The Millennial Professor Blog Wordle...

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Exercise YOUR RIGHT to VOTE! - The Predominate Blog Topic for July

This month, I need some input. Please choose a potential blog topic (or two/three) and vote for those topics on my week-long poll. I want you to choose a topic that will comprise 75% of my blog posts.

-Here are the topics:

	Teaching Millennial Students
	Millennials and the Media
	Millennials and Social Networking
	Millennial Professionals and Inner and Outer Generational Conflict
	Social Integration of Millennial-Based Sororities

If you have an idea for ANOTHER topic, PLEASE contribute the idea in the "reply" section below.

Thank you!

-Millennial Professor

Millennials Mentoring Millennials

Yesterday, I had a great virtual meeting via Yahoo IM with one of my former students. He is interested in a Ed.D./Ph.D. program and he had a few questions before applying to one in the area. The conversation perpetuated my interest in millennial mentoring.

Since it seems that millennials in the workplace are having such a hard time connecting with Gen X and the Baby boomers, they should mentor themselves. It also seems that other generations think that millennials have a know-it-all personality and want to become the CEO within a ten year span. This is impractical, but we (millennials) do have ambition in the workplace.

This ambition that derives from my generational birthright drove my need to create a list of best practices for millennial mentoring.

1. Provide millennial professionals an opportunity to network with other professionals their age.

2. When initial connections are made, enable millennial professionals to foster a long-term connection by promoting linkedin.com and facebook.com.

3. Explain the importance of face-to-face and virtual mentoring to millennial professionals. If members of this generation realize the importance of peer mentoring, they will be more inclined to sustain the connection.

Please contribute any additional ideas! :)

Sincerely,

Millennial Professor

A Millennial's Perspective on the Work Life Balance

When I started my higher education career, I was 20 years old. I was younger than many of my students and I lived in the college town. I wanted my students to respect me and to know that I was professional at all times. Therefore, I never wore anything that resembled "student wear" anywhere in town (the grocery store, Wal-Mart, local restaurants, etc.). For a long time, I did not wear tennis shoes or indulge myself by walking around the neighborhood to exercise.

This personal/professional decision worked well for my career, but was devastating to my life outside of work. I felt like I was always on display, because I wanted to represent the university well. As a result, I made a conscious decision to move to a city that was closer to the metropolitan area. This was one of the BEST moves that I have EVER made.

I was happier because I could be ME. If I wanted to go to the grocery store in workout clothes, I could. If I wanted to peruse SAM's or Target, I did. If I wanted to spend my entire day in the Barnes and Noble bookstore without seeing my students, I could.

This was one of the highlights of my student services career. I was more productive because I could leave my university work in my office. When I lived in the college town, I took most of my work home and I made trips back to the office on weekends. When I moved, I made my five trips to the office a week and that was it. In addition, my students loved my commute. When they did something extraordinary, I would stop by SAM's and pick up a cheesecake factory cheesecake, an entire sheet cake, or vegetable/fruit tray and I would bring it to work to reward their efforts. When I made the transition to academia, I would often bring the same treats to the classroom.

Thank goodness for the work/life balance!

I am happier now than I have ever been before. I can seek grant money to write about topics that I am very interested in. I teach millennial college students about the importance of professionalism and about life in general. This is my life's passion.

What is your life's passion?

MP

Even a clock that does not work is right twice a day.
Polish Proverb