It takes a village to launch an online course – in addition to the Distance Learning Team, our courses are supported by staff from Graduate, Undergraduate, and Professional Development Programs. In the coming months, we’ll be spotlighting staff who work frequently with our team. First up is Director of Graduate Programs, Doug Bakker.
How long have you worked here? How did you come to higher education?
I have worked as the Director of Graduate Programs for 6 years. Prior to this, I was the Faculty Director for the Masters in Sports Administration (MSA) program while working full-time in college athletics administration. I began teaching in the MSA program in 2009 and have always loved any opportunity to teach (in college I was studying to be a high school history teacher!).
Describe a “Day in the Life.”
What I enjoy about this position is that this is a hard question to answer – every day is different! It is definitely filled witha lot of meetings, but I love the many opportunities I get to work directly with staff in Graduate Programs and across SPS. While I wish I had more opportunities to work directly with faculty daily, I am constantly impressed by our SPS faculty in the interactions I have with them.
What’s something about your job that might surprise readers?
It is a job about solving problems, some small and some big. Some can be handled with a conversation or an email, while others might involve developing a whole new process for our team and the school. Hard conversations with faculty and staff are a big part of the job, and that can be a bit challenging at times! But 99% of the time, the conversation goes great, and we improve as a group.
What’s your favorite resource or tool that not many people know about?
I am a bit old school with tech (I am working on it) – my favorite tool is OneNote. Previously, I kept my meeting notes and to-do lists in many separate notebooks, but when we all went remote during the pandemic, I went electronic and haven’t looked back. While I miss not having to bring my laptop to meetings, it has really helped me get organized.
I might have a different answer in a few months – I am revising a course and we are looking into creating an AI chatbot in Canvas.
What’s the most unusual job you’ve ever had? Did it give you any interesting takeaways?
I had a successful landscaping business in high school and the start of college. I miss it and still love the smell of fresh cut grass. That job made me appreciate manual labor and the ability to produce something each time I completed a job, something you could point to and say “I did that.” I don’t get as many of those opportunities in education administration, but I cherish the ones I do. However, I have been able to leverage that work ethic and confidence in my manual labor skills to renovate three kitchens, four bathrooms, and complete countless smaller projects over the last 20 years. It is an outlet that allows me to still have that “smell of fresh cut grass” while still being able to do a job I love as the Director of Graduate Programs.
Before and after pictures of one of the bathrooms Doug has renovated.