It appears that i have survived my first week. What’s better is i actually got some stuff accomplished and i met with several of the locals with whom i’ll be working with in an off-again/on-again manner.

So, what’s the first week’s report? This place, like all schools, is struggling. The latest rounds of budget cuts have left this place reeling and rather shell-shocked. While i remain confident in my own abilities to do more with less, i’m a bit worried about the psychic state of this place. Cuts and furloughs and restrictions and reductions all take their toll in ways beyond simply making a job more difficult. Study after study demonstrates that workers fall ill more easily and suffer a variety of maladies both real and imagined when faced with diminishing control of their lives and careers.

I’m also a bit discouraged to see the state of IT here. They’re a department that needs one big aggregate hug.

So what’s my plan of action? First, take serious control of the Homepage. Second, forge alliances with professors who can provide content starting with the journalism folks. Third, revisit off-site hosting support. No, i’m not saying ditch IT for everything, but i’m going to give some serious consideration to using third-party solutions where appropriate.

A prime example of this is our friend Slidepress as powered by SlideShowPro Director that i’m paying to host. Note: the latest version of SlidePress has an acknowledged bug, so the gallery below, as of 3/7/2010, is coming and going.

[slidepress gallery=’washington-dc’]