Dear Jean,
As a professional colleague who knows you from only our periodic national association contacts, I've come to admire your smile, easy-going and balanced outlook, and professional commitment to school psychology. You are one of my role models as a bright woman who knows who she is and can lead with a gentle hand.
THANK YOU for your support, guidance, open mindedness, and professionalism for these dozen plus years of our acquaintance. Please know how much your NASP colleagues love you.
Susan Gorin, Executive Director
National Association of School Psychologists
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Thoughts for you, Jean
Jean, you have been so much a part of all our lives; and you always will be. I love reading these accounts because I see you in new ways and I better understand the fullness of who you are. I know this entry won’t do justice to you, and to my respect and love for you, but here goes.
I met you when I first came to Michigan State (MSU) in 2001. You were one of a handful of people who reached out to a new person on the faculty and said, “let’s go out for lunch.” I liked you immediately—your smile, your intellect, your appetite for life, your kindness—and the way you could just cut through the crap! You welcomed my family into your home, made us dinner, made us feel welcome. You gave me advice about MSU when I asked, invited me to collaborate on several projects you had started, and just listened when I needed to vent. I remember sitting around and talking about schooling and education, hearing the extent of your visions for what schools need to do to really help kids who struggle; kids who are vulnerable and who few others understand. There is such clarity and brilliance in your ideas. I have always felt in awe of you, Jean; even more than a little jealous. You are so widely admired by colleagues, administrators, and students. You do it all—an outstanding and innovative teacher, a creative and productive researcher, an amazing mentor, a model citizen. How do you do it all—and do it all so well?
But this makes you sound so boring; your professional accomplishments are important, but only one facet of your multidimensionality—of your richness. Jean, you sweep others along with you in your enthusiasm, in your zest for life, and in your good ideas. I think of you and I think of dozens of moments in the intersections of our personal and professional lives—teaching, meeting, talking, dining, laughing, gossiping, helping, scheming--and I so wish I had made more time for those moments. I think of you and I see you in your office, talking at length with a student. I think of you and I see you cheering lustily for France to win the World Cup. I think of you and I see you taking the time to help Maria, my daughter, get the help she needed at school. I think of you and I know that good deeds and living the good life aren’t contradictory. You are so damn full of life, and bigger than life, and you will always be a part of my life.
Cindy
I met you when I first came to Michigan State (MSU) in 2001. You were one of a handful of people who reached out to a new person on the faculty and said, “let’s go out for lunch.” I liked you immediately—your smile, your intellect, your appetite for life, your kindness—and the way you could just cut through the crap! You welcomed my family into your home, made us dinner, made us feel welcome. You gave me advice about MSU when I asked, invited me to collaborate on several projects you had started, and just listened when I needed to vent. I remember sitting around and talking about schooling and education, hearing the extent of your visions for what schools need to do to really help kids who struggle; kids who are vulnerable and who few others understand. There is such clarity and brilliance in your ideas. I have always felt in awe of you, Jean; even more than a little jealous. You are so widely admired by colleagues, administrators, and students. You do it all—an outstanding and innovative teacher, a creative and productive researcher, an amazing mentor, a model citizen. How do you do it all—and do it all so well?
But this makes you sound so boring; your professional accomplishments are important, but only one facet of your multidimensionality—of your richness. Jean, you sweep others along with you in your enthusiasm, in your zest for life, and in your good ideas. I think of you and I think of dozens of moments in the intersections of our personal and professional lives—teaching, meeting, talking, dining, laughing, gossiping, helping, scheming--and I so wish I had made more time for those moments. I think of you and I see you in your office, talking at length with a student. I think of you and I see you cheering lustily for France to win the World Cup. I think of you and I see you taking the time to help Maria, my daughter, get the help she needed at school. I think of you and I know that good deeds and living the good life aren’t contradictory. You are so damn full of life, and bigger than life, and you will always be a part of my life.
Cindy
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