Sure, You Know the Honors College Staff … Or Do You?

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1. Career Plan B: Park Ranger: c  Xochitl Delgado Solorzano, Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

I love being outdoors, out in nature — going for hikes, or just sitting and reading a book. I have a goal of visiting all 52 of Arkansas’ state parks; I’m now up to 26! My favorite park is Devil’s Den, because it was the first one I visited. When I was in school growing up, I didn’t know that environmental preservation was a career option. I don’t have the skills to do it, but if I could get a job outside I would love to. I’m interested in making outdoor spaces more welcoming for people of color. 

2. Lifelong (long-suffering) fan of the Atlanta Braves: e  Noah Pittman, Associate Dean of Enrollment

I started following the Braves in 1994, when I was eight. My mom is from Atlanta, so every summer we’d go to my grandparents’ house, and they would get us tickets to see the Braves play — I fell in love with the team. I love baseball but I was never very good at playing it, so I lived my baseball dreams through the Braves. They’re known as the team that would find the worst possible ways to lose in the playoffs each year. They won the World Series when I was nine and again last year when I was 35 — that’s 26 years in between! So I stand by the description of myself as a “long suffering” fan. 

3. Spent three years in the Wisconsin woods with six other monks, four horses and three dogs: a  John Treat, Director of Interdisciplinary and Curricular Learning

I had just spent 15 years in the NGO world, and I wanted to do something different — I’d always thought about the religious life. So I packed up my life, got rid of most of my stuff and headed for a little monastery in southwestern Wisconsin, where I joined the Cistercian order. Each day began at 4 a.m. with Matins and ended at 8 p.m. with Compline, when the Great Silence began. I spent about two and one-half to three hours each day chanting in the office; I also ran a small commercial bakery, took care of the vegetable garden and horses, and worked on liturgical texts. Life should be balanced between work, prayer and study. 

4. Paid for food and gas in grad school by betting on football: b  Jennie Popp, Associate Dean

I started betting on pro football in ’91 when I was back from the Peace Corps. My dad taught me a lot about the teams and instilled in me two rules of betting. First, bet with your head, not your heart, so I even bet against my own team, the Philadelphia Eagles, sometimes. Second, never bet more than you can lose, so a big bet was $50, and in  graduate school, that fell to $20! I’d make a couple of hundred a month during football season — in graduate school, that could go a long way. The biggest joy for me was when I started beating the self-proclaimed football experts in graduate school. I chalk it all up to excellent training from my dad.

5. First job: Lifeguard: d  Lynda Coon, Honors College Dean & Professor of History

For my first job I was a substitute lifeguard at the North Springfield Swimming Club. I was on the swim team — a lot of us became lifeguards. I was a sprinter, freestyle, and also competed in the medley as the anchor. I also taught kids how to swim; I was pretty good at that. The big problem was getting them to put their head underwater — understandable, because that is a bit scary. Key skill learned on the job: how to boss people around! 

Extra Credit: d  Jennie Popp completed Peace Corps service in Togo, not Madagascar.