Definitely not "bored" meetings

So in another week of many meetings, I am happy to say that I haven't disliked or been bored in a single one of them!

Wednesday, Institute Council: Whoa. So this was my first IC meeting, and it was so interesting. Though, being a newbie, I sat in a place which I thought was in the back of the room. In my defense, there weren't a lot of seats left (even though I was 10 minutes early), and another newb sat next to me (undoubtedly making the same assumption). Well eventually Dr. Mary Beth Cooper came and sat 2 seats away from me... Jaw drop... And then Dr. Haefner sat on the other side of her... Jaw falls to floor... and then President Destler sat next to him... Okay, my jaw was in China at this point. (Side note: Hey China alumni! Come out and meet Dr. Pelz at an alumni reception next week!) Anyways, I apparently accidentally sat in the big-wig area. Gulp. But anyways, it was cool. I was surrounded by staff, faculty, students, and deans - and, oh yeah, upper administration - and got to hear all about campus news and issues before the rest of campus does. Seriously, how cool is all that? It was a great meeting, with great people, and very efficiently run. I am looking forward to the next monthly meeting.

Thursday, Breakfast at Liberty Hill: What an opportunity! Thanks to my leadership in RIT Young Professionals, I got put on the invite list to attend a breakfast discussion at Dr. Destler's house, led by Mayor Tom Richards. Once again: Seriously, how cool is that?! Mayor Richards spoke all about the topic “Innovative Strategies and Creative Thinking That Will Make Rochester, NY Thrive". He was fantastic to listen to, and I really appreciated a lot of what he had to say. He also had great answers to questions posed by audience members, my particular favorite addressing the jobs issue for young graduates in response to how to handle the Rochester area's brain drain. It was an interesting talk and an exciting opportunity to interact. This time, not only was I rubbing elbows with RIT people that I look up to, but with community and industry leaders as well. It was a wonderful experience that I hope to be able to partake in again soon.

Thursday, Staff Council: Not to say that I was shy or uncomfortable before, but I feel so much more at home now at RSC meetings thanks to my experiences on the executive committee, RSC outreach committee, and at Institute Council. My favorite part of this meeting was when we went around and said who we were, what our jobs are and how long we've been at RIT, and one thing that people might not know about us. It was a great way to introduce ourselves and get to know interesting things about each other, like who has twins, belly dances professionally, runs marathons, is a parent to 9 children, and more. One of the reasons I joined Staff Council in the first place was to get to meet people all across campus, so this was perfect for me. After we got down to business and carried out the rest of the meeting, Molly (the chair of RSC) and I updated the Staff Recognition Awards display along the SAU hallway between the cafe and the RITreat. But since the winners haven't actually been announced yet, in place of pictures we put blank silhouettes with question marks over the faces, tee hee. I'll be writing a Staff Council blog about our little teaser next week.

Today, COS Staff Retreat: This morning, the College of Science held their annual Staff Retreat. This is a great way for us to make our voices heard, and it is wonderful of our Dean to provide us this opportunity. We outlined all sorts of hot topics, discussed important items such as professional development, promotions, sabbaticals, awards, and networking, and established a plan to organize a COS staff advisory committee. But my favorite part of the whole experience was getting to see and interact with fellow COS staff members. Although Imaging Science is part of the COS, because we are in a different building we don't often get to be around our fellow COS'ers. I met some new faces, made some new friends, and overall enjoyed the company of my colleagues. I hope that we do make sure to do more social events together in the future, because we really have a great bunch of folks here.

Phew, what a busy two weeks this has been. I thought I really meant this when I said it last Friday, but this time around: TGIF x 1,000! Luckily, my schedule next week is actually pretty open - for now... :-)