The Student Affairs Pro Next Door: Sinclair Ceasar III

Do you ever stumble across someone in the field doing something truly energizing, and think, "Wow, I love what they are doing".  It happens to me all the time. When I come across a higher education rock star, I track them down on social media so I can pin/follow/like and generally bookmark them for my own professional inspiration. That is how first I came across Sinclair Ceasar, creator of www.thesapronextdoor.com and author of Two Thousand Hours: Advice for a New Student Affairs Professional.

Sinclair works at Loyola University Maryland as the Assistant Director of Student Life. He's also a public speaker who conducts university workshops on topics such as community engagement, networking, conflict resolution & management.

​You may be thinking, wait-- Sinclair is a student affairs professional, not an international educator. What gives? Well, I strongly believe that international education can be a bit too insular. I try hard to remain connected to other areas of higher education, particularly the good work being done in student affairs. This is how I grow as a professional.

I signed up for Sinclair's email newsletter in June 2015 because I was inspired by "Notes from Sinclair". This is a project where he sends a free inspirational snail mail to strangers who need a pick-me-up. Anyone can sign up (or sign someone else up) and get them on the list to receive a kind handwritten note. Want to see what I am talking about? Just check out #notesfromsinclair

Like most of you can imagine, I forgot about it and moved on. (Sorry, Sinclair). Life got in the way. So it goes. Until one day, as I was writing this post about job search burnout I thought back to Sinclair's "happy mail" project, and his sincere desire to make kindness go viral. I decided to check back in on his blog and sent him some Twitter love

Twitter led to the two of us connecting for an uplifting phone conversation about how we could join forces in supporting Study Abroad Careers job seekers during their long and frustrating search process.

I don't want to give anything away just yet, but I have to share my excitement about connecting with Sinclair, and let you know we have something in the works for you. I am so excited to partner with him to spread his positive energy throughout the education abroad community.

Stay tuned!