What a Relief

One of the curious things about my job is that I have (essentially) no supervision. As faculty members, we are pretty much on our own to set our goals, get things done, anticipate, apologize, compensate, and cover our tracks. But, at this time every year, we have to submit an Annual Report. I say "have to" but it is truly optional, unless we want to get one of our pay increases.

So, we all flutter around at the last minute, compiling, writing, merging, trying to remember what it was we did last year. We add abstracts to articles published or presentations given; we add nice colour charts of instructional statistics; we make sure it is perfect and then submit two copies: one for our supervisor (the university librarian) and one for the Vice President Academic. I am almost 100% sure that the VPA does not read them, but they are stored somewhere on campus, probably in a subterranean bomb-proof vault. I keep a third copy for my ever-expanding dossier.

When I started here, I noticed that there was a great deal of secrecy regarding the content of annual reports. I found only one person who would show me hers (to make things fair, I showed her mine later). Because these reports are not shared, one is never sure if people are being entirely honest about the content. I could put something completely bogus and, most likely, no one would ever know.

So, this being the last working day of May, the end of the academic year, I am done. It is finished. It is all about accomplishment and future direction. By tomorrow, I will have forgotten what is in it.