*SU English Department and Graduate College
You know, both times I've had to deal with Pat Anderson over in the graduate college, he's been really nice to me, appropriately upset for me, and very helpful. I know this is not the experience many others have had with him, but for some reason I guess the two of us just click.
Long long ago, and far far away, I was required to take a management course from the School of Business in order to fulfill my graduation requirements. Then, that changed! Drs. T and W decided that English Some-Number-or-Other would fulfill that requirement. They rewrote the degree curricula and ta-da! No more Business School. So Chris and I (and others) took the new class.
Chris, you'll remember it vividly. It was called Project Management and I spent over 100 hours (and I'm not even kidding) teaching myself how to use MS Project, which was a required skill for the course, but Dr. W didn't teach it...he just expected us to learn it on our own time with no books or assistance from him. We also had to, um, procure our own copies of this thousand dollar program (that is, if we wanted to be able to actually learn it, since it was only available on about ten computers in a lab that the public and students do not have access to outside of class).
Well, you know what? Seems that although Drs T and W cleared this course swap with the English Department and each other, they never updated the graduate curricula with the registrar! The registrar (from what I understand) has a short list of definite requirements for each degree offered, and their list wasn't updated to reflect Drs T and W's changes, so when the registrar compared my accomplishments with the list it didn't match. No diploma for me.
Oh, everyone says, Whew! Just a snafu! No big deal! Just a paperwork goober!
Well, you know what? It *is* a big fucking deal. You know why? Because now my diploma won't be issued until summer term and maybe even the fall term. Which I've got to explain to my new employers who are waiting on my official transcripts. That will be embarassing and shines a funny light on me. And let's not forget the graduation announcements and photos and memorabelia from a graduation that I attended that was, apparently, a farce.
But it gets better, really. Pat Anderson tells me that he's been in correspondence with the English Dept about this, trying to get it sorted out! FOR A MONTH! And that if they had gotten it sorted out even by last week, the diploma still could have been issued for spring. His last correspondence comes from Dale (who I hold no grudge against) and it says that Dale is still waiting to hear back from my advisor, who is the only person who can straighten out this mess. Apparently, multiple emails were sent to him between the dates of March 20 and June 5, and he won't respond. This is the same guy who stood me up for my hooding. Thanks, Dr. W.
It's so funny. I tell Pat that my advisor is unreliable. He says, okay, get a letter from one of three people within two weeks and he can take care of it so that I can get my diploma for summer and not fall. The people? Dr. W, who is in Germany. Dr. Jones, who is in England, or Dr. Moder, who is in New York. Dr. T could possibly maybe do if he gets to talk to her, but she's in New Mexico. Even Dale is on vacation. Cute, huh?
Dr. Moder comes back on Tuesday. If Pat Anderson doesn't have the letter by Wednesday at 9am (they better just fucking walk over there and hand it to him and not put it in campus mail or I will fucking freak out) I will hire an attorney. And you know what? I'm not so sure I won't anyway. I think I've been hazed by this motherfucking program long enough. Delaying my diploma because they screwed up the paperwork is the last straw and the camel's back is broken. I will never say anything nice about this program to anyone. Possibly I will cool off a little more and not hire a lawyer, but I just don't know. I just don't fucking know. Send calm thoughts.
You know, both times I've had to deal with Pat Anderson over in the graduate college, he's been really nice to me, appropriately upset for me, and very helpful. I know this is not the experience many others have had with him, but for some reason I guess the two of us just click.
Long long ago, and far far away, I was required to take a management course from the School of Business in order to fulfill my graduation requirements. Then, that changed! Drs. T and W decided that English Some-Number-or-Other would fulfill that requirement. They rewrote the degree curricula and ta-da! No more Business School. So Chris and I (and others) took the new class.
Chris, you'll remember it vividly. It was called Project Management and I spent over 100 hours (and I'm not even kidding) teaching myself how to use MS Project, which was a required skill for the course, but Dr. W didn't teach it...he just expected us to learn it on our own time with no books or assistance from him. We also had to, um, procure our own copies of this thousand dollar program (that is, if we wanted to be able to actually learn it, since it was only available on about ten computers in a lab that the public and students do not have access to outside of class).
Well, you know what? Seems that although Drs T and W cleared this course swap with the English Department and each other, they never updated the graduate curricula with the registrar! The registrar (from what I understand) has a short list of definite requirements for each degree offered, and their list wasn't updated to reflect Drs T and W's changes, so when the registrar compared my accomplishments with the list it didn't match. No diploma for me.
Oh, everyone says, Whew! Just a snafu! No big deal! Just a paperwork goober!
Well, you know what? It *is* a big fucking deal. You know why? Because now my diploma won't be issued until summer term and maybe even the fall term. Which I've got to explain to my new employers who are waiting on my official transcripts. That will be embarassing and shines a funny light on me. And let's not forget the graduation announcements and photos and memorabelia from a graduation that I attended that was, apparently, a farce.
But it gets better, really. Pat Anderson tells me that he's been in correspondence with the English Dept about this, trying to get it sorted out! FOR A MONTH! And that if they had gotten it sorted out even by last week, the diploma still could have been issued for spring. His last correspondence comes from Dale (who I hold no grudge against) and it says that Dale is still waiting to hear back from my advisor, who is the only person who can straighten out this mess. Apparently, multiple emails were sent to him between the dates of March 20 and June 5, and he won't respond. This is the same guy who stood me up for my hooding. Thanks, Dr. W.
It's so funny. I tell Pat that my advisor is unreliable. He says, okay, get a letter from one of three people within two weeks and he can take care of it so that I can get my diploma for summer and not fall. The people? Dr. W, who is in Germany. Dr. Jones, who is in England, or Dr. Moder, who is in New York. Dr. T could possibly maybe do if he gets to talk to her, but she's in New Mexico. Even Dale is on vacation. Cute, huh?
Dr. Moder comes back on Tuesday. If Pat Anderson doesn't have the letter by Wednesday at 9am (they better just fucking walk over there and hand it to him and not put it in campus mail or I will fucking freak out) I will hire an attorney. And you know what? I'm not so sure I won't anyway. I think I've been hazed by this motherfucking program long enough. Delaying my diploma because they screwed up the paperwork is the last straw and the camel's back is broken. I will never say anything nice about this program to anyone. Possibly I will cool off a little more and not hire a lawyer, but I just don't know. I just don't fucking know. Send calm thoughts.
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