TITLE: Quotes from a Box of Stuff
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: July 17, 2006  3:50 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
Today I've been cleaning out an old-fashioned sort of
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2006-07.html#e2006-07-10T17_33_54.htm">
   current stuff</A>
folder: a box of papers that had gathered on my desk last
year and made the move en masse when we moved the department
office to its new building.  It is truly amazing in this day
of digital technology and on-line communication that so much
paper still flows among the various units of a large
organization.  Most of the paper in the box I attacked today
has hit either the recycle bin or the shredder; the rest,
mostly related to enrollment and budget, has been safely
filed away, though I'm not sure how often it will be used.

Occasional pages contain highlighted quotes that struck me
as worthy of keeping at some point last year.  Not all seem
as worthy today, but a couple ring as true now -- or truer
-- than they did then.

One is "Midlife in Academe", an essay by Jeffrey Nesteruk
in the July 8, 2005, issue of the <EM>Chronicle of Higher
Education</EM>.  Nesteruk recounts the enlightenment that
came over him as he reached middle age, a tenured full
prof who has reached most of his external professional
goals.  But this passage expresses a feeling I have after
a year as department head:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
... I have to be careful how I handle the loss of my
professional innocence.  I know the personalities in my
academic world.  I know the political divides,  I know the
battles that can be won and those that can't.  <STRONG>But
there's a risk in knowing too well your world's limits.  I
don't want that knowledge to constrain my imagination.</STRONG>
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

Like teaching and writing, administering a department and
trying to lead it require imagination.  It's important not
to get boxed in by the geography you've observed so far.

Then again, maybe I should be running for the hills away
from this job.  From the
<A HREF="http://www.iapr.org/">
   International Association for Pattern Recognition</A>'s
<EM>IAPR Newsletter</EM>, date unknown:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
Administration is abhorred by all right-thinking academics
and best to be avoided whenever possible.  When done badly
it causes grief; when done well it attracts even more to be
done.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've already lived both sides of that equation, and I expect
the coming year to be more of the same.
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