What is a Group of Individuals in Higher Education Called?
I am sure that you may already know that groups of birds and animals are often referred to as a special name, which may or may not make any kind of sense. A well known one being a pride of lions. What are some others? A mob or gang of meerkats. An ambush of tigers. A crash of rhinoceroses. A prickle of porcupines. A stench of skunks. Birds often have weird and wonderful group names. A murmuration of starlings. An unkindness of ravens. A parliament of magpies. A deceit of lapwings. I think everyone is familiar with a murder of crows, and I’ll end with perhaps my personal favourite, a flamboyance of flamingos!
So why am I banging on about group names? I thought on this April first it would be fun to give groups of individuals within higher education and academia a name. Here are my suggestions for some categories of individuals, but I would love to know your thoughts on what I suggest and if you have any alternative suggestions!
An innocence of summer interns.
An uncertainty of undergraduates.
A confidence of graduate students.
A disillusionment of postdocs.
A transcience of research associates.
A hustle of teaching assistants.
A reliance of lab managers.
A scramble of assistant professors.
A deprivation of associate professors.
A relaxation of full professors.
A grumble of faculty.
An authority of Deans.
A glamour of Executives (Provists, Presidents, Chancellors!)
A necessity of postdoctoral officers.
A determination of institutional research and accreditation.
A precision of registrars.
An enthusiasm of career advisors.
A knowledge of librarians.
A hounding of alumni relations staff.
An optimism of admissions staff.
A caution of intellectual property administrators.
A conundrum of counseling and psychological services.
A warning of health and safety services.
A lethargy of IT services.
A frugality of business or finance administrators.
An excess of coaches and athletics administrators.
An annoyance of legal affairs (lawyers).
