4 | UTSA | AGENTS OF CHANGE
COEHD Through COVID 2020 was a momentous year full of tragedy and triumph. Professors and students from the College of Education and Human Development reflect back on the last year and discuss some of the challenges they faced, successes they made, and lessons they learned.
Stacy Speedlin Gonzalez is an assistant professor of practice of counseling and a graduate of UTSA. She earned her M.S. in 2010 and her Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision in 2015. Speedlin Gonzalez teaches with the Department of Counseling and serves as the interim director of the Sarabia Family Counseling Center.
WHAT WAS GOING ON IN YOUR LIFE WHEN THE PANDEMIC STARTED? I recall the email on that Wednesday during spring break, when everyone else did, that we were not coming back and so of course my initial thought was, ‘Oh my God. I’ve never done anything virtually, I don’t know how we’re going to do this.’ I didn’t even know that Zoom existed at that point. So, with several days without sleep, staying up all night thinking about how to support the students and to assure them that we were going to get through this. In my personal life, my wife, Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez, actually was the first court to have someone come in who reported that they were exposed to COVID-19, so she had to lock her court down which meant we had to go home; we were actually quarantined before anyone else was quarantined, which was a very frightening thing at the time – all we knew was that people were dying of COVID-19 and so I didn’t know if we were going to go home and die. So, you know, aside from that, things were going okay academically; I continued to teach my classes, I continued to try to be available for my students.
Mark S. Giles is a professor with the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. He has served UTSA for the last ten years and was formerly the director of the AAS program. The Cincinnati native enjoys the Texas weather and is active in UTSA campus life and highly engaged at the university. His number one priority is helping his students achieve success.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE OVER THE LAST YEAR? On a personal level I think it’s just checking in with family, being concerned and being at a disadvantage – you couldn’t visit people. You had to learn new ways to communicate and stay in touch. Worrying about things like getting a haircut or not; those kinds of things seem very silly or mundane, but those became issues. On a professional level, I think there has been consistency because we all suffered through this together and I think the students have really helped me by staying focused and staying dedicated to doing well, continuing to pursue their degrees. That students see the value in getting their education, and that a pandemic was not going to stop them from achieving their goals is, to me, very inspiring. I shouldn’t have any complaints. If they can do what’s necessary, I can do what’s necessary.
Angie Watts is a fifth-year doctoral student working on her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Originally from Reliance, TN, she currently works at UT Health San Antonio full-time, for one of the Ph.D. programs in biomedical science.
WHAT DO YOU FEEL WAS YOUR GREATEST SUCCESS IN THE LAST YEAR? I finished up my classes in the spring of 2020 and then, over the course of the summer and last fall, I passed my qualifying exam, I advanced to candidacy, and I had my research proposal approved. Those were all huge steps towards my degree, so that felt like a huge accomplishment to be able to get those things done.
WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS THAT YOU FEEL YOU CAN DRAW FROM THESE SUCCESSES AND APPLY AS YOU GO FORWARD IN 2021? I think I’ve definitely learned to give myself grace and to listen to body and my mind. Rather than just sitting and staring at your computer not getting anything done for hours on end, step away from it and give yourself a break and give yourself space to process all the things that are happening around you. I think that’s been the biggest lesson for me. I just kept trying to push myself because I felt the pressure to keep moving, and I had to learn to give myself space to process things.
