Reader TheGrinch asked if I would be taking it easy after the mad dash to proposal submission. I said sort of, not really. I feel like I am taking it easy this week, but I don’t actually feel particularly rested. And I could still use more sleep.
Here are the things I have to accomplish this week.
- Read through the dissertation draft of one of my students who is defending in a few weeks. There are several published papers inside, but I still have to read the whole thing before it goes to the entire committee.
- Grading the midterm administered a couple of weeks ago. It’s for an undergrad class, I don’t have a TA because it’s an elective (I also teach the discussion), so it’s just me. I usually try to cheer myself up with colorful pens. The orange one isn’t doing the trick today.
- A letter of recommendation for my REU undergrad researcher applying for a fellowship.
- A proposal to review.
- Two outstanding paper reviews that I am a little late on because of my own proposals.
- Regular teaching prep (probably about 2-3 hrs per week), teaching (2.5 hrs), and discussion (1.5 hrs), assigning homework and writing up solutions (2-2.5 hrs). Also office hours (these I can usually use for something else, as few people show unless there’s an exam coming up).
- I am on the university-level committee that reviews tenure cases. That’s not a committee where you want to do a shoddy job, as people’s careers depend on it. I need to review carefully the cases we will be discussing in the very near future. That’s probably one whole day, perhaps more, between meetings and dossier reviewing.
- I am also involved in a committee in charge of awards, so more letters are being prepared, this time nomination ones.
- Meeting for a multi-PI grant we might be pursuing.
- Lunch with a potential leadership hire for the college.
Obviously, this takes a lot of time, and some of these tasks require considerable work, but it feels like I am not really doing any work, because almost none of it is research…
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