Pillar of Mentorship Award Winner- Patrick Love

What do you love most about working at Springfield College?

Wow, I can’t pick just one:

1. The fact that the entire community  of students, staff, and faculty lives out the institutional mission of educating the whole person in spirit, mind, body for leadership in service to others. It is an incredible thing to experience first hand and EVERY day!

2. How welcoming the students have been and how engaged they are.

3. Working for a great president (Mary-Beth Cooper) and with a great VP leadership team.

4. The 6 minute walk from my house to my office (after 18 years of LONG NYC commutes!).

Who inspired you to get involved in Higher Education?

Well, one person was Mike Stein, the advisor of the peer judicial board (who was a hall director). He showed me that people could do this work for a living. The other was my RA who did such a terrible job that I felt I could do better than that, so I applied to be an RA, which led me to people who helped me see this as a career path. So, while there were many positive role models throughout my career who have inspired me (e.g., Jerry Stein [Stony Brook], Susan Komives {U of Maryland], John Murphy [SUNY Albany]) there was this one who was a negative role model whose performance inspired me to do better!

What advice would you offer to new professionals who are starting their first professional position?

I have 4 pieces of advice:

1. Always do your absolute best. In fact, do more than expected.

2. Follow through on your commitments.

3. When bringing problems to your boss also bring possible solutions.

4. Don’t complain at work (save it for loving friends and supportive family members!).