New Year’s resolutions from your new department head

Esko Ukkonen, who served as head of the department in 2010-2013, has gained a well-deserved promotion to the vice-deanery in charge of research at the Faculty of Science, and as stand-in for Dean Jouko Väänänen, so we needed a new head of the department. It is I.

In fact, I’m not such a 'new head,’ since I already held this position in 2001-2006, so you might imagine that I could handle it with one hand tied behind my back, without having to learn anything new. Unfortunately, our universities are no longer in that blissful state where they were at the beginning of the millennium, ever since they became ‘autonomous legal persons’ (in theory), independent of the Ministry of Education and Culture; this has greatly impacted at least the administrative routines. The power of decision has been transferred to different entities and the finances have become very complex due to budgeting practices. In addition, the department had great quantities of earmarked funding during my previous stints as head, so it was easy enough for me to be the big leader. Everything seems much more difficult this time.

Esko was a good leader in every way, truly applying himself in depth and meticulously advancing important issues. Thus, the department has retained its brilliant status in both research, teaching and societal interaction. I’m not quite sure, however, how much the head can influence the success of the department, since he doesn’t have much time to teach or research. On the other hand, I’m convinced that a bad head would have a very negative impact on the department; if his actions are very poor or negligent, he may suffocate the atmosphere of the department to the point that it is no longer pleasant to work or study there, and we will not see very good results any more, either.

I’ve been lazy about making New Year’s resolutions, because making a large number of them may feel oppressive rather than motivating. There is one resolution, however, that I’ve had to make year after year, because I haven’t been very successful in keeping it. So I will have to try again: I promise not to fret and agonize on the golf course this year, even if I can’t make a birdie on every hole.  In honour of my new old post, I will also make another resolution for the year 2014: I will try not to be a bad head of the department.

At the same time, I want to take the opportunity to wish everyone at the department a happy and productive new year 2014!

Jukka Paakki