Where is the semester going? And where have I been?

Ooops-how did an entire month go by without a post. I've just broken rule #1 of the blogosphere-post predictably.

The beginning of the semester has been very very busy. Both cohorts of the DPS program have gotten off to a good start, our new group of Seidenberg Scholars are now settled, and all of the beginning of the semester "bugs" have been ironed out. It's practically time for midterms, as a former student who ran into me at the parking lot in Pleasantville reminded me.

Cathy Dwyer and I were invited to speak at a Women in Engineering conference sponsored by the IEEE in White Plains at the end of September. Marleen Waijjer, an alum of our graduate program, contacted us. I put together a panel that included Staci Burke, a graduate student in our Information Systems program, and Christelle Scharf attended. It was nice to see the Seidenberg School so well represented.

We also sponsored two graduate students who attended the Grace Hopper Conference in Tucson at the end of September (September was a busy month).

As many of you know, the University has decided to move programs out of One Martine Avenue by June. Geoff Brackett provided some details at our Faculty Council meeting on October 9. The folks affected by the move will form a Seidenberg Team, working with Tobias Bisharat of facilities planning. We'll provide details as they become available. We're looking at all options, including leasing smaller space in White Plains and moving some programs to the Law School on a temporary basis.

The kickoff for the First Tech Challenge went well-many thanks to Rick Kline and Bernice Houle who led the effort, and all who participated in the planning and/or attended the event.

The chairs and I have been experimenting with every-other-week conference calls to supplement our once a month face-to-face meetings, and the Associate and Assistant Deans and I have been keeping in touch with every other week conference calls to supplement the one-on-one meetings we try to have each week or so. The frequent conversations have been very helpful to me, and I hope to all who have been participating.

I'll be downtown today, October 22 and part of tomorrow. Next week I'll be on the Pleasantville campus on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, downtown on Tuesday and I'm not sure where on Thursday!

I had hoped to schedule office hours this semester but so far my schedule has been too fluid. I'm hoping that things will "settle down" soon, and that I'll be able to hold hours in Pleasantville on Mondays and at 163 William Street on Thursdays, but we'll see!