Update on Mat Leave

Met with Chair this AM. All of ten minutes. He's new (though was hired from within our faculty, I dont know him at. all.), so he wants to do some "investigating" about policies, precedents, etc. I gave him all of the information that I had, but I guess he wants to hear it for himself--check my story, right? I had about ten discussion points prepared for a negotiation on actual leave, but he didnt even give me a chance to bring any of it up or ask me for my input. I cant decide if this was because he is new--and as such knows nothing about how to start the leave conversation and wanted to do some research before we talk about it--or, if it was because he's a total autocrat and wants to go away and make a decision to hand down to me.

Either way, I have a feeling that he's going to be a very authoritarian Chair and this may/may not bode well for me. To avoid having a decision handed down to me without any input whatsoever, I sent a v. strategic follow-up email thanking him for the meeting and suggesting that I looked forward to our next meeting so that we could discuss the best options for everyone involved. I also thanked him for being willing to "work with me" to make the best decision. I have no idea whether or not he IS, but wanted to accomplish two things: (a) let him know that as our leader that he should expect to ask for and value faculty input in decision-making, and (b)let him know that I was prepared to argue my case.

He said that he'd get back to me in about a week. I'll let y'all know what happens at that time!