Chapter 3A - University and Professional Careers

 I am currently a student at Cottey College, a historically women's institution located in rural Missouri that offers a number of baccalaureate and associate's degrees including Biology, Psychology, Education, English, Health and Biomedical Sciences, International Relations, and more. I am studying English, but I spent the previous two years studying Secondary Education before switching my major to a program that better suited my needs. In order to be accepted to Cottey, I was required to provide the institution with a copy of my high school transcripts and ACT test scores. I was admitted after an application process, and decided to attend after a campus visit where I had the opportunity to meet members of the campus community. 

Cottey College Marketing, "Cottey College Main Hall" Wikimedia Commons, 6 July 2022, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cottey_College_Main_Hall.jpg.

At Cottey, most of the student population lives on campus, while about 30% of students life off-campus and commute for classes and activities. There are three residence halls at Cottey: P.E.O., Reeves, and Robertson. It is common at my school to live in the residential dorms for the entire duration of your studies, which I know is less common at larger institutions. Our dining hall, Raney, is located in the basement of Robertson Hall. Hinkhouse, a large gymnasium, houses Cottey's 9 athletic teams and Student Life offices. There is a small fitness center located in the basement of Hinkhouse that is open to the entire campus community. Cottey has one academic building, RBAC, which houses most of the classrooms on campus, in addition to the science labs. RFAB is Cottey's Fine Arts building which is home to the dance and art studios in addition to the music practice and lecture rooms. The CFA functions as our performance hall and is where the Theatre program is based. Finally, Cottey's Chapel has our Center for Campus Life or student center, where our Spirit Shop and campus cafe, Chellie Club is located. 

 In professional settings, there are few gendered terms to describe professions themselves. A teacher/educator/professor isn't called a specific name dependent on the gender of the individual in the role. In professional settings the patten seems to be gender neutral language, but there are exceptions on occasion such as a host/hostess or the tendency to add "man" or "woman" after the profession ex. fireman, policeman, etc. I would say that this practice is going out of favor to include more inclusive language and terminology. 

I think that there are many places in the Southwestern United States where multilingualism is more common. I think that the benefits of multilingualism far outweigh any shortcomings, but that the conversation does contain some degree of nuance. For example, how does one choose which languages are chosen in a multilingual environment and how does this decision allow for the further privileging of some values and beliefs over others. Additionally, because of the diversity of the United States, only providing multilingual services in a handful of languages alienates entire populations of individuals.