For profs, October is usually a pretty decent month. You’re in the middle of classes and so don’t have to worry about either the crush of the first weeks or the scramble of the last weeks of the semester. It’s conference time so you might be doing a fair bit of traveling, which might be fun.
For deans, though, October means the Annual Questionnaire (here) from the ABA. . This survey asks for an incredible array of information on everything from faculty demographics to the percentage of alumni/ae who contribute to the school, to the number of interlibrary loan requests your library dealt with. The questions don’t change much from year to year, so your dean (actually your associate deans and law school staff) pretty much knows the data he or she has to get. But still, it’s a lot of work to get the information and ensure its accuracy.
Oh, and did I mention that most of the information U.S. News asks for is taken directly from the ABA annual questionnaire? So, your dean has to make sure the ABA numbers are right so that the U.S. News numbers are right. In fact, your dean has to certify to the ABA that the numbers are accurate.
It’s a lot of work and no glory when you get the numbers right. But it’s a lot of work and possibly much abuse heaped on you when you get the numbers wrong. October drives your dean crazy.
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