Inculcating myself in the minds of my colleagues

In the past, I talked about my desire to dig into life at my current institution rather than seeing this as a stopping point on my way to a job with similar pay but higher prestige.  While there have been some disappointments on the social side of things, my willingness to turn up at all sorts of campus functions appears to be helping with recognition among my colleagues.  This recognition has resulted in invitations to serve on committees and panels that will likely further increase my visibility on campus.  The downside, of course, is that I feel compelled to serve on these things, but since I need to serve on something I may as well serve on things that are visible to the faculty and administration.  Of course, I’m not the only new faculty member who has made regular appearances (there is one faculty member in particular who seems to be at everything that I am – I am pretty sure that we will end up running the school if we keep showing up at things), but it is nice to know that people outside of my department are starting to know who I am.