Chapter 1573 Crazy Pleasures In The Dark:>Ep111

• Roughly a week later, our venerable Dean sent me a note that he would be pleased to see my name on the program for this convention in January. This was early in September and was the first I heard of the gathering. This type of decision is usually made in June, before the summer so one has time to do the work. As a graduate student I was advised to avoid such things as a waste of my time, but suddenly I had to make them a priority. The accounting, finance and management faculty had been dead silent in this forum for a half-dozen years and frankly it was a little embarrassing, a visible symptom of the basic malady gripping the school. I agreed that we needed to signal a new direction. That required my visible involvement.
• But what topic could I submit?
• The deadline for proposals was October 15, about six weeks away, which was a little short for anything new or any of my current empirical projects. My "almost finished" and "in progress" ongoing projects were all spoken for. Also, the quality range of the presentations was lower than I usually go for. But the Dean had a point and we like to at least make the effort to keep the old guy happy and feeling in charge. Otherwise he will quit; then we will be rudderless for a year and who knows what calamity will befall us after that. Curtis could appoint me as acting Dean! So I said I would review what I had.