increased since 1819, while the importance of human contact has been on the decline.

“Technology is actually neutral,” Levin said. “It’s neither a good nor bad thing. It’s how it’s used, and whether we’re aware of its potential to move us way from the critical challenge, which is to reestablish contact. We began to lose it curiously, paradoxically with [René] Laennec’s invention of the stethoscope.”

Physician visits were a much more intimate experience.

“In order to listen to the wheezing of a person with asthma or the burbling of someone with pneumonia, you had to put your ear on the patient’s chest,” Levin said. “With the invention of the stethoscope, which amplified the sound, it moved the doctor away from the patient physically. In many ways, we’ve been on that pathway now for over 200 years.”

Levin’s aim is to arm medical students with a well-rounded knowledge and comprehension of humanity early in their educational track in lieu of guidance on how to use the latest gadgets.

“We need to change the nature of health professions education so that the conversations about these very difficult, complex, basic problems in human existence can be understood before our students hit the first wall of transition, which is from studying biology to taking a pulse, meeting a patient, being in the hurly-burly world of the academic medical center,” Levin said.

“And [we need] to get the student involved to understand how strong the pull will be of what academics refer to as the hidden curriculum, the curriculum that is the process of being socialized into becoming a practicing physician.”

Influencing Leadership

It starts at the top. Levin believes an open dialogue with thought leaders across the industry regarding the increase of human compassion in hospitals and research institutions is a necessary component of the development of the health care system.

“And the second thing is an understanding by the top of the chain in what have become hospital city-states—remarkable organizations that have extraordinary power in local or huge geographies,” Levin said. “There must be a recognition that in that value equation is this fundamental human value that will in fact result, not only in a better bottom line, but in the salvation of health care in the United States. And encouraging the conversation will allow us to move back to the future.”

Levin predicts that backtracking to a more human-oriented emphasis during treatment will be essential.

“The concern is that we have allowed a system to develop– and that’s an active thing we did—which seems to fail to recognize the value of this most fundamental of the core elements of scientifically excellent practice,” Levin said. “I think it will be fine, but we do need to go through this process of recovery.”

Overall, Levin has mixed views of the future of health care.

“I’m hopeful and frightened,” Levin said. “I’m hopeful because touring around the entire country, interviewing medical students about this perspective humanism and medicine, they are as good, as turned on, as engaged, as hopeful, as any group of medical students in my lifetime. So that’s fantastic. If anything, the system is encouraging a group of people who could be humanist in practice.

Ultimately, patients need to feel that they’re in a safe harbor in order to be completely open, to be truthful, to be intimate, to be accepted by another human being whose sole purpose in being there is taking care of that individual. Research has shown that compassionate care improves health outcomes.”

If the health care field is able to revert back to an emphasis on human connection that was prevalent before Laennec’s invention of the stethoscope, physicians will be listening in to much more fulfilled hearts.

 

 

 

Wisconsin School of Business Student Spotlight Introduction Revisions

This is not an official University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business publication and is only intended to serve as an exhibition of my writing ability.

“STUDENT SPOTLIGHT” INTRODUCTIONS — Mike DeVine
Wisconsin School of Business

MBA Graduation Year: 2019 (3)

Erik Aellig
Erik is looking to advance in his company and obtain credentials for a high-level job abroad in the future. After one semester, he’s received a new job offer within his company and has improved his organizational and leadership skills.

Ashley Blinka
Four years into her current role, Ashley discovered that she was most passionate when she could develop talent and affect strategies and processes. At UW-Madison, she is honing her management skills and gaining new insights to improve her business ingenuity.

Tom Lea
A lifetime Badger relatively new to business, Tom knew he needed fresh skills to advance his career. Meeting likeminded professionals, finding a surprise passion in financial accounting, and gaining confidence in his business acumen helped him expand his influence.

MBA Graduation Year: 2018 (7)

Kim Bruksch
Armed with confidence after launching a major initiative in her previous position, Kim came to Wisconsin to cultivate her leadership prowess and develop the business skills she needs to make a greater impact in her company and community.

Julia Fillingame
Julia returned to Madison after extensive experience abroad to earn her MBA and advance her career. Specializing in nonprofits, microenterprises, and artisan cooperatives, she is building her leadership skills so she can become a more effective manager.

Jordan Lee
After 10 years in hospitality management, Jordan looked to advance beyond the limitations of her supervisory role. She has already taken a big step toward her management goal by assuming a new role with a state business development program.

Lauren Pedracine
Lauren has made two major career moves at Kohl’s since coming to Wisconsin. She was promoted from purchasing agent to senior purchasing agent before moving into marketing for her current Loyalty Coordinator position.

Jim Schadeberg
With a Bachelor of Business Education and experience as a financial analyst for Covance, Jim’s passion is evident. He is looking to diversify his skill set and equip himself to run his own company one day.

Ashley Sliter
Ashley improved her career soon after beginning the program at Wisconsin. She secured a new position during her first semester and continues to gain the necessary skills and experience to take her career to the next level.

Michael Zeamer
Michael wanted a broader perspective to expand his career options beyond his highly focused engineering background. He is receiving a broad-based business education at Wisconsin featuring collaborative learning, career planning, and networking that will help him advance.

MBA Graduation Year: 2017 (4)

Ali Baumgartner
After completing her undergraduate internship at Fiskars, Ali graduated and went on to work for the company. Just a couple years—and a promotion—later, Ali knew she didn’t want to wait to take her career to the next level.

Sam Harvey
Sam needed business knowledge to move into a new role after came from a non-business background. An industrial engineer with operations experience, he has already been promoted, moved into product management and started his own business since enrolling at Wisconsin.

Heather Kopec
Though she has undergraduate degrees in Art and Spanish, Heather wanted to open herself up to even more future opportunities. She knew she had the creative and communication skills to succeed, but wanted an increased focus on strategy and analysis.

Matthew Teresinski
Matthew earned a Bronze Star during seven years in the U.S. Army before moving to the next step of his life. He chose Wisconsin because the skills and network opportunities gained will take his career to the next level.

MBA Graduation Year: 2015 (2)

Ryan Derus
Starting as a laboratory technologist in healthcare, Ryan wanted to move into business strategy. He chose Wisconsin because he would be equipped with the versatile business skills he needed to switch careers and advance to a higher level.

Donovan Malloy
Donovan began his career in a human resources developmental program where he found he learned best by working with others to solve critical challenges. At his alma mater, he is elevating his reasoning and preparing to solve new challenges.