I Viaggi della Generalista (The Travels of the Generalist)

By: Jeff Yacup, Assistant Director, Illinois Leadership Center - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The sun was creeping over the mountains, peering just into my window, warming my face. The road signs rushed by in a very disorienting manner, cars and drivers somewhat different than I expect, and the driver smiled comfortably at me sensing my uneasiness…I would have liked to thank her, but the best I could do was smile back as I exited the vehicle, and stare at the castle like doors of what I was to call home.

You see, even though I’ve spent thousands of hours in cars going from place to place, this ride was unlike any other I’ve experienced. It’s because the mountains just weren’t mountains, they were the Swiss Alps, and the road signs were disorienting because their symbols, abbreviations, and letters were put together in a much different way than those I became accustomed to on interstate 81, and my inability to thank my kind faced driver rested in my inability to utter a word of Italian. Yet, here I was…Riva San Vitale, Switzerland for better or worse, for the next year to serve as the Student Life Coordinator for Virginia Tech’s Steger Center for International Scholarship at the Villa Maderni. (the Villa Maderni)

You see, it all started some six months prior, when my Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Frank Shushok, an ACPA Diamond Honoree, approached me about serving as the live-in student affairs educator at the Center. I remember the conversation going something like this…

“Jeff, I want you to go to Switzerland and work in Riva.”

Puzzled expression, I responded, “say what?”

“Yes, we have a study abroad center there…and we really have a need for some increased mentoring for our students at the center…I think you would be a great person to go.”

“Ok, that sounds like a cool opportunity, what would I be doing?” sounding increasingly intrigued

“Well you would be Residence Life, Counseling, Rec Sports, Conduct, New Student Programs, and pretty much all things Student Affairs to these folks…your unique background in Res Life, Conduct, Fraternity & Sorority Affairs, and New Student Programs would set you up for this…essentially you’ll be the VP for Student Affairs in Riva and our connection back in Blacksburg to those students…o and there is one other catch…you would be the first person to hold this position and would really need you to figure out what we should be doing over there.”

While very much a mystery of a job and a mystery of a lifestyle, having never left the United States before, I reluctantly agreed. 

Stay tuned for more of Jeff's travels to be posted by October 5, 2015.

Feel free to post questions for Jeff as well on the blog.