Dear Faculty Colleagues,
We have turned the corner on another semester and are heading towards another record graduation day. Our students’ successes are attributable to all the great things you have done with them – they are your successes, too. We have a lot to celebrate!
I get the feeling, however, that we are all suffering from a bit of cabin fever. While searching the Chronicle for articles on how to approach some sticky situations, I ran across a great Op-Ed by Dean Paula Krebs at Bridgewater State Univ., in Bridgewater, MA. (https://chroniclevitae.com/news/974-everyone-is-cranky-lately) She brilliantly described an event in my day last week – if you ever wondered what I do with my time, read her article.
As faculty, I believe that we share some common educational values – the student experience should be excellent; we should be engaged in creating new knowledge or new and original interpretations; our scholarship should inform our teaching; and we are part of something bigger than ourselves – a department, a program, a College, a University. We live and work in close proximity, which makes difficult decisions even harder.
If we view each other as colleagues, working with common educational values, our brief time on this Earth will be so much more enjoyable. I’ve taken Dr. Krebs’ perspectives to heart, and tried to lead as Mohandas Gandhi taught us – with compassion, and in the direction where we want to go. Hard decisions are just that – hard – and I will make mistakes along the path.
I know things didn’t end well for the Mahatma, but while I’m here, I ask that we remember that we are all in this together. We can’t change the current fiscal climate, we can’t magically fix all our aging facilities, but we can treat each other like the professionals that we have all become. There’s a lot of good in all of us, and most of us just want to do the right thing.
Thank you for all you do for K-State,
Peter
Dean
Coming out of the winter holiday rush with pending deadlines for graduation and grades one should consider reframing perspective. When an issue develops are you triggered to assuming that the perceived offender had malice intent? Are you quick to react with cynicism or a snide remark? On a recent trip to a local restaurant in Aggieville I watched a customer sap the spirit out of the staff. The customer was upset because a bulk order wasn’t correct (mind you the order was placed during the lunch rush with selective toppings instead of what the menu list). The cashier was trying to politely correct the order while adjusting an error at the register. All the while the upset customer kept berating the staff as if they intentionally meant to cause her an injustice. The small group in line in front of me ended up leaving. After 6-9 minutes the angry customer finally left with another outburst deriding the staff. As I walked up to place my order I just smiled thanked them for their patience dealing with the customer letting them know that it wasn’t them. I doubt they intentionally made errors on the order nor did they intend to incorrectly enter a charge that made the receipt off by a couple dollars. As you deal with staff, faculty and students start with the perceptive that they aren’t intentionally trying to do you injustice. After all we are humans that make mistakes.