THE CEA FORUM - Winter/Spring 2015 - How - and why?! - Does One Go from the Classroom to the Dark Side?

Oct 15, 2026

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A personal forum column reflecting on an academic career’s pattern and meaning, connecting classroom work to later administrative “dark side” responsibilities. The narrator recounts stress, medical concerns, and a moving life timeline between Minnesota and plans tied to a second Fulbright to Norway. Interwoven are anecdotes about applications, interviews, and family decisions, culminating in the shock of a sudden text that signals further uncertainty.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time11 min

AccessFree to download

How – and why?!– Does One Go from the Classroom to the Dark Side?

Academic career patterns and personal meaning

Fulbright application and interview experiences

Family, stress, and turning points

THE CEA FORUM Winter/Spring 2015 How – and why?!– Does One Go from the Classroom to the Dark Side? Colin Irvine, PhD Vice President for Academic Affairs & Dean of the College (?) “There is a pattern to our careers, even if seen only after the events it comprises. The pattern, the shape, the name, or the metaphor we give to it may be as sweetly melancholy as a retirement tribute or as bitterly documented as an employment claim. For us who live these careers, each occurrence – each rainbow – is unique, but somehow they are all the same in the general shape they share….How do we give unique meaning to our rainbow by understanding the pattern itself?” —A William M. Plater,“The Rise and Fall of Administrative Careers” Today is Monday, April 13th. I’m in a coffee shop in Northfield, Minnesota, having come here straight from the doctor’s office and my “travel physical,” the first of many of the hoops I must jump through between now and August 1st so that we might return to Norway – this time to the THE CEA FORUM Winter/Spring 2015 west coast and the University of Bergen – on a second Fulbright. (You can search from now until the Cubs win the World Series or the Vikings the Super Bowl, and I guarantee that you will not find a bigger fan of the fine and generous people at the Fulbright Program than you have in the author of this aimless column.) I resisted the urge this morning to order my usual, a day-old discount scone, because my blood pressure was up a bit. The doctor reassured me it was not a concern and suggested it might likely have less to do with diet or genetics and more to do with stress. “Are you sleeping well?” he asked, pecking away at the computer like Kramer on Murphy Brown. “No, not lately,” I admitted, wanting to sneak a peek at the screen. “Stressed?” “A little.” “About the Fulbright? The move?” “Sort of.” “Is there something else going on, something that might be affecting your sleep, and maybe your blood pressure?” “I’m not sure,” I lied. The thing is, I had strongly considered canceling this morning’s appointment, a cancellation that would’ve saved me time and awkwardness because – back in December – a few short weeks before I received the news that I had miraculously managed to capture lightening ina bottle not once but twice, a contact associated with my alma mater got in touch and asked if I had any interest in applying for the position of Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of THE CEA FORUM Winter/Spring 2015 the College. After giving it some serious thought, I realized that, yes, actually, I would like to. I really would. I don’t know why. So, a few days later, I pushed open the laptop and hammered out the required cover letter and response-to-the-mission statement. And while I know it’s cliché to say as much, I can’t help but add here that these documents all but wrote themselves. I sat as a musician might at a piano and typed (in one tenth the time it’s taken me to write this column) the two pieces. Then, I moved on. Or tried to. Just over a month later, after tossing my modest hat into this enormous ring, I Skyped with the search committee. Several weeks after that, I made a trip to my old school to participate in a job search for a position I had not, until very recently, been looking for. In truth, I wasn’t thinking remotely along these lines about my career this past winter break (or ever, for that matter), when checking my Inbox every few minutes for a message from Fulbright. I convinced my wife this last spring that I should apply for another Fulbright, reasoning that – because we both loved Norway so much – we should ignore the odds stacked against receiving a second award to the same country and take another shot at it. Why not? What’s thereto lose? Money? Pride? I have neither of these things. Nobody does who spends his or her valuable spare time submitting articles and essays for publication. Then this past summer – right about when

FAQs

What theme connects the narrator’s career and their administrative shift?

The narrator emphasizes that careers have a recognizable “pattern” and shape, and asks how to assign unique meaning to one’s own path by understanding that underlying pattern.

How does the narrator’s Fulbright process unfold?

They apply for a second Fulbright, complete cover letter and mission materials, participate in a Skype interview, and then learn they reached a second level in the selection process.

What role do stress and health concerns play in the story?

A doctor attributes elevated blood pressure and sleep issues more to stress than diet or genetics, and the narrator acknowledges not sleeping well while juggling appointments and relocation-related pressure.

Oct 15, 2026

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