Odds & Ends

This campus is full of surprises. Well, the first one wasn't a surprise - the post office was nearly empty this morning. So Doug will get his birthday card late. Doug has had the lousiest luck with birthdays - he missed at least two because we crossed the international date line on his birthday.

Last night as I was walking through campus a man called out to me - he was the person I had e-mailed the day before. Ends up he is the former dean of social sciences, whom I heard many good things about before I arrived on campus. This morning he sent me a flier for a conference in KL on Religion & Social Justice at the end of next week. I may have a conflict, but I hope that I can work around it.

Today I had lunch with a young colleague who teaches in political science. We were joined by a sociologist who teaches the MPA research methods course. The younger man's PhD studies were funded - his obligation is to work at the university for seven years. Beats job hunting and job talks. On the way back I met one of the university's non-profit scholars/activists - we will meet in about two weeks. I talked with a young lecturer in sociology who would like to do further research on concepts of beauty. She talked about women in the Far East whose concept of beauty involved cosmetic surgery. We brainstormed about funders for a few minutes. All I could think of were cosmetic companies and market researchers - not the group she would seek out to fund research that suggests that women's perceptions of beauty could be problematic.

FYI - during lunch there were comments about the university becoming more corporate. Sound familar?