Jeff Kreeger:  

2018! Really???!!! I really can't believe next year will be our 40 year reunion! Wow! I also can't believe it's only been ten years since our 30th reunion. So much has happened in my life during those ten long years. My dad entered heaven, which was one of the most difficult things I've had to face so far in life. My 28-year marriage ended in divorce in 2012 (okay, maybe this was the toughest thing I've ever encountered) and I was laid off from my 20+ year job with the phone company and couldn't find a job in Denver doing the same thing I had been doing at a similar salary level. The job offers were not piling in and life looked pretty bleak, but God wasn't finished with me... I had been teaching masters level GIS courses at DU as an adjunct professor since 1996 and decided this was what I wanted to do (teach) so I pursued getting a Ph.D. -- yes, I laughed my butt off as well at this most unlikely turn of events! :-) At first I was looking to get a Ph.D. in Geography from DU, but couldn't find an advisor who was comfortable with my more business-related geography focus. Long story short, I met a very kind DU professor who invested in me and got me to apply to five different schools for a Ph.D. in Hospitality. I ended up in Columbia, SC and completed my doctorate in 2017 -- yes, I am now a doctor!!! (and no one is laughing louder or harder than me! -- I never ever in my wildest dreams thought that would happen!!!) :-) I landed my first teaching gig in New Britain, Connecticut as the Director of Tourism & Hospitality Studies as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2017, and am having fun exploring the New England states -- which were always a mystery to me as a Colorado boy... I'm exploring my New England backyard at every chance and almost fit in here, but I don't think I'll ever feel like an 'easterner' -- I'm just too much of a Colorado boy! Three of my four kids are still in Denver, as is my mom and my brother and sister, so I still frequent Denver twice a year or so. So, I guess I'm still trying to find myself, but I feel like I'm closer than I've ever been. The last ten years have been perhaps the most difficult decade of my life, but because of some phenomenal people God put into my path, I feel like a phoenix emerging from the ashes... This professor gig is a pretty sweet deal. I wish I had pursued it years earlier, but that never would have been possible with providing for the family and all... ...Expand for more