Today I am officially ending my “term” as department chair. 12 years, 7 presidents, 9 VPs of instruction, God-only-knows-how-many- @ass_deans-because-I-lost-count, a school shooting, and a gradual doubling of the work load.

I received no training nor was I ever given formal or informal evaluations on my job performance. I pieced together what I thought a good chair should do by first and foremost talking to my faculty about what they needed. They needed someone to buffer them from the admin churn.

They needed someone to advocate for funding and health care and leaking pipes and parking and photocopies and broken equipment and safety and protection from threatening students/coworkers.

Students needed someone they knew they could come to and be heard over issues in class or school. It’s hard to measure success in this area. I always counted it a win if I could get a student and faculty member to sit down and talk to each other over a misunderstanding.

As you who’ve done this know, there’s a fine line between being your faculty’s champion & maintaining effective relationships with admin.
The highest compliment I ever received from an admin was “I always trust that you’ll be the one in the room to tell me my fly is open.”

I scheduled classes for four programs, evaluated PT faculty, hired and, sometimes, rarely, thankfully, dismissed faculty. I managed and guarded and fought tooth and nail for several budgets.

I served as chair while also teaching 4-4-4 (we’re on trimesters). Needless to say, I have rarely done everything well. Picture a frog in a slowly heating pot of water, spinning plates on wobbly poles.

Oddly, it seems no one has applied for the position.

I’m nearly giddy at the idea of “just” teaching...

And when they come to me in the fall asking me to help with the schedule or the budget, I’m following @Literature_Lady’s lead. My consultation fee is $250 an hour.