Hi, everyone—

I hope that your semester is wrapping up successfully, and that you can take a vacation soon. Or at least a nap!

Recently a favorite faculty member and I had a conversation that I’ve had before. The faculty member is about my age, and we relate on many aspects of life. “Suddenly,” they said….”Suddenly, I’m the most senior person in my department, and….” A couple of beats pass. I wonder if I know what’s coming. “I don’t know how it happened.” Ha! That’s exactly what I guessed they would say. Their voice drops to a whisper. “I don’t have any idea what it means to be senior faculty. What am I taking on?”

I’ll take a step back. Do you know Paul Simon’s song “Graceland”?* His image of “bouncing into Graceland” is one of my favorite images in any song. It’s evocative & it often feels so true. For those of you who don’t know the song—the theory is that all of us end up visiting Elvis Presley’s home, Graceland, at one point or another in our lives. We don’t really know why we came, or why we chose Graceland as a destination. We may not quite remember how we got there. Some of us drove straight there, making a beeline by day and by night. Others took a roundabout route. Some of us skidded. Yet here we all are.

So here we are, having that conversation. I was glad to be having it with this person, knowing that I trusted them to take on this set of responsibilities. To treat their colleagues with care. And—what else?

What does it mean to be not just a senior faculty member, but the most senior faculty member in your department? I’ve been thinking about the answers ever since this round of the conversation. One thing that I always emphasize is that many of the things you’ll spend your time and effort on now involve creating a bigger picture using the things you’ve been working on within yourself, or practicing on smaller scales, for years. Now you’ll get to move on and use everything you’ve developed, and everything you’ve experienced, for others. For your colleagues. For your department. For your students. You get to share that expertise, and support others as they build their own.

You also get to develop skill sets that you’d barely experienced before. For me, that was budgeting. Being successful at budgeting for myself did not prepare me for budgeting on behalf of a department. However, having a lot of other relevant skills in place gave me the space to focus on this one, where I did need to grow.

You face levels of awkwardness that you may never have faced before. You get to have tough conversations with colleagues. Some of your workplace relationships will change. You’ll have to share difficult truths. And you’ll have to embody new types of humility. Sometimes you’ll have to reach far past your own comfort as you speak up for the people you serve. You’ll mentor colleagues through these things, even as you’re still growing.

And you get to have a Vision. In fact, you have to have a Vision.

It’s about serving. And opportunities. And serving more.

One of my favorite things about being a senior faculty member is difficult to put into words. Sometimes you find a colleague in a tough situation. You have the opportunity/responsibility to create and hold space around them while they recover their balance. Usually it’s messy, but it feels right.

As I have this conversation one more time, I think about all the nuances and individual experiences that I can’t fit into a single conversation. Once again, I think about how satisfying it is to see this responsibility falling into the hands of someone whose judgment I trust. I also wish that this person could have a few more years with less responsibility—something they tell me they wish for.

For all of you who are with me in Graceland—what defines role of the most senior person in your department? What would you tell someone about their responsibilities and their opportunities? For those of you who work in other fields, what can you share with us about your differing experiences?

*My favorite version of “Graceland” appears on Paul Simon’s Concert in the Park album.