The First Day of the Next Stage of My Career

Looking ahead to tomorrow I think of it as the first day of the next stage of my career.  Why?  Well, it is not the official day of my transition to the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School as their new Vice Dean for Education--that does not come until April 1.  But I still see tomorrow as an important piece of the progression as I will be (for the first time) at a meeting that has not been called simply because I am there.  Rather, I will be integrating myself into the regular rhythm of the school which has management team meetings on Wednesday afternoons.  These will inevitably become a regular thing for me looking ahead.  And since tomorrow is the first one that I will attend, it really does mark the first day of the serious transition stage.

I am also cautious to say the next stage of my career rather than the rest of my career.  I had for a while thought that I would be a Bloomberg School of Public Health lifer.  Now, my hope is to be a Johns Hopkins University lifer even if I end up in different places along the way.  Given that I will have spent 16 3/4 years at the Bloomberg School of Public Health before I transfer and that my active working career could include that much time almost twice again, (that would pu me at about 78 which many people in academia work until), I really think it may be the next stage.

I have no idea what will come after this stage, but every transition I have ever made has been exciting, and I can only look forward to what comes next.