Meetings, Meetings, Meetings

 

So at work I'm on a committee which is a subcommittee of another one I'm on. The main committee has a term of three years, which will end for me in a few months, so I figured my term on the subcommittee would end too. It's a really interesting committee, but kind of intimidating because a lot of deans come to the meeting and just lurk - they don't actually participate. They don't even turn their cameras on, so I feel a little like a deer in the woods, knowing there are wolves out there that I can't see, watching me. Anyway, today I got an email asking if I would like to extend my term on the subcommittee, and so what did I say? "I would love to." In the fall, these meetings will be in person, so then I would actually see the deans as much as they see me, but I'd also have to dress up the whole way, and not just from the waist up. Anyway, this whole episode has gotten me to thinking about how I used to live to avoid meetings, but now I seem to find myself in them all the time. What changed? Am I just worse at avoiding them, or am I finding them easier than doing actual work? When we were still on campus, it was always an excuse to get out of the office, and sometimes go to a conference room with a stunning view. Now it's just staring at a computer screen, but it does break up the monotony of working from home. Or maybe the meetings in academia are actually more interesting than in the corporate world, back when I worked in the private sector and did everything in my power to avoid meetings. Come to think of it, academia in general is more interesting than the corporate world. I don't regret making that move!

Famous Hat