Logistics of a global university
Michael McCormack
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: University
The sun never sets on NYU.
That's the kind of reach a university gets when it has study abroad sites and programs in 23 countries and a regional campus in the works in the Middle East. A day at NYU never actually ends.
Ulrich Baer feels that stretch of time. As vice provost for global programs and multiculturalism, it's Baer's job to keep all study abroad programs in the loop with Washington Square and with one other so they can keep the NYU administrative ethos consistent. He said it isn't always easy.
Need to call President John Sexton when he is teaching at Abu Dhabi? That's an eight-hour time difference. Want to talk to Mingzheng Shi, the NYU in Shanghai site director? You're going to have to look ahead 12 hours.
With such extreme time differences, Baer said shut-eye is often sacrificed for the job.
"I don't sleep much," he admitted.
The global spread of NYU makes it difficult to keep communication flowing among international staff members. Administrators said it's tough to schedule meetings among all these countries and to find a reasonable hour of the day for everyone to get involved.
"I checked into a regularly scheduled conference call with New York, only to find that I was an hour late and the phone meeting was about to be over," Shi said. "Did I remember the wrong time? No, it was because the U.S. has just begun its daylight-saving time. Living in China, I forgot all about that."
In order to maintain university communication with all his site leaders, Baer sets up Monday conference class at 9 a.m. New York time. Video conferences are worked out with London and Florence at 9 p.m. on Mondays. To accommodate staff in Shanghai, Baer reverses the conference calls with his staff every month, so the calls are 10 p.m. New York time and 10 a.m. Shanghai time.
In order to maintain consistence around the globe, Baer knows that communication is key.
"Basically, it is a matter of establishing communications. I believe in conference calls rather than in e-mails," Baer said. "The directors come once a year to New York and then we meet somewhere else. We have staff that travel. We don't want to export our staff. The point is to have NYU learn from [these] locations."
With so many locations around the world, administrators said bureaucracy is inevitable but frustrating.
NYU in Florence Director David Travis called NYU a "complicated organizational animal," but he noted that the complex scheduling and communication avenues were necessary.
Shi agreed the job can be taxing.
"It is sometimes hard to go to sleep after one hour or longer of intense discussion on the phone," Shi said. "As an on-site director, however, I have accepted work at night as part of my job."
Michael McCormack is deputy campus editor. E-mail him at mmccormack@nyunews.com.
That's the kind of reach a university gets when it has study abroad sites and programs in 23 countries and a regional campus in the works in the Middle East. A day at NYU never actually ends.
Ulrich Baer feels that stretch of time. As vice provost for global programs and multiculturalism, it's Baer's job to keep all study abroad programs in the loop with Washington Square and with one other so they can keep the NYU administrative ethos consistent. He said it isn't always easy.
Need to call President John Sexton when he is teaching at Abu Dhabi? That's an eight-hour time difference. Want to talk to Mingzheng Shi, the NYU in Shanghai site director? You're going to have to look ahead 12 hours.
With such extreme time differences, Baer said shut-eye is often sacrificed for the job.
"I don't sleep much," he admitted.
The global spread of NYU makes it difficult to keep communication flowing among international staff members. Administrators said it's tough to schedule meetings among all these countries and to find a reasonable hour of the day for everyone to get involved.
"I checked into a regularly scheduled conference call with New York, only to find that I was an hour late and the phone meeting was about to be over," Shi said. "Did I remember the wrong time? No, it was because the U.S. has just begun its daylight-saving time. Living in China, I forgot all about that."
In order to maintain university communication with all his site leaders, Baer sets up Monday conference class at 9 a.m. New York time. Video conferences are worked out with London and Florence at 9 p.m. on Mondays. To accommodate staff in Shanghai, Baer reverses the conference calls with his staff every month, so the calls are 10 p.m. New York time and 10 a.m. Shanghai time.
In order to maintain consistence around the globe, Baer knows that communication is key.
"Basically, it is a matter of establishing communications. I believe in conference calls rather than in e-mails," Baer said. "The directors come once a year to New York and then we meet somewhere else. We have staff that travel. We don't want to export our staff. The point is to have NYU learn from [these] locations."
With so many locations around the world, administrators said bureaucracy is inevitable but frustrating.
NYU in Florence Director David Travis called NYU a "complicated organizational animal," but he noted that the complex scheduling and communication avenues were necessary.
Shi agreed the job can be taxing.
"It is sometimes hard to go to sleep after one hour or longer of intense discussion on the phone," Shi said. "As an on-site director, however, I have accepted work at night as part of my job."
Michael McCormack is deputy campus editor. E-mail him at mmccormack@nyunews.com.
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