The following guest blog entry is written by Mr. Andy Winkelmann who serves as the Athletic Academic Coordinator/Assistant Director of Educational Programs and Service at the University of Iowa – Athletics Student Services. Andy recently attended an Excellence and Ethics Academy that was hosted in Iowa. He left the workshop charged with many new ideas and strategies that connected to his work at the collegiate level. I’ve asked Andy to capture some of his thoughts to share with others in the following entry.
Several things impressed me while attending the workshop. Listed below are some of my observations on how I intend to utilize the Institute for Excellence and Ethics (Power2Achieve) tools in my role with student athletes at The University of Iowa.
- Leadership=Performance and Moral Character
In The University of Iowa athletic department, we have a motto “Today’s Hawkeyes are Tomorrow’s Leaders”.
To me, leadership means character. Our coaches and athletes strive to pursue championships (performance character) while be a good teammate and supporting each other on a team (moral character). During the presentation Matt Davidson talked about defining performance character (doing your best/pursuing excellence) and moral character (being you the person you can be/developing relationships). This definition of character fits nicely into our athletic department philosophy. I plan to teach this character definition to student athletes in our athletic transition seminar class.
- “We shape the culture-the culture shapes the character.”
For our entire incoming freshman class, we teach and 8-week (16 session) to transition them into the athletic department and the campus community. One of your goals is to get students connected to each other and learn how to support each other like a team.
Matt’s presentation in March was focused on bullying, but I thought a salient point was the importance of creating a safe environment where learning can take place. I think the tools and the lessons that were provided on how to use experiential (5-senses) activities to enhance learning were excellent and on-point. Matt’s emphasis on the process and facilitator reflection (i.e., what, so what, now what) was another critical point. I will use the Social Network Profile worksheet and the Compact 4 Excellence with my class to help students develop courage to communicate and connect identifying shared values and goals. Simply, if we work to create a culture (i.e., classroom) of respect and communication, then bullying (disrespect) will be reduced/eliminated!
- No big changes needed
Within our education support programs and services and in response to gender violence and other negative behaviors and acts, we teach active bystander interventions through Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) and STEP-UP/Be a Leader-Make a Difference presentations and activities. We think we are developing a solid leadership framework for our student athletes and coaches.
To supplement our initiatives, the Institute for Excellence and Ethics tools which are researched based and tested, seems easily implemented to enhance existing programs. The activities and lessons can help cement our work to teach students to develop team core values based on individual responsibility and shared responsibility (i.e., brother’s and sister’s keeper). I can’t wait to start planning for this fall’s transition seminar class!
Andy Winkelmann
University of Iowa Athletics Student Services
Athletic Academic Coordinator/Assistant Director of Educational Programs and Service
