Maybe it’s just at my institution (somehow I doubt that), but when I started working as an Associate Dean, all my faculty colleagues told me I’d gone over to “The Dark Side” (TDS). The common phrase was something like “Congratulations, or is that condolences, on going over to TDS!!”. It was funny. I’d said it myself on occasion, but as yet another school year unfolds before me, I am left wondering what we mean by it, and why we, as faculty, are comfortable saying it. Needless to say, my perspective on TDS has shifted since coming into the Dean’s office.

As a junior faculty member, I quickly learned that university adminstration was a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that it could provide money, awards, and information, and a curse, in that it could provide money, awards, and information. The important thing, I was told, was who got to the Dean first, how quickly the Department could figure out what the *real* budget for the college was, and to figure out where the vast secret pockets of money that everyone knew existed in the college were hidden. The college was not to be trusted.

I have to admit, that as a faculty member, I did find some of the machinations of the university adminstration confusing and nonsensical. As a department chair, I found the seemingly arbitrary deadlines for my merit reports and budget requests maddening and disrepectful of my time. Why couldn’t they just tell us what was going on and communicate clearly and efficiently?

So when I came to the Dean’s office, I expected to find out where the pots of cash were, where the bodies were buried, and the deep secrets of TDS. I was luck to come to work for a Dean who was really committed to being open and honest and sharing the information, good and bad, with the departments and faculty. What this meant was that everyone knew pretty quickly that there were no pots of money, little control of the timing of reports due to instability of the upper adminstration of our university, and that transparency meant sharing the uncertainty and lack of control over budget processes that are daily features of life as a mid-level university adminstrator.

So now, on TDS, my job is to try to do everything I can to support the faculty so they can teach, do research, and thrive as professionals, and frankly to shield them from the churn at the top of our university and, believe it or not, spend as little time as possible filling out stupid forms and counting beans. There is certainly darkness on TDS, but it’s largely a cloud of unpredictable state funding, university leadership, public pressure to change the tenure system, and a struggle to remember what the university is there for- to support inquiry and learning- in the face of a changing society and funding support for higher education.

There are so many bright, dedicated faculty who could really contribute to brightening TDS by trying thier hands at admisntration- it can be very rewarding and as a faculty member as it provides a way to make some changes for my colleagues and our students that make learning and research more vibrant and accessible.

Even those of us on TDS have the force within us.