Does anyone care about good teaching?

As many of you know, I work at a predominantly undergraduate institution. Excellence in teaching is an expected component of a successful tenure packet. Scholarship and service are required as well, but the greatest emphasis is on teaching.

Obviously I want to be the best I can be in the classroom for the sake of my own students as well as my own personal satisfaction.....and my tenure packet. I continually tweak my syllabi and rework my lecture notes.

But my evaluations for the previous three semesters have been exceptionally strong (yay). While this isn't a bad thing, it doesn't give me additional incentive to keep working like I have been. I also can't improve without ideas and input from other people.

I need to be around people-- tenured or untenured-- who want to talk about teaching. I need senior faculty to come to my class to give me feedback. I need seminars and workshops that address such teaching areas as writing, assessment, engagement... oh, the list goes on and on. And couldn't there be teaching awards for junior faculty?

Sadly, I suspect I'm asking too much.

Begging, borrowing, and stealing in the name of research (at a PUI)

Starting a research lab at a PUI can be a challenging experience. Startup funds can be minimal, and sometimes you don't get them right away due to budget issues. (ahem) The consumables that you completely take for granted in grad school, such as acetone, pipet tips, centrifuge tubes, etc., become a Really. Big. Deal.

So this is what the first half of 2010 was all about: how can I beg, borrow, or steal various lab necessities in order to minimize the blow to my start-up funds.

Did you hear the one about the kid who traded up a cell phone for a porsche? Imagine if we did that in lab! I can see it now. I give my undergrad a Fischer click pen. Undergrad trades it for a TLC plate. The TLC plate gets traded for an NMR tube, which in turn gets bartered for a wash bottle. Eventually Undergrad makes it to a 1-mL eppendorf pipet. What to trade for next?

The possibilities are endless, especially given the random contents of most of my colleague's labs.

What a great way to solve my budget issues! Trade all the useless crap from professors long gone for stuff I need.

scientiae-carnival

Visiting Vixens

Last year, as many of you know, I was a visiting ass. at a small college. Now I'm well into my first year on the tenure track at a similar small college. I know that this year has been much, much easier as a direct result as my year as a V. ass. (Although it still sucks. Boy, does it suck.) While I wouldn't recommend a visiting position for someone who wants to go the R1 route, it could be a really good fit for someone wanting to go the small undergraduate college path.

Being a visiting prof (see * below) has all the advantages of being on the tenure track without most of the crap.

Crap that comes with the tenure track that you avoid as a Visiting Vixen:

- Committees. It is very rare to be assigned to a committee as a visitor. Do I really need to elaborate?

- Advisees. Yes, we all love advising students on how to find a path other than pre-med (insert eye roll here). They are also a huge time suck. It is very, very rare for Visiting Vixens to be given formal advisees.

- Faculty meetings! While some schools might think it's a good idea to attend, the presence of Visiting Ass.es is not usually required. Again, I don't think I need to explain why not having to attend faculty meetings is AWE-SOME.

- Research pressure! Research is rarely an expectation for a visiting prof. I got very little done beyond thinking and sketching out of a few research plans. If you want to go to a top tier small liberal arts college, you are going to want to get significant research done while a visitor. If you are aiming a little lower, and research done as a VV will be viewed as a bonus.

-Teaching pressure! A Visiting Ass. is just that. Visiting. Unless your position somehow can convert into a tenure-track situation, your teaching evaluations will never really be used for anything. I'm not saying that you should go in there and completely suck. BUT. Since you aren't going to be evaluated on what your students write, it can really give you freedom in the classroom. Try something new without worrying about what will show up on your teaching evaluations.



Again, if you want to have graduate students and do NIH R01-worthy research, visiting positions aren't for you. Do a post-doc. with someone awesome and get lots of publications. If you are wrapping up your PhD and want to work with undergraduates at a mid tier PUI, a Visiting Ass. position can be a great fit. If you are like me, having a year to work on your teaching and really sort out your research goals will greatly benefit you once the tenure clock starts.



*IF you have supportive, enjoyable colleagues who are willing to give you mentoring. And understand that you will be on the job market, like, the SECOND that you arrive at your temporary home. And will hopefully be traveling for interviews during November, December, January, and maybe even October and February, too.

What a difference a location makes...

It's so refreshing to return to my liberal arts roots. LargeU served its purpose: I got my degree from a top institution. But what a difference the change in location is.

My position at TempCollege is a temporary, one year position. In the coming months, I will be applying (again) for jobs. I want a tenure-track position at a small, liberal arts school. Preferably near N.A. (The two-body problem is so stressful, that I'll have to post about it at a later time.) We'll see what happens.

At LargeU, professors were stopping me in the hall to tell me what a tragic mistake I was making. They recognized (as I did) that by choosing to go the SLAC route, I would be removing myself from my current research field. "You're too good! Why would you not do a post-doc and apply for better jobs?" I heard this several times a week. However, I knew what I was doing. The product of academic parents, I grew up in the shadow of a huge R1 institution. I do not want that lifestyle. Although there is a lot of discussion in the blogosphere on how things should change, etc. etc., I know that they won't in my lifetime...or at least tenuretime.

Even though classes haven't started, I already feel at home at TempCollege. My colleagues are amazing, and I've met numerous faculty from other disciplines. Everyone is exceptionally warm, helpful, and supportive. Here I am actually encouraged to go the SLAC route (of course), and phone calls have already been made on my behalf.

By this time next year, I'll either be starting my dream job or be scrambling for work. Let's hope it's the former!

"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." B. Russell

Many of you have made excellent comments on my happiness in grad school? post. I'm going to write up a summary / response post later this week, but I thought I'd do a brief update on my job search process (since several of you asked). So feel free to add your two cents to the discussion before Friday!

This time tomorrow, my contract papers will hopefully be flying back to my new employer. I'll be accepting a faculty position at a SLAC (small liberal arts college) in a far away state. (I'll post more on that job and why I took it later.) I've had several other offers, a handful of rejections, and am still getting requests for interviews (just turned down one today, actually). After I've John Hancocked my contract, I'll of course contact the remaining schools and withdraw my application.

More on what I'll do about The Boy (from now on referred to as non-asshole, or N.A.) later.