5:00 a.m. Wake up and call home to say good-night. (It’s 9:00 p.m. in NYC). Try and fail to go back to sleep. Nothing doing. Go to computer. Stream Emmy Awards via Slingbox from my dad’s apartment in NYC. Ain’t the internet amazing?
6:00 a.m. Look at the window of 19th-floor Sama Tower apartment at the sun coming up. (The picture in the linked page cracks me up: the tower is in fact surrounded by other buildings, and the sky these days is very hazy.) Do some e-mail and blogging.
7:00 a.m. Ride the stationary bike in the rooftop gym (46th floor).
8:30 a.m. Walk to the Downtown Campus Building.
9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Second day of the Faculty Orientation. Topics include the curriculum, programming at the NYUAD Institute, global education, community-based and service learning, athletic facilities and other physical plant issues, and an inspiring presentation by Vice Provost for International Education and Outreach Carol Brandt about the incoming class of 2014. I’ve heard some of the student testimonials in previous presentations but they never get old as far as I’m concerned.
1:00 p.m. Meeting with Arts & Humanities Dean Reindert Falkenburg and Associate Dean of Arts Mo Ogrodnik, followed by a meeting with Senior Vice Provost Ron Robin to talk about the year’s faculty searches and other hiring in the arts and humanities.
4:00 p.m. Reindert and I meet with Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Chuck Grim to talk about The ARC (Academic Resource Center). Despite what his surname suggests, Chuck isn’t grim at all — and he’s incredibly upbeat despite his ridiculous workload as we prepare for the start of the first term ever here. The ARC is one of our most exciting pedagogical initiatives, as far as I’m concerned.
5:15 p.m. Walk back to Sama Tower, via the Al Safa supermarket, where I pick up some Diet Pepsi, water, and and a/v cord. Yes, it’s hot and humid.
6:00 p.m. Get on a bus that takes us to the Emirates Palace, where we have an Iftar dinner in the Ramadan tent. An iftar is a community meal with which Muslims break their daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan. At the Emirates Palace, it’s a huge affair, and the NYUAD group has only a few of the many tables. Lots and lots of wonderful food. I stuff myself.
9:00 p.m. or so: Post-dinner socializing with Arts & Humanities colleagues at the Hemingway Bar at the Hilton. Part of the joy of this endeavor is having the chance to work with so many interesting people.
11:00 p.m. Back to Sama: e-mails and phone calls with New York to about logistics for the next day’s meetings.
[Photo: View from my 19th-floor Sama Tower apartment looking east. Early morning.]
