Greetings from Newport! On the bus, off
RWL #395
Greetings from… Newport, Rhode Island! (pic above is the view from the marina behind my hotel!) I’ll be attending the New England Alliance Spring Conference for the next couple of days. The New England Alliance is a long-term care professional organization, so I’ll be linking up with some long-time supporters of HMP, like the great folks from Alliance Health and Human Services who have hosted interns since I was dialing and emailing everyone I knew and a whole lot of people I didn’t know during the pandemic to find placements for my students. Happier days have come since, and they continue to partner with us to prepare the next generation of healthcare leaders. I deeply appreciate them.
I have some exciting news to share that some of you may already know if you follow me on LinkedIn - I have stepped into the role of Chair for my department as of the end of the spring semester (I had been acting chair during the spring semester). I have to admit, I had grown used to being an individual contributor, and was a bit hesitant about being back in leadership, but being back in the acting role reminded me of what I liked about being the responsibility and opportunities of leadership. This department has a nearly 50-year history, and there have been many chairs, so I know I am only a temporary occupant, but I hope to do well for the organization, the students, and my colleagues.
As I noted in last weekend’s (late) newsletter, we celebrated graduation for the class of ‘24 on Sunday. They were officially my tenth HMP class I worked with. I arrived in January of ‘15 for the last semester of the class of ‘15, so technically I worked with them (technically). My life before I arrived at UNH back in 2015 was characterized by moving every few years, from childhood through and then on into my military career. I had lived in 20 cities by the time I was 45. The sense of being temporary, of the majority of my relationships being temporary, was a reality until I came to UNH. I guess that is part of what makes being a teacher comfortable for me - I get to meet a whole new group of students every year and get to know them and help them get ready to launch. The difference, of course, is they come and go and I stay. Like a ferryman, or maybe just a bus driver - same river, same roads, different passengers. I like ferries, but a bus driver is just as accurate.
The bus metaphor is actually one I used to hear a lot when I was in the Army. Many people would say we all get on the Army-bus at some point, and we all get off the bus at some point, and the Army just keeps rolling along. It applies both to me and my students, and me stepping into the Chair role. I’ll be chair for some period of time, and then I will step down and someone else will step in. That’s the nature of the roles, and more generally of life. Hopefully we can all say,
"Jimmy, some of it's magic, some of it's tragic
But I had a good life all the way"
On to the links! As usual, willing good for all of you!
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Read
What: NHPR, Inside the effort to bring 'guided play' to more NH kindergarten classrooms
Why: My colleague Kim Nesbitt in our Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) department is leading the way on play-based learning in New Hampshire. I love this concept. It reminds me how important engaged activities are for learning outcomes.
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Watch
What: Jerry Seinfeld, Duke's 2024 Commencement Address (17 min)
Why: I am telling friends this is the second best commencement speech I have ever seen, after David Foster Wallace’s This is Water. Seinfeld cracks a few jokes, but he actually drops a lot of wisdom. I agree with all of it. Especially when he talks about the old saw, “Nobody ever regretted spending more time in the office on their deathbed.” He throws a bunch of bones to the Duke students about how great they are - whatever - that’s what they paid him to do - don’t let that distract you from the message. The rest of the speech is really excellent and worth watching.
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Listen
What: Federal News Network, A look at how power shapes care in military hospitals (9 min)
Why: My former student, Steve Schwab, is a health economist and did a study looking at differences in resource usage and outcomes in military hospitals. He and his co-author were able to show that patients with higher rank were given more resources when they came to military emergency rooms, and as a result were more likely to have better outcomes. This result was stable across race and gender of both providers and patients. There are some other interesting findings he talks about in the interview.
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What: EconTalk, Glenn Loury Tells All (90 min)
Why: Speaking of economists, Loury was the first black economist to get tenure at Harvard. He has moved in and out of conservative circles, depending on the times. He also led a complicated personal life while being a top theorist in his time. I always find him interesting, both for his views as well as for his personal story. Here is his Wikipedia page. I probably like him because I agree with him on most things. That matches some of what Steve talks about in his study on military docs.