Linda Rowe: University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria
She’s an academic skills specialist at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, but Linda Rowe, Ed.D., has no background in medicine. What she does have is extensive experience working with and assisting students in higher education.
Rowe’s interest in student affairs began 30 years ago when she was a student at the University of Florida. "I volunteered to help with student orientation and then was hired as a resident advisor in student housing. I suppose I liked college life so much I never wanted to leave," she said.
Rowe said she was lucky to have mentors along the way who provided her with a vision for structuring college life to nurture and educate students as "whole persons." Her family, who emphasized learning for the sake of learning, was also instrumental. "My mother was a high school teacher and guidance counselor in Florida for many years. They still call her out of retirement to organize testing. She went back to school for her master’s and then her Ph.D. while I was in high school and college. Her example was extremely inspiring to me."
Following in her mother’s footsteps, in 1998 Rowe received her doctorate degree, which she said was crucial to advancing in her career, but also was immeasurably valuable in helping her stay abreast of developments in her field-and simply do her job better.
Her job for the past two years has been with the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, a departure from any educational institution she had ever worked with. "I had no preparation whatsoever: no science background, no medical knowledge, and only the slightest previous interactions with the organization of a medical school. I sometimes asked myself, ’What’s an English major doing here?’"
Rowe said she quickly had to learn the nuts and bolts that related specifically to a medical college: licensing testing, the residency match program, structure of the curriculum, and current issues in medical education. "I did a lot of reading and online research to get up to speed, and I still learn new things every day. Fortunately, I get lots of support from colleagues here."
She said her position includes performing or supervising a wide range of functions aimed at helping students have good experiences in medical school, while mastering the subject matter and becoming better doctors. "My primary focus is on advising and coaching students in time management, efficient and effective study strategies, and personal development. My office is involved in advising student groups, helping to plan social activities for students, helping students apply for residencies, preparing the student handbook, coordinating orientation for incoming students, and organizing interviews for medical school applicants."
What she found surprising after her arrival at UICOMP were the basic issues medical students face-how to manage time, how to master large quantities of information, how to choose a specialty, how to deal with failure on a test-aren’t all that different from the issues undergraduates face. "Many medical students didn’t have to face these issues as undergraduates because they’re so bright that basic college work was relatively routine for them. The ones who encounter difficulties in medical school are like runners who ’hit the wall’ and need new techniques and additional determination to go to the next mile-and the next," she said.
Also surprising, Rowe said, was how useful her career as a judicial officer has proven to be. "Not in the sense of dealing with student misconduct, but in terms of understanding policies and legal issues, writing rules and regulations, and helping students navigate through the inevitable-and usually necessary-bureaucracy of state-supported education."
Rowe said the University of Illinois College of Medicine stays on top of emerging issues in medicine, such as cultural diversity. In fact, the U of I is the most diverse medical school in the U.S., she said. "We’ve been pleased to secure a grant from Pfizer, Inc. to enable us to provide resources and training in ’cultural competence.’ The grant has supported extracurricular presentations on the concerns of different ethnic groups, allowed students to attend cultural competence conferences, and helps fund our voluntary medical Spanish course. UICOMP students are eager to learn how to be more sensitive to different cultures in the practice of medicine."
Always an issue on college campuses is the idea of creating student leaders, a problem Rowe said may be increasing. "Despite the proliferation of student leadership programs, for a number of reasons, I think students these days are less likely to step up and become campus leaders than they were in the past. For one thing, they don’t have enough time. Money and time pressures mean more students work, more students pile on the courses to get through quickly, and more students rely on distance learning and online courses. This is a shame because they lose opportunities to hone leadership skills in the college environment."
Another challenge to creating student leaders is created by colleges themselves, she said. "To compete for students, as well as to manage potential risks and appease alumni and the public, colleges are more and more likely to plan the dances, closely supervise the residence halls, and exercise jurisdiction over off-campus behavior. This tends to narrow the opportunities for students to exercise true leadership with other students. Nevertheless, I’ve observed that students want to learn more about leadership. I think we can help them by emphasizing more group activities and more opportunities for cooperation. Academia has traditionally emphasized and rewarded individual achievement. Yet the world most of us work in today emphasizes team work and committees."
In addition to her work on campus, Rowe also is a frequent speaker and writer on issues related to student affairs, recently agreeing to become a contributing editor of the journal Campus Safety and Student Development. "One of my core messages derives from the most basic of educational principles: if you want someone to change, to learn, and to move forward, you must meet them where they are. I emphasize understanding and knowing your students and their culture as a starting point for administrative decision-making. It continues to astonish me how often administrators and educators wonder, guess, and speculate about why students do things and how they would react-but never take the most basic step of asking students what they think. Know your students, collaborate with them, respect their points of view, and invite them to expand their points of view. These, I hope, are among the basic messages I convey." TPW
Rowe’s interest in student affairs began 30 years ago when she was a student at the University of Florida. "I volunteered to help with student orientation and then was hired as a resident advisor in student housing. I suppose I liked college life so much I never wanted to leave," she said.
Rowe said she was lucky to have mentors along the way who provided her with a vision for structuring college life to nurture and educate students as "whole persons." Her family, who emphasized learning for the sake of learning, was also instrumental. "My mother was a high school teacher and guidance counselor in Florida for many years. They still call her out of retirement to organize testing. She went back to school for her master’s and then her Ph.D. while I was in high school and college. Her example was extremely inspiring to me."
Following in her mother’s footsteps, in 1998 Rowe received her doctorate degree, which she said was crucial to advancing in her career, but also was immeasurably valuable in helping her stay abreast of developments in her field-and simply do her job better.
Her job for the past two years has been with the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, a departure from any educational institution she had ever worked with. "I had no preparation whatsoever: no science background, no medical knowledge, and only the slightest previous interactions with the organization of a medical school. I sometimes asked myself, ’What’s an English major doing here?’"
Rowe said she quickly had to learn the nuts and bolts that related specifically to a medical college: licensing testing, the residency match program, structure of the curriculum, and current issues in medical education. "I did a lot of reading and online research to get up to speed, and I still learn new things every day. Fortunately, I get lots of support from colleagues here."
She said her position includes performing or supervising a wide range of functions aimed at helping students have good experiences in medical school, while mastering the subject matter and becoming better doctors. "My primary focus is on advising and coaching students in time management, efficient and effective study strategies, and personal development. My office is involved in advising student groups, helping to plan social activities for students, helping students apply for residencies, preparing the student handbook, coordinating orientation for incoming students, and organizing interviews for medical school applicants."
What she found surprising after her arrival at UICOMP were the basic issues medical students face-how to manage time, how to master large quantities of information, how to choose a specialty, how to deal with failure on a test-aren’t all that different from the issues undergraduates face. "Many medical students didn’t have to face these issues as undergraduates because they’re so bright that basic college work was relatively routine for them. The ones who encounter difficulties in medical school are like runners who ’hit the wall’ and need new techniques and additional determination to go to the next mile-and the next," she said.
Also surprising, Rowe said, was how useful her career as a judicial officer has proven to be. "Not in the sense of dealing with student misconduct, but in terms of understanding policies and legal issues, writing rules and regulations, and helping students navigate through the inevitable-and usually necessary-bureaucracy of state-supported education."
Rowe said the University of Illinois College of Medicine stays on top of emerging issues in medicine, such as cultural diversity. In fact, the U of I is the most diverse medical school in the U.S., she said. "We’ve been pleased to secure a grant from Pfizer, Inc. to enable us to provide resources and training in ’cultural competence.’ The grant has supported extracurricular presentations on the concerns of different ethnic groups, allowed students to attend cultural competence conferences, and helps fund our voluntary medical Spanish course. UICOMP students are eager to learn how to be more sensitive to different cultures in the practice of medicine."
Always an issue on college campuses is the idea of creating student leaders, a problem Rowe said may be increasing. "Despite the proliferation of student leadership programs, for a number of reasons, I think students these days are less likely to step up and become campus leaders than they were in the past. For one thing, they don’t have enough time. Money and time pressures mean more students work, more students pile on the courses to get through quickly, and more students rely on distance learning and online courses. This is a shame because they lose opportunities to hone leadership skills in the college environment."
Another challenge to creating student leaders is created by colleges themselves, she said. "To compete for students, as well as to manage potential risks and appease alumni and the public, colleges are more and more likely to plan the dances, closely supervise the residence halls, and exercise jurisdiction over off-campus behavior. This tends to narrow the opportunities for students to exercise true leadership with other students. Nevertheless, I’ve observed that students want to learn more about leadership. I think we can help them by emphasizing more group activities and more opportunities for cooperation. Academia has traditionally emphasized and rewarded individual achievement. Yet the world most of us work in today emphasizes team work and committees."
In addition to her work on campus, Rowe also is a frequent speaker and writer on issues related to student affairs, recently agreeing to become a contributing editor of the journal Campus Safety and Student Development. "One of my core messages derives from the most basic of educational principles: if you want someone to change, to learn, and to move forward, you must meet them where they are. I emphasize understanding and knowing your students and their culture as a starting point for administrative decision-making. It continues to astonish me how often administrators and educators wonder, guess, and speculate about why students do things and how they would react-but never take the most basic step of asking students what they think. Know your students, collaborate with them, respect their points of view, and invite them to expand their points of view. These, I hope, are among the basic messages I convey." TPW