Trust at the Center for Bioethics and Health Law

This upcoming week will be my last official week with the Center for Bioethics and Health Law, although I hope to continue interacting and working with the people I have met over the rest of the summer and into the future. I have really loved the work that I have been doing, and I have found that I fit well with the work environment that the Center promotes amongst its employees. One of the areas in which I have been most impressed and pleased has been the level of trust that the various contacts and professionals with whom I have worked have had in me. One of the projects in which I have been given the most trust is in the creation of a syllabus for Dr. Bridget Keown’s Gender and Medicine course. While Bridget has decided what the structure of the course will be independently from me, she has given me broad control over researching what specific articles and readings she should teach in her course. It has been an incredibly valuable experience to be trusted to build a curriculum for a grad/undergrad course while still an undergraduate myself. I believe that it is from this culture of trust that I have experienced and observed that the more laid-back, independent project management style stems. Even if someone, such as myself, does not have the same level of academic achievement like a PhD or other degree, colleagues at the Center trust each other to be able to achieve quality results.

The culture of trust also means that everybody has influence over each other in some form or fashion. Advice given by colleagues is taken seriously and not dismissed out of hand. Even my supervisor, who is the director of the whole Center, constantly receives feedback and constructive criticism that changes the way that she approaches her projects and the goals of the Center. I anticipate that learning to operate in this trusting and open environment is something that I can bring to other jobs that I work at in the future, which will hopefully make my future jobs a more fulfilling and efficient experience.