A BALANCING ACT

BY SUZANNE SOTO

Surrounding Lynne Mitchell are her husband, Jun; sons, Benjarong and Samaht; and daughter, Jarin.

It seems that Superwoman - she who ran the company while earning multiple degrees at night, entertaining lavishly on weekends, sewing her own slipcovers and being a perfect wife and mother - faded into oblivion about three years ago. She has since been replaced with a much more sensible role model - a woman who doesn't frantically try to do it all herself but seeks help and strives for a healthy balance, both at work and at home.

Lynne Mitchell, a U of G staff member, graduate student, wife and mother to three young children, would certainly fall into the second category. Although she holds down a full-time job, is earning a PhD part time and is still nursing year-old twin boys, she doesn't pretend it's easy. She's also not afraid to admit it can be exhausting.

"Many nights, I've been up at midnight, then at two, four and five in the morning with the twins," she says. "I'm usually up at 5:30 and at work by seven, so on those days, I do get very tired."

Fortunately, she adds, she has a supportive husband and a flexible, interesting job that she loves, which makes the load much easier to carry. Mitchell is the study-abroad and exchange manager at the Centre for International Programs (CIP), a position she acquired through a rather circuitous path.

Originally from Hamilton, she came to U of G in 1982 to earn a degree in agriculture. During her studies, she ended up in Jamaica on a field trip led by rural extension studies professor Jim Shute.

"That was my very first trip abroad, and I thought it was great," she says. "When I came back, I was sold on the whole idea of international travel."

With her undergraduate degree in hand, Mitchell volunteered with CUSO, the Canadian overseas development agency, and went to Thailand to work for the Thai government promoting plant protection with natural pesticides. Two years later, in 1990, she returned to Guelph to do a master's degree in rural extension studies under Shute's supervision. Her master's research took her back to Thailand, where, this time, she married one of her co-workers in the plant protection office, Junlapong Pintana.

"I joke that I married Jun because I like Thai food so much and he was an excellent cook - and still is."

Back in Canada with her new husband, Mitchell completed her master's degree in 1992. During her studies, she had worked part time on campus organizing conferences and workshops on international development. As the University began to develop international exchange programs, she was asked to oversee this work, and this is what she does now . . . under the supervision of Shute, now the director of CIP.

Mitchell's job is to assist U of G students who decide to go overseas as part of their studies. The University sends about 100 students a year on overseas exchanges and hosts a similar number. That number, however, doesn't include the other 300 or so students who take part in the University's semester-abroad programs, field trips and independent research in other countries.

She says her involvement with students begins from the moment they become interested in an overseas trip. Her office contacts the exchange institutions, nominates the students to go, gets them accepted and then prepares them for their big adventure.

"One of our main tasks is to ensure that students departing on those trips are prepared and know what they need to know to be safe, happy and have the best experience they can abroad."

As part of this process, her office prepared the first-ever workbook for university students travelling abroad. It's a step-by-step guide that provides pre-travel checklists, tips and other important travel information. Since the book's development a few years ago, other Ontario universities have produced their own workbooks based on the U of G model, says Mitchell. A generic version of the book - titled Ready, Set, Go - has also been printed and has sold almost 2,000 copies across Canada.

For students who can't find all the answers they need in the book, there's Mitchell, who carries a cell phone at all times in case someone overseas needs her help. Students also contact her via e-mail, and she says it's not unusual for her to receive 20 or 30 e-mail messages overnight from all over the world.

This theme of internationalism is repeated at home, where Pintana looks after their three children - a daughter, Jarin, 4, and the twins, Benjarong and Samaht - during the day and runs his own Thai cuisine catering business at night.

"Someone will have a dinner party for 15, and Jun will bring all the food and cook it there, where people can watch and ask questions," Mitchell explains. "He has educated a lot of people in Guelph about lemon grass and lime leaves. It's also been a great way for him to meet people."

Running this small but thriving business means her husband doesn't get much "down time," but neither does Mitchell, who three years ago decided to pursue her dream of earning a PhD in rural agriculture at U of G.

"This is what I do for me - it's my time," she says. "It has been stressful at times as it's meant having papers due and all that, but I really enjoy it because I get to use my brain in a different way. I like being in classes and critically looking at ideas and discussing them with other students and professors." Her ultimate goal, she adds, is to teach.

But that's still a bit off in the future and will depend on where life's paths take Mitchell and her husband. In the meantime, she'll continue juggling her work, home life and academics - on about six hours' sleep a night.

"I could be at work until 10 p.m. every night, but right now, I can't do that. At the same time, I haven't been able to help my husband at home at times because I've had a paper due. So, it's always a fine balancing act. Of course, I'm not unusual in trying to balance things. Single parents, students - there are lots of us out there going to work, studying and looking after family. Like them, I'm just doing the best I can."