Of awkwardness and touching rituals...

The awkwardness that I feared during the faculty meeting this morning was avoided because Dr. Chair is out of town. We had a substitute running the meeting. There were some interesting things discussed today including selection a faculty member in each area to "run" the assessment of that area. As frequent readers might guess, I hoped that my name would not even be thought of to be the point person for my area (although the departure of the chair means that there are only two of us), but my ears perked up quite a bit when they said there was a stipend involved in the task. It actually does not seem like that much more work than we've already done (and a 2-4 page summary of that work), and the stipend will be nice. Who knew I would be volunteering for an assessment-related assignment?! I guess the saying is true: never say never...

Today was our "Founder's Day" convocation, when the provost officially declares the school year open. A traditional part of this ceremony is a reading of the inaugural speech that our founder gave when he opened the school. The choir and orchestra perform. It's really an incredible tradition. Today as I was experiencing this for the third time, it made me think about rituals at the other colleges of which I've been associated and their rituals for marking time. My undergraduate institution also had an opening convocation with a great deal of pageantry, and that is still one of the events that I think of when remembering my time there. My PhD university didn't have an opening ceremony like that (although the first football game might be close in terms of excitement and freshness), but it had a plethora of other traditional ceremonies throughout the year. I think those things that bring former students back "home" and instill in new students the sense of community are important. Particularly for current students, these events help mark the passage of time, whether it's the awe of newness that comes the first time one experiences the tradition, or the cherished moments as one enjoys those traditions one last time as a senior, or the memories they bring whenever one returns physically or in memory. Today made me appreciate where I work all the more.