Destination Unknown 2022 Session
2022 Panel
Destination Unknown panelists represent the evolving and diverging career pathways increasingly typical of the 21st century. Our speakers share with us the challenges they have endured, the successes they have celebrated, and what resources they draw on to navigate complex transitions. In the short video clips collected on this page, they reflect on the impact of General Education on their professional and personal lives, recommendations and regrets included.
2022 Speakers
Ryan Sims
Ryan Sims graduated from Penn State University Park in the year 2000 with a bachelor of fine arts in theater production. Nine years later, after six different jobs had taken him across Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., he enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park, to study computer science. Armed with a second college degree, Sims began work as a software engineer for Google in Pittsburgh, where he currently lives with his partner, two children, two cats, and a piano.
Unlearning the Notion of the Career Path
High school—college—job. Yes. And no. Ryan Sims talks about the moment when he realized that this plan was not working for him.
Importance of Writing
After going to college twice (first for theater, then for computer science), which undergraduate course does Ryan Sims still derive benefit from? English Composition. Writing is critical—critical—to his job as a software engineer, he explains.
The Value of Repetition
Repetition. So grey. So instrumental. So tedious. But not for Ryan Sims, who thinks it can change the flow of time (and that engineers can learn something from theatre about that).
Jennifer Koehl
Dr. Jennifer Koehl graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 2008 after receiving a bachelor’s degree in biology and earning two minors in biochemistry and theology from the University of Scranton.
She still practices as a veterinarian, but her evolving interests have taken her back to academia. She works as an assistant teaching professor and program coordinator in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences at Penn State, University Park. She is also pursuing a master of professional studies (MPS) in homeland security with focus on public health preparedness.
Career Permanence and Changing Interests
Dr. Jennifer Koehl thought her career as a veterinarian would be permanent, but evolving interests put her on a different path.
Looking back on College and Studying Diverse Subjects
Dr. Jennifer Koehl was determined to become a veterinarian, but she made time for a surprising minor and being a student athlete. What lessons did she derive from that?
Dr. Juhanna Rogers
Dr. Juhanna Rogers embraces the idea of a career mosaic to describe her professional life. She works in economic and community development but also maintains an active career in the performing arts as a playwright, director, and actress. In 2019, she launched Behind the Woman in partnership with WCNY/PBS, an interview series which she continues to host.
Dr. Rogers received her bachelor’s degree in Integrative Arts from Penn State Altoona and earned a doctorate in Higher Education from Indiana University, Bloomington, where she became nationally known as one of the #Great8, a record-breaking number of Black women completing their PhD degree requirements simultaneously. That year, she was also included in Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 List.
GenEd Curriculum Across a Lifetime
Dr. Juhanna Rogers discovered her ENGL 15 papers in a box during the pandemic. She relates what she found. (ENGL 15, Rhetoric and Composition, is a course that every Penn State student is required to take.)
Skills for Building a Career
Dr. Juhanna Rogers reflects on important career skills and where on campus she learned them.
Decision to Go to Grad School (While Becoming a Mom)
At a moment when life seemed to demand stability, Dr. Juhanna Rogers listened to her inner voice and applied to graduate school.