University Open Days- what do you expect staff to wear?

[PoisonedIvy]

Completely random question prompted by a discussion with a colleague.

I've just taken over the running of my department's open days. I'm leading one this Saturday.

Do you expect/want the academics leading open days to be dressed smart? I normally dress very casual for work and was planning to wear the same type of thing as usual for the open day (jeans, leather jacket, top, boots). But my colleague who ran open days where she used to work was of the opinion that staff should dress up a bit smart.

So, what do you think?

Dp wears jeans and a checked shirt, just the same as he wears to work (and most of the time at home actually!). No way would he dig out and dry clean his (only)suit for an open day- he didn't even shave.

One of the lovely things about being an academic is that how good I am at my job has absolutely nothing to do with what I look like. Nor is my "professionalism" judged by that either.

And I teach my students to think critically about ideologies and "common sense" views which assert that "professionalism" is indicated by what they wear.

The senior lecturer who did our open days used to wear whatever he normally wore to lecture in, so jeans, trainers and a tshirt.
I think most people just wore whatever they wore normally.

archery, when I first taught and was a nervous PhD student, I wore four inch heels and a long, very billowy black velvet coat (the kind you wear to go to the opera, not the kind you wear to hang out with teenage goths). I enjoyed swooping down the bridge over the lake and watching the moorhen babies scatter and look confused.

My students were not quite so impressed as the moorhens, but one of them did compare me to McGonagall. Since I was 25 at the time, I found that delightful.

We should all be so lucky as to grow up to be like Minerva McGonagall.

LRD that sounds ace!

If you are a man doing Film Studies a black polo neck jumper, black jeans and boots. This applied to all men regardless of age or shape at every open day we went to.
If this does not apply i would say whatever you usually wear to work

I wear what I normally wear to teach, which is in the smart casual bracket, so dresses, or skirts / office type trousers with a top, plus a cardi. I have many, many cardis

Some of my colleagues dress more casually for teaching but they tend to take it up a notch for open days, by which I mean they don't wear jeans.

I know one of the perks of the job is that you can wear pretty much anything: showing up in well worn hiking shorts and a Frankie Say Arm the Unemployed t shirt with egg yolk all down it wouldn't raise an eyebrow. Having said that, I like to wear clothes that signify to me that I'm at work, and which differ from my casual off duty clothes. I think it helps with separating working life and home life. Part of the performance of my work identity, if you like.

Dp did one last week and an actual professor turned in. He wore his least holey jumper and his matching shoes, all very la-di-da. He brings millions into the department can pretty much wear what he likes.

I might have been swayed by the Harry Potter theme (especially Professor Snape) but it would have done absolutely no good because I wasn't granted a say in which university was chosen.

I loved the tradition and beautiful old buildings with turrets but my dd wanted certain courses, modern buildings and would have been put off by formal clothes! I think you may overestimate the power of most parents.

I can never understand why children and adults can't wear shorts in offices and schools during summer when it is 40 degrees c.

InDubiousBattle this reminds me of when I was trying to sell my house. In Scotland there are open viewing times every week and for one of these someone who looked like a vaguely familiar tramp turned up, unshaven, dressed virtually in rags. I overcame the temptation to close the door in his face and it turned out he was head of a very famous research institute attached to my university. I had seen him before but only in smart suit mode.

I know one of the perks of the job is that you can wear pretty much anything: showing up in well worn hiking shorts and a Frankie Say Arm the Unemployed t shirt with egg yolk all down it wouldn't raise an eyebrow.

Me too

I am not an academic but I work in university in admin (called professional sevices nowadays). In the last six years I have worked on about 15-16 open or applicant days (all on Saturday) and most academics seem to dress in a similar way to a normal teaching day.

The ones who are usually extra scruffy normally (DH am looking at you) do generally seem to make a bit more effort on open days. Maybe the men drag out the one jacket they own and put on a clean shirt and avoid shorts on the summer open day - and the women might do the same .

BTW - All our Heads of Department Schools attend every single open day and applicant day unless they have a very good reason not to ( 4 a year - all on Saturdays). Our Course Leaders also attend them all.

My DH who is a professor and has been for 15 years attends at least 2 of the 4 we do each year and when he has been acting head of depertment in the past he been to all of them .

We tend to have our most senior people on all open days . In fact junior or newer staff are less trusted (ISWIM) to know the answers to everything. About 60-70% of the questions you get on open days are about aministrative/general stuff. The other 30-40% is specifically about academic content. More senior/experienced staff can often answer more questions without referring people to the admin staff/desks for things they are not sure of.

I am in a different role now so don't work on open days any more, unless they need extra volunteers but I miss it (though possibly would prefer to work 1 or 2 a year rather than all), I like dealing with all the new easger students and parents and I genuinely thing we are a very good university so love to talk about it .

Anyway what you have said you will wear seems fine to me but it is probably wise to take advice from someone who has worked at an open day at your institution before. Goood luck and have fun OP

chemenger that is brilliant.

I am sad that I work in a discipline where most people seem to dress fairly normally. But I work with historians sometimes and I went to a fab conference where the senior profs had all clearly bought their glad rags in Laura Ashley in the 80s - and saw no reason to change them as they dug them out once in a blue moon. There was a formal dinner and I really enjoyed seeing all these fantastic 1980s necklines and puffed sleeves coming out again.

I am a parent and frankly couldn't give a toss what any of the uni staff were wearing on an open day as long as they were clean!

I have seen a variety and indeed the ones that were dressed less formally seem more approachable to the students which is what matters really.

Does it really matter if parents are funding or the student is self-funding via loans. It is not a 2 tiered system.

Frankly if people are chosing their university, their course - matters which will affect their life going forward over whether the Geography Professor had on a blazer or a denim shirt then it doesn't say much about them!

My friend is in admissions at one of the Oxbridge Colleges and wears her nicer jeans and top but mainly because on a day to day basis she is in an office and treats the day as an event for her as much as the students.

I would expect smart casual. DD at a RG uni, that's what I saw at the Open Day, it was clean, presentable and approachable.

Then again, I didn't pay 30k a year for private schooling for my kids and they didn't go to sixth form in suits.

LRDTheFeministDragon I really hope that one of my DC are taught by you one day. I really like your take on the world.

Whatever. The. Fuck. They. Want.

Thank you!

As for the course leader when DD went to the the London College of Fashion open day - most women were transfixed with his georgousness. Gay of course, but hey, what a dresser! Fashion lecturers can get away with anything and they really know how to dress!

Jeggings and a t shirt - just no. Boardroom suit - not necessary. Something in between - just perfect!

At today's open day:
Engineering: smartish, all women in skirts or dresses, men generally in trousers and shirts, sprinkling of smart jackets no suits.
Chemistry: very smart, suits on some men,
Ecology: casual, jeans and tee shirts, clumpy boots, both genders.
Geoscience: smart casual, some jeans.
Agriculture: chinos and shirts on men, one woman, ark jeans and shirt.
Biology: can't remember, probably on the casual side.
In conclusion there is no rule but sub-cultures have their own norms. We're not really allowed to mix with humanities and social science so I don't know what they looked like .

I've probably asked you this before, Chemenger, but are you at Edinburgh? I did Chem Eng there last century and DD2 is a fresher (not ChE).

Smart casual to me.

No jeans unless they are very dark wash, blouse and a more casual blazer.

This is as casual as I would go

I think I'd expect the smarter end of a jeans and t shirt outfit?

So no holes, no bleachy wash and not an ancient faded t shirt?

Archaeology: dirty jeans with rips, muddy hiking boots, t shirt that's on its 4th day of wear. Hair that hasn't been washed or brushed for a week. Slight whiff of BO

I do remember one of the staff at the open day I went to with DS because I thought she looked great. Brogues with opaques and a corduroy skirt and a wool jumper. Matched my vision of an university lecturer perfectly.