Typical Day
The smell of coffee reaches Karen Roberts' nose. Karen, Dean of Students at Weeteech University, knows how to make the most of every moment. She programs her drip to start at 6:00AM—it's her alarm clock. Karen springs up eager to start the day. After ten years at Weeteech U in Alabama, she still looks forward to whatever might be waiting for her when she reaches her office. The coffee is great, but what really gets her going is opening her email each day to see what she has to tackle.
Click. The inbox opens, forty new messages appear, and the first one is a doozy. Apparently, the guys at Alpha Bet Soupa fraternity were a little too high spirited last night, and one of them (Mike Reynolds) jumped off the roof.
The good news is Mike survived. The bad news, however, is he broke both legs and mid-terms are tomorrow. Karen will have to get documentation of the incident and plead Mike's case with his professors. Hopefully he can take his mid-terms next week. Mike has done some crazy things before, but jumping off the roof, really? Karen will wait until Mike's legs heal a little before dealing with his misconduct.
At 8:00AM, Karen has plowed through most of her emails and is ready to meet with the president of the Student Government Association. Karen finds it impressive any student can make it to an 8:00AM morning meeting. This group needs advice about a proposal for a new program on Weeteech U's radio station.
A small group of female students from Trinidad and Tobago want a forum for expressing the cultural and societal differences they are experiencing in Alabama. Karen sees their point. Later in the week when she meets with the head of Student Media and the Assistant Dean of the Women's Resource Center, she'll put it on the table.
After meeting with the heads of the Student Diversity and Civic Engagement departments, Karen makes her way to Keller Hall for one of her favorite parts of the day—teaching her English literature class. She started her career as a teacher before moving into administration and she's glad that she still has the opportunity to be in the classroom.
Karen has a late lunch at her desk as she finishes gathering resource materials for students, covering everything from temporary financial aid to medical assistance for those who have no insurance. Toward the end of the day, she meets with parents concerned about the stress their son is going through with his triple major. Karen gently suggests that they encourage him to consider having a mere two majors.
At 6:00PM, Karen sends out one more email and calls it a day. She's meeting her husband and teenage daughter at a local restaurant for dinner. Though Karen has one daughter, as a dean, she sometimes feels like she has 20,000 kids. In a sense, she's right. She wouldn't have it any other way.