New Generation Professor

Tuesday night Joelle, Garrett, Bonnie and I went to the Collip Club seminar/buffet dinner. As usual, the prime rib roast was delicious and savory, and the desserts were even better than usual - there were several desserts I wanted! So I took several...

Anyway, the talk that accompanied dessert was really quite good. The professor spoke to us about spinal cords and locomotion, which is an interesting topic, however it was him that was the most intriguing. First of all, he was a good speaker and able to really engage the audience. He incorporated a number of jokes into his talk that nearly everyone found funny (ie. not strictly biological science jokes). Most notably, he was young for a professor (he just started in his faculty position in July of 2006) and he didn't dress like a lot of stodgy old professors do. He was dressed casually but completely appropriate for the seminar. He had on some stylish shoes, and average pants (no pleats!). Although he wore a shirt with a sweater over top, the sweater was hip and not ill-fitting like a lot of professor's sweaters tend to be. His hair was a little long, but styled, so it was messy but intentionally so. All in all, he was definately a scientist, yet a younger, more hip scientist. I feel like he represented the new generation of professors - people a bit older than me, who have acheived that 'famed' faculty position but are still able to dress well, be in touch with their youth and not completely change their identity because of their position. I liked him for what he represented.

I hope that when I am finally a professor, I can acquit myself so well and still be able to DRESS normally! As in, not badly and uninterestedly.