Friday, January 27, 2012

A Service Catechism

Theory

Q: What is the purpose of service at the institutional and professional level?

A: To ensure the smooth functioning of all academic pursuits: tenure, promotion, hiring, curriculum, assessment, conferences, and the advancement of scholarship by professional organizations.

Q: What is the effect of service at the institutional and professional level?

A: To suck up time--entire days and associated brainpower--that should be devoted to writing.

Q: Can service be completed in chunks of time so that you can ignore importunate emails during your writing time?

A: Not necessarily.

Q: What are the rewards of service? (Choose all that apply.)

A: (1) Promotion, (2) tenure, (3) status in the field (4) the gratitude of your peers, and (5) the knowledge that you're helping and are not being a slacker.

Q: Why do you participate in service activities? (Choose all that apply.)

A: (1) Promotion, (2) tenure, (3) status in the field (4) the gratitude of your peers, (5) the knowledge that you're helping and are not being a slacker, and (6) I'm just a girl who can't say no.

Q: Whose fault is it if service obligations eat into your time? (Choose all that apply.)

A: (1) Those who ask you to do the service and (2) yours. You can't control (1) but you can control (2) a little bit by saying no to some things.

Application

Did I say no to something this week that would have hugely inconvenienced me and sucked up a lot of time and energy in order that someone else would have all the benefit of it?

Did I refuse to travel somewhere and destroy a writing day so that I could be an appreciative audience for something that was not necessary? (Hint: Killing a writing day so I can go sit in an audience somewhere is one of my least favorite parts of service responsibilities.)

Yes. Yes, I did.

Do you feel guilty about it?

Nope--not a bit.

5 comments:

sophylou said...

O mistress of the catechism, can you help me parse this statement?

"You've got to learn how to say no without saying no."

Sigh.

(Love this. Saying no is a good thing, I hear)

Tree of Knowledge said...

yay you!

undine said...

sophylou--if only I knew how!

Thanks, Tree!

Z said...

OT and frivolous: I have come across an Undine pump in several colors; also an attractive boot-type shoe and an asymmetrical sandal: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003FSTP28/ref=asc_df_B003FSTP281879857/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B003FSTP28&linkCode=asn

undine said...

Z--I design these on the side ;).