Heidi McKee shows a section of her first year...
Perhaps the busy, eclectic life of being a faculty member is best captured visually. Here's a picture of the bulletin board above my desk. In a typical week, I will have met with the Vice-President of Informational Technologies, submitted a proposal for a conference, responded to a chapter draft of a graduate student's thesis, made final arrangements for a grant-funded speaker, filed an internal grant, written and filed two IRB applications for a large-scale interview project, conferenced for 20 minutes each for 22 students in my College Composition course, purchased more video equipment for the Digital Writing Collaborative, reviewed two IRB proposals from colleagues in the university, set up two Skype interviews with research participants, contacted an editor about page proofs for a book Danielle DeVoss and I are co-editing, taught courses, met with the Assistant Chair of the department to locate more rooms for conversion to laptop classrooms, and responded to over 100 work-related emails. And it's only Thursday morning! And too, what fun it is! Truly. I can't think of a more wonderful profession than being a faculty member in higher-ed. How lucky we are!
The bulletin board includes
- a list of the committees and the dates they meet,
- a purchase order for taking a guest speaker out to eat,
- the schedule for the fall and spring classes that I supervise,
- a consent form for an oral history project a colleague is working on,
- a list of information I need to put into a letter seeking funding from the Development Office,
- a note reminding me of two letters of recommendation I need to write,
- a one-page statement on "Preparing Students for Writing in the 21st-Century: Digital Initiatives in the English Department" that I will share with the President of the University when I meet with him next week,
- an article on recycling computers that I'll cite in a manuscript I'm drafting,
- an invitation and contract to speak at SUNY-Albany, and
- sticky notes reminding me of what books I've loaned to graduate students.