Thanksgiving Day

When I received good wishes for Thanksgiving I was caught completely off guard. There are no weather cues (it is still "summer"), no store displays, and no other seasonal reminders, such as reading student papers and writing final examinations. Today is perfect day to introduce and thank the people who are essential to the School of Social Sciences and who helped me in so many ways over the past 5 months.

Gait Lan is the "Chief Clerk." She keeps the "ship afloat." NC State readers can think of her as USM's Lillie. She has Lillie's sense of style. I am sure that she and Lillie would admire each other's closets. And just like Lillie she can answer every question about the school and the university. She is the first person I go to whether it is to figure out how to pronoounce someone's name or for a hotel/restaurant recommendation. My first day here she gave me a map to the Historic District - a perfect example of a Penangite booster. (I am struck by the number of people I meet who were born here. When ever I mention that Doug and I plan to live in KL the typical Penang resident reacts with horror.)



Husin is the deputy registrar. The School of Social Sciences consists of sections rather than departments. So many responsibilities carried out by department staff in the US end up at the school level here. As far as I can figure out the deputy registrar is equivalent to the White House chief of staff. Husin was the person who arranged for me to stay at the Guest House. Having housing from day 1 was a great relief. Despite comments that I could have gotten better/cheaper accommodations, not having to look for a place to settle into for five months made my life easier.

Aziz handles graduate records. His job is almost identical to the graduate secretary's. He is the one I went to if I wanted to know who was in my class, what a student's e-mail address was, and to enter grades. Since I was here for a short time I didn't get a chance to tap into his other responsibilities. He was one of the recipients of my stash of Obama buttons.





Amnah's title is "Chief Administrative Officer." Husin told me that she handles most of the school's human resources (Before I edited this I had typed "human relations," she does that as well). Amnah helped me with the campus bureaucracy (getting my visa and campus ID). She has an office a floor below the other staff offices. She always seems welcoming if I drop in for a visit and a chat. When I told Amnah word that my Bahasa Malaysian teacher used for something (I have long since forgotten) she told me that it was "kampung Malay." At that point I became firmly convinced that the Bahasa Malaysian teacher was nice but an awful teacher. (In addition I knew more about Malaysian grammar than she did and that is pretty little.)