I am now completely swamped with work, hence the dearth of posts. The posting frequency will likely go down to zero over the next couple of weeks (proposal deadline) and I have multiple trips out of town .
In the meantime, here's a minimal-effort post, complied from my overly wordy comments on other people's blogs.
On how much I prep for stuff and how I teach (from comments to Unbalanced Reactions's post and a related Dr. Pion's post):
[How much time it takes me to prep for a 1-hour lecture?] Depends on the level of the course and if I have taught it before. I should also say that I am the type who does not prepare any materials before the semester starts, plus I am largely a chalk-and-talk teacher.
Undergrad and entry-level grad, taught before: maybe half an hour
Undergrad and entry-level grad, haven't taught it before: about 2 hours, as it inculdes writing lecture notes for the first time, etc.
Upper level grad, taught before: half an hour to an hour
Upper level grad, not taught before: 2-3 hours, as just designing the course is demanding and often there are no textbooks but you have to assemble materials from different journal papers, so this search can take a long time. Plus writing lecture notes.
The first time I teach a class I actually prepare detailed notes that are distribuited to students: so they take much more time than it they were just for me, as I try to make them comprehensive and coherent and with all the needed details. I distribute them at the beginning of the semester for courses I have taught before, and they are somewhere in the 150-page count. They are handwritten, and the students invariably tell me they love them. I include way more details than I would in PPT (I don't like PPT as the students seem not to take notes much) and students still take notes in class, as I derive everything on the board. Occasionally a student will say they prefer PPT's, but overall my evaluations are high and the students seems happy.
Comment left at Prof-like substance's, to his post on whether spousal hires are effective as faculty retention tools. (I wrote on spousal hires here a little while back.)
[if] spousal hires can and should be used to increase faculty retention?
Abso-fucken-lutely. Outside of academia, help with spousal placement is a normal thing. I don’t see why academia can’t do the same.
A colleague of mine has a wife who was not hired when he was hired (both sought TT). Instead, she took a faculty job at a lesser institution 2 hours away and they had a difficult commuting situation for 4 years — at which time the wife, who kicked serious research ass at her place got early tenure. She has now been successfully recruited to join her husband, and I think one would now consider her to be the star of the couple. They endured 4 very difficult years though, I would say needlessly, and some resentment built up there…
I am a beneficiary of a spousal hire, but my husband is not a faculty (he has a Master’s degree). I would not have taken this job if it hadn’t come with a position for my husband.
My husband's job was one of the strongest recruitment tools when I was weighing different offers and is now an incredibly effective retention tool, because I cannot imagine him loving another job more. I have offers to go to more highly ranked schools, but considering how much my husband loves his job here and how well the whole family is settled, it is unlikely I will move soon (if ever).
So yes, a happy spouse means a happy and productive faculty. I know several star faculty who could go anywhere they want, but remain here because of the family’s happiness.
[Dr.O then asked when I brough my hubby up during the interview.]
Dr. O, at every single interview, multiple people asked me about my husband (I wear a wedding ring) which enabled me to mention what he does and what type of job he would want. I think a lot of people were relieved that he was not looking for a TT position, I think non-TT are easier to find. I don’t think you should hide your family situation — it is what it is and the place that wants to hire you will want to make you happy and keep you, and that involves spousal placement. I don’t think a place would not have given me ab offer just because I mentioned my husband (or maybe I am deluded).
[FCS then asked if my kids came up]
FCS, no one actually asked about the kids. However, at the first interview it actually came up in casual conversation and I said that I had a preschooler. My host went “Wow!” and said that having a kid makes my CV even more impressive (apparently, as achieved under the stress of childrearing). My impression is that, if you come to a faculty position with a good research record and a kid (or kids) in tow, it is in fact assurance that you can achieve high performance and have a family. So I in subsequent interviews I did mention my kid and I don’t think it hurt me.
My attitude is: people are curious about your family status, and even if they don’t ask many want to know, if for no other reason but to let you know what a wonderful and family friendly place they have. I think this holds for assistant prof men as well, as they too overwhelmingly have working wives. So I would share the information about my husband and my child as it seemed appropriate, i.e. if asked explicitly or if tt came up in a conversation. I think going out of my way to avoid it would have been much worse. It's a battle not worth fighting.
6 comments:
I have offers to go to more highly ranked schools, but considering how much my husband loves his job here and how well the whole family is settled, it is unlikely I will move soon (if ever).
Go around divulging stuff like that and you'll never get a counter-offer with a pay raise included!
Procrastinating on my proposals--great idea for a post!
I clearly need to get faster at prep--I prep for 4+ hours per hour for a new course and 45 min or so for what I taught last year so far. I do use PPT, but with a tablet so I can derive on the screen and save my scribbles, but have the starting points and ending points typed out, since my handwriting is pretty bad.
If I don't use a tablet and annotate a lot, teaching with PPT ended up like shooting information at my class with a firehouse, and it didn't work for me.
@ Alex: :)) I do make sure I walk around the department suitably disgruntled! IRL, I would never divulge my contentment/inertia to my department collagues, of course...
@ Prodigal: I do wish sometimes that I would retain what I write in class. Perhaps the tablet with PPT you recommend is the answer (my PhD advisor swears by it).
Thanks for the reply despite being so busy. You're now perhaps the third person to tell me not to worry about it, so I'll try not to. Mostly it's just that I'm philosophically opposed to employment interviews that force candidates to disclose private information of any sort - religion, ethnic background, etc. But I also know that many of these topics can be like talking about the weather if your conversation partner is a member of the same group. So it's a tricky balance. I certainly can't fault interviewers for being curious -- though I do applaud those that make extra effort to keep their questions non-personal.
Good luck on the grants, and enjoy the travel!
Outside of academia, help with spousal placement is a normal thing. I don’t see why academia can’t do the same.
Well, see, the thing is, we are not talking about "help with spousal placement", we are talking "spousal hires", a very different thing, one which the world outside academia does very seldom (see, for instance, "Dual-career couples in the public sector", by W. M. Bruce and C. M. Reed -- they give data for the private sector as well). It is one of the perks of our profession for which society at large often resents academics.
I think there are a number of facets for which the society resents academics, of which spousal hires probably rank very low (after tenure, elitism, overcompensation -- huh?!, perceived free summers -- double huh?!...) Spousal hires are the reason many academics (professors and those striving to be) resent each other. ;)
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