Middle-career ASPer's

While my introduction covers all of the perfunctory academic notes, it does not reveal why I would tackle writing for the ASP Law Blog. When Dan Weddle asked me in join in September, I jumped at the chance to give back to the ASP community that has given me so much in the past three years.
However, I was working at both ASU Law and VLS at the time, and I could only commit after January 2008, when I would (just) be at VLS full-time.

I like to think of myself as a relative newbie to Academic Support, but that really isn’t true anymore.  As the list of new positions demonstrates, ASP is growing by leaps and bounds.  I am delighted to meet new faces at every LSAC, AALS, or NCBEX conference.  With almost three years under my belt, I am no longer the new kid on the block, but I am certainly not one of the greats that “was there in 1992” when ASP was officially sanctioned.  When I talk to the *new* newbies, I relize how much I have grown as an Academic Success professional over the past three years.  But when I sit down with any one of the *greats* of ASP, I am awed by how much I still have to learn.  Even more amazing to me is how much the *greats* feel they still have to learn, some with ten or twenty years in ASP.

It’s this spirit of learning and collaboration that makes ASP the best area to work in the legal academy, in my humble opinion. 
I jumped at the chance to join the blog so I can give back some of the modest wisdom I have gained in the past three years. Everyday I still feel like I am in the middle of a vast learning curve, especially after grades come out.  Then I remember what it was like during the fall of 2005, when I was giving advice on IRAC to 1L’s with the ink barely dry on my J.D. 

This is my welcome to all the new folks joining our ranks; I was there not too long ago, and I am happy to help whenever you need it. Just don’t balk if I call myself a newbie as well; I am on the learning curve with you!
This is also my immense, heart-felt thank you to everyone who has given me much-needed advice, wisdom, and pep talks when I felt like I was in over my head.

Rebecca Flanagan