As we close in on an all-time record for snowfall, I have noticed that it is not just those of us from ocean moderated climates who are beginning to think about green and warmth. That said, it is nice that the very large piles of snow here do not immediately turn grey as they do following a blizzard in NYC (it is remarkable how much snow a very large number of people with small shovels can move in a short time!).
The big news of course is that the return visits for the NI Director candidates are upon us:
Their CV’s are available as are their agendas (see links above, with the caveat that some details are likely to change.)
I just returned from a nice reception honoring winners of awards for exceptional TAs. I was there because our own Kathryn DeMaster was a winner for Innovative teaching. The competition for these awards is very strong and Kathryn is among only 4 winners in her category. Please extend congratulations to Kathryn when you see her.
The Governance Faculty meeting has been postponed from next monday until the 25 of February in order to accommodate the director candidate visits. An agenda will circulate soon.
Our undergraduate certificate students have organized an Environmental Studies Club with Mary Mercier as their adviser. I was invited to speak to them at their meeting last week and was very pleasd to find 175 full to standing room. The club is planning Earth Day events for the weekend of Earth Day. Those events will coincide with the all-campus party so there is possibility of good visibility for their efforts.
As part of the EAP capstone, Jeannette Leboyer and Damon Clark are laying the groundwork for quantification of the Nelson Institute’s carbon footprint. Over the next two months they will develop a series of memos to me that outline the challenges, suggest some processes / frameworks, and take a first pass at an estimate of what that footprint may be. They will also make recommendations for follow-on work that may be addressed by future EAP teams.
In my previous summary and buried the the mind map is an item called “greening events and operations“. The carbon footprint project is one step in that direction. I am interested in additional ideas for how to proceed toward that objective.
The Community Environmental Forum got off to a very good start on 1 Feb. Charles Hales gave a very nice overview of transportation options for medium size cities such as ours. The topic this Friday will be Transit-oriented Development by Kevin Pomeroy from 1000 Friends of Wisconsin. Remember: Seating is Limited - please register if you plan to attend.
Bill Bland has been working on revisions to the Nelson Institute Policies & Procedures. In particular he has been working to clarify elements that we currently have and to add sections where our NIPP are lacking wrt FP&P calls for. His suggestions are available here. We will be discussing these in the APC meeting coming up this Friday and will bring recommendations to the Governance Faculty soon.
It is my hope that we have now flipped the necessary switches so that this post will be pushed to you. My next challenge is to generate comments. Granted these posts are not so controversial, but my requests for input are genuine. (wandering now) I have now been interim director for 3/4 (0.75) of a year (9 months) and I have learned a lot in that time. In particular I have gained a much more nuanced understanding of leadership and service and I have learned that the better I am at listening to what people say, the easier it is to make decisions and to discern what I should do next. Sooo - keep those cards and letters coming.