I often joke that having barely survived my own two adolescents, now adults, I marvel at the life choice of the Higher Education community to accept with grace the honor of dealing with an adolescent population that never ages out.
It is only appropriate, then, that this year's Higher Education Forum keynote speaker is Dr. Frances Jensen, Chief of Neurology at Penn Med, and author of “The Teenage Brain” (and 150 other papers). This is both a readable explanation of the phenomenon shared by all your students, and survival help for you and the milieu you have chosen for a career. Her principles also work for lawyers, college staff, and significant others, none of whom are still “adolescents,” but all of whom are capable of acting as if they are. Her keynote will be followed by a panel.
Below I’ve listed some of my favorite quotes from her book:
“Back in my sophomore year, I snuck my phone in as a biscuit sandwich in the morning. I covered it in [a] brown napkin and put it in between the biscuit buns. I would simply come to school and put my lovely cup of orange juice and tasty ‘Bisquick biscuit’ sandwich on top of the metal detector and walk right through.”
“The more you learn, the more you need to sleep, it would seem.”
“Our best tool as they enter and move through their adolescent years is our ability to advise and explain, and also to be good role models.”
Johnny Myers Chair, Higher Education Montgomery McCracken
