Signs of brightening
January 20, 2022
More than 25 years ago, BBC weather reports introduced me to a term the English use to distinguish among grey, damp winter days: brightening."Expect brightening tomorrow afternoon."
Brightening? The sky won't turn blue, but it will (as I came to realize) grow discernibly less grey.
This week, even as our weary community seeks to navigate a fifth pandemic-plagued semester, I glimpsed unmistakable signs of brightening.
On-campus visits! Masked and modified for safety, to be sure. But after two years, we again welcomed to campus finalists for faculty positions.
Hiring and supporting great faculty remain my highest priorities as dean, but I'd nearly forgotten how much my own time speaking with candidates in person energizes me. And I'll meet at least one more finalist nearly every day for at least the next three weeks, as we seek to fill almost a dozen positions across eight of our CAS departments.
Coming from across the country and beyond, these impressive candidates offer hopeful hints of our community's future. The sun may not yet be visible, but things are definitely brightening.
