I confess that I’ve felt just a bit of jealousy over the big hugs that my Student Development Faculty colleagues enjoy in one of my most favorite Taylor traditions – the graduation faculty tunnel. I am a (HUGE) “hugger” and while I do get some solid hugs in the tunnel, the unhealthy tendency to compare myself to others creeps in at times.
It makes sense that students would feel closest to Student Development Faculty as they do more life and spend more time with them, on average, than faculty member whose main duties exist within the classroom setting. I am quite certain that, on average, a Hall Director has had many more deep conversations with a given student than I had in the classroom setting or in advising sessions.
Now, as I am serving in administration as a dean, I have far fewer student interactions than I had when my main role was teaching in the classroom (I teach just one course a semester now).
“What does a dean actually do?” I have been asked this question by several students…it’s a good question! I posed this same question to my brother on a phone call one of my first years on campus. I was fairly new to the faculty and he was the Director of Admissions at Indiana University at South Bend.
He was on a search committee for a new dean which is what prompted my question. His response was something like “Oh, they work to hire faculty, participate in faculty and curricular development, interact with the senior leaders, etc.”
I remember my response more clearly: “Ugh…that sounds awful. Give me the classroom with my students!”
Like every faculty member at Taylor, I came here because I have a deep love for engaging with students directly and in the classroom. And, like many administrators, one of the hardest pieces of administration is looser connections with students.
