A friendly memo to tenure-track faculty who don't have as many publications as they think they might need for tenure and are getting stressed out about this:Don't blame your lack of productivity on the fact that the wife of one of your male graduate...
Rustleless
A reader wonders how to stop students from starting to leave class early, creating a cascading effect of rustling sounds that are distracting and that make the last few minutes of class difficult for teaching and learning.I don't know if my method will...
Selected readings 11/28/10
Interesting reading and news items.Please leave some comments that indicate which articles you find most interesting or that identify topics you would like to read about, and I will try to include more articles of a similar nature in the futureThese...
Novel Retraction
No, this is not about yet another retraction of a Journal article related to someone's irreproducible results involving high-stakes biomedical research. It is about yet another novel that has a character who makes paranoid statements about feminists...
Bludgeoned by Meetings (But Not Today)
On this Thanksgiving Day, I am just thankful that I don't have a meeting today. Otherwise, 'tis the season for time-sucking, soul-destroying meetings (and then more meetings) for me.If it sounds like I am feeling sorry for myself, that is because I am....
What It Takes To Lead
A group of parents from my daughter's school needed to work out a carpool schedule for some upcoming events involving our kids' travel to certain Activities. I had been traveling and hadn't been paying much attention, but once I got home and tuned back...
Those Pesky Emeriti
Today's topic over at Scientopia: emeritus professors. The good, the bad, and the talkati...
Actually, We Don't Hate You
Although many faculty survive the tenure review process with unanimous positive votes from their department on up, it is also not unusual for there to be a few negative votes at the stages involving the department or higher level committees, particularly...
Disturbing climate change headlines
Yesterday Tom Yulsman at CEJournal came across a story in Fog City Journal that led to a brief post, on which I commented there.The topic is the fraught question of what's the best way for scientists to respond to global warming Know-Nothingism. My first...
Art & Si
As longtime readers know, every once in a while I venture out of Science World and interact with colleagues who inhabit different parts of the academic planet. Most of these interactions are very interesting, educational (for me), and fun. Some are disconcerting....
Well Suited
Here is what I have learned so far from the comments in my recent Scientopia post about What To Wear for an interview for a faculty position, keeping in mind that for some fields there is only one comment, and some comments didn't specify field:Unless...
Connecting Minds to Science
The United States is ranked 35th in Math and 29th in Science. Other nations such as China, Finland, Australia, and Japan outrank us. Think about it, what are the things we love in this society? Our technologies - tech gadgets, televisions, high performing...
What to Wear AGAIN?
Over in Scientopia, I attempt to acquire data on What to Wear for a faculty interview in various academic disciplines. What is considered typical interview-wear for men and women? What is the range of generally acceptable attire? I get this question...
File Time : The Data
The topic of yesterday and today is: How much time do promotion & tenure committees (at the level above the department) spend on each case?Typically, the committee members spend time reading files before the committee meeting(s). This can take from...
File Time : The Question
Through various conversations in the past few months, I have tried to figure something out:How much time do tenure and promotion committees typically spend on each candidate's file? I am speaking here of the P&T committee that is at the college/school...
Academic Parents : Survey
Below is a link to a survey from a sociologist who is researching the experiences of tenured/tenure-track faculty who have children born or adopted in the past 4 years. If you fit this category, you may not have 20-25 minutes to do the survey, especially...
Getting to Know Me (and You)
Here's my recent essay for The Chronicle of Higher Education. I must admit I was not too happy about the title, and in particular the subtitle of the CHE piece. There is a throwaway line deep in the essay about Facebook, and I wouldn't have selected...
Wordless Wednesday: My Power Color - Autumn Orange
The warm hues of oranges with reds and yellows warm my soul. These colors also completement the undertones of my skin. I'm always rocking these colors - all year long. This time of year, I feel certain Mother Nature is dressing up just...
Parent Trap
This post is not about being a parent and a professor. It is about something far far stranger. And it is also over at Scientop...
McApplication
A reader is troubled by the increasing use of impersonal online application systems for faculty positions, and finds the process disappointing, given the momentousness of the occasion, and would even prefer to mail a paper application (although correctly...
Don't Ask Me
A colleague and I typically teach each other's classes 1-3 times each term when the other is traveling. Although it can be strange to drop into someone's class for a lecture or three, it can also be fun. Sometimes.During my last substitution experience,...
It's 10 PM. Do You Know Where Your Colleagues Are?
Presumably, if you are a professor in a small department, you know where your colleagues live. If you are in a medium-sized department (more than 15ish but less than 40ish faculty), you may or may not know. So my question, which is primarily aimed at...
Urban Wildlife Watch: Chinese Chestnut Tree
Looking back on my life and surveying my memories from my present vantage point - as an adult and a biologist with several years of school under my belt - I sometimes realize that I knew I would be a biologist. As I stroll along walkways or drive...
Re-Recycle
At an international conference not so long ago, I saw a talk by a Distinguished Professor. The talk consisted of figures that he cut and pasted from papers he published decades ago when he was a hot young scientist doing cutting edge work. There was...
Active/Passive
Today I am over at Scientopia, with a post about 'passive sexism' that is actually not very passi...
Snakes up close
I've got to make a confession. I really don't give reptile (or amphibians) their just due on Urban Science Adventures! ©. I'm a mammalogist, true and through. But I'm also an opportunitist, which is why I feature so many plants, flowers, and...
What He Said
Recently I attended a committee meeting as an 'observer', and I noticed after a while that whenever the committee had to come up with names of people to take on certain positions of responsibility, only names of men were mentioned. When the position...
Young stars biting the cloud that feeds them
Young stars biting the cloud that feeds them (8/30/10)A billowing cloud of hydrogen in the Triangulum galaxy (Messier 33), about 2.7 million light-years away from Earth, glows with the energy released by hundreds of young, bright stars. This NASA/ESA...
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