A Quarterly Newsletter

"Hear the Wolf At The Door? How To Survive Unemployment"

by
Virginia Bola

NOTE: Even though employees of East Tennessee State University are not facing the dilemma of unemployment, a family member or close friend may be experiencing the tribulations of losing a job. The following article provides some positive aspects for coping with the difficulities associated with unemployment.

One of the most emotionally crippling aspects of unemployment is the sense of powerlessness it engenders. Job layoff triggers financial pressures, emotional distress, family turmoil, and dashed career hopes. It is forced on us by unrelenting fate, an emotionally disengaged employer, and economic currents that have little to do with us personally. We feel that we have no control over our situation, our lives, our future.

As we work through the anger, resentment, depression, and fear which is the common lot of the jobless, we can take some steps to regain our balance, reclaim a positive focus, and reassert personal control.

1. Daily Routine.
We no longer have the structure of work to mold our days and give meaning to our leisure time. In a very short period of time, we start to drift. Our days are so much the same that we no longer remember what day of the week it is. The line between work and relaxation blurs. We don’t work hard enough at our job search so we feel guilty which spoils our play time. Nothing has to be done immediately so we put it all off until tomorrow. Take back control by designing, and maintaining, your own schedule.

Get up at the same time each morning, shower and get dressed as if you are going to work. Map out your job hunting activities and stick to the plan. Build in relaxation periods and stick to those too. Having a regular routine, and a defined purpose (finding work) helps you to continue to think of yourself as a worker and a valuable, productive individual, both critical in avoiding the descent into social oblivion prolonged unemployment so often brings.

2. Physical Shape.
We eat when we are anxious. We eat when we are depressed. We eat when we are upset. Couple these psychological urges to eat with the fact that we no longer appear before coworkers’ eyes each day, have nothing to dress up for, and have seriously impaired self-respect, and our weight balloons out of control. Fight back by returning to a regimen of regular, healthful eating.

So much of our lives is out of our control right now that it is a relief to find one area where we are in sole command. Cherish that opportunity by eating sparingly, reducing the amount of time spent in the kitchen, finding non-edible outlets for stress relief. At the same time, start a limited but regular exercise routine. It may not be something you enjoy but at last you have the time to do it and all that huffing and puffing is a wonderful way to temporarily banish your worries.

3. Personal Relations.
You don’t really feel like socializing. You are so tense and on edge that you take it out on those closest to you: your family. Make the effort to compartmentalize your life between your career strains and that of your family and friends. If you allow the frustrations of the one to spill over into the other, you are poisoning your best source of needed support and heading towards the personal disaster – estrangement, divorce, violence – that too frequently accompanies extended unemployment and the wide-ranging destructiveness it spawns.

4. Job Search.
We have no control over when we receive a call for an interview or get that job offer we want so much. What we can control is where we spend our valuable energy. Submitting resumes for openings advertised in the classifieds or online should be a very minor part of our job search. For every position listed, hundreds of resumes may be submitted. Do the math and it is revealed as similar to buying a lottery ticket - easy and fun to do but unlikely to change your future. Spend your time more wisely by networking with everyone you know (and everyone they know) and calling on employers in your industry to identify openings which have not yet been publicized. Your sense of control arises out of being proactive: putting yourself in the public eye, refusing to passively sit by the telephone awaiting the call which never comes. You may be exhausted at the end of the day, and frustrated if the negative reactions held no hint of possibility, but you do have the self-satisfaction of knowing that you have taken your fate into your own hands and will no longer be relegated to the ranks of those who simply “watch and wait.”

5. Community Activities.
You may be relatively inactive in local events or deeply committed to your community. In either case, now is the time to intensify your level of activity. Since you can only productively job search for a limited number of hours per week, use the additional time to become connected. Volunteer for local charities, schools, union halls, hospitals, any communal events you can find. You control where you invest your time and efforts and being productive, even in a small way, can help repair your shattered self-esteem. Interacting with other volunteers is also a whole new opportunity for networking and may indirectly lead to that one golden opportunity you seek.

The world of unemployment, especially if prolonged, can be emotionally debilitating. By reasserting control over some aspects of our lives, we can contain the damage inflicted on our psyche and face the future proudly, recognizing that job loss is a regrettable fact of life, not a personal failure.

About the author: Author Virginia Bola operated a rehabilitation company for 20 years, developing innovative job search techniques for disabled workers, while serving as a respected Vocational Expert in Administrative, Civil and Workers’ Compensation Courts. Author of an interactive and emotionally supportive workbook, The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a monthly ezine, The Worker’s Edge, she can be reached at http://www.unemploymentblues.com. rticle contents adapted from National Women’s History Project web site at http://www.nwhp.org.

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Murray to conduct
"Passion and Purpose"
series

Are you creating and living a life you love? Pam Murray, B.A., M.B.A., local artist and creative coach, returns to campus during Summer Semester 2009 to conduct a three-part series entitled “Passion and Purpose.” Murray’s three-session workshop is focused on assisting in the journey of exploring your true self and true potential. By drawing from visual arts (no skills required!), art therapy, and journaling, Murray guides participants through a creative exploration of self by asking participants to look within to visualize, express, and create their own life paths.

Scheduled for July 14, 21, and 28, all sessions will be held at the Women’s Resource Center, Panhellenic Hall, basement suite 2, at noon. Reservations are required. To reserve a space or should you need additional information, contact the Women’s Resource Center at 423-439-7847.

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Women’s Health Series

“Optimizing the Human Body’s Recovery and Maintenance Capabilities – Naturally” is scheduled for Tuesday, June 16, 2009, at noon. David Luther, director of The Natural Health Solutions Center in Bristol, Tenn., is guest speaker for this Women’s Health Series Lunch Break Seminar.

During Luther’s seminar you will be provided with information on how to:

• Increase energy and immune function, while decreasing discomforts
• Choose the most effective supplement(s) for you as an individual
• Enhance the depth and recovery potential of sleep
• Remove toxins that may be affecting your health and energy

The Luther seminar is an interactive seminar that challenges some commonly held beliefs about the human body, and our ability to help it function optimally.

Location for the Luther lunch break seminar is the Women’s Resource Center, basement suite 2. For more information, contact the Women’s Resource Center at 423-439-7847.

Karen Feeley, D.C., of Wellness Way Chiropractic located in Blountville, Tenn., returns to the ETSU campus during August 2009 as guest speaker for “Can You Hear Me Now? How To Survive The Wireless Age.” Scheduled for Tuesday, August 11, 2009, at noon, location for the Feeley seminar is the East Tennessee Room, D.P. Culp University Center.

Electromagnetic radiation is everywhere - cell phones, microwave, computers and anything else that emits an electromagnetic frequency such as appliances, TVs, and alarm clocks. We are surrounded by EMFs in our everyday environment. Feeley discusses the hazards associated with EMFs and the steps you can take to help protect yourself and those you love during this Women’s Health Series Lunch Break Seminar.

For more information, contact the Women’s Resource Center at 423-439-7847.

 

 

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Saluting the Women of ETSU

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Dr. Linda Garceau named to AACSB International board

In February 2009 Dr. Linda Garceau, dean of East Tennessee State University’s College of Business and Technology, was elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of AACSB International.

AACSB International, founded in 1916, is an association of more than 1,100 educational institutions, business organizations, and related concerns, and it is dedicated to the advancement of management education worldwide. The premier accreditation body for business schools, AACSB approves institutions that are committed to quality and continuous improvement through a rigorous and comprehensive peer review.

Board members are selected after a nomination process and general election in which all member institutions vote. Only two AACSB-accredited United States schools have representatives chosen for the board each year.

Garceau accepted the position of dean of the ETSU College of Business and Technology in 2000. She is the past chair of the Women Administrators in Management Education and is secretary/treasurer of the Southern Business Administration Association, an organization she is scheduled to serve as president in 2012-2013. The chair of the Washington County board of Mountain States Health Alliance (MSHA), Garceau is also a board member for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence.

In addition to her service to AACSB, Garceau is a program evaluator for ABET, the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering and technology.

During Garceau’s tenure, the college has grown to encompass more than 2,800 students in business, computer and information sciences, military science, family and consumer sciences, engineering technology, surveying and digital media. The college is listed among the nation’s most outstanding business schools in the Princeton Review 2009 edition of “Best 296 Business Schools,” and ETSU was singled out for special national recognition by ranking fourth in the “Best Classroom Experience” category and fifth in “Most Family Friendly.”

The ETSU College of Business and Technology has been accredited by AACSB in business and accountancy for some 20 years.

Congratulations, Dr. Garceau!

Article contents adapted from the East Tennessee State University web site at http://www.etsu.edu/calendar/EventList.aspx?fromdate=1/1/2004&todate=5/29/2009&display=Month&type=public&eventidn=583&view=EventDetails&information_id=4403.

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Dr. Ardis Nelson receives Harold Love Award from THEC

Dr. Ardis Nelson of East Tennessee State University is the recipient of a 2009 Harold Love Outstanding Community Involvement Award presented in April by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC).

Five students and five faculty or staff members are chosen annually from among the state’s public and private colleges and universities for the $1,000 awards, which recognize outstanding community service performed at the campus level.

Nelson is director of the ETSU Language and Culture Resource Center (LCRC) and the ETSU Summer Migrant Education Program (MEP).

For over 10 years, Nelson has been a leader in the creation and delivery of educational programs to support the region’s Anglo-Hispanic community. Along with two AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers and the bilingual student staff of the LCRC, Nelson works year-round to develop and coordinate programs that connect ETSU with local Hispanic communities. These efforts enrich the lives of local Hispanics as well as the ETSU students involved in the programs as service-learning opportunities.
LCRC began in 1998 as one of the Kellogg III Expanding Community Partnerships subcommittees comprised of faculty, staff, students and community members. Nelson credits Bruce Behringer, who administered Kellogg projects at ETSU, as her inspiration and mentor in regard to community involvement. A cross-campus steering committee created the Applied Spanish: Community Studies Minor under Nelson’s direction, allowing for the institutionalization of community-based service-learning for Spanish language students.

The original funding ended in 2003, but programs old and new are thriving through student participation in service-learning placements arranged by the LCRC. The organization is now self-supporting, thanks to translation and interpreting contracts.
One notable highlight of ETSU summer offerings is the Migrant Education Program (MEP), which involves students in a course Nelson developed entitled “Diversity in East Tennessee.” Students from the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education, Business and Technology, and Nursing participate in the MEP by working with children from Mexico in an educational setting.

Every summer approximately 100 migrant children from five school districts in three counties are enrolled in the five-week program and receive supplemental instruction from certified teachers in a variety of areas, including English as a second language, reading, math, science, art, theatre and music. Those children most at risk to fail during the regular school year are the top priority, and the ETSU MEP works to better prepare them to return to public schools in the fall.

As a member of the regional Hispanic coalition, Puertas Abiertas a la Comunidad Hispana (Opening Doors to the Hispanic Community), Nelson has worked with Hispanic community leaders to provide educational events since the inception of this group in 2004. In March 2009, “Communities in Action” brought together 30 community members and 30 ETSU faculty members to initiate more community-based research projects for faculty and more student involvement in the community.

Congratulations, Dr. Nelson!

Article contents adapted from the East Tennessee State University web site at http://www.etsu.edu/calendar/EventList.aspx?fromdate=1/1/2004&todate=5/29/2009&display=Month&type=public&eventidn=1010&view=EventDetails&information_id=6622.

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Robertson receives 2009 YWCA ‘Tribute to Women’ award

On April 23, 2009, the YWCA of Bristol honored a dozen local women from Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia for their successes in the arts, education, business, and volunteer work at the Tribute to Women Celebration. Dr. Patricia E. Robertson, chair and faculty member of the department of human development and learning in the Claudius G. Clemmer College of Education, was one of the twelve honorees. She was honored for her service, leadership, and dedication in the higher education arena.

Tribute to Women was born in 1992 from the YWCA’s dedication to empower women to reach their full potential. This exciting program provides corporations, organizations, and businesses the opportunity to publicly recognize the outstanding achievements of exceptional women in the East Tennessee-Southwest Virginia region. Each year, the YWCA honors these individuals and their many contributions to the artistic, cultural, educational, and charitable areas of our lives. A special panel of out-of-state judges considered nominees from the fields of art, education, business, and community service.

Congratulations, Dr. Robertson!

Some article contents adapted from the YWCA Bristol web site at http://ywcabristol.org/031609%20Tribute%20to%20Women%20Recipients%20Release.pdf

 

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