What THEY are really like

I grew up in a lower middle class community, and we had ideas about what rich and successful people were like. THEY were exclusive and cold. THEY saw people as tools and weren't genuinely interested in anyone that couldn't benefit them somehow. THEY were surely unhappy from a lack of true human connection. THEY took themselves and their work too seriously.

This weekend we attended a milestone reunion for Hub's university, an extremely selective institution. He/we had never attended a reunion before, so we expected for there to be a lot of THEM there, as we are in some of the prime earning years of our middle-aged lives. Hub and I were fully prepared to mentally strain to overcome our intimidation of THEM and the inevitable comparisons that would ensue.

What follows is a random-ish list of observations of Hub's classmates at the reunion. Please note that there is an inherent bias, as attendees of a class reunion are a group more interested and skilled in socializing than their non-attending peers. But, this was presumably still a good sample of highly successful people (THEYs).

1. I expected more obvious trappings of wealth than I actually observed. Jewelry, clothing, etc was not showy in most cases.
2. Not a single person smoked.
3. I didn't see anyone look at their phones during the social events we attended.
4. These families in their late 40's had a lot of small kids, even babies. This was a topic of discussion among us.
5. People were very gracious and graceful at initiating and taking leave of conversations. I felt more awkward than usual. I want to learn these social graces better.
6. Conversations felt truly genuine. Each person seemed to be "present" in the converstions.
7. People made easy eye contact in the crowd and did not tightly self-segregate into groups.
8. Everyone knew not to ask intimidating questions. "What do you do?" came up naturally and comparisons were very few.
9. There were a few comparisons of children's accomplishments, but it was done graciously with the spirit of respect and admiration for the kids. This was also in the context of "my kid does such-and-such and can't even get into Alma Mater".
10. There were several "less-accomplished" folks un-intimidated to share their position in life.
11. There was also a bitter classmate- "My education cost twice as much as our house, and I suffered blatant discrimination at work, so I quit working". Discrimination is an ugly thing, and can derail even people like THEM. It's not just a birthright of us lower-class folk.

IHE on Spousal Hires

For your two-body, trailing-spouse, spousal-hire blog-reading pleasure:

"How can you avoid the painful letdown that might emerge after the initial excitement of landing a position that allows you to live with your partner?"

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2014/06/04/essay-what-its-be-spousal-hire-faculty-job#ixzz33g8OvDQS
Inside Higher Ed 

The trailing spouse

Image source

Recent references form this blog to a similar fear:
have-we-found-solution-caveats
have-we-found-solution-perspective

Can I take my class to a big meeting?

Something that probably doesn't happen at large R01's (weigh in!). My letter:

Dear Dean, Dept Head, anyone else who needs to see this;

[Adv Course] Labs; Nontraditional [Adv Course] will not have a traditional weekly lab this year due to space constraints, but some amount of flipping will allow us to conduct about 1/2 to 2/3 of our labs during the lecture period. In addition, with permission and funding, we will go to the [Big Meeting Close By (BMCB)] this year.

One day's international scientific meeting is worth a million labs... (of the smokin'-hot-new-science variety). Going to the entire meeting would be equivalent to an entire grad-level course (3 hours *14 weeks).  It's [When and How Long]. I don't know if all week is appropriate for our students, but I'm trying to give a sense of the massive learning potential there.

[BMCB] Funding

In the past I have taken my research lab students (7) using "course fees" to pay for their registration costs. What funding options are available to me for taking [Adv Course] undergrad and grad students? The registration fees are cheap for this sort of thing, but they need to become members of  the [Science Org.] first, which is ridiculously cheap (and looks good on their resume).

[Links about fees and membership]

There are also guest registrations (for one day), but I'm not quite sure that our students would count as "guests". This is intended for folks like [Philosopher of Science] (who has joined previously in his role as a philosopher).

[BMCB] Logistics
Those costs are for a week of meetings. There are only guest (one day) and full registrations. I will attend the entire meeting, but I haven't decided how many days to offer for the students. My research students gladly went for all the days and crashed on friends' couches. As expected, some of the students became pretty saturated after a few days. It would be different as "requirement" for a course.

Financially, for four undergrads, it's totally do-able. For 2 grad students, probably OK, but for 9 grad students, it will need to be discussed.

In practical matters (how long? how much? logistics?), the same applies.

Importance
I'd still love to get them there somehow, for some amount of time. It's a rare and great opportunity for them. I argue that it is fundamentally different from other undergrad-driven data meetings. The field of [My field] is changing SO FAST right now with the advent of new tools, [Special Programs], etc. that even our brand new text is out-of-date. Sitting in [Adv. Course] will teach them about the last 20 years of the field, going to the meeting will teach them about the NEXT ten years, the years they will participate in.

Thoughts?

PUI Prof.

"Add more sections" resolved and Advanced Course "stayin' alive"

In this previous post, I relayed a risk that my load might increase substantially due to over-enrollment in one of my courses. I'm relieved to say that we found a solution by what I'll call the "Stuff 'em in" plan, which relieved me from a potential additional 2.5 hours of contact time.

Moreover, I found out that my advanced specialty course was under-enrolled, and at risk of being cut by the dean. If I would have "lost" that course, there would be consequences.

• My load would be lighter, and my pay less (good/ bad)
• It is taught only once every two years, so some students would have really missed out.
• I would be sad. I love this course. It makes me happy to teach it.
• I keep it very current. I have been working on finding material for it all year, so that work would be for naught.
• This is the course I would be hired to teach if I ever moved institutions. It's in my specialty. Having it worked out "perfectly" an running smoothly is a high priority.
• This is the perfect year, as the national meeting in the field will be in town this year. I'm going to take the students to the meeting if approved...

It had 4 undergraduate students pre-enrolled in it, but the masters-level students have not enrolled yet. The problem was resolved by my adept chair asking the director of the master's program to foot part of the bill, assuming that some of the grad students will enroll.

Stayin Aliiiiiiiive, Yeah

Maybe you could move here?

Ran across a colleague at the coffee machine, a potential collaborator who is up for tenure this year.

She asked "How's the research going?"
Me, "All done, analyzing data"
*brief description of my project*
She, "How long will you be here?"
Me,  "About two weeks more"
She, *pouty face*
Me, "Hopefully I will get to come back in summers and such..."
She, "I'm sure they will be looking for tenure-line faculty soon, as we are expanding."
Me, "Oh, I would really like that. It would be so good for me in so many ways"


It is important to me that if I were to apply for a job here at sabbatical institution, that I have the support of the other tenure-track faculty (see here, number 2). It seems on the surface, I might.



 

Add more sections?

Got a note from my department chair:

Bread and Butter course too full. Need to add another section. Since you are loaded one extra hour for a course which will not have a lab this year due to the renovation, we are thinking about adding it to your load.

Note that adding one section will have me teaching lab on Tuesdays from 8-10, 10-12, 1-3, 3-5.

I argued that the advanced course (missing the lab) will be going to an major meeting this year (we are!), so that more than compensates for the hour of missing lab.

Think they will buy it?

Getting Ready to Return Home

These past weeks have been consumed with:

Analyzing data
Deciding we need a higher N
Doing more experiments
Making sure I have all the software I need  loaded on my laptop to take back with me.

and
Driving back to my home institution to pack my office and lab for the remodel
Driving back to permanent home for social engagements including weddings and grad parties.
Thinking about packing but not packing

and
Trying to get daughter into free pre-school at son's school. We exceed the income limits but can get some points for "family factors" including Hub's weekly absence
Trying to get son into an immersion program at his kindergarten.

:)