End of an Era for Me

I always love an empty stage, which represents so much possibility. I’ve spent a lot of time on this stage in the great little Voorhees theater over the last couple decades, but I announced this week to my colleagues that I’m planning for this to be my last full-time semester as a Professor in the Entertainment Technology department at City Tech. I’ve filed to use up my sick leave in the spring semester, and then plan to early retire next summer, after–unbelievably to me–almost 25 years. It’s been a hell of a ride, but I’m burned out by the endless impacts of endless austerity funding (see here for more on that), and have other things I want to do while I’m still able—while my father is still going at 99, it’s always in the back of my mind that my Mom died of cancer only a few years older than I am now, shortly after retiring.

I’m grateful for our fantastic team of dedicated faculty (past and present) led by an excellent Department Chair, and I think we’ve done everything we could to build what the next generation our booming industry needs. I’m continually inspired by our students, who overcome incredible obstacles just to get to school; on a daily basis they lead me to recognize my own good fortune in my upbringing, and my own privilege. And while I love being in the classroom, I would say the times with students on this stage have been the most rewarding of all, and seeing former students out kicking ass in the industry shows that we’ve done something right.

I have a lot of ideas for things I want to do starting next year, but I plan to remain involved with the department and hope to continue teaching at City Tech part time. I’ve been putting away 10-20% of my salary for a couple decades now, and that-along with not having kids—should allow me a bit of financial flexibility. It’s all a bit sad and scary and exciting all at the same time: so much possibility.