Where have I been?

It's been just over a year since my previous blog post. Why the lacuna? I can confidently say that it has NOT been sloth (or any of the other deadly sins). No, I have had quite the year. Most of it has been good, but there was one overwhelming negative commitment. I will spare you, dear reader, most of the gory details. Here are the pleasant things that have taken so much of my time:

• I was Chair of the Faculty Senate, and in fact I was re-elected to a second term. What a learning curve! Too many things came across that desk to list here, but we completed our University President's 4-year evaluation, approved a bunch of policies, and dealt with complications from the negative commitment discussed below. Worked with many excellent colleagues (and a few pills). 



Bern

• I taught abroad for the first time! An excellent experience that I recommend to all faculty, and I regret that it took me this long to do it. I taught in Bregenz, Austria with KIIS. A beautiful country with open and pleasant people. Did a bunch of weekend trips to Munich, Vienna, Innsbruck, and Bern, Switzerland. Fabulous all around.

Munich

 
 

• Worked with many part-time, adjunct, and grad student instructors on their teaching. Many (especially the grad students) had never taught before, and there was considerable mindset-busting needed. Many started out planning to lecture (read powerpoints) and give 3 exams. Wrong. Say hello to flipping with a jigsaw! Also, meet the Finkian maxim that the person doing the work does the learning. I could see the lights flickering on in their brains. Quite enjoyable. 
• I won the CPE Acorn Award!

  

  Me and Prof. Dr. Freud

But all of that was overshadowed by the dark cloud of budget cuts. For a variety of reasons, but mostly due to our Governor's ill-conceived cuts to higher education, my University had to cut about $25M from our budget. That's a significant chunk. The University formed the Budget Advisory Committee, and I was put on it as a faculty representative. That group started meeting in December and completed it's work by mid March. We met, oh I don't know, 10,000 times? Sometimes for 2 hours, sometimes all day. We asked each unit in the University, academic and otherwise (athletics), to come up with plans to cut 10, 15, and 20% of their budgets, and from these plans we came up with our recommendations to the Board of Regents and the President. More than 500 recommendations. We recommended suspending programs, cutting funding, and worst of all, eliminating positions. It was a dark time for the University, and I can tell you it was the hardest thing I have ever done, at least professionally. Truly miserable. The elimination of positions had to go through many channels, including the Faculty Senate, and I can tell you that was the least pleasant Senate meeting I held last year. I certainly hope we never have to go through that again. 


So that is what has kept me from this blog. The worst of it is over (budget cuts), and I hope to have more time for blogging. I even have an idea of what my next series of blogs will be about. Hint: where's the credit for all the work we put into creating our classes and course materials? Maybe the Internets?