My Next Chapter

As I finish my last week at Union Institute and University, graduating with a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership, I reflect back and smile.  My curiosity has always led me to explore nature and its existence, the human heart and its depth, the mind and its malleability. I have worked in the corporate realm, culinary world, non-profit sector, and as a freelance writer.  Still, a puzzle piece has been missing.  Obtaining my master’s degree has helped me strategize and visualize my next subject of study.  The knowledge obtained coupled with hands-on learning experience and research leaves me wanting to further my education on the fundamentals of technology and its advances affecting humanity.

Next stop: Gonzaga University!  Starting September 1st, 2020, I enter the Leadership Studies doctoral program and confront questions of humanity with critical thought and moral conviction.  However, to begin, I have had to accept that this journey is an ultra-marathon.  I will be fine-tuning my normal operating procedure.  Embracing my ambition while modifying my behavior in brevity is what this next chapter looks like.  Considering my typical sprinter style, the next four-year journey will influence my standard strategy and approach.  One of life’s ironies is how things can happen when you aren’t paying attention.  Well, my life philosophy is slowly shapeshifting into, “It’s a journey, not a destination,” as I keep discovering many things I have done in my life were “endpoints versus experiences.” 

Intellectual stimulation has always been an emotional experience for me, and something will only be a really deeply emotionally experience for me, if it engages me intellectually as well.  I relish information that offers insight into human nature and expands my mind.  Gonzaga’s mission matches my modus operandi and this excites me. I seek to gain knowledge, impart it to others, and glean new insights in return.  As a lifelong learner, I believe education is a multi-dimensional approach.  The information collected is not only for an individual’s advancement, but for influence on others and society as a whole.   As a researcher and graduate student who relishes knowledge, I am anxious to educate others on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and how our action and inaction towards it will alter future frameworks.  This blog will be a coming of age for both me and the new scientific frontier AI.  I will delve deeper into understanding how we as a society daily infuse technology further into our lives – which is can be both good and bad.

Please join me on the journey, as I offer insights into my own quest on how to slow down and change course.  As I gradually reclaim personal perspective, together with bringing an awareness on how our collective humanity, and emotional intelligence relates to technology.  My future posts will investigate the benefits, risks and responsibilities that come with machine learning and AI.  I will explore the promise and peril of AI and ruminate on what I learn while obtaining my PhD. 

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