handling a work situation with non-academic center director

[clean]

He is now remodeling the center building and asking us to attend meetings with the facility, the contractor for remodeling, maintenance staff. I feel my mission as a faculty is to do research, teaching, and service/outreach, I am not an architect or a designer, I really donot get this!

IN this case, he is doing you a favor!!
You are not the Designer, you are the USER!! 
The designer is NOT the USER, so what the designer THINKS you need may be diametrically opposed to what you DO need! 

This may be a pain in the ass, but it is in YOUR best interest to BE THERE at these sorts of meetings so that IF they are moving in the wrong direction, you can FIX it before it is literally 'written in stone!'

[clean]

Let me provide an example from my work history...

Before PhD school, I worked for a for profit college.  There were many areas, and one was graphic design. The placed the huge printing machines with lots of volatile (flammable)  and caustic chemicals in the room right next to the central staircase.

There were 2 'emergency exits' at the remote ends of the building, but 'for security reasons' (theft potential' they had multiple 2" bolts through the metal doors into the masonry work that were then padlocked.  I would come in on Fridays to open the labs (not that I could help, but I could let people in and out and provide some access to equipment).  The first thing I would do is check that the emergency exits were not locked IN CASE there was a fire or leak in the printing machine room.  (I was once asked, "how many are there now?  I said, "5". The boss said, "When you get 10, let me know and I will unlock it".  "Oh," says I, "IF 5 people die I guess that is only local news but if 9 die, that would be national news".  He opened the doors.  I then reported to my direct supervisor that I would not be in the building if those doors were locked and that IF I needed to have lunch at the Fire Marshal's office, I would!


The point of ALL of that story is that IF FACULTY had been involved in the design and placement of this equipment, it would NOT be directly beside the central exit and the emergency exits would not have several 2" bolts and locks!

FIX PROBLEMS before you have to LIVE with the Problems!!

[Kron3007]

My first thought was to ask what would happen if you didn't submit it?  If you were tenured, this would still be my first thought, but given that you are not and that your position was directly related to this centre I think you should just fill it in.  If there are more senior profs around, they can deal with it as they see fit, but you should just comply.  It sounds like a pain, but probably dosnt really take that long (I wouldn't put too much effort into it). 

As others have alluded to, he may be doing this to comply with some sort of reporting requirement on his end.  I know when I was a student at a state university they had some odd reporting required by the state.  It seemed silly to me, but you just have to do it.

[Puget]

He is now remodeling the center building and asking us to attend meetings with the facility, the contractor for remodeling, maintenance staff. I feel my mission as a faculty is to do research, teaching, and service/outreach, I am not an architect or a designer, I really donot get this!

IN this case, he is doing you a favor!!
You are not the Designer, you are the USER!! 
The designer is NOT the USER, so what the designer THINKS you need may be diametrically opposed to what you DO need! 

This may be a pain in the ass, but it is in YOUR best interest to BE THERE at these sorts of meetings so that IF they are moving in the wrong direction, you can FIX it before it is literally 'written in stone!'

This. We've had to ask, and then insist, on meeting with the team involved in planning renovations to our building. They often don't think about or understand how certain things will impact us (e.g., Yes, we do research over the summer and need our labs to be inhabitable -- we don't go on vacation when classes end!).

[lightning]

I wonder if anyone has any comments about how to handle a work situation where a center director (non-academic person) micromanage faculty? There is an interesting center director in my school who very often asks the faculty to send him their report (e.g., how many proposals they submitted since Jan. 2021, papers, etc.) which is out of his job responsibilities. The faculty are affiliated with the center. He often sends the faculty a form to fill out about their weekly activities, when they will return to work (exact date/time), etc., the same form that he provides to his staff members to complete! Anyway, he is very close to the VP and works under him and doesn't really care about the dean (doesn't have a good relationship with the dean). He claims every time that he has a meeting with the VP and needs to report faculty activities to the VP. He acts as faculty are his staff members and he got to supervise them! The VP is an extremely busy person who plays a major political role with the state, national level, etc. (not sure if faculty activities are really important for the VP).

How do you guys handle this situation?

Thank you for your comments.

If you can ignore him, then ignore him.

[Vid]

Hello folks,

Back to this director issue! He is still acting the same way and sending me "check-in" email very often (asking what projects I am working on, why I wasn't in the office for the last 2 weeks, why I didnot attend his meeting last week --I was busy with my students' defense and online workshops). I discussed the center issues with my department chair 2 weeks ago and told my chair that we donot have any resources in the center (office supply, travel reimbursement that he is supposed to pay us back from the center $$$, etc.). He talked to the dean and he said I told the dean that I donot want to lose faculty. He said they are going to meet with the VP (the director's boss). The VP announced that he is going to retire next year, so this director isnot happy bc he doesnot to work under the dean (he is the only one who isnot working directly under the dean like other directors in my institution)

Also I haven't discussed with my department chair about his sexual harassment case. I am a female faculty and I feel uncomfortable in that center where after 2-3 pm you can rarely find anyone (overall 8-10 people work in that center)! do you guys advise me to talk about his sexual harassment case to my department chair (from bottom of my heart I really donot like to play with anyone' name and images)? My chair seems to be supportive of me because I told him if the condition doesn't improve, I most likely leave! 

Thank you, all.

[Ruralguy]

Nobody is going to discuss someone else's sexual harassment case with you. What you can do is just express what makes you uncomfortable and  see if that can be accommodated.

The other stuff seems more like personality conflict stuff. It sounds like you don't really want to be part of the center, but you get money from them. The director sees this and is questioning your behavior, even though its a rather heavy handed technique for dealing with faculty.

You know how these situations work. Higher ups want to avoid these conflicts like the plague and resolutions almost always favor the more senior person at least slightly. 

[Vid]

Ruralguy= Thank you. Actually I was the 3rd faculty who brought up the center issue to the chair' attention, this is the reason why he took action. His micromanaging behavior is really annoying!!

NO I donot get money from the center, but my hire was critical to make the center grow. 

[Ruralguy]

So what exactly is expected of you from the center director? What is contracted?
What do you want to be doing?    The best you can define the Venn diagram for these, the better your life will be.

[Vid]

Ruralguy= My main duty is doing research and bringing in $$$ to the college so that part of my indirect goes to run the center (the center apparently takes 20-25% of indirect --the center gets additional $$$ from the state to pay the staff members, maintenance, etc.). They hired strong faculty who could bring more $$$ to make this center successful.

I am stationed at the center (my preliminary office), but I have no contract with the center! 

[Ruralguy]

I don't understand the leverage they have over you. You bring them money, not the other way around.

You have no contract with them, so what keeps you from taking a walk?

Would you have a job with some other home department if you severed yourself from the center?

[mleok]

I don't understand the leverage they have over you. You bring them money, not the other way around.

You have no contract with them, so what keeps you from taking a walk?

Would you have a job with some other home department if you severed yourself from the center?

In the OP's situation, I would request an office in my home department, and start distancing myself from the center.

[Volhiker78]

I don't understand the leverage they have over you. You bring them money, not the other way around.

You have no contract with them, so what keeps you from taking a walk?

Would you have a job with some other home department if you severed yourself from the center?

In the OP's situation, I would request an office in my home department, and start distancing myself from the center.

+1.  Get an office outside of the center ASAP.  Then start distancing yourself psychologically from the center.

[Vid]

I don't have a teaching appointment. I have mostly research appointments (to help the center) so the logic here is if you don't have a teaching appointment you don't get an office in your home department!! However, my home department provided us with a shared office (4 faculty share the same office!). Since Oct. 2020, I have brought around $1.6M grant money to my institution, I lifted my home department up, my grant brought my department up from the lower end in the college/university to the upper level...anyway I told my department chair if things don't improve I most likely leave! 

Very complex politics which I don't really have time to deal with!!! 

Thank you, folks.

[mleok]

I don't have a teaching appointment. I have mostly research appointments (to help the center) so the logic here is if you don't have a teaching appointment you don't get an office in your home department!! However, my home department provided us with a shared office (4 faculty share the same office!). Since Oct. 2020, I have brought around $1.6M grant money to my institution, I lifted my home department up, my grant brought my department up from the lower end in the college/university to the upper level...anyway I told my department chair if things don't improve I most likely leave! 

Very complex politics which I don't really have time to deal with!!! 

Thank you, folks.

It sounds like whether you like it or not, part of your appointment is tied to the center. Without knowing the specifics of how your position is structured, it's hard to provide useful advice. I take it that your home department does not typically have research only appointments? Do you ever run your grants through your home department (do they get a fraction of the overheads)? Do you have the right to chair PhD committees in your home department? What kind of job security do you have? Is it a soft money position, or is it tenure-track/tenured, and what fraction of your salary is guaranteed? Would you be open to moving into a regular faculty appointment in your home department in exchange for some teaching responsibilities?