Faculty Meeting Rule #4

If you are going to show up 15 minutes late to faculty meeting, please don't show up with a Starbucks coffee and sandwich in hand.    And then proceed to consume them.  In the front row.

Those of us who were on time mostly haven't had lunch either.  At least eat your food before showing up late.

Faculty Meeting Rule #3

Don't look surprised when your cell phone goes off.

You are a teacher, for fuck's sake; you make your students turn their ringers off for lecture, so do the DUH thing and turn yours off before a meeting.

Faculty Meeting Rule #2

If you insist on knitting during faculty meeting, then understand that a (significant, depending on institution) portion of the rest of the faculty is silently judging you (and, depending on institution, likely the rest of the female faculty).

Those "knitting circle" comments?  Not intended to be a compliment.

Faculty Meeting Rule #1

No matter how many times a senior faculty member insist that it is okay, if you are junior faculty do NOT voice your opinion at faculty meeting.

Is there a dress code for undergrads?

I am taking my undergraduate researchers to the Very Big Conference this spring.  And boy, are they excited.

One of them is so excited that she is asking her parents for "conference clothes" for Christmas.


When she told me this, my first thought was aw, aren't my undergrads great?

As I smiled at my undergrad, another question wiggled its way to the front of my brain:  crap!  What am I going to tell her to buy?

Obviously, I'm not going to recommend that she buy a skirt.  But should she wear a suit at the conference? Or just some business casual wear?

Is the dress code different for male undergrads?


Clearly conference dress varies wildly among faculty.  Some follow a business casual code, while others are more the jeans and polo type.


So what about undergrads?  Do you care what your undergrads wear to conferences?  What do you think of undergrads who show up in a suit?  Does the dress of students at all reflect upon their faculty member?

Time to give thanks

It's that time of the year where, like it or not, you're probably going to have to hold hands around a turkey and state for what you're most thankful.

Now imagine if we had to do that at faculty meetings.

Most of the time, not-so-nice things are said at faculty meetings.  Hell, most of the time we DON'T have much for which we can give thanks.

So imagine that you're at a faculty meeting (or group meeting).  Go get an extra piece of pie if it helps.  What do YOU need to give thanks for this year?

Flipping tables at faculty meeting

I was watching reruns on Bravo the other day. This clip in particular always makes me laugh/shudder:




While the general public might find this woman's table flipping behavior completely shocking, I'll bet that it doesn't faze that many faculty out there. After all, don't we see similar tantrums in faculty meeting at least once a semester?

Of course, I'm partly kidding. No one would shout out "prostitution whore" at the university president or a dean, right?


Right?

Faculty Meeting Bingo?

My favorite phdcomic of all time is, of course, Seminar Bingo.

I actually played it several times while a grad student at Large U. With squares on the card like "there's a grad student wearing same clothes as yesterday," it's impossible to lose.

Clearly, the next step is faculty meeting bingo. I know that one square would be "someone pulls out grading." Another sure thing would be "someone walks in late."

What are other must-haves for a faculty meeting bingo card? What about the free square? (For grad seminar bingo, it is "speaker runs out of time.")

Some recommendations for recommendation letters

My previous post generated quite a lot of comments from you all. I think one of the uniting themes among the comments was a general "who the hell knows what those letter writers were thinking!!!"

ms. phd gave some great advice, namely that "It's really important to discuss with your recommenders that they avoid mentioning anything like this, even if you can't think of anything they might be tempted to mention."

I couldn't agree more! When I started getting my job application packet together, the first thing I did was make individual appointments with the faculty I had (already) asked to write letters on my behalf. During these appointments, I went over my CV with them briefly, discussed my career plans, summarized my teaching and research accomplishments (just in case they had forgotten how brilliant I am), and finally asked the magic question: "would you be able to write a favorable letter of recommendation for me?"

Don't underestimate the importance of asking! No one wants to get blind-sided by a crappy letter. Real life example: "While Postdoc has exceptional potential as a scientist, I feel that Postdoc requires more experience before assuming a faculty position. I believe Postdoc requires one or two more years of research experience before I could recommend Postdoc for a faculty position."

Ouch.

In addition to avoiding such academic prof-blocks, spending 20 or so minutes with your recommenders can help ensure that important aspects of your career as a postdoc/grad student get highlighted. For example, since I was applying for faculty positions at primarily teaching colleges, it was very important to me that my (R1 faculty) letter writers made mention of the numerous lectures I gave for an upper level class.

Anyone else have letter-related suggestions to enlighten the masses?

In this corner...

At a recent conference, I had the opportunity to have lunch with several professors that are well regarded in the field. When I introduced myself with a brief blurb about my research project, one inquired, "Oh, is the X group still working on that? What do you think of their work?"

(X group as in the research group of Prof. X aka Person Who Publishes in High-Impact Journals on (often) Over-Interpreted Data).

I felt this was an especially odd/awkward line of questioning given that
1. I have published work directly contradicting X group publications

and

2. X group hasn't published in my area since early 2006.


I think that there are three likely explanations:

1. The questioner is currently reviewing an X group manuscript on the topic. (semi-likely)

2. The questioner is a huge fan of my project and has read all of my manuscripts many times over. (not so likely)

3. The questioner is well-read in the field and so connected my project with Prof. X and was merely being polite, but I over-interpreted the question due to a delightful combination of sleep deprivation and not-yet-arrived coffee. (quite likely)