I think I told all of you that Doogie is joining the faculty at my current institution. He signed the contract several months ago and was waiting for his visa status to get straightened up before officially resigning the old job. THAT process took so long (new administration basically treated it as a new green card application) that his start date got pushed back to Sept 1. His new visa was approved in mid-June. He was planning to tell them on the last day of June and then pushed it back until the week after the 4th. Instead of announcing it then, he pushed it back a bit longer and actually SUBMITTED A TENURE PACKET.
He finally handed in his resignation on Monday. His moving truck came on Tuesday.
Response was what I expected. The Boss was gracious and nice about it. Most colleagues were happy for him and were full of congratulations. Two exceptions: Wile E Coyote and Red Dragon. Wile E Coyote, who he told in person, was (at first) very surprised. Actually asked if he thought he was good enough to come here and asked about his salary. Then he went off on a rant about how he would’ve had tenure already if he had stayed at his old job. The last part I totally expected. I also expected Red Dragon’s response. Doogie is an idiot and didn’t tell her in person. She apparently went into a rage and now refuses to talk to him. I think it’s relevant to add here that Doogie has a grant with Red Dragon. Before notifying UTMB, he called the NIH and made arrangements to take his grant money with him to his new job - effectively blocking Red Dragon from keeping all the money for herself, which she totally would’ve done. Also, they were awarded an internal grant for bridging money that he turned down. Idiot wrote the grant knowing that he was leaving but didn’t want to announce it yet. I think he majorly failed WTA in his actions toward Red Dragon. He feared exactly the reaction he is getting, and I think he brought it on himself.
Due to visa status, he has to be physically present at the old job on Aug 31. Between now and then, he’ll be back and forth between old job and new job. I think he’s in for an interesting month, and I’m guessing that Red Dragon isn’t finished yet. He needs to watch out for retaliation.
Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.
-- Albert Einstein