Never piss off the secretary December 23, 2012
Posted by mareserinitatis in teaching.Tags: secretary, teaching
trackback
After re-reading what I wrote in my last post, I realize that I sounded rather smug. That really wasn’t what I was going for, so I’m going to elaborate.
I try to work well with the staff and faculty when I’m teaching, and I try to make sure that I’m available to my students if I need help. I had a lot of profs like that when I was in undergrad, and I try to emulate them. I also had other profs who weren’t so conscientious (and a few who obviously didn’t care at all), and I really don’t want to be like that. I am hoping, given the comment by the secretary, I’m doing a decent job of working with people, students included.
Also, that secretary keeps a bat behind her desk. I really don’t want her to use it on me…even if it is inflatable.
I also blog at Engineer Blogs, home away from home to some of the best engineering blogs.
I try real hard to work with our secretarial staff. Helps that they’re awesome, but on those days when everyone is a little crazy, I try to remember how much is being asked of them by admin, how little help they often get, and how much less job security they have. Secretaries don’t have tenure.
Yeah, given there are two staff who handle about 20 profs and nearly 500 students, it’s really important to not ask too much. They have a lot on their plate already. It always surprises me how accommodating they are when I need help.