Philosophy
So, I'm now chair of the department -- do not congratulate me, do NOT congratulate me. This is not a promotion. This is not gaining power or authority. With any organization there is crap work, not busy work, but detail work that needs to get done so things can happen and the chair is the person who makes sure that stuff is completed. It is not a position of vision or power. I don't control the department. I just stand in on behalf of it when someone has to, when e-mails need answering, when meetings need attending, when forms need signing, schedules and budgets need working out, etc. The point simply is that this is stuff somebody needs to do and it's now my turn.
But for some reason (probably because chairs did run the department under the old European model of the university), people give the position a sense of importance beyond what it really deserves. And that is what gives rise to my question. I've noticed that other colleagues who chair their departments make that clear in their e-mail signature. I've been thinking about it, but am uncomfortable with it. It seems a bit arrogant, as if I'm claiming some prestige I don't really deserve. At the same time, it could be useful in making clear that I'm the person to contact with questions or concerns about the department. But then that information would be easy enough to find, should it be needed.
So, should "chair" appear in my sig or not?
- Continuity Of Self
Today is my birthday and it is fun to look at all of the greetings on Facebook from folks I've known over the entire range of my life. Some who know me only as a graying department chair and others who knew me as a member of the red group in...
- So This Is What Competence Looks Like
Our next Secretary of Energy will be Steven Chu who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 for his work on laser cooling which uses light to slow down atoms. He was the chair of the physics department at Stanford until he left to become the director of...
- Hell Comes To Baltimore
This weekend is the annual eastern meeting of the American Philosophical Association and this year it is in Baltimore. The APA has three meetings each year, the eastern, central, and pacific meetings, but the eastern meeting is where every philosophy...
- What Is The Function Of Thanksgiving?
In one of my favorite passages from his writings, Peter Achinstein distinguishes between three meanings of the word "function," Suppose that a magnificent chair was designed as a throne for a king, i.e., it was designed to seat the king. However, it is...
- Deceased--philip L. Altick
Philip L. Altick Unknown 1933 to December 1st, 2008 I cannot say that I was familiar with Philip L. Altick...there are so many good physicists that never achieve the limelight of the Einsteins or Hawkings. But in the following obituary there is something...
Philosophy
The Meanings of Titles
So, I'm now chair of the department -- do not congratulate me, do NOT congratulate me. This is not a promotion. This is not gaining power or authority. With any organization there is crap work, not busy work, but detail work that needs to get done so things can happen and the chair is the person who makes sure that stuff is completed. It is not a position of vision or power. I don't control the department. I just stand in on behalf of it when someone has to, when e-mails need answering, when meetings need attending, when forms need signing, schedules and budgets need working out, etc. The point simply is that this is stuff somebody needs to do and it's now my turn.
But for some reason (probably because chairs did run the department under the old European model of the university), people give the position a sense of importance beyond what it really deserves. And that is what gives rise to my question. I've noticed that other colleagues who chair their departments make that clear in their e-mail signature. I've been thinking about it, but am uncomfortable with it. It seems a bit arrogant, as if I'm claiming some prestige I don't really deserve. At the same time, it could be useful in making clear that I'm the person to contact with questions or concerns about the department. But then that information would be easy enough to find, should it be needed.
So, should "chair" appear in my sig or not?
- Continuity Of Self
Today is my birthday and it is fun to look at all of the greetings on Facebook from folks I've known over the entire range of my life. Some who know me only as a graying department chair and others who knew me as a member of the red group in...
- So This Is What Competence Looks Like
Our next Secretary of Energy will be Steven Chu who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 for his work on laser cooling which uses light to slow down atoms. He was the chair of the physics department at Stanford until he left to become the director of...
- Hell Comes To Baltimore
This weekend is the annual eastern meeting of the American Philosophical Association and this year it is in Baltimore. The APA has three meetings each year, the eastern, central, and pacific meetings, but the eastern meeting is where every philosophy...
- What Is The Function Of Thanksgiving?
In one of my favorite passages from his writings, Peter Achinstein distinguishes between three meanings of the word "function," Suppose that a magnificent chair was designed as a throne for a king, i.e., it was designed to seat the king. However, it is...
- Deceased--philip L. Altick
Philip L. Altick Unknown 1933 to December 1st, 2008 I cannot say that I was familiar with Philip L. Altick...there are so many good physicists that never achieve the limelight of the Einsteins or Hawkings. But in the following obituary there is something...