Thread by @gauravsabnis

Setting up a meeting with the provost for a visiting candidate and remembered my own interview with the provost when I interviewed at Stevens. And a funny bit from it.

The meeting was planned kinda last second at the end of a day filled with interviews and presentation. /1

Back then, the provost interview used to be a separate stage at Stevens (now we do it with the campus visit). But apparently the dean & search committee liked me enough to rustle up a last second meeting. Cos I had 2 other offers and they wanted to move fast.

So suddenly, after about 10 straight hours of talking and talking and talking, as I was looking forward to relax a bit before more talking at dinner, I was told, hey, come, let's have you meet the provost. I'm happy cos it's a positive sign. But also a bit thrown off. Just a bit.

Cos I was very methodical about my campus visits (as almost everyone is) and had looked up the profiles and research and backgrounds of everyone on my agenda. So everyone else as Stevens, I had done "homework" on. But not the provost. I wasn't even sure what a provost is. 🙈🙈

So I'm shown into this majestic historic office with nice smell of old wood all the time. And introduced to this tall imposing guy, Dr. George Korfiatis. He was the provost then. Now George isn't exactly an effusive expressive guy like many university top folks tend to be.

The interview still goes well. He talks to me about how Stevens is an old and respected engineering university with a research focus and although we are just building the business school up, it'll still be mostly research etc. You know. Provost talk. Very reassuring.

At the end, he says the usual thing - Do you have any questions for me?

Ugh! I'm a dude just out of a PhD program hoping to get a junior faculty level job. What question am I supposed to ask a provost? What even is a provost? Is it like in Ankh-Morpork?

I know now, didn't then.

His eyes gazed straight into mine from across the table, like he was really expecting a question. He later told me he was hoping I'd say "no, thank you, goodbye" and he could go home, lol. But in that moment, I felt obligated to ask a question. Any question.

Earlier we had chatted about how there were a lot of Greeks in the university leadership and he himself was Greek etc. So at the end of that long day, I went with

"What's the Greek version of 'It's Greek to Me'?"

It was a random question that had been at the back of my mind.

George raised his eyebrows, "what do you mean?"

"You know how in English, people say, it's greek to me, for something they don't understand. What language do Greeks use."

While getting up from his chair with half a smile, he said

"Chinese."

That was my last ever job interview

@beatnikprof @PreppyProf @DCInbox @gratefulprof this George Korfiatis story for your kind perusal. 😌

Heh, the last ever interaction of my last ever job interview (cos I gotz tenure now 😎) was something that could be a Jeopardy question. Best end to an exhausting ritual of life.

Random aside. I love this "call me by my first name" culture in US academia. Takes a while to get used to not calling your superiors "Sir/Ma'am" or "Professor" or "Dr" if you come from India, China, Iran etc.

Here when I meet my university President, I'm like, Hi Nariman!