AUC is moving to a brand new campus in the middle of the desert, about 45 minutes outside of Cairo. I have read their descriptions, AND I have been out to New Campus, and I think my description is more accurate.
The campus is being built from scratch. It began as a vast expanse of the Sahara, and is being turned into a self-contained 260 acre university campus (a la Large, Private, American-style University). They have been working on this construction project for five years and on Sunday, September 7th, 2008 the university operations will begin at the New Campus.
There is only one problem – the campus is not done. Many buildings are still active construction sites. Classrooms do not have projectors, computers, basic teaching facilities. Offices are not completed, although our stuff has already been boxed up and taken away from the old campus. Internet is not working reliably, if at all, on many areas of the campus. Buildings are not marked from the outside as to what they are, and rooms inside do not have numbers.
As you can probably guess, I am a little freaked out by this. I have said in the past, I AM TYPE A. (And anal-retentive is ALWAYS hyphenated 🙂 ) I need to be able to organize myself and my immediate surroundings in order to feel that I can work productively and efficiently. This is not currently happening. I don’t have a warm-fuzzy about the situation.
AND it is going beyond simply my “sphere of influence” – or just me and my classes. This is also my first semester as the coordinator of a multi-section CORE curriculum course called “Scientific Thinking”. I am arranging and managing 20 sections of the course, each with 30-35 students. I have 15 professors teaching in this course.
I had an organizational meeting to discuss our “challenges” and what we can and cannot expect when we arrive at the New Campus. I have NEVER felt so impotent in leading a meeting. Professors asking, what should be, simple questions. To which I could only answer, “I don’t know”, or “From what I have been told…”, or (the worst) “We will have to wait and see.” Informing professors that all of the technology that they have so diligently built in to their courses over the last few years will be useless for AT LEAST the first 2 to 4 weeks of the semester. All the while trying to “put on a happy face” and discuss these disasters as “challenges” even though I could not give ANY hard information to the faculty on which to build strategies.
I am well-versed in presenting “challenges” to faculty to attempt to get buy-in (Gozi calls it manipulation – I think that is unnecessarily harsh). In this case, the challenges are not within our ability to “overcome” for a “beneficial outcome”. These are logistical nightmares, and all I could do in the meeting was smile and reiterate that we will have to be flexible and resourceful. I don’t think anyone really believed me.
Gozi and AJ have a running joke – they call me D.I.T. (dean in training). They “foresee” my successful rise to academic administration as a foregone conclusion. My impotence in today’s meeting calls that conclusion into SERIOUS question.
Gozi and AJ have a running joke – they call me D.I.T. (dean in training). They “foresee” my successful rise to academic administration as a foregone conclusion. My impotence in today’s meeting calls that conclusion into SERIOUS question.
It absolutely does NOT call that into question. You did exactly what a Dean needs to do. You focused on the positive, you put on the game face, you didn’t allow the meeting to disintegrate into pissing and moaning.
And, while you feel it is harsh, manipulation is exactly what it is, and is exactly what is needed.
Remember:
Bitch about things UPwards and laterally, never downward.
Do you have an office yet? Hubby’s offices aren’t ready and his first class lasted long enough to hand out syllabi. If you convinced even one person to chill out and face the “challenges” of the new campus with a smile, i’d call that a successful day! 🙂
No usable office yet – just a room number. Insha’allah my profs are facing the challenge in good humor. I did the best I could today, and then came home to fresh mango juice with Stoli. 🙂
Based on a few evening observations….you are doing great. I *know* you are type-A++++… and that you need all in order for things to work. And you are making it work. You have successfully made several people’s lives better. You must keep in mind that telling someone “I do not know” and “From what I have been told..” or even “We will have to wait and see….” can be reassuring to many.
Thanks for the amazing visit and I am so impressed with what you are doing!
…THE evil twin!