Job Updates

Last night's orientation went decently okay. The speaker was almost as bad as last year's, but not quite. I sat in the back with the trouble makers in the English department, so I at least had some entertainment! Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to really work on. Last year I was able to get a lot of work done on my syllabus.

The one interesting thing from the night is that our department (the Department of General Education) is considering a name change. Students don't typically see the need for gen eds, and we are often overlooked by the administration as well. Each campus is submitting two suggestions (one of which can be to keep it the same), so we brainstormed ideas last night. I guess that we'll get a ballot in our boxes in the next week so we can vote on it. There were two that I liked last night. One was Department of Essential Education, and the other one I don't completely remember, but it was something like Department of Core Arts, Sciences, and Letters. I don't know if "core" is the right word, but there was something there. Another suggestion was Deparment of Core Curriculum. Anyways, you get the idea. It will be interesting to see how this all ends up!

I also heard back from University of Phoenix today. I sent an e-mail two or three weeks ago saying that I couldn't do the Friday night orientations now because of previous commitments, but that I was interested in doing the Saturday morning sessions later this fall. I didn't hear anything, so I followed up with a phone call the next week. Nothing. I called again this week and left another voicemail. I had basically given up. Then today, I get the call! I can do the Saturday orientations, and if all goes well, I can start teaching after the first of the year.

I'm not going to quit my job just yet, but if things go well at UP, then I will phase out my other one and just teach a night or two at UP. The biggest advantage is that it is only 10-15 minutes from my house, not 45-60! Once we have a baby, I don't want to have to spend so much time commuting back and forth from work.

One final note: the situation with a student and his grade has improved slightly (very slightly), but we still haven't set up a time to meet. Please pray that that goes well. I'm meeting with another student on Monday, but she is rational and fairly respectful, so I am optimistic that that will go well. Thanks for your prayers--I definitely appreciate them!