New Job

So I am two days into my new position as Assistant Professor of Journalism and Communications at the University of Canberra. I’ve been going through the process of setting up most of the required administrative and technical tasks of starting a new job. I’ve been delighted to find that all the staff at the University of Canberra have been very helpful and welcoming.

Meeting various people and talking with their roles in the institution as well as learning or at least getting a vague sense of my responsibilities means I’ve slowly allowed myself to become exposed to different layers of belonging and at the same time strangeness. Working at a university is very different to my last two and a half years in magazine publishing. There is a different rhythm of urgency and productivity. Now I can happily go and buy a coffee and take my laptop so as to work at the cafe.

One thing I’ve begun to appreciate are the different sets of expectations from various colleagues. I feel this on an affective level and these expectations are distributed according to differences of institutional experience and responsibility. On a personal level it means I get to know people beyond a formal academic title and learn about all their quirks and passions that make them interesting people.

Besides becoming acquainted with my teaching responsibilities for the second semester (due to begin in August), I am also developing a plan of attack to finally publish some of the more interesting outcomes from my PhD research on enthusiasm and the media. I am looking forward to this! Expect a stream of draft papers to be posted here once I get properly organised with my books, magazines and other materials.