Wanted: Community

Several years ago, a group of new faculty from across UT decided to intentionally stay in touch after new faculty orientation. I somehow managed to join them even though I’d been there two years already. The group still gets together infrequently. Tonight was a ‘newer faculty happy hour’ at a popular watering hole near campus.

It was good to see some of the old crowd and meet some of the new. I seem to be the only Christian in the group, so I don’t always feel like I fit in. However, I was talking with a Chinese faculty member there from the Accounting department. She has been at UT for two years, and this group are her only friends in Austin outside her department. But she doesn’t come often because she doesn’t drink.

Alone

One stereotype of college faculty is that of a solitary introvert, socially awkward, and so on. While for many, research is collaborative, we do tend to spend an awful lot of our time at work by ourselves, and even when in a group setting, it is often lecturing before a class or leading a group meeting—in short, a time where we are still set apart from the majority of people in the room. Whether we like it this way or not, there are some dangers of which we should be aware and actively circumvent.