Adjusting…..

After daily heading to the same office chair for the last nine years, joining the Tufts staff has been a very welcomed change.  I’m becoming a real person:  I now have a commute (and the opprunity to tune into WBUR), make my lunch the night before (or throw a Go-GURT and an apple in a bag if I forget), and I’m beginning to know what is going on in the world and Boston (have you heard about the Awesome Foundation’s grant for the big hammock?). Oh, and did I mention that a job outside of a boarding school (read: real world) is improving my style?  I’ve taken a critical look at my wardrobe and I may very well dump those pleated kakis I bought in 1997.

The staff in Bendetson Hall couldn’t be more welcoming.  My business cards were waiting for me on day one, long before my staff ID was available.  I have to admit, after nine years of distributing a green “Concord Academy” card, it was a little unsettling to see a blue “Tufts University” printed above my name.

Granted, Concord Academy enjoys a healthy mix of boarding and day students, but leaving campus everyday has reminded me how insular life at a boarding school can be.  Yes, occasionally I would leave the Concord Academy campus to coach at an away cross country meet or to make a late-night trek to Anna’s Taqueria in Porter Square to pick up hundreds of dollars of burritos (literally) for the hungry pre-men of Hobson House.  Professionally, my days at Concord Academy generally revolved around two colleagues and a steady stream of students heading to our office for candy, advice, or a signature.  Bendetson, in comparison, includes twenty admissions officers and nearly an equal number of support staff.  And of course, on a daily basis, campus visitors come from all corners of the globe:  in the freshman class there are 69 countries represented and 44 states.  (I still don’t understand why no one has taken my nearly-foolproof “move to North Dakota” college counseling suggestion……)

As homey as the Tufts community can be, it has a few of the habits of a much larger institution.  When I called the tech department for help with scanning some of the Tufts descriptions in a series of college guides (look for a future blog on that project), they were very helpful, but was a few days before I matched the face to a name of the IT professional who brought a scanner to our office. “Big institution” looms as I plan my fall recruitment travel, too.  I’m adjusting to triplicate forms simply to request a travel number for tracking university travel.  (Each trip needs a separate T-number request form.)  Let’s be frank: I’m already nervous about submitting my expense reports.

Earlier this week, my Tufts parking pass arrived.  I immediately affixed it on my rear driver’s side window.  With that, my new business cards, and a few T-numbers, and a new (to me) blue office chair, I’m feeling like I belong.  Go jumbos!  (Just don’t step on my beloved chameleons underfoot….)