Berger Institute News – Page 7 – Berger Institute for Individual and Social Development

Women and Leadership Workshop: Redefining Work and Life

Ann Carrick | February 8, 2019September 13, 2019

This year’s 10th annual Women and Leadership Workshop connected students with successful alumni and further prepared them for leadership roles after graduation. The workshop, which was held at McKenna Auditorium on February 22nd, featured keynote speaker Pamela B. Gann, J.D., President Emerita of Claremont McKenna College, Trustee Professor of Legal Studies and George R. Roberts Fellow, and Senior Fellow at the Kravis Leadership Institute. President Gann gave insights from her own school experience and spoke of gender biases she and others had to work through when trying to pave their way through their careers. “We were really on our own, [but] sometimes being on our own is a real growth factor.” After giving harrowing statistics on the number of women in politics, business, and law, she emphasized the importance of self-efficacy and building strategies for developing yourself into a good leader, such as “work[ing] on that thing that makes you uncomfortable.”

Dr. Sherylle Tan engaged the crowd as well with an interactive activity on work-life balance. At each table, students had the opportunity to create their own work-life balance wheel and to ask alumni about
how they’ve managed their wheels. The following panel of CMC alumnae, including San San Lee ’85, Harmony Palmer ‘13, and Charlie Stoddard Fitzpatrick ’94, further elaborated on this theme. In describing their backgrounds, they discussed an overall theme that there is no right way to approach your career.

“Stop thinking about the should’s and have-to’s and just go for the ride,” remarked San San Lee. The panelists also gave insight into how they dealt with personal costs with their careers, what they’ve changed to achieve more balance, and what they would say to themselves when they were students.

This event was sponsored by Susan and Thomas Handley ’77, the Berger Institute, the Kravis Leadership Institute, the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights, and the Women and Leadership Association.

Coping with Homesickness

October 13, 2016

I took a plane from Chennai, India armed with two carry-on suitcases and a VISA that confirmed my attendance to Claremont McKenna College. I landed in a country where the culture was foreign, interactions were different, and accents were alien.

I was fortunate to have my parents to ease my transition but that safety net was lost on day two of orientation, when they headed back to India. Orientation week was a blur of new faces, activities, and discussions where I had little time to breathe. But, as soon as it ended, I was lost.

In other words, I was homesick.

“Homesickness is not merely missing a house; rather, it encapsulates a wide variety of emotions, feelings, and warmth that one associates with a place,” says clinical psychologist Josh Kaplow [and make his name a link to the article]

I agree. I missed the humidity, sounds of traffic, my native language, my extended family, and the warmth of people that I grew up with. As an incoming international freshman, this was heightened. I experienced anxiety, difficulty with communication, and even a loss in appetite – all common symptoms of homesickness.

As a sophomore, I no longer experience homesickness. I do miss my parents; however, I am lucky to have found my own niche at CMC . For those who continue to struggle with homesickness, here are a few helpful tips that helped me get through it:

It is important to call your parents but not too often. It’s always good to touch base with them but you need to establish your independence, too
Don’ot be afraid of seeking help.Talk to a counselor or a friend if you are unable to cope or are experiencing any kind of physical or psychological difficulties
Try to get involved on campus. This will allow you to immerse yourself into the campus culture while also getting to meet new people
Put yourself out there, talk to people, and always try to maintain a positive attitude.

There is no easy fix to homesickness. A tendency to miss home is natural feeling. But, by being patient, positive, and being willing to seek help, you might find yourself slowly adapting to a new environment.

It’s hard to completely replace a home, but it’s not impossible to find your space in a new city, country, college, or continent.

A Kaiser summer internship

June 7, 2016

When you read this, Grace Bailey ’18 will have set off for Oakland, California, where she’ll be interning for the summer at Kaiser Permanente. Here’s what she’s found out about the company so far:

“Kaiser makes an effort to solve problems in an innovative and service-focused (as opposed to research-focused) manner, usually through the use of emerging technologies and creative, fast-paced brainstorming sessions. They follow a step-by-step problem-solving process: They start by spending a day in a Kaiser hospital, noting observations, and interviewing nurses, staff, doctors and patients to garner a sense for the problem at hand. After their observation day, the team gathers at their office and identifies the problem plaguing the hospital. Next, they work to problem-solve, developing a solution through both human-centered design thinking and the use of technology at the Sidney R. Garfield Health Care Innovation Center, Kaiser’s brainstorming and prototyping facility. Once the Innovation Consultancy team has created a viable solution to the problem, they implement it in Kaiser hospitals. To ensure that the project undertaken was successful, the team measures the effectiveness of their solution, comparing the cost of developing the project to the money the organization is saving as a result of the new solution, as well as other, less tangible measures like employee and patient satisfaction. If the solution proves successful, they scale it to become a streamlined practice in all Kaiser hospitals.

Kaiser’s innovation efforts are evident: they have the most advanced electronic medical record (EMR) system in the country and distinguish themselves from most United States hospitals in that they do not follow a fee-for-service model but instead ensure that premiums cover all patient care. Additionally, Kaiser is a key player in the Innovation Learning Network, a consortium of health care organizations that share ideas to advance healthcare innovation efforts. Overall, this speaks to Kaiser Permanente as a whole in that it values sharing knowledge and bringing great idea-generators together. From explaining the Innovation Consultancy’s process of combining new technology with new methodologies to highlighting several specific aspects of Kaiser that make it incredibly innovative, I am very excited to begin my work with Kaiser in this sphere.”