September 17, 2024
A highlight of last week was the first director’s advisory council meeting of the fall. It was great to join Anna Camp and a few of your colleagues to talk about how the semester is starting and get ideas for what we can do next. The SMPA team is talking about how we can act on your ideas. SMPA relies on your input to make our community stronger and to better set you up for success at - and after - GW. We can’t do everything, and everything we do won't work, but we can give it a shot.
We talk one-on-one all the time, which is great. We grab 10 minutes after class, or trade ideas in the halls, but often those conversations are passing. The director's advisory council (too grand a name for what amounts to a discussion group, we're working on that) is an opportunity to have a deeper conversation and brainstorm. Like the SMPA ambassadors, the council is also a way to work together quasi-professionally. You step out of your role as students and into the role of advisors and collaborators. The meetings give you a chance to practice doing what many of you will spend a lot of your careers doing - being part of a team offering expert advice to leaders of an organization.
SMPA, like most organizations, only works if we continue to put work into it and continue to take care of it. I am grateful for the work you put in and the care you take. One of the things that makes SMPA special is that we are all this together.
Keep bringing your ideas, your energy and your commitment. Thank you for continuing to take care. I hope to see you at a future meeting, in my office, in the halls, and everywhere SMPA is when we’re together.