Spring 2002

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Branches of Learning

COLLEGE AS MULTI-LANED HIGHWAY

by Ben Barnhart

"HOPING TO FIND A WAY TO BLEND IT ALL TOGETHER" - senior in psychology Jennifer Casavant '02 with her day-planner. (photo by Ben Barnhart) BY HER FINAL SEMESTER AT UMass, Jennifer Casavant ’02 had her entire life keyed to a handful of highlighter-colors meticulously drawn into her day-planner. With a schedule like hers, said the senior in psychology in March, it was sometimes the only way she knew where she was going. Organizational skills – often wanting in even the best students, not to mention many a graduate – have been Casavant’s forte and maybe even her saving grace. During her time at UMass she maintained a 3.57 GPA, served as secretary of university policy for the Student Government Association, and was a resident assistant in Pierpont dorm – among other things. “Purple means I’m at my internship” (at New Directions School in Northampton where she worked with emotional and behavioral problem kids), “pink is RA stuff. And this,” she said, pointing to a blue block of time on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, “is Industrial Organizational Psych. “So if I see something in blue I know it’s related. And SGA is red.” Her eyes widened and a pretty smile stretched across her face. “My mom says I have a dual major in psychology and extra-curricular activities,” said Casavant. And if the load was burdensome, she showed little sign of it: “I like everything I’m doing – I love pysch, and my classes,” said Casavant. “I think I get bored if I sit still too long. I’m so used to going, going, going, I think it stresses me out more to be doing nothing.” WITH A LITTLE PRODDING, SHE would admit to an occasional bout of the anxieties about school and career that afflict most undergraduates. “I have my days when I think, ‘That’s it, I’m gonna jump off the balcony!’” she said – but immediately broke into laughter at the drama of the thought. “I am kind of a worrier,” said Casavant more seriously. “That’s probably why I’m so compulsive about being organized.” She illustrated her point by describing a hectic week this spring when she faced two exams – one in what she calls “a ridiculously hard class” – and a mountain of preparation for an upcoming conference of Psi Chi, the national honor society for psychology students, of which she’s chapter president. “My brain was so full I thought I was going to forget how to spell,” said Casavant with a smile. But by week’s end she’d not only worked through the overload but learned with relief that she’d been accepted into the School of Education’s graduate program for this fall. The broad interests that Casavant says help keep her balanced – and that were a factor in being named one of 77 recipients of the 2002 Senior Leadership Award – include work as a counselor for the New Students Program and, during summers, for an environmental science program for middle-school kids in her hometown of Newton. Tall, strong, and athletic, she also plays on soccer, field hockey and basketball intramural clubs. Notably, all these interests are social. “People just fascinate me,” said Casavant. “I love to understand why people do what they do.” That fascination drew her to psychology as early as her freshman year, as she considered a list of majors that included Spanish, education, and environmental science. By the end of her first semester, she says, “psych emerged on top.” Once committed to a psychology major, Casavant involved herself passionately in the department. Professor Susan Whitbourne, who is academic advisor for Psi Chi and taught Psychology 100 with Casavant’s assistance last fall, says this student’s strength is the example she sets for others. “She is such a great role model and is so motivated to help other students,” Whitbourne says. “She’s always willing to take on responsibility.” Last year UMass Psi Chi won the regional Chapter of the Year award and, under Casavant’s presidency, was aiming for a national award this year. Whitbourne says Casavant has made the club stronger by involving others in programming decisions. “Like any good leader Jen is learning how to delegate,” says Whitbourne. “She has a way of getting people involved and motivated.” Casavant has a way of involving herself, too. When she decided to become an RA last fall she had little awareness of the impending labor debate that resulted, this spring, in UMass becoming the first school in the nation where resident assistants are unionized. Casavant fought against the union movement and still believes it’s a mistake. “I don’t think our working conditions are as poor as some people make them out to be,” she said. “RAs on other campuses are laughing at us. Some of them have roommates and don’t get paid; maybe they’ll get a room waiver but that’s it.” Casavant agreed that changes were needed, especially in the grievance procedures. But in her view, students should address problems through dialogue with the administration. “A lot of the people who say we have no voice and no power have never tried to go through the proper channels to change things,” she said . THROUGH HER SGA INVOLVEMENT, CASAVANT is well acquainted with proper channels. She actually seems to thrive on the kind of thankless, miasmic administrative work – service on the Parking and Transportation Advisory Board, for example, or the Dining Services Committee – that would suffocate many people. Her interest in student government, which began in junior high, has extended throughout her four years at UMass; she served as an SGA senator before taking on her current role of Secretary of University Policy in the SGA president’s cabinet. She says she’s not interested in politics but in “the way the school functions, the administrative aspect of it.” Sitting in a meeting room for hours, listening to students debate policy minutia, may sound torturous to some, but Casavant says she’s intrigued even by the tedium of governance. “I like hearing the different viewpoints and arguments,” she says. “Sure, it can get frustrating, but even when I get frustrated, it’s never an option to quit.” You might assume that someone with Casavant’s organizational skills would already have her future carved into stone – or at least blocked out in bright red letters in her day-planner –but choosing a single path, after a college life that’s been multi-laned, isn’t proving easy for her. “I have all these varied interests and I’m not good at narrowing them down,” she said. “I don’t like focusing on just one thing. Instead, I’m hoping to find a way to blend it all together. That’s part of my ongoing quest.” She’ll begin a master’s program in higher education administration at UMass this fall, and she thinks she might someday like to be a provost or dean of students. Such roles would incorporate her interest in human behavior, she says. But she might also eventually pursue a doctorate in psychology. What she wants most, says Casavant, is the opportunity to “help people and impact lives.” Lucille Halgin of the department’s undergraduate advising office is one of many mentors who feel confident this student will find that opportunity, noting the “impressive sense of commitment and compassion” Casavant demonstrates in the three hours a week she spends in that office. Whatever form her future career may take, what’s hardest for Casavant to imagine is a life that doesn’t require a collection of highlighters to maintain. “I’m wondering what I’d do with all my free time,” she says.

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COLLEGE AS MULTI-LANED HIGHWAY

SIDEBAR: COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

COLLEGE: larger image