It’s times like this that I wish that I could really write. In 2003, I left a career in business to “save the world”. I wanted to work on environmental issues and try to make the world a better place. The cynic in me wonders if I’ve actually done anything. I thought that teaching would provide a multiplier effect through the education of energetic students.
It’s to my good fortune that when I entered academia smart people convinced me to go to Indiana University to study with Elinor Ostrom. I wasn’t smart enough to see her brilliance until much later. Even now I often realize that some of my good ideas are really notions that Lin wrote about (and that I read years ago) that I’m only now comprehending. Over the coming days, I’m sure that I’ll hear and read a great deal about her scholarship, her leadership in the field, her successes, etc. But I’d like to focus on a few other points about Lin, mainly about her as a mentor.
When I think back to my naive ideals about saving the world, I see that frequently the only place that academics make a difference is in weighing down library shelves. Lin actually wrote things that policymakers and practitioners read and utilized. When I think about my desire to inspire students, I see a teacher that was fully engaged all the time. How she ever found the time (and patience) to read drafts of my early papers, I’ll never understand. Most importantly, I think about her as a mentor – how she constantly reiterated that my work was important and needed to be heard, how she typically presented her work through the lens of all the great things that her students and collaborators did, as if she were simply along for the ride, how she always seemed positive, energetic, and truly alive. These are the ongoing lessons that Lin has given me and countless others.
People often comment that the Workshop at Indiana is Lin and Vincent’s family. Likewise, I feel that they are my family. Lin is like my third grandmother. She was a grandmother that would really lay down the hammer for not putting forth best effort, but she’d also be quick with a hug and a kind word as well. Lin, I’m going to miss you.
michaelschoon 