Jennifer FerrellMajor: History

Minor: Art

Hometowns: San Diego, California and Indiana, Pennsylvania

Further degrees: Master of Arts, Student Affairs in Higher Education, IUP, 2005

Current employer: Keene State College in Keene, NH, Coordinator of Student Activities, changing over the summer to Director of Student Involvement

Additional professional associations: ACPA, currently serve on the Standing Committee for Women Directorate, NACA, AFA, ACUI

Community associations: Board of Directors, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western New Hampshire

Most enhancing experiences: Living and learning within the walls of the Robert E. Cook Honors College was absolutely one of the most fulfilling experiences of my college career. I believe that many of the opportunities afforded to me through the HC shaped me into the person, educator and citizen that I am today. One such opportunity, spending part of the summer prior to my junior year studying the Renaissance and Reformation throughout Italy, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and England, truly strengthened my love for higher education, passion for learning and the history of academics and gave me my first real taste of the world beyond my doorstep. I know that without the scholarship opportunity and support of the HC that is an experience that would have never been possible for me. In addition to my love of learning in the classroom I found my experience at IUP to be just as rewarding in the co-curricular arena. I knew all along that I wanted a career that allowed me to stay in school forever, and my automatic assumption was that I had to be a professor. Being involved in student activities and organizations such as The Entertainment Network (T.E.N.) and the Major Events committee opened up my eyes to a new career possibility and direction for my life. I found a way to be completely immersed in college life beyond the classroom forever—Student Affairs.

About my major: I truly enjoyed being a History major at IUP. I had wonderful experiences with some outstanding professors including Dr. Charles Cashdollar and Dr. Lynn Botelho, to whom I believe I still owe some revisions about a decade later. My major helped me gain a sense of perspective about my place in the world and gave me a sense of wonder and appreciation for daily life, traditions, rituals and the human condition.

HC impact: I still talk to this day about the Honors College core class and how I wish I could replay some of the greatest conversations, disagreements, debates and brilliant visions of my life. Oftentimes I find myself asking the students with whom I work and advise on a daily basis some of the same questions we pondered in the hopes of fueling more of those great conversations. I know that my time in the HC made me a better writer, learner, listener and advocate for both myself and others, willing to stand up for those things in which I believe (and even those things which I know!). I truly cannot imagine what my IUP experience, or more expressly life, would have been like without the Honors College in it.

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