A new faculty member faces his demons
Category Archives: academic happenings
We Have to Keep the Program Going, Right?
When I was in graduate school, we talked about professional ethics a lot. Would it be acceptable to take a job with a company that developed chemical warfare, that polluted, that destroyed the natural environment, that trashed communities? We veered … Continue reading
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My Wish was Granted
Remember my kvetching that we needed to hear something about the adjunctivization crisis from those conveniently silent PhD supervisors? Well, here’s one speaking up. I thought Michael Johnson Jr. had just written another of those pieces on how we all-powerful … Continue reading
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Nobody’s Ally
I’m nobody’s ally. Colleagues have stickers on their doors proclaiming that they are allies of this and that, but all I post is a sign-up calendar and (in winter) a notice proclaiming it to be the coldest office on campus. It’s … Continue reading
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Where are PhD Supervisors in the Conversation about Adjuncts?
I’ve been in lots of online conversations about adjunctification, and somebody always asks why we keep producing more PhDs than the market will bear. The answer? Crickets. I’ve just realized it’s a meaningless question — at least, the ‘we’ part … Continue reading
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Theory Towers
Over the years I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with theory. Love: theory is powerful, for explanation and prediction and actually doing stuff theory is distancing, both requiring and allowing you to set your emotions aside for a while theory puts … Continue reading
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It Comes Down to Stovewood
Young leftists. On the one hand they’re in the news too often as intolerant, illiberal, and not valuing free speech. Some of them get minimum-wage cafeteria workers discharged when their ethnic food comes from the wrong class, make jokes about burning political opponents alive, … Continue reading
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Biology Leads the Way in Graduate School Transparency
I could not be prouder of my discipline than I am today, after reading about the movement for transparency in graduate school outcomes. Anybody who cares enough to read my blog will know that I’ve gotten so desperate about the … Continue reading
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I Can’t See How the Republicans are Wrong Here…
And it worries me, of course. But it seems to me that giving tax breaks on graduate students’ tuition waivers is, essentially, financial support for the graduate school industry. Universities are obviously the great beneficiaries of the graduate school industry, … Continue reading
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Complicity and Naming Buildings
When I joined my current school, we only had one building named after a person. It was named after St. Clare of Assisi, who I knew only as the patron saint of television. In recent years, the school has gone … Continue reading
Forget ‘Wellness,’ let’s Do Stuff
Here’s an interesting article about debates on the concept of ‘wellness’ from the latest Chronicle of Higher Education (sorry, behind a paywall!) One of the things I like most about it is that the author welcomes vigorous debate about the … Continue reading
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