tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6954855326871162287.post1887265918642744810..comments2023-09-02T04:57:49.975-07:00Comments on Chasing Tenure: A Single Academic Mom in The Meeting-est Department in the WorldDr. O.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10408004007613325106noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6954855326871162287.post-20555755263066260352011-03-13T22:27:48.120-07:002011-03-13T22:27:48.120-07:00I am interested in your situation in that I am doi...I am interested in your situation in that I am doing dissertation revisions for the most demanding supervisor in the department. He loathes children, along with most profs in the department. I feel that ever since I had my baby girl I am treated like department garbage in that I do not have time to attend every guest lecture or stroke my supervisor's ego while babysitting his visiting book collaborators (picking them up from the hotel or airport, taking them to lunch, fetching them crap). I am seriously thinking about finishing up my dissertation (if it is ever good enough for him and he is willing to lose his lecture sub (me)) and just getting a job doing anything other than academics.Seismic Academic Mommyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17551138584972123493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6954855326871162287.post-80543479294273755452010-09-06T10:44:27.832-07:002010-09-06T10:44:27.832-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17255755103557879368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6954855326871162287.post-70243327877762547642007-01-26T11:53:00.000-08:002007-01-26T11:53:00.000-08:00Hey Dr. Four Eyes,
Yep. But at least my departme...Hey Dr. Four Eyes,<br /><br />Yep. But at least my department is being good about things. All of my attempts to find child care fell through, and no one is giving me grief really (I made an honest attempt and documented efforts with my chair). <br /><br />I can only imagine how bad it would have been if I was in a department that wasn't family-friendly (mine is one of the better ones!).Dr. O.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10408004007613325106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6954855326871162287.post-65205432687815833802007-01-15T18:05:00.000-08:002007-01-15T18:05:00.000-08:00Seriously? I don't have kids (yet), but I would f...Seriously? I don't have kids (yet), but I would flip out about Saturday "retreats". So not cool.<br /><br />And you are so right: academia does need to change.dr four eyeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11178140600448106706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6954855326871162287.post-90025286845681149682007-01-14T17:19:00.000-08:002007-01-14T17:19:00.000-08:00Well, I have to confess that I am sometimes apt to...Well, I have to confess that I am sometimes apt to hyperbole, and I don't quite hate the faculty members in my department (in fact, with the exception of one or two, they are all quite nice and friendly) but I WOULD hate them if I had to spend my Saturdays unity building with them. <br /><br />I do dislike, however, some of the faculty members in other departments, though. <br /><br />My friend is in a bad place and probably is going to do some creative things so that she won't have to teach many fridays - guest lecturers, films that other people can show. There are ways out of this. <br /><br />I like the two day a week schedule. Get it over and done with. By the time I get going with the 50 minute session, it's already over. <br /><br />Sorry about your custody battle and such. I was once good friends with a sociologist in a similar position - but the story is long and complicated and wouldn't fit in the margin of this page. <br /><br />But I want to second your rant about meetings to discuss having meetings to discuss things. Why can't we just discuss it now? I was on the faculty senate and this is all we did, meeting after meeting. And we would discuss what we would discuss next meeting, then forget what it was that we had discussed that we were going to discuss as discussed in the previous meeting because no one took minutes at that meeting. So we met and discussed whether we should have a meeting to discuss having a new office of secretary who takes notes. Before deciding this, we had a motion to table, which was seconded and majority said yes, then a motion to ajourn, which was seconded and passed. I kid you not. It is like Wonderland sometimes at my campus! This is why I want to kill my colleagues - most of the time, they are great to talk with - but the Oh! the Formality!Anonymous Professorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12136853167106201445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6954855326871162287.post-47294968066687261952007-01-14T14:17:00.000-08:002007-01-14T14:17:00.000-08:00I feel for your friend! How horrid. At least I'm...I feel for your friend! How horrid. At least I'm not commuting in! I can't imagine a 2-hour bus ride. God help her, I hope her marriage is solid. Coming out of my previous three years' experiences, the cynic in me hopes she never has to go through a custody evaluation. It would be a nightmare, what is 'determined' and 'hardworking' today could become 'neglectful' and 'selfish' when recast by an attorney tomorrow. Smart woman for going back on the market, on many levels. Sending "tenure track without commute" vibes to her wherever she is.<br /><br />I teach MWF too, have last semester and this one, just asked for a MW or T/Th for next fall (would be my first 2 teaching days/week schedule in 3 semesters) and was told that the only hours for MW would get me out after 5, too late for me to race out to pick up the smalls. So, I have to keep the MWF if I can't get the T/Th, and evidently T/Th is primo and everyone wants it. But I can do a MW schedule if I teach a night class. Which, of course, I can't do.<br /><br />I should say right now that I am fortunate in another way -- I really do like my colleagues. We all get along more or less, and most of us get along so well that we actually have fun, go to lunch, hang out in the hall when office hours are slow, and so on. I haven't yet wanted to kill anyone, so that puts me ahead of a large swath of the academic community. <br /><br />OTOH, drives me nuts when we have meetings to talk about what we are going to talk about at the next meeting. Swear to God that is what we just did. It was a metameeting. <br /><br />The Saturday things are cast as being unity-bulding. Which is nifty, because in defining them this way if you dissent, well...boy howdy that isn't very <i>unifying</i> now is it? And then you get the story of how it "used to be" before you got there and how these things are necessary and you just don't know the history....cue violins.....Dr. O.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10408004007613325106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6954855326871162287.post-14826169657641003502007-01-14T13:40:00.000-08:002007-01-14T13:40:00.000-08:00Holy shit! I complain a lot about my job, but I no...Holy shit! I complain a lot about my job, but I now realize I have no right to. Saturday retreats? I would murder someone for making me hang out with my colleagues - I already want to kill them as it is, and I see them only once or twice a week. My department has a faculty meeting maybe once a semester, if that. There just really isn't anything worth talking about, because as soon as you pose a suggestion, there's always that one prof who dissents to the suggestion. <br /><br />I have a friend in the History department, she's married, has a kid, and she lives in a city that is a two hour bus ride away. Her department is forcing her to do a monday-wednesday-friday schedule because it believes that everyone (read: Assistant Professors)should have to do one of those every year. Thus, instead of just spending Mon-Wed in her shitty rented room in my city, away from her husband and child, she has to spend Sunday - Friday night (they also feel that profs should teach these MWF courses at 8 AM, apparently) in my city, which means she needs to stay over Sunday night. They couldn't give the woman a break? No, apparently not. And what is she doing? Applying for jobs elsewhere. <br /><br />And why in your case doesn't someone think, "You know, maybe we should make this optional because people might not want to donate their Saturdays to Big Anonymous U?" Perhaps everyone is thinking the same thing you are, but no one is willing to stand up and say these retreats are for the birds.Anonymous Professorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12136853167106201445noreply@blogger.com