Pros
President Woolsey seems talented striving to make improvements within the organization. Pockets of great faculty & staff who work tirelessly wanting students success. Majority of training courses are great. The pay is good for the government. Telework is a nice perk.
Cons
Some of the regional leadership is deplorable and incompetent. The politics and good old boy hierarchy is not only crippling the organization's potential, but flat out destroys some of their best talent. Especially smart, assertive women who are routinely overlooked, devalued and deflated. It's not just women, the men also deal with lost opportunities due to favoritism. Woolsey is slowly changing this but the more visible opportunities still go to favored cliques setting up future promotion potential. Promotion opportunities are virtually non-existent. If you are unfortunate to work for an incompetent and ill-willed regional leadership (i.e., dept chair, Assoc Dean, Dean), accept those hardships. If you challenge or attempt to desire change, your work life will become even more difficult. I have both seen and been on the receiving end of retaliation. I watched someone who is talented - quit frankly intellectually gifted - strive to be the face of change & endure consequences for the betterment of all. Especially when the rest of us were too afraid to speak up or stand beside this person. Myself and others have silently observed this person get beaten down from multiple leadership angles in their collective attempt to break this person. (If this person ever reads this, you need to leave using your talents to make a real difference elsewhere. DAU doesn't deserve someone special & dynamic like you.) While the pay is good, the merit increases for the amount of work involved, much less the higher rating increases, are less than attractive. Find what you are passionate about as your merit increase is not worth the additional politics, grief & headaches. Overall, life at DAU all depends on which regional leadership you fall under. Some locations appear better than others. Do your homework or you may regret coming here until significant retirements occur (5-7 years). If the good old boy network continues to prevail, then vast work life, culture, diversity, equal treatment and improvements look bleak at best.