Tales of a Displaced Worker

I really hope you didn't just get the news that your college is about to close. That kind of news isn't easy to face. I know this from personal experience. Over the past year I have watched and heard about more colleges announcing they will close in the very immediate future. I remember the first thing I did was go on the Internet and look for anything related to surviving a college closing. Much was written about the students, nearly nothing was written for the student affairs staff that works at these institutions.I knew I wasn't alone, and even now I hear about other people who have gone through this experience in the past. But the future of higher education is changing and we need to be prepared with more skills than stories. Forecasts of higher education feasibility have stated that more and more smaller colleges will face closure in the new few decades, as they adapt to the new markets and rising and declining birth rates across the country. While I was working at one of the colleges that closed in 2018, by no means will it be the last one. Since the closure of my own institution, three more colleges in the region have announced closure and more possible closures loom on the horizon. We will need to be prepared as colleagues to provide support and as educators to face the possibility that our institution isn't as safe from closure as we might be led to believe. I am going to focus on my journey from the time of the announcement and what I wish I had been advised to do in the weeks leading to and the weeks and months immediately following the closure. I plan to speak of the staff that were and continue to be an inspiration for values-centered leadership. And this book will provide practical ways to deal with the closure, from how to continue to be part of your professional community to dealing with the job-loss grief that you may experience. Table of ContentsChapter One: The Kids Will Be Alright: Having implicit permission to focus on your professional work & learning to breatheChapter Two: Review your resume and other immediate job search needsChapter Three: Prepare for awkward and invasive questions, and finding job in the job searchChapter Four: Develop answers to the "where do you work" questions and other personal, triggering questions at professional eventsChapter Five: Give yourself permission to grieveChapter Six: Maintain your TribeChapter Seven: You are Going to Be AlrightChapter Eight: The Unfinished Tale of a Displaced Worker