Gradness Madness

After writing about the social awkwardness we can sometimes experience within our departments and schools, I ran across this article.  The author points out that “collegiality” is pretty hard to define - must we go to parties, schmooze, hang out in our offices, talk to colleagues about our personal lives?  What does it mean to be “collegial?”

I don’t have the answer (and I suspect it’s very contextual, depending on where you work), but our grad director seemed to exemplify collegiality.  He was in his office 8-5, Monday through Friday, as opposed to those profs who are only around on teaching days.  His door was always open, and people stopped by all the time.  He also walked the halls to visit with others.  He explained that he built time for collegiality into his day by being accessible.

That wouldn’t work for everyone, but it’s one approach.  Link to article:

http://chronicle.com/article/Collegiality-Lessons/44696/

All the best -

Flynn