Friday, February 18, 2011

Spring 2011

How is it that I teach one less class but feel busier (and not posting)? Oh yeah, I'm coordinator of the Japanese program now. But the start of semester rush and other responsibilities have more or less settled down and it's time to do... more work.

Number One Priority: Promote our Summer Institute for Japanese Language and Culture. Please contact me if you have any questions. I will have more on this soon.

Priority Two: Request a full time position. Our colleague, Shoko Hamano, continues her duties as Language Center Director, which is good for her, but leaves the Japanese Program minus one full time professor--and a good one at that. So while I've requested a one-year extension for our visiting full-time position--Mitsuyo Sato, another good one--a visitors position is only for two years max, so we've got to do something for the following year, perhaps a solution that is a bit more permanent and, hopefully, helpful for the development of our program.

Priority Three: Finish up a paper I'm working on and submit it to a journal. I don't want to perish, but sometime I wonder if its not inevitable. Burning candles at both ends is more than demanding--teaching a full load, administrative work as coordinator, and publishing. Hmm, am I burning that candle from the middle, too?

Priority Four: Oh yeah, prepare for class and grade... Wait, shouldn't that be priority number One?