Saturday, October 17, 2009

Students Bearing Gifts and the Sense of Wonder




Today is a very special day since the University of Massachusetts Amherst will be celebrating the establishment of the Dean Thomas O'Brien Endowed Chair at the Isenberg School of Management. We will also be welcoming Dean Mark Fuller as our new Dean and as the first holder of this chaired professorship. I received a formal invitation from Chancellor Holub for the ceremony today, which, by the way, falls on homecoming weekend!

Being a professor is always filled with surprises and, today, through the photos above, I am sharing with you some of the gifts that I have received from students (both graduate and undergraduate ones) recently. Having great students is the best reward for a professor but, I must admit, these gifts I will always treasure since each, in its own way, is just perfect (and also so representative of the gift-giver)! Yes, one of the gifts featured above is a robotic vacuum cleaner!

The most recent gift that arrived at my door is displayed below.