Tuesday, September 23, 2008

From Michigan to Mountains

So I finally made it to Utah. Unfortunately, my unfinished dissertation came with me. ;-) ABD was good enough for my sister, however, who threw a big family party for me.
























This is the building where I work.



















It was designed with a big courtyard in the center so that every office would have a large window.



















My office is located on the front side of the building. This is the view. Pretty amazing, huh?!




















This is my office. You'll notice that my 90 boxes of teaching materials (yes, literally) have not yet arrived. Ohhhh how I miss them! Thank goodness for technology (and the wiki to which I uploaded so many of my files).




















However, when things do finally arrive, I'll have my very own ladder with which to reach them all! :-)
























The learning curve has been steep, and I've had my fill of "change" and "new" for awhile. Nonetheless, the environment here is amazing. I've felt very welcome, very supported, and have access to tremendous resources. I teach in tech-loaded classrooms.



















The classroom where I teach also has an observation booth (should I ever desire to have someone observe)!




















I can take my students to spaces like this . . .



















Or we can cook in spaces like this!



















So far, it has been a very happy place to work! My students are great and there are plenty of interesting things to keep me occupied. Unfortunately, that also makes it hard to invest time and energy in the dissertation. I've made great progress over these last few days, however. I hope I'm closer to being done that it feels!

10 comments:

Fiddlefish said...

Wow!!! Nice virtual tour! Amazing the changes that have taken place in the 10 years it has been since I graduated from there.

Tara

Ginger Johnson said...

Wow! Looks great!!! Thanks for the pictures.

Rebecca said...

Cherice I found your blog off of Trinette's and was so happy to read about your getting settled in Provo! I love your office and view--seriously wow! Are you loving the mountains? I'm loving all the mountains in Arizona--I didn't expect the desert to be so beautiful or so mountainous.

Good luck in this first semester! Geoff's is certainly a challenge--teaching two classes, research, and continuing to get our house in order (we expected to be settled in much sooner than this). And, as always, we're sending positive thoughts your way regarding your dissertation. It's going to be GREAT!

Have a happy day my Michigan friend now in Utah!

From Rebecca, your Michigan friend now in Arizona

cherice said...

I just found your blog and really like it. You are very creative and expressive. I found your blog because I like the name. I thought it would be a good name for a quilting company or quilting blog.
www.cherice.com/blog
--Cherice

Carlos Lorenzo said...

Great place to work indeed. Greetings from Barcelona :)

Cherice said...

Rebecca - So glad to hear things are going well for you! Looking forward to hearing how you've survived the first semester!

Cherice said...

Cherice - I have met very few people in my life with my same name. Is it your real name, or were you being serious when you said you really just liked the name? Unfortunately, graduate school has sucked all the creativity out of me for the last few years (or at least the time required to exercise it). I'm hoping to get back to it!

Cherice said...

Carlos - Have you spent time at BYU? I miss Spain SO much. I have very fond memories of Barcelona!

jenn said...

love byu and all the technology there. my program (social work) moved into that building right after i graduated and they tore down our very old building we used before. when we went to msu straight from byu, it was a huge contrast, with lots of really old building compared to byu's new stuff. i guess tithing money makes a big difference! but, byu can't compete with some of the beautiful older architecture at msu! hope you're feeling more settled soon. we'll be in touch next time we come down to provo (we're only 4 hours from there). and, if you ever want to venture up to yellowstone or jackson hole, we're on the way and you're welcome to stay with us any time!

Cherice said...

Jenn - Yes, I have appreciated the technologically well-equipped classrooms at BYU. I didn't realized you guys lived so close! You'll definitely have to look me up next time you are in town (or vice versa)!