The last few weeks have very busy, but things are going well. Today was a good "down" day for me. I ran some errands, made some pralines (not quite as smooth and creamy as I had hoped, so I might try again later), took a nap, and watched some TV. Not having anything in particular to do today is a nice feeling. And it's the start of a 3-day weekend, which is even better.
The build-up to my classes was pretty normal. One of my classes is one that I've taught many times in the past, so all I needed to do was a little clean-up work to get ready for it. The other class is new, and I've got most of the notes ready to go. And this is good, because I keep finding that this whole department chair thing consumes more time than I think it will.
It also seems like there's a sense of urgency about most of the things that happen. Sometimes, it actually is urgent. Like when I get a phone call at 2:30 in the afternoon from an instructor on the Friday before the Monday that classes begin. He can't teach one of the classes he was scheduled to teach. And it's a 9:30 AM class. So for the next few hours, I was on the phone and sending emails out to people to try to find someone who can teach the course. Fortunately, it's a lower level course, which makes it easier to staff. And I found someone that day, but I wasn't really happy with it.
I'm only a little less unhappy about things because the guy meant well. The reason he called me so late in the game is because he was trying to find a replacement. So at least he wasn't *intending* to leave things in a lurch. He just kind of accidentally left things there because he couldn't fix it himself. Of course, it would have been better for him to have told me immediately that he couldn't teach the class, and at that point tell me that he's also going to look around for a replacement. At least that way, I could have also tapped my own pool of resources for replacements (my pool is bigger than his).
Something else that has happened (though this is only partially tied to the department chair position) is that we're going to need to completely redesign the remedial math system that we built a few years ago. There's an issue with the way that things are reported that is creating non-compliance with some bureaucratic rules. The problem is that the bureaucracy works on a very strict calendar. Semesters start and end on certain dates, and student effort is expected to be similarly confined. This means that when we apply work from a previous semester to a student, we're apparently breaking some rules because that effort fell outside of a certain calendar period.
It's a bit disappointing, because the system we had was producing measurably better results. The pass rates went up, the modular system directly demonstrated student improvement, and students who completed our remediation were doing significantly better in college math than students who didn't complete our remediation. But those results don't matter to the bureaucracy. In a bureaucracy, the rules always win. And so we're dismantling the whole system and creating a brand new one.
But in the end, I expect that this new system will be better than the one we're leaving. I have the benefit of a few more years' worth of experience behind me, and so there will be opportunities for refinement. (This is how I trick myself into thinking in ways that propel things forward rather than slogging things down with the memories of how much time and effort I had to put to put the program together in the first place.)
In general, my adjustment to the department chair position is going well. I'm learning a lot and learning to see things at a completely different level. There's so much going on that I used to not have to worry about. It's not just the staffing, but the strategic planning. One of the big conversations I'm having is with the medical faculty that will be teaching our anatomy and physiology courses next year. In the new building, we will have a large increase in the number of cadavers and an increase in cadaver lab space. This is going to lead to a shift in how they teach their courses, and I need to talk with them to find out what exactly that means (because I don't know what goes on in one of those courses).
The start of the academic year happens to be close to the start of the ministry year. All small groups will kick off again in a couple weeks, and our curriculum will follow along with the sermons, just as before. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't finish "The Screwtape Letters" as a group, but that's okay. We'll probably get a couple more chapters in before that happens.
I've borrowed the 2013 Global Leadership Summit DVDs. They're quite interesting and enjoyable. One talk had an interesting comparison between "pressure" and "stress" that I found to be amusing. To set the picture, imagine William Tell lining up the shot where the apple is on his son's head. William Tell feels pressure; his son feels stressed. This all has to do with a sense of control. People work better under pressure (because they have the ability to use their abilities to work things out) but less well when they are under stress (because they have a sense of helplessness). The conversation went on to talk about the distinction between leaders who are "multipliers" (leaders who bring out abilities in people) and "diminishers" (leaders who do things that restrict people from using their abilities). And of course, people who work for multipliers feel pressure and people who work for diminishers feel stress. I've seen elements of both types of leaders in my past experiences, and it seems to make a lot of sense.
Labor Day will be a cooking day for me. The small group is coming over for Southern food (hence the pralines). It's been a while since I've done this, so I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to finalize the menu today and do some organizing to get ready for it. I made some meatballs for a faculty gathering last night that were sub-par. I think the meatballs were under-seasoned and overcooked, and that's just not a good combination. (Strike three was that the sauce wasn't quite what I had wanted it to be.) So we'll see how things go.
By coincidence, it will be the second food adventure of the week. This last week was restaurant week in Las Vegas, and my friend Paul was looking for an enabler. So we went to a restaurant to try their prix fixe menu. I had my first carpaccio (beef tenderloin pounded thin and served raw with a salad on top -- this one had a mustard dressing) and my first branzino (European sea bass). The carpaccio is exactly what you might think it would be. It wasn't huge on flavor, but just a nice, clean appetizer. The branzino was served with a seafood risotto. I don't really know what to say about it except that I enjoyed the flavor.
Side note: At some point, I need to find time to read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. Maybe that will happen over the winter break.
If I have time later tonight, I'll do a little more of a write-up on the Oaxaca trip.
