Slowly Making the Adjustments

So this is my first week unofficially at Glendale CC. I’ve been over there setting up my office and taking care of all the little things that make me official, like network account, phone, keys, parking passes, Blackboard classes and iTunes U classes. Most of the stuff you have to do at GCC we don’t bother with at South. For instance, to get a key at GCC I had to fill out a two page document, sign it, get 2 other signatures, take it to Campus Security and then wait. At South, we just go over to Campus Security and ask for a key. They even have forms for returning keys at Glendale. Fortunately, I had a super nice person take care of the paper work for me, so I was able to get my keys right away. So I’m all set there.

I had a little trouble getting logged into my desktop computer, an old iMac. I had to have my perfectly working password reset, and then my eGCC account reactivated, and finally there was a lot of poking around on the computer by four different people before I was all set there. I even went in and changed my default password, something I didn’t do for 11 years while at South. In fact, to this day my password is still “nothing” over there. Eleven years. Anyway, everyone was so helpful with getting me setup. I did find myself beginning every introduction with “I’m a new faculty member…” because if I don’t they all assume I’m a student. That’s going to get old quick.

So I have a phone and a new number. I don’t know what it is, although it was given to me in an email. I still need to set up my phone so that my name shows when I call people, which is something I will never do – call people. In fact, for the last two days the most frustrating thing has been calling people. I’ll need something and the person will say, “Oh, you need to call so and so.” Then they will rattle off 5 digits as I stand there with my cell phone in my hand poised to dial. I type in the 5 numbers and then the person is gone. Excuse me, what are the rest of the numbers? Talk about fast learning. I learned that in one day. Type in 6-2-3-8-4 before you get a number from anyone on campus. They also seem to prefer that you call on a phone on campus. Why? That requires going back to my office to make a call when I can just do it right that instant on my cell. But I guess the person answering won’t get a warning as to who it is if I don’t call from a campus phone. But my phone doesn’t tell that yet anyway, so that’s a mute point. So that’s on my list for tomorrow.

All and all the transfer is going well. I’m sure I’ll continue to see some major differences in the colleges, but differences don’t make one any better than the other in most cases. It’s just a matter of making adjustments and adapting to a new way of life.

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