A New Boss

My department, which had been directly under the President, has now been folded into a new division of the College: the Division of Information Technology and Instructional Support Services. I am one of four “managers” reporting to an Executive Director responsible for Information Technology, Distance Learning, Library Services, and my department – Research.

To be honest, I was very concerned with how well my working situation would be accepted by someone I had never met. I was pleased to find her to be excited to be working with a telecommuter. For our first meeting we met over video conference, an experience some find to be uncomfortable especially with the bandwidth issues. She was interested to hear my opinions on the new department and my ideas on the community college. We will be meeting each week via video conference, similar to my departmental meetings, and will be working very closely on many projects including SACS.

For the next week, I will be preparing for my first quarterly review with the President. I am not sure if I will be meeting with my new boss from here on out, but for now I am just concerned with getting ready for next week. The President and I will be reviewing her opinion of my work, the “fit” of telecommuting for my position, and reviewing the current research projects. During this same visit back to the college, I will be meeting with our institutional contact from SACS. The representative will be on site to answer any questions and to look over our processes to offer advice.