Passion: A requirement in Higher Ed

by. Laurel Stiller

I recently returned from a family vacation in Maine where my husband and I set the requirement that we fully relax and disengage from work. Surrounded by the beauty of New England, mission accomplished.

We ended our trip with one last day as a family walking the Freedom Trail in Boston. And there I was, immersed in the mecca of higher education that is the greater Boston area. I was awestruck. After a 25-year career in Higher Ed, I was deeply moved and my passion was ignited.

In the greater Boston area, where higher education began in the United States at Harvard University, there are now 60 such institutions. Our walk through the city reminded me that there was an important time when people began organizing approaches to independence and freedom – and inventing methods of advanced learning – better than my attempts at organizing the pantry in my kitchen.

And then, while riding the “T” subway to our final destination, I saw it – an ad for Suffolk University that read: “Passion is a requirement, not an elective.”

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