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(no subject)
Apr. 24th, 2002 07:00 am
Which Sluggy Freelance Character Are You?
Not much of a surprise. I knew I'd be either Torg or Riff (especially since Bert wasn't an option).
Apr. 24th, 2002
Which Sluggy Freelance Character Are You?
Not much of a surprise. I knew I'd be either Torg or Riff (especially since Bert wasn't an option).
And anyone else who checked out the Objective Christian Ministries site. http://www.applelinks.com/articles/2002/04/20020423140855.shtml claims that it's a hoax, although it's based on circumstantial evidence.
(no subject)
Apr. 24th, 2002 11:33 amSo, Jason (the married gay Mormon who has been the Educational Analyst for the College for years) announced his retirement yesterday. I took this as a positive sign. But a few emails and conversations with Marcy and Marisa haven't been as positive.
I'm still trying to articulate things, so I don't doubt this will be disjointed.
In a nutshell, the last year since the re-org has seen me working less and less with faculty, and almost never in any position outside of LearnLink. In spite of the fact that this is what I'm good at, and love. I've wanted to get back to working with online learning in general, but our organizational strucure is stupidly classroom specific, so different people work on Blackboard, LearnLink, WebCT, etc, which is just dumb.
So, I've been pushing both Marisa (head of the ACT team, where I'm stationed) and Marcy (head of faculty services) to get me in a position to let me work with faculty again. And both have been responsive, in a general sense, talking about the need for non-platform-specific jobs.
Now, however, that there's an opening, things aren't looking as good. The problems are that A) Alan (head of the entire team) is the one making the decisions, and B) Jason has a huge influence on both Marisa and Marcy.
The problem with A is that even though Alan has been, essentially, my mentor for years, he cannot see me as anything more than the kid who was working in the Emory Computer Store six years ago. He doesn't recognize my abilities at working with faculty, because he doesn't see people as they change. Further, he's got a thing where he believes you need a PhD to do the job. This is mainly because of his own ABD status, and a certain amount of envy/admiration he has for others who have made it all the way. Frankly, you don't need the degree for the job (it's a lateral move from my current one), but he won't accept that. And this is more frustrating because Alan is a friend. Which is one reason to keep friendships out of the workplace.
As for B), this is simpler at least, in that Jason is just an asshole (he's a practising Mormon who sneaks into the men's from for anonymous quickies, so you can gather that this is a person pretty full of issues and self-loathing). The problem is, he's good buddies with Marcy and Marisa, and I don't doubt his opinion influences theirs.
Which is not to say things suck completely. Both Marcy and Marisa are pushing for the restructuring. But they clearly don't think that I've got Jason's capabilities, which is horseshit. Frankly, I'm as good as he is on most things, better on a few, and worse on a few. On balance, I'm just as good, minus one degree.
So here's how I'm planning on approaching things. If the structure is fixed in a way that lets me work with faculty more, that's cool. And I can certainly give it a few weeks. And I'll work damned hard and well. But if it becomes clear that the course will stay the same (and Marcy and Marisa may not have the ability to ram the needed changes through), I'm going to start job hunting. The thing is, I'm picky. I need a job that pays this well, offers as much freedom, and is interesting. And if I can't find one, I'm just going to become the bane of academic computing -- they guy who works at a place for years, and doesn't give a shit, and does the minimum to get by. And I'll do it out of spite.
Anyway, I'll try to make this more articulate later. I know I'm leaving all sorts of holes.
I'm still trying to articulate things, so I don't doubt this will be disjointed.
In a nutshell, the last year since the re-org has seen me working less and less with faculty, and almost never in any position outside of LearnLink. In spite of the fact that this is what I'm good at, and love. I've wanted to get back to working with online learning in general, but our organizational strucure is stupidly classroom specific, so different people work on Blackboard, LearnLink, WebCT, etc, which is just dumb.
So, I've been pushing both Marisa (head of the ACT team, where I'm stationed) and Marcy (head of faculty services) to get me in a position to let me work with faculty again. And both have been responsive, in a general sense, talking about the need for non-platform-specific jobs.
Now, however, that there's an opening, things aren't looking as good. The problems are that A) Alan (head of the entire team) is the one making the decisions, and B) Jason has a huge influence on both Marisa and Marcy.
The problem with A is that even though Alan has been, essentially, my mentor for years, he cannot see me as anything more than the kid who was working in the Emory Computer Store six years ago. He doesn't recognize my abilities at working with faculty, because he doesn't see people as they change. Further, he's got a thing where he believes you need a PhD to do the job. This is mainly because of his own ABD status, and a certain amount of envy/admiration he has for others who have made it all the way. Frankly, you don't need the degree for the job (it's a lateral move from my current one), but he won't accept that. And this is more frustrating because Alan is a friend. Which is one reason to keep friendships out of the workplace.
As for B), this is simpler at least, in that Jason is just an asshole (he's a practising Mormon who sneaks into the men's from for anonymous quickies, so you can gather that this is a person pretty full of issues and self-loathing). The problem is, he's good buddies with Marcy and Marisa, and I don't doubt his opinion influences theirs.
Which is not to say things suck completely. Both Marcy and Marisa are pushing for the restructuring. But they clearly don't think that I've got Jason's capabilities, which is horseshit. Frankly, I'm as good as he is on most things, better on a few, and worse on a few. On balance, I'm just as good, minus one degree.
So here's how I'm planning on approaching things. If the structure is fixed in a way that lets me work with faculty more, that's cool. And I can certainly give it a few weeks. And I'll work damned hard and well. But if it becomes clear that the course will stay the same (and Marcy and Marisa may not have the ability to ram the needed changes through), I'm going to start job hunting. The thing is, I'm picky. I need a job that pays this well, offers as much freedom, and is interesting. And if I can't find one, I'm just going to become the bane of academic computing -- they guy who works at a place for years, and doesn't give a shit, and does the minimum to get by. And I'll do it out of spite.
Anyway, I'll try to make this more articulate later. I know I'm leaving all sorts of holes.
