Update number two from NYC
Well, I am finishing day three of the AACRAO Conference. I just answered a lot of work email--always tough, because it's hard to problem solve remotely, and I always feel badly about that--and am now putting in a brief entry before I meet a couple of improv friends for dinner or a show or whatever.
It's been a pretty good conference overall. I have to say that some of the presenters were not as well-informed, prepared, or polished as I would have liked. That makes me feel that I could do as good a job, if not better, than them, and that maybe I ought to propose a topic for next year's conference (which just happens to be in San Diego! :-)). The 3:45pm session, for example, was on diversity, a really important topic. However, the speaker, from Eastern Washington University, spent more time telling us what he wasn't going to talk about (the survey his school conducted on diversity) and how the students didn't respond (without getting into specifics except they thought it was too long) than anything else! He gave us the handouts and told us to read them later! Er...what?! We were also supposed to discuss our own ideas or what we were doing on campus, but that never happened. What the session did inspire me to do is ask Tawanya and Jenifer, the advisors on the Diversity Committee, if I could join it or at least attend the meetings. As Director of Student Services, I really need to know more (and I would like to sit in on the At-Risk Students Committee, or whatever it's called now, too, though that might not be as possible, as it's not a task force but a working committee and it might be large enough w/out my participation).
What this conference has also convinced me of, once and for all, is that I really, REALLLY want to do advising and not registrar work. GAH. I am so much more interested in student progress (and retention) than I am in record keeping (IPEDs? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? STATISTICS? BAH, HUMBUG!). When my supervisor said that I could spend more time helping her with IPEDs if we go to an online graduation audit system, I cringed and sighed and thought, Nope, never gonna happen for me here. I looked in the Chronicle of Higher Ed for positions during a break at Starbucks (where else?! ;-)) today, and found nothing that applied to me. I am either overqualified or underqualified for many positions, and I think this is due in part to my being a generalist, rather than a specialist. Also, I am moving more into registrar-related functions, and away from advising, and this is disappointing at best and a bad career move at worst. I need to find employment with more advising opportunities, and I'm not sure how I will find such a position, but looking at various job searching sites online is a good start, I guess, since The Chronicle only advertises higher-end positions.
As for the fun part of the trip, I had the most delicious meal ever last night, at a place called Becco on 355 West 46th Street (don't ask me where that is, but it's somewhere near Times Square, as my hotel is). OHMYGOD. Soooo tasty. The pasta was fresh, homemade, newly cooked, and, as my companion Susan said, "a mouth symphony." Lordy. Three kinds of pastas, including a ravioli with mushroom that was to DIE for, antipasto, and heavenly bread sticks (trust me, they were). We also had Pelligrino Sparkling water (the best) and I tasted her coconut sorbet (so sweet, so creamy, so delectable). The price of the entire meal was about $44, including tax and tip, but so worth it. Of course, I felt horribly guilty afterwards (weight-wise, not money-wise, or not as much the latter as the former), so I went down to the pool and swam laps for a half hour (this after working out over an hour on the elliptical and treadmill earlier that day, along w/ a great deal of walking). Today I was better, and had a bagel for breakfast, and soup and two kudos bars for lunch, and that's it. I also did nearly 50 minutes, 3.10 miles, on the treadmill, along w/ floor exercises, so I got some exercise in.
So all in all, it's been a good trip. The room was quiet, if small, and very convenient, and the conference has had its moments. It's always good to hear what other schools are contending with, and to see that every institution has its own set of concerns. I also spent virtually no time worrying about plays and the like, which was very healthy for me. I have one more session tomorrow morning, followed by a keynote address by Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, and then Karen and I make our way back to Boston. While I would have preferred to have been at an advising conference, this had its benefits, and it was good to get away and yet get work done.
I'm off to dinner. Happy Hump Day and I'll be back in Boston tomorrow with a wrap-up.
It's been a pretty good conference overall. I have to say that some of the presenters were not as well-informed, prepared, or polished as I would have liked. That makes me feel that I could do as good a job, if not better, than them, and that maybe I ought to propose a topic for next year's conference (which just happens to be in San Diego! :-)). The 3:45pm session, for example, was on diversity, a really important topic. However, the speaker, from Eastern Washington University, spent more time telling us what he wasn't going to talk about (the survey his school conducted on diversity) and how the students didn't respond (without getting into specifics except they thought it was too long) than anything else! He gave us the handouts and told us to read them later! Er...what?! We were also supposed to discuss our own ideas or what we were doing on campus, but that never happened. What the session did inspire me to do is ask Tawanya and Jenifer, the advisors on the Diversity Committee, if I could join it or at least attend the meetings. As Director of Student Services, I really need to know more (and I would like to sit in on the At-Risk Students Committee, or whatever it's called now, too, though that might not be as possible, as it's not a task force but a working committee and it might be large enough w/out my participation).
What this conference has also convinced me of, once and for all, is that I really, REALLLY want to do advising and not registrar work. GAH. I am so much more interested in student progress (and retention) than I am in record keeping (IPEDs? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? STATISTICS? BAH, HUMBUG!). When my supervisor said that I could spend more time helping her with IPEDs if we go to an online graduation audit system, I cringed and sighed and thought, Nope, never gonna happen for me here. I looked in the Chronicle of Higher Ed for positions during a break at Starbucks (where else?! ;-)) today, and found nothing that applied to me. I am either overqualified or underqualified for many positions, and I think this is due in part to my being a generalist, rather than a specialist. Also, I am moving more into registrar-related functions, and away from advising, and this is disappointing at best and a bad career move at worst. I need to find employment with more advising opportunities, and I'm not sure how I will find such a position, but looking at various job searching sites online is a good start, I guess, since The Chronicle only advertises higher-end positions.
As for the fun part of the trip, I had the most delicious meal ever last night, at a place called Becco on 355 West 46th Street (don't ask me where that is, but it's somewhere near Times Square, as my hotel is). OHMYGOD. Soooo tasty. The pasta was fresh, homemade, newly cooked, and, as my companion Susan said, "a mouth symphony." Lordy. Three kinds of pastas, including a ravioli with mushroom that was to DIE for, antipasto, and heavenly bread sticks (trust me, they were). We also had Pelligrino Sparkling water (the best) and I tasted her coconut sorbet (so sweet, so creamy, so delectable). The price of the entire meal was about $44, including tax and tip, but so worth it. Of course, I felt horribly guilty afterwards (weight-wise, not money-wise, or not as much the latter as the former), so I went down to the pool and swam laps for a half hour (this after working out over an hour on the elliptical and treadmill earlier that day, along w/ a great deal of walking). Today I was better, and had a bagel for breakfast, and soup and two kudos bars for lunch, and that's it. I also did nearly 50 minutes, 3.10 miles, on the treadmill, along w/ floor exercises, so I got some exercise in.
So all in all, it's been a good trip. The room was quiet, if small, and very convenient, and the conference has had its moments. It's always good to hear what other schools are contending with, and to see that every institution has its own set of concerns. I also spent virtually no time worrying about plays and the like, which was very healthy for me. I have one more session tomorrow morning, followed by a keynote address by Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, and then Karen and I make our way back to Boston. While I would have preferred to have been at an advising conference, this had its benefits, and it was good to get away and yet get work done.
I'm off to dinner. Happy Hump Day and I'll be back in Boston tomorrow with a wrap-up.
posted by Sue B at 2:55 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Soobee! Glad to see you've got the comments working! Love the blog, and hang in there!
-Kirsten
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