"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.

:)

The Pres and the Hub

Soooo, apparently the White House called the institute this week to ask about Hub's project. No lie.

My weaknesses as a scientist contribute to our two body problem.

I went to a talk today. I asked questions of the speaker that caused them to pause and consider alternative hypotheses, to relate their talk to broader issues, to question their interpretation of the literature. I often get compliments on the questions I ask during talks. This is my strength, a public one. I have the impression that many of the faculty at my sabbatical institution think I am really "on the ball". A post doc told me the other day that she thinks I'm brilliant. She just doesn't know the other side...

I have had major struggles in the lab for the sabbatical (see this previous post). I will have fewer data from this year as one would expect. While struggles are a part of lab work, my struggles are greater than average. In the past, I have had some denial allowing me to blame it on the situation.

The struggles from my sabbatical echo struggles I had during my post-doc and I have finally come to terms with my weaknesses as a scientist:

1. I take about 25-30% longer to learn many techniques than my peers do. While I survive despite this by working as hard as possible, when it comes to highly competitive environments or challenging techniques, I lag behind.
2. I have trouble troubleshooting. When something goes wrong, and the problem could be A, B, C, D, or E, I have a tendency to pick C, then D, when actually it is B.
3. I'm a very patient and tolerant scientist, and I mean this negatively. It's an issue with "Hmmm, this doesn't seem right. Well, golly, I'll just try it again." when it should be "What the hell is wrong?!?  I'm going to stop everything until I figure this out."

These issues are all interrelated, as you can imagine. They lead to fewer data and lower quality publications from me than others. This is why I have referred to myself as a "B+ scientist" in previous posts.

The major theme of this blog is that Hub and I are trying to find work in the same area, so we can avoid the commuter marriage we have now. I always imagined that I could go back to research full time in some sort of "research assistant professor" position if need be. I had even put that ahead of teaching at a community college as plan B or C.

I really love research. I love to work in the lab full-time. I like formulating hypotheses and testing them. I like working with my hands. I like learning new techniques. I like to build stuff. I had great training (for which I am deeply grateful).

Moreover, I have a growth mentality: I can and will improve on my weaknesses. I will try my hardest no matter what, BUT I should probably put the "perma-postdoc" option much lower in my alternative careers list than it was last year.

Rescinded Offer 2: And yet...

I continue to read about the "rescinded offer" from Nazareth to W as outlined in my last post. While it seems the furor has cooled a little on the internet, I appreciate being challenged by a reader (a full 1/3 of them) and continue to read about the issue a bit.

My last post summarized comments and sites I had read and resonated with, particularly those that pointed out her requests for a delayed start, no more than three new preps a year for three years, and a pre-tenure sabbatical as being pretty unreasonable. The other issues were not unreasonable in my mind, esp. maternity leave.

OTOH, I can also resonate with the need to negotiate firmly at the beginning. This has touched our family as I outlined in a previous post. 

A quote from David M Ball in IHE:

As for the argument that the successful candidate in this economic climate, regardless of gender, should shut her mouth: at no other likely juncture will a junior professor have a better opportunity to negotiate the terms of her employment than at the moment of her hiring. The conditions under which she is employed will dramatically shape her chances for promotion and tenure. Negotiated terms matter to future success. Indeed, the tenure track itself doesn’t accede to the logic of the market.

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2014/03/19/essay-implications-rescinded-nazareth-college-faculty-job-offer#ixzz2xb6fB5eF
Inside Higher Ed

I continue to think about how I will negotiate if offered a position at Hub's institution. Will I be intimidated to Lean In? Will I overshoot? At least, AT LEAST I have a job (and tenure) so the worst case scenario is status quo, commuter marriage and semi-single motherhood. The tenure's nice, single motherhood not at all.