academia
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What I want for Christmas this year is to, for once, not have to spend most of the kids’ two-week winter break trying to somehow squeeze in more time to work. I just want to do what I imagine normal state employees with vacation time do — take the time between Christmas and New Year’s off and actually focus…
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Every so often I am reminded that money rules everything. I am at a major public research university. It’s a very good school, and it has a lot to be proud of. When we recruit, we try to recruit the best of the cohort. Often, we are successful. Alas, the more successful we are and the…
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As of a few years ago, if you are an employee of my university, you must purchase airline tickets through the singular university-approved vendor. That is, if want your ticket reimbursed before the trip; if you dare buy a ticket in any other way, you have to wait until after the trip to get reimbursed. Somebody lined their filthy pockets with this deal.…
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I am fuming. I am about to teach for a new (to me) undergraduate course with large enrollment. This course is usually taught by people in an area other than my primary one, but I am helping out because the other area is temporarily understaffed. Now I find out that this course, which had traditionally always…
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In a comment to a recent post of mine, Zinemin asked (and Ana seconded): “I have a question for you. I would be really curious to read what you would say about the topic of energy, since this is something I am currently thinking about. It is clear that you operate on a very high…
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What makes a good teacher? I am sure that people who work in education have precise metrics for what effective teaching means. I am not an education scholar, but I do teach, so doing it well is important to me (and to most of the readership, I am sure). I am at a research university, which…
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‘Tis December!!! Phew. I must admit, posting every day in November has been tough, which was probably obvious from some of the less-than-inspired posts. When you start photographing produce, you know you are scraping the bottom of the blog-fodder barrel. I think last year’s November blogging was easier, I am not sure why. I don’t remember…
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I am at a major public research university. Sure, this is a university and teaching is important, for some definitions of important; anyone who says that research does not beat teaching to a pulp is a liar. Bringing in extramural funding is the most important metric in most STEM fields. It translates into overhead dollars for the university. It also…
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