A First-Year Dramatization

Dahlia is an assistant professor in her first year on campus at Aggie U. She is fun, creative, out-going, productive, and generally an excellent addition to the faculty. However, she has one flaw: a tendency toward paranoia. Dahlia sees enemies and plots behind every carrel in the library. She thinks that other sub-specialties in the department are slighting her area of research; she's convinced that the department chair supports everyone else but her. All of this paranoia is getting in the way of Dahlia being accepted as a member of the departmental "team." In her zeal to have her complaints validated, she does an end-run around the department chair and goes to complain to the Dean about the slights she feels she's receiving from others in the department. When the Dean is not particularly sympathetic, she goes to the Vice-Provost, and essentially accuses the Dean of gender discrimination. She also lodges a complaint with the Provost's office against her department chair. Dahlia seems to love all this attention and thrives on being a drama queen. But her ethos is suffering badly, and not just in the department. Everyone counsels her that she needs to work more cooperatively within her department, particularly with the department chair. Even though "collegiality" isn't something recognized on a tenure vote, it is certainly in the back of everyone's minds. When someone is tenured, the rest of the faculty are bringing in a colleague essentially for life. Who wants to work with someone on a daily basis who troubles the waters, refuses to cooperate, or complains out of school? This doesn't mean that junior faculty need to accept bad behavior on the part of their faculty colleagues or the department chair. What it does mean is that junior faculty need to make every effort to get along, and to work through accepted channels and protocol if there are problems in the department. Make every effort to become known as a creative problem solver and not as a whiner and complainer. I often hear junior faculty say "I'm just trying to keep off the administration's radar screen." No, you WANT to get on their radar screen, but for the right reasons: the terrific work you're doing with students and the impact of your scholarship on the profession.