WDL 1 (Late Again) Last Year End Lunch

This afternoon Yesterday I received my glass retirement plaque from COCC.  It came in a box and was carefully packed in layers of bubble wrap. It was complete with museum quality white cotton gloves, so I can handle it without leaving fingerprints, should I ever want to use it as a blunt instrument.  Handing it over in its box seemed safer than what they used to do, which was have all the plaques lined up on a table and hand them to the retirees as naked glass:  too easy to drop them that way.

The plaque seems a bit less practical than the gift my spouse received from Idaho State after his 33 years of service there.  He got this beautiful chair.  You can see the the seal of the University and its motto printed on the top of the chair:  Veritas vos liberabit.  The Truth shall set us free.

As a link between my past and my present I wore a t-shirt I received for service on a committee 24 years ago.  I asked Renee Brazeau-Asher to take my picture with it on.  I'd wandered to the table where Kate Miles, our department administrative assistant and Peter Meyer, potter, were sitting.  Renee, one of Kate's best friends on campus, sat down next to her and had her magic phone on top of the table so she was the closest for me to ask.  The t-shirt is printed with a picture of the wild turkey that inhabited the campus in 1989.  I don't remember who designed it -- perhaps the exchange artist from Great Britain, Richard Archer.  It was ordered by Bart Queary, then Dean of Instruction, for the members of the Instructional Affairs Committee. 

I am also wearing a CCDC scarf.  CCDC is the College Community Development Committee.  Over the past couple of years they've been handing out cool scarves for participation in various campus development events, like the campus clean-up.

I've been through almost 26 of these end-of-the-year ceremonies.  This year had three awards, a big cluster of service pins, and, I think, five retirements.  It was done with a minimum amount of fuss.  Not only were the retirement plaques handed out in boxes, but the pins weren't even handed out -- those of us scheduled to receive them were told to pick them up in the H.R. office or they would mail them to us.  I was amused that of those retiring, only the staff member was celebrated with a speech by her boss.  The retiring faculty were all simply handed their box, given a hug or handshake, and sent on our way.

I remembered years and years ago when Orde Pinckney retired at one of these luncheons up in Grandview Cafeteria.  Of course he was given a speech and gave a little speech.  But then someone in another department remembered that they'd forgotten to give a send-off to a leaving adjunct and that person was given a good-bye after Orde.  And Orde spoke to me afterwords with some anger that protocol had been violated.  His acknowledgement, as senior and ancient, should have been the last thing on the agenda.

I doubt that any of us faculty felt that way.  I certainly didn't.  I was celebrated enough at my retirement party and at Convocation.  Plus I got my departmental present -- a beautiful yellow fountain pen from Italy.  It came in a smaller box that Maestro Gesme stuck atop the larger one.  That small box generated a little curiosity and envy which, of course, increased my feeling of specialness.

After the luncheon I went to my office and read my last four student papers EVER! 

What's left?

For this quarter:  downloading my Blackboard gradebook and transferring the course grades into Banner.

Apres?

Cleaning out my Dell desktop - saving all onto memory sticks then popping all into the recycle bin.
Cleaning out my office.  (Boxes from liquor store for books and trinkets, butcher paper for art.)

Figuring out who gets my gradebooks and how many years are necessary (I still have 26 years worth of grades in my file cabinet.) On our COCC website the H.R. Procedures booklet has this to say about old gradebooks:

Grade Book Retention: Each instructor is responsible for keeping an accurate and up-to-date permanent grade book. New grade books are available from department and building secretaries. Part-time instructors should turn grade books in to their department chair at the end of every quarter except when instructors are scheduled to teach the following quarter. Completely used grade books should be turned in by part-time instructors to department chairs who will keep them one full year. If instructors wish to retain grade books, they may turn in copies and keep the originals.

At the time an instructor leaves COCC, the records of all classes he/she taught will be deposited with the Department Chair.

So I'm not sure if I should give Maestro Gesme 26 years worth of gradebooks or only one.  I'll make that decision next week.

And final addenda for this blog:

In the coming couple of weeks I'll be adding four addenda or appendices, if you will:  one large story and three small video.  I'll then leave this blog up for time and eternity (or at least until Google creates other rules or the web burns down) and move my media analysis skills to another title.