Summer registration is several days away - take a glance at this course and please connect with Adrian if interested.
Introduction
We are nearly upon summer registration and the anticipation of another great summer session. This summer it is our pleasure to offer you a possibly once in a lifetime experience to authentically blend the mind, body, and spirit in theory and practice. Leadership and Hardiness will require search for meaning, organizational intervention, discipline, existential courage, and a personal challenge that will impact both your vocational and personal life. This course will be grounded in theory, research, and application and it will deliver this educational "trinity" in a very creative and highly engaging way.
Course Structure
The course will begin by engaging the spirit and our own individual search for meaning. We begin with this existential journey in order to understand the roots of the human spirit and hardiness research. The course will then shift focus to hardiness theory advanced by Maddi. Students will implement ethnographic methods to learn about hardiness in their own life and their current organization. Understanding the presence and the role of personal and organizational hardiness will contribute to clarity about ways to intervene and develop this quality in your own organization. Students will be required to implement a hardiness project in their own organization that cultivates the principles of hardiness. The course will conclude with a practice simulation that will re-engage our developed understanding of hardiness by challenging the mind, body, and spirit through an expedition climb of Mt. Adams. Mt. Adams will serve as the metaphor for personal and organizational challenge. It will be at the forefront of course discussions, planning, training, and application of gained competencies. The purpose of the expedition is to recreate a highly stressful environment that engages the mind, body, and spirit equipped with the principles of hardiness. The challenge will be unforgettable.
Blackboard discussions will serve their typical purpose and work alongside the course content. Our discussions will focus on case scenarios that involve organizations at all levels, indoor or out.
Additionally, you will partner with three other classmates to create accountability groups while you study for the course and train for the expedition. You will share weekly discipline logs that reflect life decisions and self care. This will include what you eat, sleep, and how you train. You will climb alongside these folks, so it is your responsibility as group to be accountable to each other for purpose, direction, safety, and success. This ethos will be expanded in various case studies that we will read, study, and view.
Format
The course will be delivered through the online platform and begin at the beginning of the summer session. The workload of the course is similar to what you would expect of an eight week session course, but it will span across the entire summer session and conclude the first week of August. The rationale behind this approach is that our Mt. Adams climb will be scheduled for the last weekend of July (29-31). The week following the climb will be used for debriefing, reflection, and application.
Course enrollment
The course will be offered only if we can fill the class, so please bring your classmates, advertise the course, and develop a climbing buddy.
Contact person and lead faculty
Please contact Adrian B. Popa for any additional details pertaining to the course.
PICTURES (click link) - Adams expedition 2010
Background on Resiliency and Hardiness (click link)
Introduction
We are nearly upon summer registration and the anticipation of another great summer session. This summer it is our pleasure to offer you a possibly once in a lifetime experience to authentically blend the mind, body, and spirit in theory and practice. Leadership and Hardiness will require search for meaning, organizational intervention, discipline, existential courage, and a personal challenge that will impact both your vocational and personal life. This course will be grounded in theory, research, and application and it will deliver this educational "trinity" in a very creative and highly engaging way.
Course Structure
The course will begin by engaging the spirit and our own individual search for meaning. We begin with this existential journey in order to understand the roots of the human spirit and hardiness research. The course will then shift focus to hardiness theory advanced by Maddi. Students will implement ethnographic methods to learn about hardiness in their own life and their current organization. Understanding the presence and the role of personal and organizational hardiness will contribute to clarity about ways to intervene and develop this quality in your own organization. Students will be required to implement a hardiness project in their own organization that cultivates the principles of hardiness. The course will conclude with a practice simulation that will re-engage our developed understanding of hardiness by challenging the mind, body, and spirit through an expedition climb of Mt. Adams. Mt. Adams will serve as the metaphor for personal and organizational challenge. It will be at the forefront of course discussions, planning, training, and application of gained competencies. The purpose of the expedition is to recreate a highly stressful environment that engages the mind, body, and spirit equipped with the principles of hardiness. The challenge will be unforgettable.
Blackboard discussions will serve their typical purpose and work alongside the course content. Our discussions will focus on case scenarios that involve organizations at all levels, indoor or out.
Additionally, you will partner with three other classmates to create accountability groups while you study for the course and train for the expedition. You will share weekly discipline logs that reflect life decisions and self care. This will include what you eat, sleep, and how you train. You will climb alongside these folks, so it is your responsibility as group to be accountable to each other for purpose, direction, safety, and success. This ethos will be expanded in various case studies that we will read, study, and view.
Format
The course will be delivered through the online platform and begin at the beginning of the summer session. The workload of the course is similar to what you would expect of an eight week session course, but it will span across the entire summer session and conclude the first week of August. The rationale behind this approach is that our Mt. Adams climb will be scheduled for the last weekend of July (29-31). The week following the climb will be used for debriefing, reflection, and application.
Course enrollment
The course will be offered only if we can fill the class, so please bring your classmates, advertise the course, and develop a climbing buddy.
Contact person and lead faculty
Please contact Adrian B. Popa for any additional details pertaining to the course.
PICTURES (click link) - Adams expedition 2010
Background on Resiliency and Hardiness (click link)
2 comments:
Dr. Popa~
The class sounds exciting!
I have two questions:
1. Although I have hiked some, I don't have any experience mountaineering. Do I have to have any previous experience or skills to do this course?
2. Also, how physically fit do I need to be to climb Mt. Adams?
Thanks!
Excellent questions Lori!
First: Although Mt. Adams qualifies as mountaineering, climbing Adams does not require the same technical training and expertise as expected on Mt. Rainier. On Mt. Adams, we will not wear uncomfortable and awful looking harnesses, be roped up to each other (although a great metaphor for our course), wear constricting helmets, climb technical areas, or potentially rescue someone from a crevasse. So far so good huh? On the other hand, Mt. Adams will still require the skill of self arrest and traversing snow fields with crampons. So the simple answer is no - we will learn and practice how to walk with crampons and we will have some fun practicing self arrest during our full day at base camp. Additionally, Mt. Adams does not present the same dangers as Rainier, as far as avalanches, rock fall, and crevasses.
Second: Although Adams stands at 12,276 versus Rainier's height of14,411 it still packs a punch, especially given that some sections are steeper and lend to quicker altitude gain. You're probably thinking - "That's wonderful, I'll be done quicker" - well, the downside is AMS - acute mountain sickness.
AMS, among a few other muscle ailments, will be your biggest annoyance, to say the least. You will feel out of breath, dizzy, nauseous, symptoms leading or accompanied by headaches. To make matters worse, Mt. Adams gives off a lovely smell of sulfur towards the summit – a former sulfur mine – but the smell will not necessarily remind you of eggs Benedict at a five star resort.
Training is an important consideration for any daily hike, let alone one that takes you to great altitude. I am hesitant to post the training regime and/or expectations, but it is a reality we cannot avoid. Given the requirements of the course, I anticipate that most students who enroll in the course already live an active lifestyle during a typical week – it is not a requirement but simply an assumption. On that note, we will have about 2.5 months of training where we will address specific cardio and anaerobic exercises that will prepare or elevate your fitness for climbing to base camp with a pack of 50+lbs and then to the summit, with lesser weight. Please listen to the Podcasts from RMI and consider their fitness philosophy. Also, visit Ed Viestur's website and learn about his training philosophy and why he continues to be a premier model in mountaineering. Now, after this intimidation, please return to a realistic and feasible training philosophy recognizing that these climbers train for 8,000 meter peaks and not 12,000. My strong recommendation and expectation would be that you run at least three times a week for 60 minute intervals. Additionally, you are doing exercises to strengthen your core muscles, arms, and shoulders. I typically stay away from weightlifting given that we don’t need to pack on the muscle weight, let alone hoist more weight up the mountain. Although some may see this as strange, I fill my pack to about 40lbs and hit the stair master at the gym for one hour while watching my favorite episodes of “Man vs. Wild” – yes, I do get some funny looks if you were wondering. It is important that you develop the muscles that will help you balance your pack, footing, and contribute to muscle memory. Realistically, training will not prepare you much unless you make other lifestyle choices about what you eat and drink. We will work with these choices throughout the class, but be prepared that your accountability group will have to ask you and me “Hey Adrian, did you really need to eat half of that pizza the other day?” “Why did you skip breakfast that morning?” “Wow, you’re hitting the coffee quite heavily in the afternoon, what’s going on man?”….you get the point. Your body will perform depending on your fuel. Well – I hope this did not overwhelm you, but rather energize you and motivate you towards these changes. We will have a blast – I hope to see you there!
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