Vol 1: Oct 2004
WHY EVERY FACULTY MEMBER SHOULD BECOME AN ADMINISTRATOR
Once upon a time there was a faculty member who taught 12 hours per semester with three preps, served on committees, and even published a bit. This "teaching" faculty member was not greatly troubled by the load, and felt that students would be better off in his classes than in those of some other faculty he could name. He was more for the teachers than for the administration, for he suspected the latter of trying to wring sweat, and maybe blood and tears, from diligent faculty.
Then one day he was given a position in Old Main. Strangely, he became agitated when he considered teaching schedules and faculty pay scales. It came to him that faculty members, like state construction workers, spent a great deal of time leaning on their shovels. He learned to repress levity during meetings, and gave talks titled "Contentment is a Rare Jewel ... Seek It" to faculty groups.
After a while the saddest part of his days was when faculty members went home. It seemed a shame to call there's a full day's work. The phrase "working at home" brought a sneer to his face. Those faculty who had once toiled beside him in the galleys now addressed his as "Doctor." He found he had mentally numbered them the same as convicts, for he learned at the administrators' lunches he attended that faculty were stealing his money.
One day an underling made bold to remind the administrator that he had once been a friend of the minion. "Right you are," the boss replied, "but at that time I had never been in Old Main to see the fresco entitled `Virtue Calculating the Classroom Usage Ratio' or the statue of `Justice Dividing the Merit Raise Monies'. I don't know how to make this clear, so I will only remark that all those who get to this side of the fence are given the gift of seeing the truth that is shielded from you."
The moral of the story : For educational purposes, every professor should be assumed into the Administration.
Dr. Michael d' Amico
Associate Professor of Marketing
Department of Marketing
University of Akron
Akron, OH 44320
Marketing Insights is a publication of the Marketing Management Association