An Appreciated Phone Call

It is amazing how the school year works. I got a call from the dean of the campus center where I teach earlier today. He is busy getting things set for the spring semester. Here I am working on the fall semester, and he is already working on spring.

He called to ask me when I would like to teach. This may sound normal, but often times it is not the case. I teach at both a campus center and on the main campus. There are five campus centers affiliated with the main campus so students who live in surrounding areas do not have to travel all the way to the main campus. It is a very nice idea and I enjoy teaching at the campus center.

The problem is the deans of the campus center have to set the schedule for just their centers while the administration sets it for the main campus, and they are not always in touch with each other. This past spring, we moved my three hour class at the campus center from Friday afternoons to Friday morning. This was done with my knowledge and approval as the Friday afternoon classes have low enrollment and do not always go. We figured I would have more students taking a morning class, and that was the case.

Let us fast forward to the end of the spring semester, as things are getting set for this coming fall. The dean left me with my Friday morning class as it worked well, and that was fine with me. Then I checked on the computer and noticed, in addition to having a 9-12 class on Fridays, I was slated to teach a MWF class on the main campus from 10:10-11:05. That required me to be in two places at once, and while I am good, I am not that good.

No one at the main campus even checked with me, they just listed it and had my name on it. The only way I found out about this was by checking it myself. Fortunately I was able to find the problem (Thanks in part to my wife) and correct it (The dean of the campus center was nice enough to move me to a Tuesday/Thursday class). Now, the dean of the campus center is looking to get things set for the spring, but I have no idea when they will want me to teach on the main campus. I am guessing it will be a Tuesday/Thursday class (as it usually is in the spring) but I do not know.

It is often the small things, the calling and asking when I want to teach, or how things work into my schedule, that are so appreciated. It is just another reason why I like teaching at this campus center.