Blog from Kausik Sarkar, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Being nominated for GWALA by a colleague I was unsure of accepting it while already serving as a Faculty Senator and a co-chair of the Senate Research Committee. I am grateful for the nomination and glad to have accepted it.
It has been a wonderful experience focusing on a variety of facets of leadership such as decision-making, communication, conflict resolution, and advisee engagement. I have to routinely deal with these tasks but was never taught to be intentional about their execution. It was revealing to learn that they appear across all levels of administration and one can benefit from being mindful by drawing on a body of existing research.
I particularly enjoyed the session on decision-making. The notion “Not making a decision is also a decision” has stayed with me! It was instructive to note that good decision-making requires listening, “listening to what’s different, not what’s similar”, or having the confidence to disagree in the absence of consensus, asking questions such as “Does it serve the overall mission?” or “Does it create a better environment?”
The session on staff engagement reaffirmed my principles of graduate student mentoring. I emphasize that they are not working for me, but for their own PhDs, and that it’s not a career but a launching pad for one. Empowerment emerged in the session as critical also for staff engagement. I am doing something right!
Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the opportunity GWALA offered for meeting so many colleagues from different parts of the institution. It made me aware of how wonderfully diverse our community is! It’s inspiring to witness my peers’ mindfulness towards the well-being of the institution and students’ experiences despite many challenges. Sessions with the university administrators were also revealing about their life journeys and the hardships they faced. During Covid, I became acutely aware of the difficulties faced by the higher ed. The humility and humanity of the university leadership reassured me that GW is in good hands!