Understanding your triggers

So, the leadershiIp development workshop that I attend every three weeks or so on a Friday morning today focussed on Myers Brigg's analyses of the participants. It was a riot. The nickname for my particular personality combination: "life's adminstrator". So all you family members who suspected that I was born to chair.... you are right on the nose.
We also got tid bits on what are likely triggers or stressors for us- not a surprise to learn that people not willing to pull their weight was one of mine. And on that note, let me share an email from one of my colleagues. The background is the dept executive committee's proposal to state that basic merit (we evaluate everyone once a year for research, teaching and service) in the category of adminstrative service requires that a faculty member: 1) attend monthly department meetings; 2) attend the annual department retreat; 3) serve on 2 committees per year.

"One additional thought: if we make attendance of meetings & such a
condition for basic merit (conversely, if non-attendance is penalized
by "demerit"), we may find ourselves astray from the regulations of
the Faculty Handbook & under potential legal scrutiny from those who
want to challenge such procedures."

The latest is his threat to dig up his yellowing, ancient contract -- 'legally binding' he is quick to assure us -- and prove that nowhere does it say that he has to attend faculty meetings. Did I say that I love my job!

HALLOWEEN

More pictures to come, but for starters, here is my cross dressing son!

update from the admin trenches

Here's a gem from my inbox today:
"I have received a letter from a gentleman in prison who would like to learn Serbo-Croatian. Do you have any suggestions for texts that he might use at the beginning level?"
Hmmmm.

Another favorite moment - ran into a faculty member for whom I had just written an RPT letter, Said colleague had received the necessary copy and remarked gushingly: "Thanks for the letter, I had no idea you could write so well!"



On a more personal note, I've decided that I might be allergic to red wine, which as you will all recognize, constitutes a bad revelation in my world. I've decided to eliminate it and see whether the symptoms disappear. Of course they may be replaced by extreme crankiness and then we'll have to reassess.

dinner party

Saturday night we had people round for dinner, which is the only way we know to finish any sort of house improvement project. We finally put up all the Ikea panels in the family room - behold:



Then we set a beautiful table:






Then we danced! Ignore the red eye!

Road Trip

Today we went down to BYU to meet with some of the language program people. I must confess that in the eight years I have been here, I had not yet set foot on their campus. I did go to Provo last weekend for one of Sam's soccer games, but today was the first visit to that other campus. I was really impressed. First off the campus is beautiful and second, the people we met were really terrific. It was like so many meetings I have had since becoming an administrator - all overwhelming with the sense of possibilities. Of course, then we get in the car to drive back and contemplate who among our disenchanted or already incredibly overextended faculty we could enlist for a new initiative and reality sets in a little.
Letter season is grinding along. It is actually quite rewarding to delve into people's projects and try to understand them in a way that makes it possible to write a good letter. I'll learn a lot at least.

flying solo

uh oh. My other half in the land of chairdom has to fly home to a family emergeny in Spain so I will be ON MY OWN for the next six days. I have to run a faculty meeting on Thursday and, more horribly, spew out the first couple of our several letters of support for faculty sabbatical/grant/leave applications. This latter I was planning to take the lead on anyway, but it just feels a tad daunting knowing that editorial support will be in SPAIN on a significant time difference. Perhaps this is why I am well on my way through a bottle of red...or maybe I am just well on my way through a bottle of red.

ironies

So, last week we had to meet with an instructor whose last set of course evaluations were woefully poor. The meeting included such highlights as explaining that answering your cell phone during class on a regular enough basis to have it much noted in the evals, was just not on. There were also the usual laments about digresssions, homework never returned, and my personal favorite, the recomendation to get drunk before tests. Imagine my surprise when today I got through campus mail a notification of this instructor's nomination for a distinguished teaching award. I had to ring the person in charge and say I couldn't really see writing a glowing letter since I had just finished writing a summation of our little chat from last week and it was anything but a glowing endorsement of the person's teaching.