A quick work update

Chips and beef jerky
Road food during our trip from New Haven to Atlanta

Boy, May just about killed me! There was the small matter of writing the last chapter of my dissertation, not to mention revising an article, grading stacks of finals and papers, finding a new place to live — and, of course, moving 1,000 miles from New Haven to Atlanta. I was fascinated by the exotic variety of weird stress-related symptoms I developed: so very many rashes!

Anyway! We did it, and here we are in Decatur, Georgia, mostly unpacked and doing great. I started my job in Emory’s library on June 15, and I’m loving it. I was delighted to find my initial impressions of Emory confirmed — particularly the part about having awesome coworkers.

One thing I’d missed while in school was exercising a variety of different skills, and I’m finding this one of the most enjoyable parts of my job. I do a lot of research, just like always, but also a lot of planning, talking, and strategizing. And, crucially, I know when my workday is over.

I have to confess to some initial concern that in moving from an academic role to a (sort of) staff role, I’d experience some drop in others’ respect or willingness to take me seriously. So far, though, I’ve been way too busy to worry about that at all. And the faculty members I’ve met at Emory have been absolutely terrific, more than willing to listen to my ideas.

So, basically, I’m congratulating myself on ending up here, and feeling optimistic about what my coworkers and I can accomplish at Emory. If only that dissertation didn’t need revising …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *