Monday May 18, 2015
Today was my first day at work with Jerome. We went to the Sports College in Utrecht in the morning where I got to see the campus for the first time. My first impressions were great – very nice facility, kind people, well-maintained, clean, and the athletics fields are in exemplary shape (as they should be).
This is an “activity week” for students, meaning they have a choice of doing a number of things including skiing in Switzerland, snowboarding in France, or surfing in Spain. Others must stay here and do some structured activities at the school, which will start tomorrow. Jerome is concerned that those who have to stay will be less than motivated to actually engage fully in the days work. Despite having no students around it was still a full day. I started the day meeting the Director of International Programs here at the ROC. He led a meeting for me and other American visitors about the history, structure, and governance of the ROC (which loosely translates to Regional Education Center). These centers closely resemble our community college system in the U.S., but there are some significant differences which I won’t go into here. Needless to say, my colleagues from Illinois, California, and Tennessee very much enjoyed engaging our hosts about the work they do here.
My favorite part of the meeting was when the President/Chief Executive of ROC joined us. He was the quintessential administrator! He gave some of the big picture ideas about how he measures success, the challenges in the system, and the ways in which is and his leadership team work together. The highlight of that meeting came when he and another faculty member clearly disagreed about challenges facing the ROC and education in general. I enjoyed seeing them both respectfully disagree and challenge one another. It reminded me of some of the disagreements we have within and between faculty and administrators. It reminds me of how necessary that tension is to move our institutions forward. We talked a bit about the idea of shared governance, and how that looks (or doesn’t look here). I am challenged professionally to find a balance between getting input from constituencies, and moving things forward in a timely manner. Shared governance is not always the most efficient route, and sometimes it can stifle entrepreneurship (in some ways). Yet I believe in shared governance within higher education – it can be one of our greatest assets.
Following that meeting we jumped on a bus and headed into the city center. There we took a tour of Utrecht, fellowshipped with one another, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of this amazing city. Jerome picked me up from an old famous store in Utrecht and we headed home. That night Jerome made some amazing spaghetti, and we ate and recapped the day. It’s nice to share dinner with a family again – I don’t get to do that as much as I like in Chicago. We watched some TV, told stories by the fire pit, and then headed to sleep. I think my jet lag is finally passed, as I went to bed late last night and was really tired this morning.
Dr. Michael D. Anthony 