New Job, New Challenges, New Opportunities

I found out a couple of weeks ago (just before my trips to Houston and Ireland) that the director at my teaching center, Allison Pingree, is leaving us later this summer for a nice position at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Allison’s been the center’s director for 13 years, and she’s looking for a change of pace. The Kennedy School is lucky to have her–she’s a skilled teacher and educational developer and a wonderful person. She’s led the expansion of our center from a school-based unit to one that serves the entire university. Under Allison’s tenure, our staff has grown from three full-timers to eight. I’m sure she’s going to do great things at Harvard this fall.

Two hours after finding out that Allison is leaving, I was asked to be the Acting Director of my center. I’ll be moving into the director’s office on August 1st and leading the center over the next several months. I’m excited by this opportunity–after six years at the center, I think I’m ready for it. On the other hand, we’ll be two staff members down (since we’re currently searching for a new assistant director to replace one who left us this spring) as we head into August, our busiest time of the year. And already, as almost-acting director, I’ve taken on a number of new tasks in preparation for the transition in August. I’m predicting lots of coffee in my future this summer!

For readers of this blog, this is a good news / bad news scenario. The good news is that I’m getting a (temporary) promotion and an opportunity to lead in ways I haven’t been able to do so before. The bad news is that I’ll have even less time for blogging over the next several months! I’m not going to give up blogging–it’s far too useful a tool for my professional development–but I probably won’t blog quite as frequently. I may, however, have some new topics to blog about as I take on this new position.

Wish me luck!

Image: “Take a Left,” Derek Bruff, Flickr (CC)