I am settling in well at Elon, so just to keep me on my toes, I headed off to Atlanta Georgia from Tuesday 8th to Saturday 12th October, for the International Symposium for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) Conference. Atlanta is the largest city in the state of Georgia, and although Atlanta was largely burned to ruins during the American Civil War, it reemerged as a commercial hub as well as a significant focus for organisation of the Civil Rights Movement.
While in Atlanta I was presenting three papers at the ISSOTL Conference, with colleagues from Elon University, Bryn Mawr College in Pennslyvania, Trinity University in Texas, McMaster University in Canada, and the University of Queensland in Australia. It was a great opportunity to meet colleagues I know well, and to meet new colleagues.
It’s important of course to ensure that I balance work and play, and I had wanted to visit the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. It’s an impressive museum but pretty hard hitting. I watched the movie Selma on the flight from Glasgow to JFK, which I think was probably good preparation for the museum. The recreation of the horrendous treatment of black student activists from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, who took part in the 1960 sit ins at Woolworth’s in Greensboro (just 40 minutes away from Elon) was as clever as it was disturbing.
All the more reason for a therapeutic trip to the Atlanta Aquarium afterwards. I really enjoyed the visit with a couple of colleagues. Highlights were definitely the jellyfish (I could use their untangling tentacles techniques for when I’m knitting!), the white spotted box fish, sting rays, sea otters and the opportunity to touch sea anemones and starfish. We visited in the evening, which was a good time to go. Most of the sea creatures were still active, although the sea otters were settling down to sleep, but it was all very calm and serene.
Sadly some of my serenity disappeared the following day when I managed to spill coffee on my work laptop!!! I was assured by many people that the best way to treat a laptop with a spillage is to cover it in uncooked rice, as the rice absorbs moisture. Many a laptop and phone has apparently been rescued…but sadly not my laptop. According to the local computer repair shop it has irreparable damage and I’ve been told the rice is an ‘old wives tale’ …hmm. I’ve been borrowing laptops from Elon University library, but now the School of Education has kindly offered me one I can borrow for a while. In the meantime I’m sorting out an insurance claim for the work laptop, which I hope can be replaced at the University of Edinburgh. It’s been quite bit of hassle having 3 days without a laptop and then lots of to-ing and fro-ing to the library to borrow laptops, so it feels wonderful to be back online properly. Anyway, after visiting the National Centre for Civil and Human Rights, I am trying to remind myself, it’s only a laptop in the grand scheme of things, but I can’t help being annoyed at myself, as it’s another thing to sort out, just as I was starting to get through all the arrival admin!
I’ve been continuing to enjoy the beautiful Elon campus. I’ve been attending campus lectures and meeting lots of people, most recently from the Global Education Center – Woody Pelton Dean of Global Education, Rhonda Waller Director of Global Engagement, Mark Dalhouse Director for Global Experiential Initiatives and Dianna Shandy an American Council on Education Visiting Leadership Scholar, visiting from Macalester College in Minnesota.
GEC supports students to study abroad as well as supporting international students and scholars coming to Elon. I also had a great meeting with Kelly Harer Assistant Director for Sustainability for Education and Outreach, where we shared some of our different university approaches to embedding sustainability – some good ideas I’ll be sharing with folks in Edinburgh! I will be meeting with many more people over the coming weeks. My next big event is on Friday I’m travelling to Charlotte, the biggest city in North Carolina, to attend the Elon University Board of Trustees retreat. More about that in my next blog…
Great post – even including cooking tips. Laptop with rice.Yum.
Hi Daphne
Apparently not a good enough recipe to save it though!! I hope you are well.
Cathy x
Great to catch up with some of your news. I didn’t get notification of your ‘meeting the president’ article either. But this one did come through!
Hi Jan
Yes there was a problem with the settings on my blog which I think I’ve fixed now, so there’s a few new blogs since I left home. I hope all is well with you.
Cathy x
I got the notification for this one, so thanks for getting that sorted. Hope you get your laptop sorted as quickly! Loved hearing about your trip to Atlanta.
I had a trip around Pollock yesterday on the way (kind-of) to the Salisbury Arms. 30 years and not much has changed! X
Hi Carol, always good to have a trip back to Pollock. I think the flowers and trees have really been improved since we lived there, the grounds are really beautiful now I think…and of course I’m sure the Salisbury Arms/Gold Medal/whatever it’s now called was up to scratch if a bit more modern! Cathy x
Your poor laptop! Glad you’ve got something temporary sorted out. Reminder to self – back up! If it makes you feel any better, I one tipped a glass of water over the prospective employer’s laptop at a job interview…no, I didn’t get the job!
Wow Alison that must have been frightening to spill water on someone else’s laptop in a job interview!
Great to hear you are settling in, and lovely to hear some non-work news too. Loved the laptop / rice photo… 😉 x