For this week’s assignment, I interviewed two of my role models- Professor Gary Noll and Terry Belian. I did my interviews via email and below are the summaries of our conversations. I tried to keep my interviews brief and short, as I know everyone is busy. I only asked four questions, such as;1. What school/s did you go to and what degree did you obtain?2. What do you love the most about your degree?3. What kid of a job do you do and what are some of the other jobs you did and some of the duties you were responsible for?4. What kind of difficulties did you face while obtaining your degree and getting to where you are now?
First I interviewed Professor Noll that teaches at UIC. He told me that he went to Pennsylvania State University, both for his undergraduate and graduate degrees. In undergraduate he studied Science and got his BA. He then obtained his Ph. D. in Psychology at the same school. What he loves the most about his Ph. D. is flexibility. He thinks it is the most fascinating content in the whole world and gives him so much freedom. He loves to help people and that’s what he loves the most. Some of the other jobs he worked at, besides teaching at UIC, were teaching assistant and academic counselor at Pennsylvania State, psychological consultant at South Dakota Cleft Lip/Cleft Palate Clinic, Professor of Psychology at University of South Dakota, and bunch of positions at DuPage County Health Department. He also published a lot of writings and gave several presentations, as well as was on the board of Hospice Volunteers of DuPage, The Children’s Center, and the Illinois Citizens for Better Care. As for the difficulties, he said that it was no fun to be poor in grad school. Grad school was also very stressful, and he had to work very hard for very long hours, however, he liked the fact that he was able to help some very seriously mentally ill people and creating a better work environment that was healthy for his staff. Right now he teaches at UIC and he finds that very rewarding, however, some students are difficult.
Next I interviewed Terry Belian. I baby-sit for his kids all the time and really enjoy working for his family, as they are really great people. Terry was actually out of town and very rushed so he was very brief with his email but whenever I have more questions, I can always come back to him. Terry went to Loyola University for his undergrad and graduate studies. For his undergrad, he studied Psychology and obtained his BA in it; for graduate school, he obtained his Master Degree in Industrial Relations. This is exactly what I want to do in the future, I want to obtain my Masters in Industrial and Organizational Psychology that is very closely related to what Terry does, so he is a great source for me. In college Terry worked for HR department for Loyola University. After college he worked for Morton International Company also in Human Resources. Right now he works for Conseco Insurance company also in human resources. He is responsible for recruiting, hiring and firing of staff, creating a better work environment for his staff, and being responsible for the employee benefits. I can closely relate to Terry because I am currently an intern at Aflac Insurance Company and my duties are very similar, except that I also do tons of marketing for the company and lots of database. Terry likes his job a lot but hates to commute every morning downtown from Northfield. He says that graduate school was very stressful, he worked very hard and was often very tired.
As for my additional duty this week I was supposed to ask my internship supervisor, Darren, about getting a position with the company when I graduate. I have asked him and he said that he wants to meet with me this Tuesday to work out the details, but he has a position for me that I might be interested in. He told me that I am on the right track to meeting good people in life that can help me with my career and sometimes it is about the people that you know, not about just the education, to find a really good job. I cant wait to work out all the details with his this Tuesday when I am there.