I am a faculty member at the North Carolina School of the Arts in the School of Design & Production. An average student contact week for me ranges from 45 to 60 hours. I am also the president of the Board of The Adam Foundation, responsible for raising and granting money to area non-profit organizations for HIV, AIDS care. I chair a monthly board meeting and attend all four related committee meetings every month. Happily, the three university committees I am on meet only when needed, and I somehow find room to squeeze them in.

 

I wear many hats in one work week. I am first, and always, a teacher. I teach four to five classes a term. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I am in the classroom, or working as an arts advisor, an average of nine hours each day. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am on campus from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. The majority of that time is spent with students. I do get locked in a room with my colleagues for two hours for a faculty meeting on Thursday. There are times when I can leave and get a dinner break before the evening class, which meets from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. But usually I am in the classroom or in my office, running to keep up with the pace of this campus.

 

The weekend work schedule is not as demanding. Many Saturdays are graduate interview days, or I meet with my students to work on their classes. Sundays are a gift; sometimes there is a whole day away from the campus. However, many Sunday evenings are spent in the theater; Sunday is the day first-dress rehearsal hits within our production schedule. And, as the saying goes, “The show must go on.” The production advising I do on the student-produced shows here places me in the theater for as many rehearsals as it takes for the product to be the best it can be.

 

I am also the faculty sponsor for the United States Institute for Theatre Technology Student Chapter here at NCSA. This is a national organization that promotes education and networking within our industry. I also sit on the Strategic Planning Committee for the Costume Commission on the national level. These two hats are needed to keep my students, this institution, and myself visible - professionally and academically. I am also the Costume Shop Apprentice Supervisor for The Santa Fe Opera. I am part of the hiring team for the Opera Festival and during the school year, I reach students from schools across the country. In the eight years I have been part of this team, some of the students here and I have been blessed to work on world-class productions. A trail of new students has followed us home here to North Carolina.

 

Those are the hats I wear every week. I guess if I added it all up, I often have an 80-hour work week. Yet, this average teacher is just that. I’m average for my campus.