Aggie Voice
ROI on my virtual GPA
My three year old daughter can’t pronounce coronavirus or quarantine, but she can, in her own toddler way, lament the way the world has changed around her. Since lockdowns were put in place in March she has had to put up with no more impromptu playground trips, no more cavorting in the streets with neighbor kids, masks that muffle snack requests; and really I don’t blame her for the uptick in tantrums. In fact, many days I want to join her, kicking and yelling about the unfairness of it all.
Aggie Voice
Transformational Teaching and Learning Conference
On April 17-18, Texas A&M hosted its inaugural Transformational Teaching & Learning Conference (TTLC). Hundreds of faculty members, graduate instructors, and administrators from different A&M campuses across Texas attended this event. Some even flied to College Station across time zones from Qatar. Faculty with award-winning teaching experience from other universities were invited to speak at this conference as well. It was a great occasion to celebrate and promote teaching excellence and innovation at our school, and a valuable experience to exchange ideas about teaching with people from outside of our own department and program. As a graduate student attending and presenting at this conference, I enjoyed hearing about effective teaching strategies and interesting project design from other faculty members and my fellow grad students.
Aggie Voice
South Texas Skies
The sun was just setting when I drove onto the ranch nestled off one of countless back roads in South Texas. It was beautiful serenity as the sun set on a hectic week as well as the expansive wildlands surrounding me. This multiple-thousand-acre speck of South Texas was my destination that weekend as it happens to be where my Kindred Soul lives. I was thrilled at the prospect of spending some time with him in this wintry wilderness. Over the time I had there, I was reminded of the subtle charms of South Texas which had taken me so long to recognize when I completed my undergraduate degree down there. Now, the desolate mystery of South Texas rangelands holds a certain call on my heart.
Aggie Voice
Inclusion: Adults with Autism
While our nation is flooded with support for young children on the autism spectrum, many forget to consider the adults within our communities that live everyday on the spectrum. The entertainment industry, however, has helped launch this topic into discussion. The award-winning 1988 film Rain Man realistically illustrated the daily challenges for adults with autism with an all-star cast including Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. The recently developed TV series The Good Doctor has showcased the social stigmas surrounding autism and highlights the unbelievable talents that individuals on the spectrum have the ability to develop in order to help others in their community. In 2017, Netflix released Atypical, a series that follows a high school student as he begins to discover the possibilities for independence through education, hobbies and relationships while addressing the life-long affects an autism diagnosis can have on a family.
