The Faculty Meeting That Wasn't

Monday was supposed to include a faculty meeting to discuss who was going to teach what come the fall semester. Since I developed the Journalism, Creative Writing, and Academic Writing minor within the department, our department head announced in September, everyone had to do their share. It seems that "doing your share" does not translate well from English to Hungarian. Last semester, I taught four of the classes, one open elective class, and instituted a tutoring program in a writing center I set up. I have the writing center open for one and a half hours a day, twice a week. My office mate, a Hungarian, taught one course in the new minor. No one else offered any. This semester, I again am teaching three of the courses, one open elective, running the writing center, and supervising supposedly 1o Masters thesis students and 2 BA thesis students. Supposedly, is due to the fact that I doubt they will all finish, although I have been the nag my mother was and I hated. My office partner is again teaching one course, my Department Head has one, and the upper Department Head is teaching another. When the faculty meeting was canceled, I was relieved, but today, my Department Head shared with me that "we" need to encourage others to take the remaining classes to consummate the minor. After hashing around who could charm which fellow faculty, we set out to send e-mails pleading. Mind you, this is for September. The response I received was "I already have to prepare for a new Masters course over the summer, so I cannot possibly do another. Sure it is okay for me to create a fifteen course program, develop the materials for seven new courses, but this one cannot do two courses during the course of three months. Give me a break!! The luck of the Irish... Happy St. Patrick's Day.

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