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Bert JW Regeer (畢傑龍)

UAT has exceeded my expectations

When I moved to Arizona, it was my intention to get the best education I could get in the field I wanted to study (Software Engineering). I was expecting cool professors, people I could relate with, especially with regards to technology. I expected that there would be a clear boundary between mentor and student, and this is one of the many ways UAT has exceeded my expectations. My thought of just about any school includes cliques where certain people stick together keeping others out, where there are jocks or people that feel they are superior to anyone else. Herein I describe further why UAT has exceeded my most daring dreams.

The professors do not want to just lecture, they want someone they can share ideas with, and get new ideas back. It is not straight forward lecture. Much of my classes include thinking, not just critical but also other types of thinking. The professors want to challenge me, and at the same time they want to be challenged as well. They all have their claim to fame, but yet they are accepting of students and their ideas, even if they are wrong at times, or just different. At UAT one can get a friend-to-friend relationship with the mentors, where information can be shared freely and criticism is given in a friendly manner. The professors want to be here, they want to work with students.

I have heard from several other people that I went to High School with, or were College students that their professors would just lecture, would not provide help and in general were entire assholes. When I visited a school a while back that was the impression I got as well (School will not be named). That Professors did not want to have input from students, since they studied long and hard to get their doctorate thus they must be right.

The entire friendship thing is portrayed throughout the entire student body. We are all so called rejects, people that would get shoved around by the jocks, looked down upon as a book worm, we all did not fit in with what people called normal society because we liked to play computer games, program computers and read information online all day. We did not play sports, nor looked like we really could. Even then there are exceptions off course, but what all connects us is the fact that we are all passionate about technology. There are no cliques here, not a single person at UAT is critical of someone else because they look different, act different, think differently. We challenge each other through informal debates as well as trying to prove others wrong.

A friend of mine is currently attending a school up north near New Jersey and he told me that people will not give him the time of day. He does not fit in because he is ahead of the pack, dresses differently and has a different mind set in terms of what he knows. They give him a hard time because he is not like them, and they will not accept someone that is not their equal, or even worse, ahead of them. I had visited the same College when looking around for colleges to attend, and I got just bad vibes while walking around campus. Everyone was separated, no general area where everyone comes together to all do work, or all hang out and enjoy life for a bit between classes. The students were not enthusiastic when it came to presenting their school, and the entire way the staff acted did not "feel" right.

During 2004, while I was at NYLF:Tech I had the opportunity to go visit one of the universities I was hoping to go to, but never quite got my grades up for (ended up good though). This was Berkeley in California. Yes the same Berkeley that created BSD. They had a tour guide who was energetic, was full of passion about what was taught, about the professors, about campus, about the town, and it's location. I also got to meet with faculty and ask questions and they were just like I am now experiencing with UAT, down to earth, ready to be challenged by a student, and ready to challenge them to become the masters like they.

UAT has one thing going for them over the other universities/colleges I have visited, UAT staff is HOT!. Yeah, for some odd reason they have awesome staff that is very good looking. All the staff is younger as well. They have just come from universities themselves, or even if they are a bit older they are passionate about one thing as well, technology and helping us (the students) further their knowledge. Anyone that works for UAT, and is at UAT knows what the mission statement is:

To educate students in the fields of advancing technology to become innovators of the future.

Everyone at the university embodies this mission, as well as the core values:

__Integrity__ We promote positive social responsibility and good global citizenry, and we always act with integrity, honesty and ethics that are above reproach. __Quality through continuous improvement__ We recognize that our University and environment may be defined as a system, and that each of its parts may be simplified, improved, innovated or eliminated. We hold that all parts of a system are interconnected through relationships, and that continuous improvement requires understanding all these relationships. We pioneer new methods, meticulously plan, and rely upon feedback systems. __Life Long learning__ We understand that high performance and constant improvement require continuous learning. We cultivate global-mindedness and promote the highest level of student learning and success. We rigorously seek learning opportunities, initiate and nurture individual growth, and expect ongoing individual growth as well as organizational learning. __Teamwork__ We communicate effectively, reinforce support for each other and build alignment between students, alumni, employers, industry, community and departments as well as individuals. We work in collaborative teams to accomplish superior results through shared understanding. These are the values of the University. What this means is that as long as we are part of this community we will strive in all of our actions and decisions to be positive and honest, continue to work to improve ourselves and our processes, to strive to learn and never be satisfied with our current knowledge and work with each other to achieve results.

Besides all this, who would not want to go to a school where there is an entire contest in the student body that is Ninjas vs. Pirates. Even the staff are in on it. During a presentation given by the Vice-President of the Student Government (yes, capital since they are important) enrolment co-ordinators as well as resident life staff ran into the theatre and stared throwing ninja stars at the presenters and people in the crowd. Jokes are played on students, and students play jokes on staff. It is an equilibrium. Staff and students both have the same amount of fun, and that is how it should be, since it provides a better environment to learn, get information and also be accepted by the people around oneself.

I feel sorry for those of you that actually read all this, but then again good on ya! I just needed to get this off my chest.