I was joking with academic friends a few nights ago about another friend who is something of a shameless self-promoter. When something good happens in his life, like an award or grant, he begins a round of promotion of this achievement that  begins on his  Facebook page and doesn’t stop until everyone has acknowledged it: the local newspaper, organizations of which he is a member, his blog, friends’ blogs and FB pages, the university newspaper and media center (including website), etc. If he hasn’t received appropriate acknowledgement, he might send it again. They laughed that he recently skipped an award ceremony because not enough people were going to see him accept the award.

I understand the criticism. No one wants to be around a person who is just interested in their own lives. There is something in academe, though, that requires a good bit of self-promotion. It starts when you…

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It is hiring time again, and I am right in the thick of it. I am on one external search committee (senior hire), we are hiring in our department, and I am serving as a reference for several colleagues. All of this has me thinking about the concept of the “fit” between a department and a candidate/new hire.

Back in July, ProfHacker did a post asking people to define “fit.” One thing was clear: the concept of fit was nebulous. Some people used it to discuss whether a new hire fit with the established department, whereas others discussed which potential institution would be the best fit from the perspective of someone on the market. Others discussed fit as the balance between the two perspectives. Many commenters discussed how a department’s concept of a new hire as a poor fit was (a) the product of small departmental minds and (b) another way to discuss a lack of collegiality, perhaps…

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When I was a faculty member at previous R1 institutions, I went to campus 2-3 days a week. I spent the rest of my time working at home. When I was on campus, I often visited with colleagues and friends across campus between meetings, office hours, and classes. I relished the flexibility of faculty life. My first administrative/faculty job was a part-time admin gig, though I often was on campus 4-5 days a week to meet with students, faculty, and staff as needed. But I started my days late, and I left when I wanted to leave. It was nothing close to a 9-5 gig.

One of the side effects of this new 12 month, 9-whatever, administrative position is that I have to remind myself to take breaks. I go from task to task, meeting to meeting, and time just passes by in a blur. Open times are usually interrupted by “could I have a minute” conversations with faculty, staff, and students who poke their…

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The hiring season is upon us. I am serving as an outside member on a search committee (senior hire), our department is hiring faculty and staff members, and I am serving as a reference for friends and former students on the academic market. None of these roles is especially new, but, for the first time, I am the administrator of a unit doing searches.

There have been some very new experiences in conducting hires as the senior administrator. The first big experience was negotiating the areas of need with the faculty. While I had to facilitate the discussion, I also had my own ideas and interests. I know from prior experiences on search committees that these meetings can be full of conflict when the Dean or Chair disagrees with faculty about the direction of the program.I put my own ideas aside and led the discussion, drawing out the suggestions of faculty. I found the faculty…

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After a recent meeting of department chairs and directors from around the university,  I came away pretty depressed. As I listened to established administrators from different departments discuss their frustrations with managing faculty in a time of shrinking budgets and increasing expectations, I found two different themes: wary and weary.

I love how mad the instructor looks, because frustration seems to underlie wary and weary.

They were wary because they face a new administration in the university, one that brings its own ideas for who we should be, where we should be going, and the best ways to get there. And like every new administration, some of the ideas and proposals are going to bomb, while others may be successful. The chairs know this, and worry about being caught in the crossfire, asked to …

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