Other Responsibilities as Assigned

A new column celebrating the weird, wild, and wonderful work of academic staff at UW–Madison

Most UW-Madison staff are familiar with the skills—both soft and technical—required by a job when they apply. We know our work requires specialization and subject matter expertise. And yet, working at a nationally ranked public research institution also requires next-level problem solving, the kind of out-of-the-box thinking required to navigate the nebulous phrase following the final bullet of our collective position description: Other responsibilities as assigned.

Did you ever expect that working nights might mean monitoring a nuclear reactor? Or that weekend travel might lead you to a cranberry marsh in northern Wisconsin? Or that “lifting heavy objects” might mean shoveling snow in the Arctic?

To celebrate the one-of-a-kind work done by staff on campus, the Academic Staff Communications Committee is launching a new Cornerstone column dedicated to shedding light on the marvelous—and perhaps mysterious—work your do for the campus community.

We want to know: Who eats all the extra cheese at Babcock Dairy? Who looks after the chamber of flesh-eating beetles? Where does all the poop from the 90 cows at the Dairy Cattle Center go? Who the heck keeps track of Bucky Badger’s busy schedule?

So, we’re asking: What’s the wildest, most wonderful, and perhaps most surprising problem you’ve had to solve as a part of your job on campus?

The kinds of stories we’re looking for:

• Specific to academic staff
• Completed during your time at UW–Madison
• Surprising—at least to folks outside your unit
• Tales that come from a place of pride
• Both daily and one-off responsibilities
• Activities that evoke a spirit of problem solving
• Narratives that embody continuous learning

Topics we’re particularly interested in:

• Times you’ve had to handle or maintain objects that are rare, unique, and/or specific to Wisconsin and its history
• Experience working with non-human colleagues (like plants, animals, or insects)
• Afterhours and off-campus field trips that are still on-the-clock
• Purchase orders you’d only find on a university campus
• Unique facilities requirements or improvements
• Behind-the-scenes roles and operations
• Times when you helped a student go the extra mile
• Work implementing big ideas and little details alike

What won’t work for this column:

• Any illegal activity
• Tasks not approved by your supervisor
• Salacious, obscene, or inappropriate behavior
• Blunders that bring us all down
• Things best not mentioned in a job interview

Have a workplace tale you’re particularly proud of?

Complete our Google form if you have a story you’d like to share. If it meets our criteria, we may reach out to you for an interview and highlight your story in a future issue of Cornerstone