Wildcat Spirit Award by Qiaoying “Joy” Zhou, PhD
I was honored to receive the Wildcat Spirit Award in November. It is extremely hard to choose one nominee to pass along the award. Over the past 15+ years, I have had the privilege to work with so many extraordinary colleagues and friends at NVC. I am curious when Sparky will get married and have kids. It will allow us to pass along several wildcats at a time when the decision becomes extremely challenging.
As we grow older, we sometimes wanted to trace back to where we started, and list out the wonderful people who have helped us along the way academically and professionally. We may never say Thank You, but they hold a special place in our hearts with gratitude. The person I will be nominating today is one of those who has impacted me tremendously during my journey at NVC.
John Maxwell once said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” This person is brilliant and leads by example. This person was my very first supervisor and mentor when I started my adventure 16 years ago. When I was totally lost as a rookie and went up for advice, he would listen, think, and he would say: “If I were you, this is what I would do….” It seems to be a very simple sentence, but it comes with a superpower.
Since then, I have been using the same phrase to help many other people who come my way for suggestions. “If I were you, this is what I would do…” it is not forceful but thoughtful. It empowers you to provide your honest recommendation to someone who may need your advice. You also leave enough room for others to think from their perspectives.
This person also helped me with ideas when I started my research for the Ph.D. dissertation.
Additionally, this recipient has gracefully served as the hiring committee chair for most if not all of our FT math faculty hires in the Math and Engineering Department in the past decade. This person has been a superstar at NVC for the past 20+ years. Everybody loves him and thinks the world of him. This December Wildcat Spirit Award goes to…Brian Stout.
And the Wildcat Spirit Award goes to…
Brian Stout, Biology Faculty!
