Dear College of Science Faculty and Staff,
What’s your craft?
I love gardening, but am totally open to others – crochet, paper or wool activities. Woodworking sounds great. Fine with me to include puzzles in the genre. I love arts and crafts, including kits that come with an attractive target item. Making something is creative, fun to do alone, or with others, and usually good for one’s mental wellbeing. Right now, I have a cute crochet lion on my windowsill, and on my shelf, a felted wool picture of cacti and a host of heritage family member items including collage, an impressively neat tiny pillow and lino prints. Lovely!
Two wonderful crafters in our College are Budget Analyst Rachel Jones, who makes fantastically creative cards, and Office Administrator Luciana Daly who is an accomplished fabric crafter. I’d love to hear about your craft expertise! And thank you to Marya Mahmood, Associate Director of Equity, who regularly organizes excellent crafting activities to celebrate or observe events, including this week an Indigenous Huichol beading workshop.
Often in crafts, there’s careful organization involved. A kit comes beautifully packed, and your home woodshop may have an exciting cabinet with lots of drawers and compartments for supplies. Your paper, glue and yarn may be arranged according to color and type in smart containers with dividers, so you can readily find what you need.
Our Northeastern University College of Science operations have much in common with the organization useful in crafting. Organization is the platform on which we can innovate most effectively. Over the past four years, across our units we’ve worked hard and effectively to optimize College of Science organization. Our teams are fantastic. Each person involved should be exceptionally proud. Thank you. From our undergraduate advising team who keeps track of every student; to graduate advising helping an increasing number of students. Thank you. To our brilliant coop teams at undergraduate and graduate levels, now working to incorporate PhD students; to our great undergraduate education team and our crucial graduate ops team. Thank you. To our finance team, keeping careful and accurate track of our COS budget; to our HR team – always helpful and there for every staff and faculty member. Thank you. To every member of department offices and operations, on whom so many depend. To our space and safety team, pivotal in helping faculty organize their research spaces.Thank you. To our highest quality pre-award and post-award grants administration, partnering with faculty on every submitted and successful award. Thank you. And to valued administrators across COS, thank you. The College of Science has built a strong reputation as well-run and well-organized, contributing to the excellence of Northeastern University. I’m enormously appreciative of the work of every member who contributes, and enormously proud of what we’ve done together. Thank you and Congratulations!
For the weekend, hopefully with time for organized crafting, warm wishes to everyone.