June 26, 2003
Administrative staff wax poetic in lesson on communication
What does poetry have to do with a University center dedicated to developing a new generation of biomaterials for medical implants? And what does it have to do with eight staff members of that center whose jobs vary from dealing with the budget to providing computer support?
That’s a question the administrative staff of UW Engineered Biomaterials (UWEB), an engineering research center, was exploring in a light-hearted way recently. Like many staffs, the group gets together weekly to discuss current departmental issues, but sometimes there’s an opening in the schedule to take on something a little less specific.
So when administrative director Jeri Staley-Earnst happened to read an article about poetry in the workplace, she thought her staff might find the subject interesting and fun. Staley-Earnst turned to Elizabeth Sharpe, who edits UWEB’s research publications, and asked if she’d make a presentation.
Sharpe isn’t exactly tossing off elegies and sonnets in her spare time, but she does have a degree in English and experience as a teacher, so she agreed.
The point of the presentation, Sharpe says, is that poetry is a good model for business communication. It condenses meaning into few words and does so in an interesting way that catches the reader’s attention.
If lively participation is any indication, Sharpe at least succeeded in capturing the attention of the staff, who gamely wrote haikus at the end of the session. What did they write about? Work, for one thing. Fiscal specialist Jenine Honjiyo called hers Fiscal Woes:
BARs and BSRs,
what a jumble of numbers!
My head is dizzy.
Assistant to the director Jeannie Sprague was thinking more of the work environment in Ode to Bagley Hall:
Bad smells, headaches
and nausea. Trapped in Bagley!
Can we breathe fresh air?
Tom Grames, UWEB education and outreach, on the other hand, was contemplating a problem at home in this untitled piece:
Big tree with long roots,
Why do you invade my pipes?
Quick, call the plumber.
And communication specialist Shari Ireton went for complete escapism in her poem, also untitled:
Paris, five long years
past. Symposia, stress — please
let me go again!
Sharpe is willing to take her 20-minute presentation to other interested departments. Contact her at esharpe@u.washington.edu
