Some may have heard, but Dr. John Reiss was accidentally shot and killed in his home. Dave also posted about Dr. Reiss today.

I had Dr. Reiss for American Literature I my senior year at SMC. I loved that class. It wasn't only the material that we covered, but it was Dr. Reiss's dry wit that I appreciated.

I'll never forget the day that Dr. Reiss called me after one class. He recognized my enthusiasm for literature and said that he had recommended me for an Honors Irish Literature class. He said he knew I wasn't in the Honors Program at the time, but I was talented enough and had displayed such a love of literature that he thought I would enjoy it.

That Irish Lit. class was the best class I had at Saint Michael's. I loved every single class. It's one that I honestly looked forward to going to every single day.

I never thanked Dr. Reiss for that. I should have, but he retired that semester, and I would occasionally see him in the hallway from a distance, but for some reason, I just never took the time to say, "thank you."

Dr. Reiss, thank you.

I'm very excited, and a bit stressed because there is a lot happening right now on campus and specifically in the Office of Admission.

We've got our first Saint Michael's College Bloggers meeting coming up. At the end of the semester, I had about 9 or 10 students who were interested in doing it. I'm up to 12 now. Might be 13 or 14. I'm not sure how we'll handle all that, but if one of our students is excited to spread the word and share their experiences, I'm not going to turn them down.

One idea of mine is to have Saint Michael's Bloggers take on different media. I've already had someone express interest in doing a photo blog. I love www.boston.com/bigpicture. If we could do something like that, I'd be pumped. I also think it would be great to have students doing videos on YouTube. It's much more time consuming than blogging, but it's really cool if you can pull it off.

This year is going to be very much a let's see what we can do year. How many toys can we implement and it will be a very fluid year. If stuff isn't working, we'll drop it right off.

So I was walking to my car today after work (and I had plenty of time to think durring that walk now that school is in session and the employee parking lot fills quickly). Anwyay, I waas thinking about all this stuff ad my blogging and I can't help but wonder if it isn't time for me to step aside and let another staff member blog. I've certainly enjoyed it, and writing for me is an important exercise, but I am afraid that I'll get a bit stale here and keep writing about the same topics.

I think I'll throw it out there to the group and see what they think. I thin the chances are good I'll be coming to you on this same Bat-channel at this same Bat-time.

Peace,
Drew

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Now playing: Foghat - Slow Ride (Single Version)
via FoxyTunes

My name is Drew Millikin and I work in the Admission Office at Saint Michael's College.

I graduated from SMC in 2001 where I majored in Business and minored in Journalism. I grew up in Massachusetts, and after graduating, I found I couldn't leave Burlington. This has to be the best place in New England, if not the whole east coast.

Anyway, I worked for a bank for a few years. Although I eventually left, it was a great experience and I learned a lot about banking - everything from mortgages to multi-million dollar bond issues. It was pretty cool stuff. When I left, I was in a job that had me moving millions of dollars a day.

Then in 2004, I came back to campus, and it's really great being back here. I've got to admit that it was a little weird at first. Weird because so many professors remembered my name and some even remembered where I sat in their class!

It's great being back here though. I'm lucky in that I work for the college that I graduated from (and loved) and live in a state as great as Vermont!

I live in a town called Fairfax (which is about 30 minutes northeast of campus) with my wife Maria (also an '01 grad) and our two pugs,
Dewey (named after my favorite Red Sox player ever, Dewey Evans) and Rosie (she came with that name). Well, that's probably enough for today. It's at least a little introduction. Keep checking back. I'll try to post a few times a week.

Later!
Drew