CONFERENCE UPDATE

One of my big goals this spring has been (a) to get my conference proposals accepted and (b) get permission to attend the conferences - even AECP funding if I'm presenting. And ... both of my proposals have been accepted now, so I'll be presenting here at ASU March 14 and at CATESOL (California TESOL) on April 18.

The good news today (after a fairly sharp disappoinment several weeks back when my boss refused my request for one Friday leave without pay to attend the TESOL conference for the ESL field in Denver March 26) was that after reconsideration by the Professional Development Committee, I can now be absent that Friday to attend the conference. (One committee member told me privately he was totally puzzled why Mark would turn down a reasonable request by the outfit's only PhD to attend THE professional conference in our field.)

Since the first "meeting" with my boss, ASU has been upended by a budget crisis which has forced the president to require all faculty and staff to take "furlough" days off without pay - one day per month of contract. Since I teach 9 months according to my contract, I (and other AECP teachers) must take 9 days furlough. Problem is, we teach every day, so there really aren't any "office" days that we can conveniently not come in to work.

Where to get the 9 days? Our poor director, Mark, has had to play this all by ear in our very atypical unit at ASU, and so at the moment (this is changing from day to day) we'll have one day required furlough Feb. 18, when our students go on a Grand Canyon trip, and the five days for our normal Spring Break March 16-20, plus one day we choose ourselves. Conveniently for me, my original TESOL Friday request now fits neatly into the "furlough" system, so it's kind of hard to deny me that under the circumstances!

That adds up to 7 furlough days. 2 left. Hmmm. Wonder where those will be coming from?

Mark also promised to try to come up with funding (at least conference fees) for the CATESOL conference in Pasadena. I'm not too hopeful given the dire economic straits of ASU currently, but every little bit (even good intentions) helps!