<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; =
-khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On Sep 22, 2005, =
at 2:42 PM, <A href="mailto:Wimblees@aol.com">Wimblees@aol.com</A> =
wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE =
type="cite"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: =
separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: =
Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; =
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; =
text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: =
0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; =
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN =
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; =
">Procuring equipment is the responsibility of the department =
chair.</SPAN></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV>Well, here, final =
approvals of purchase requisitions are made by the dean (or department =
chair in the case of schools with more than one department). But for =
the most part, all the dean is doing is approving the use of =
departmental funds - not making the purchase, or making the choice of =
equipment. But even his hands are tied if the item costs more than =
$1500 (a figure which hasn't been adjusted for inflation in at least 20 =
years). It then has to go to bid or you must provide evidence of =
"sole supplier" before central purchasing will allow it.</DIV><DIV><BR =
class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I would be all for moving =
our job descriptions to the place where we have more managerial =
responsibility - i.e., hiring subcontract techs, procuring equipment - =
or at least being more involved in procurement decisions for anything =
with piano shaped keys, etc. </DIV><DIV><BR =
class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>As long as our job =
descriptions limit us to tuning and repairing pianos and imply that we =
answer to someone else who knows more about what we do than we do we =
will never get the respect we deserve. We are, according to most =
current job descriptions, just hired hands.</DIV><DIV><BR =
class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Jeff</DIV><BR><BR><DIV> =
<SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; =
border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; =
font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: =
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; =
-khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; =
-apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; =
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV>Jeff Tanner, =
RPT</DIV><DIV>University of South Carolina</DIV><DIV><BR =
class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR =
class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN> </DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>=