The former USM faculty member has still not awoken from the dream of working at a tier 1 university. This week’s events have left the new faculty member feeling dazed:

1) The professor received his travel money allotment for the 2004-2005 year. It about twice as much as he received during the entire last five years at USM.

2) The professor, who is not coming up for tenure for several more years, has already had two meetings last week regarding the tenure process at his school, one with his department head and one with an associate dean. (At USM he had a total of one meeting with his department head before tenure.)

3) The professor went to the meeting of the local AAUP chapter. It was in a small room, and there were less people there than at the average USM meeting. Most of the members were older faculty, including many retired ones. When things are okay, AAUP membership declines.

4) On Friday afternoon, the prof was having a beer with his new colleagues. The conversation turned toward novels that are satires of academia. None of the fictional works described could top USM’s nonfiction.

5) The prof attended a lunch for new faculty at which he met the provost and several administrators. The president, who has spent the bulk of his career at this university, spoke, making good humored remarks about how faculty are important and he’s only a bureaucrat. He also listed the reasons he stayed at this institution:

That the people here are high-powered, but not engaged in political battles and generally get along.

The town has a terrific cultural and artistic life. (He didn’t say anything about economic development.)

Finally, the president has stayed because the university has a strong tradition of shared governance. “No major decision is made without extensive faculty input and input from elected representatives of the staff and students,” he said. No one else at the luncheon looked at all surprised. The prof. almost choked on his salad.