Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday!

The famed Irish playwright and Nobel laureate George Bernard Shaw once famously said, “The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” I can attest to the validity of the statement as I have personally and repeatedly been guilty of, and subjected to, both sides of that illusion. How many times have we heard, “I thought you knew!” or “I thought I mentioned it,” or “But it was obvious!”

Effective communication is perhaps more critical in an environment of rapid information exchange such as our institutions of higher learning where every class session, instructor-student conversation, design team collaboration, tutoring, advising, and counseling session could profoundly impact our ability to learn and succeed. In college, we are much more likely to achieve our learning objectives if we realize that we all perceive and process information differently. To be effective, therefore, we must properly prepare and concisely package our messages in a clear and logical manner. Effective communication, and not necessarily more communication, is the essence of human connection and an essential instrument of success and leadership!

Communication, particularly written communication, is a learnable skill that requires, you guessed it, planning, practice and perseverance to hone the message. In the words of Ernest Hemingway, “…Don’t get discouraged because there’s a lot of mechanical work to writing. There is, and you can’t get out of it. I rewrote A Farewell to Arms at least fifty times. You’ve got to work it over. The first draft of anything is [garbage].” The last sentence notwithstanding, I share his sentiment as I write these Friday messages. My takeaway from Hemingway? Practice makes perfect.

Fortunately, our Writing and Communication Center offers a great deal of support for our students and faculty. I encourage our students to reference the writing center’s well-known and well-received Writing Guide and its treasure trove of writing tools, samples and guidelines for every level. S&T’s Innovation and Communication Conference, and events such as the Cross-Cultural Communications lecture held last spring, are designed to address specific communication needs.

To our students, I say reach out and communicate with your professors! Call them, email them and visit them during office hours.

Incidentally, on this third anniversary of my Friday messages, I find my attempt at building our S&T community through communication not just gratifying, but also pleasurable. In communicating my experiences and thoughts, albeit parochial at times, to a broader group of like-minded colleagues and friends, I have learned a great deal about myself and, most importantly, about S&T, including under its prior names, the University of Missouri-Rolla (from 1964 to 2008) and Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy (from 1870 to 1964).

Depending on the message, I hear back from two dozen or so of the tens of thousands of alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents of students, interested applicants and friends who receive the messages. Responses range from a polite “thank you” to passionate arguments for or against the topic. They come from all over the world and from all ages. I hear back from our alumni in sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, the Americas, China, Far East Asia, the Middle East and all 50 states of the union. I hear from those who graduated decades ago (one frequent responder graduated in 1949) as well as our most recent graduates. As a result, as people share stories of their time at the university, I claim that I know more about our university and community than anyone alive!

As I write and disseminate, I have learned that support communities are built through communication, and our successes are easily measured by our ability to communicate.

Finally, I wish you a happy Labor Day and an enjoyable summer’s last hurrah!

Warmly,

-Mo.

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Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
chancellor.mst.edu