I have found the most hard-working and effective person at our university. And it’s obviously not me. It’s a professor of environmental studies who is also an associate dean. Not only did he get me funding for the editing of my book, he accomplished it within minutes. And when it turned out that the costs ran higher than I initially thought because it’s a big project, he got me an increase of funding again within minutes. And immediately started the process of issuing the payment. Imagine if everybody (including me) worked this efficiently.
By the way, academics make great administrators. There are exceptions, of course, but in general, an administrator who teaches and remembers doing research is miles better than somebody brought in from the corporate world. Of course, we don’t have corporate sharks turned admin at my school because our salaries are very modest, and this is why we function so well even in the midst of the Rauner debacle.
Clarissa's Blog 