Beginnings and Endings...

One of the best things about being an academic is that our jobs have clear beginnings and endings. We call them semesters, quarters and/or academic years. Like our K-12 colleagues, we spend 9-10 months on what is usually an “academic contract”. My mother-in-law still thinks we get “summers off”... far from the truth of course. Summer is when you get the real work done (even if you don’t get paid). This is the time for you to focus on that research, revise your syllabus and in general have the time to think about your future and future projects. But even summer has a definable beginning and end.

In the summer, most academics still do their email daily, write letters of reference, collect data, work on that book project, attend professional meetings, sit on student exams,,, on occasion they might even teach a summer school class. But we break up our year and summer is usually special for most people.

As a department head, things slow down a bit as faculty are less likely to be on campus, there are fewer meetings, fewer stressed students, fewer upset parents and what really matters “fewer emails.” I’m still in my office each day, unless I take an official “vacation day” and in truth “what is a vacation day when you are constantly monitoring your email and available through your cell phone.” I’m not going to bemoan my “electronic tether”… I'll let others do that. We live in a 24-7 world and if you are an administrator of any sort you have to be available. That’s just the reality.

In my view, this year and semester were a bit more stressful than most. We started the year with a Presidential Election, a looming financial crisis and ended the term a full blown financial crisis, potential reorganization of our college and Swine Flu on our doorstep. In between there were all the usual human dramas, family life, students with problems, problems with students, problems with colleagues, opportunities and challenges, dramas and mini-dramas, tragedies and triumphs, and all the little things that make life what it is… and I’m not talking about college football or basketball or women’s soccer.

But summer is here “and the living is easier.” Don’t give me a job without beginnings or endings… I couldn’t stand it… oops, I’ve got someone waiting at my door and I have to get back to my email, it’s piling up fast!