After 15 years of a very bad work situation, I am continuously pleased with my current one. In my old job, I seemed to be eternally surrounded by very unhappy students that argued incessantly, complained to the administration, and bordered on illegal harassment when they dealt with faculty. Some of the department faculty were, let's face it, nuts. Department meetings could and did sometimes turn into agitated arguments. And,the last dean I worked for was so bad that I referred to him as the Antichrist.
This college is SO much different. This is my third year. I have had only two instances of disgruntled students. In May of last year, right after (note: after) the final exams, I was approached by a group of football playing students who wanted a C so they could stay on the team. Their grades were very much buried in the F range, so there was nothing I could do. This semester, I have an on-line student who likes to complain, but he lives about 100 miles from the campus, so I doubt I will ever see him in person. I'll just get complaining email, and I can certainly deal with that. These 2 situations simply highlight how nice the vast majority of my students are. My co-workers are pleasant, the departmental evironment is nice, the chair is both nice and smart. My office is nice, with a great view out of my window. I am currently in the process of applying for tenure, and I just found out that 4 of the 6 approvals I need have already been submitted. I have received a raise both last fall and the fall before. If I get tenure, I will also get a promotion and another pay raise.
The area is great, also. One unexpected perk is that my car insurance cost was cut in half. Also, my commute time went from 45 minutes to 5 minutes.
Why didn't I come here a long time ago?
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