Transition

Today was my last day at work. Kinda.

I am still at Dickinson State University. I am just moving from a staff position in a support unit under Student Development to a faculty position in an academic department under Academic Affairs. After two years, today was my last day working as the Writing Center and Supplemental Instruction Coordinator in the Academic Success Center. I have three weeks of vacation to use, which I will do starting next Monday. Then when I return, I will be an Assistant Professor of Education in the Department of Teacher Education.

I am very much looking forward to my new position, the courses that I will teach, the supervision of student-teachers that I will do, the new colleagues with whom I will work, etc. I'm also looking forward to saying "goodbye" to some of the less desirable aspects of my Coordinator position. However, I cannot help but feel some sadness about this transition.

For one, I really like working with the other ASC staff and will miss seeing them every day. For another, I really like working with students, something that I have had ample opportunity to do in the ASC as I have been called upon to teach courses, make classroom presentations, deliver workshops, train and supervise student paraprofessionals, advise current students, and conduct orientation for incoming students. For another, I have enjoyed collaborating with other staff and faculty on campus-wide projects or on individual teaching projects for their courses.

But when invited to apply for a faculty opening, I couldn't pass up the opportunity, and I was delighted to be offered the position. So I have spent the past several weeks planning for my transition out of one office and into another. My "stuff" is already in the new digs, and my office in the ASC has been pretty bare for over a week with just enough still in it for me to do my day-to-day work. I have prepared documents and organized files and assembled resources and labeled keys and changed voicemail greetings, etc., in order to make life as easy as possible for whoever is hired to replace me.

Yesterday there was a goodbye party in our office for a couple coworkers and me, and faculty and staff and administrators who came by wished me well and helped the transition to feel more real for me. It felt really real today as the minutes counted down toward the end of the day. I wrapped up the projects that I was working on, sent a final "thanks for everything" e-mail to my ASC colleagues, shut down the computer, pushed in my chair, shut off the light, closed the door to my office, and pulled my name/title plate down from the wall outside my office.

Then I popped by my coworkers' office doors to say goodbye, but I couldn't get out any words. As they each hugged me, the emotions welled up, and I decided that I couldn't both speak and hold back an outburst of sobs, so I opted for silence. It was a tough trip across the office, up the steps, and out the door.