I took a few days off last week to travel to Toronto for a little vacation. Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds were playing there and so were the Blue Jays. I am a big Oasis fan and the Blue Jays are one of just four major league stadiums I had yet to visit. Those two reasons were excuse enough for me to convince Suzanne to hop on a plane and go Up North.
The Jays had an afternoon game and I was sitting on the deck of a restaurant on Lake Ontario when a young woman approached me and said: “I think I know you. Are you Dean Jarley?” Turns out she is an IB student, planning to graduate in December. I never did find out why she was in Toronto, but the encounter made me smile for two reasons: First, I can’t imagine when I was in college ever approaching the Dean (frankly, I didn’t even know who he or she was) to engage in conversation. Maybe that’s just southern hospitality. Maybe it’s Josh’s efforts to make me a micro-influencer (apparently that really is a thing). But I’d like to think it’s our culture of engagement at work — the emphasis on professional development and how approachable we are in the College of Business. At any rate, I’m marking it down as “a win.” Second, Knights really are everywhere — it’s a sign of our growing national prominence and expanding geographic footprint. On the plane ride home, I saw two more UCF shirts. I’m headed to San Francisco in a couple of weeks. We have a large presence in Silicon Valley. If you see me on the street, stop and say hello.
