I've just come from the doctoral dissertation defense of a former Master's student of mine, Tom. Way to go, Tom! But why did you have to remind me that I had you as a student 15 years ago!
Dissertation defenses are nerve wracking events, I believe, for everyone. This was my fourth as a committee member (Doug and Bucky in the Lubin School of Business, and Joe and Darren in the Seidenberg School). The next one that I sit through I'll be the advisor (Nora) so perhaps it will be less nerve wracking. I'm reading Seth Godin's book The Big Dip (you can learn more about Seth Godin here: Seth Godin's blog. I realize now that writing and defending the dissertation is "the big dip" that separates the ADBs from the PhDs.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
End of one class, midterms in another
Ahh, the leisurely life of a college professor! Here it is, two days before tax day, and here's how far behind I have gotten: I haven't yet marked the midterms in one class, and I haven't yet marked the midterms in the second class that ended last week! How did this happen?
It's easy. Take an already full work load, throw in hours of meetings about whether or not one school should merge with another, add a few faculty council meetings on the same topic, season with deciding whether or not I should toss my non-existent hat into the proverbial ring, and before you know it you've added about 100 hours to a month of 45 to 50 hour work weeks.
The good news is that the program is just about done for the institute; the bad news is that I now have a ton of letters to send out.
Now I only have two dissertation committees to get through, one where the dissertation is basically done and just needs some editing (Tom, we've got to get rid of the typos!) and one where the dissertation needs some major restructuring. Once I finish marking all the papers (about 12 hours or so of work), finish reading Tom's dissertation (another 6 hours should take care of it), and post the grades for the doctoral course I can take a deep breath.
Somehow in the midst of all of this I managed to submit a proposal to POD and to volunteer to be a reviewer, and I also managed to apply for and be accepted to the Faculty Resource Network Summer class for Designing Effective On-line Learning Environments.
Oh and did I mention that I'm on Team Seidenberg for the Relay for Life event to raise money for cancer? Now let me see, did I really leave corporate life for the more reasonably paced halls of academia? What was I thinking! I NEVER worked Sundays when I was in corporate life, and this is the second Sunday I've gone in to have lunch with accepted students and their families and make a presentation on political web sites. And I get to do this for almost as much as I was making when I left corporate life (once you adjust it all for inflation-in 1983 I was making $50,000-I'd have to be making $108,200 today to be making what I was making then, according to the Federal Reserve Bank at http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/research/data/us/calc/and I'm not making that much, especially since I didn't get a raise last year, but then I've mentioned that already, haven't I?
It's easy. Take an already full work load, throw in hours of meetings about whether or not one school should merge with another, add a few faculty council meetings on the same topic, season with deciding whether or not I should toss my non-existent hat into the proverbial ring, and before you know it you've added about 100 hours to a month of 45 to 50 hour work weeks.
The good news is that the program is just about done for the institute; the bad news is that I now have a ton of letters to send out.
Now I only have two dissertation committees to get through, one where the dissertation is basically done and just needs some editing (Tom, we've got to get rid of the typos!) and one where the dissertation needs some major restructuring. Once I finish marking all the papers (about 12 hours or so of work), finish reading Tom's dissertation (another 6 hours should take care of it), and post the grades for the doctoral course I can take a deep breath.
Somehow in the midst of all of this I managed to submit a proposal to POD and to volunteer to be a reviewer, and I also managed to apply for and be accepted to the Faculty Resource Network Summer class for Designing Effective On-line Learning Environments.
Oh and did I mention that I'm on Team Seidenberg for the Relay for Life event to raise money for cancer? Now let me see, did I really leave corporate life for the more reasonably paced halls of academia? What was I thinking! I NEVER worked Sundays when I was in corporate life, and this is the second Sunday I've gone in to have lunch with accepted students and their families and make a presentation on political web sites. And I get to do this for almost as much as I was making when I left corporate life (once you adjust it all for inflation-in 1983 I was making $50,000-I'd have to be making $108,200 today to be making what I was making then, according to the Federal Reserve Bank at http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/research/data/us/calc/and I'm not making that much, especially since I didn't get a raise last year, but then I've mentioned that already, haven't I?
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Ah, the academic life
So here's the past week:
Monday: work like a maniac on the proposal while sitting in a doctor's office with my aunt.
Tuesday: take the train into the city, attend the Pace for Women event, the Faculty Institute Planning meeting, and have a conference call about the doctor of professional studies program. Then a building collapses and there are no trains back to Westchester, so Anne drives to the Bronx to pick me up (what fun!).
Wednesday: get to the gym, then to a memorial service for a colleague who died much too young (47). Work on the proposal, grade some midterms, prepare for my data warehousing class.
Thursday: work on the proposal, prepare for Saturday's class, hold office hours.
Friday: take a couple of hours to drive to the city to get my hair cut, then work on the proposal, attend the Campus faculty council meeting, work on the proposal, send the damn thing out! Get home around 6:30 for dinner.
Saturday: up early to finish preparing for class, get in around 12 for my class, jump between two classes: the one I'm teaching and the one in which my doctoral student is presenting;
Sunday: rush home after church services to prepare my presentation for today's preview day, go in and have lunch with parents and accepted students, make my presentation, come home.
Monday: get into the city for a series of meetings: 12:30, SOA lecture, 2:30, interview, 4:00, strategic planning committee, 6 PM, meet my data warehousing class.
And of course at least an hour (sometimes two!) of e-mail, and a few more conference calls thrown in.
Ah, the easy life of a 21st century college professor!
Monday: work like a maniac on the proposal while sitting in a doctor's office with my aunt.
Tuesday: take the train into the city, attend the Pace for Women event, the Faculty Institute Planning meeting, and have a conference call about the doctor of professional studies program. Then a building collapses and there are no trains back to Westchester, so Anne drives to the Bronx to pick me up (what fun!).
Wednesday: get to the gym, then to a memorial service for a colleague who died much too young (47). Work on the proposal, grade some midterms, prepare for my data warehousing class.
Thursday: work on the proposal, prepare for Saturday's class, hold office hours.
Friday: take a couple of hours to drive to the city to get my hair cut, then work on the proposal, attend the Campus faculty council meeting, work on the proposal, send the damn thing out! Get home around 6:30 for dinner.
Saturday: up early to finish preparing for class, get in around 12 for my class, jump between two classes: the one I'm teaching and the one in which my doctoral student is presenting;
Sunday: rush home after church services to prepare my presentation for today's preview day, go in and have lunch with parents and accepted students, make my presentation, come home.
Monday: get into the city for a series of meetings: 12:30, SOA lecture, 2:30, interview, 4:00, strategic planning committee, 6 PM, meet my data warehousing class.
And of course at least an hour (sometimes two!) of e-mail, and a few more conference calls thrown in.
Ah, the easy life of a 21st century college professor!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Is it time for midterms already?
Almost! Good heavens! Another semester flies by, the first of my 24th year at Pace University. What a long, strange trip it's been.
A former student (shout out to Michael Dauria!) sent me a note after reading my earlier post about being at Pace for that long. He reminded me that in this industry now, there's no way I'd be at one place for 23+ years.
And I was reminded that for the first 10 years or so that I worked, I had four jobs-The Home Insurance Company, Rapidata, Equitable Life Assurance Society, The New York Times. That covers from December, 1969 (when I came home from my three month trip to Europe on $5 a day - don't laugh, it was possible then) and December 1983, when I basically was outplaced from The Times. I think the longest job was at The Equitable, 1973 until 1978.
And now my work life is run by the rhythms of the academic life-the semester begins, then we have midterms, then finals, then the semester ends, and then it starts all over again. Whether it's online, face-to-face or hybrid, the rhythm stays the same. The contact differs, the form of the exam or project or lecture or whatever is different, but the rhythm stays the same.
Maybe that's why I've been able to do this for so long-I like variations on a theme. The theme is the academic year, and everything else makes up the variations.
And so yes, it's almost time for midterms!
A former student (shout out to Michael Dauria!) sent me a note after reading my earlier post about being at Pace for that long. He reminded me that in this industry now, there's no way I'd be at one place for 23+ years.
And I was reminded that for the first 10 years or so that I worked, I had four jobs-The Home Insurance Company, Rapidata, Equitable Life Assurance Society, The New York Times. That covers from December, 1969 (when I came home from my three month trip to Europe on $5 a day - don't laugh, it was possible then) and December 1983, when I basically was outplaced from The Times. I think the longest job was at The Equitable, 1973 until 1978.
And now my work life is run by the rhythms of the academic life-the semester begins, then we have midterms, then finals, then the semester ends, and then it starts all over again. Whether it's online, face-to-face or hybrid, the rhythm stays the same. The contact differs, the form of the exam or project or lecture or whatever is different, but the rhythm stays the same.
Maybe that's why I've been able to do this for so long-I like variations on a theme. The theme is the academic year, and everything else makes up the variations.
And so yes, it's almost time for midterms!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Mild Panic Sets In
as I realize that 1) I've had a terrible cold for nearly a month, and 2) I need to have a class ready to go by Saturday!
So much for the winter break.
I guess one of the things I really like about being a professor is the intensity of the cycles-when school is in session it's one deadline after another. When it's not, it's nice lazy days of reading (I just finished William Gibson's Neuromancer - I don't know why I didn't read it sooner).
Well those days are now behind me, the Christmas tree is down, the leisure reading books are put away and now it's time to put together syllabi and get cracking!
Happy New Year, and happy new semester fellow profs!
So much for the winter break.
I guess one of the things I really like about being a professor is the intensity of the cycles-when school is in session it's one deadline after another. When it's not, it's nice lazy days of reading (I just finished William Gibson's Neuromancer - I don't know why I didn't read it sooner).
Well those days are now behind me, the Christmas tree is down, the leisure reading books are put away and now it's time to put together syllabi and get cracking!
Happy New Year, and happy new semester fellow profs!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
End of one semester, beginning of another
I was having a brief conversation with a woman during the coffee hour at church, about where this supposed "break" that we have goes.
I've already been back to work-reading Darren's dissertation, trying to figure out what I'm doing with my database class for my doctoral students, trying to figure out what will happen now that my dean is stepping down. And hoping that next year we get a raise, however small-my health insurance increased by 50%, our heating bill is outrageous, our taxes are going up (again!) and both of us are living on "fixed incomes" which is not how it was supposed to be-I at least was supposed to be getting some kind of raise. Oh well. At least I have a job. But as I'm fond of saying, if I knew that I was going to work this hard for this little money I'd probably have stayed in corporate America. Now it's too late-I'm too old for them to take me back.
I am thinking about what else I can do to supplement my salary-maybe revive my consulting practice, maybe do some corporate training, something so that I don't feel as though I'm falling behind.
It's going to be an interesting year, that's for sure! I wish all of us peace, health and happiness in 2008.
I've already been back to work-reading Darren's dissertation, trying to figure out what I'm doing with my database class for my doctoral students, trying to figure out what will happen now that my dean is stepping down. And hoping that next year we get a raise, however small-my health insurance increased by 50%, our heating bill is outrageous, our taxes are going up (again!) and both of us are living on "fixed incomes" which is not how it was supposed to be-I at least was supposed to be getting some kind of raise. Oh well. At least I have a job. But as I'm fond of saying, if I knew that I was going to work this hard for this little money I'd probably have stayed in corporate America. Now it's too late-I'm too old for them to take me back.
I am thinking about what else I can do to supplement my salary-maybe revive my consulting practice, maybe do some corporate training, something so that I don't feel as though I'm falling behind.
It's going to be an interesting year, that's for sure! I wish all of us peace, health and happiness in 2008.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Social Networking and Schools
So here I am, so clever (!) getting ready to develop a Web 2.0 class for my doctoral students, only to discover that blogs, social networking sites and some wikis are blocked by their schools and school districts! Who knew?
I actually wondered, since when I gave a presentation on social networking at Good Counsel Academy in November there was much tittering when I suggested that the causes section on Facebook would be a good way to identify folks who might share some of the same interests that the students have.
Oh well-that's what happens when you fall in love with the technology and don't always see the dark side. Just another challenge!
I actually wondered, since when I gave a presentation on social networking at Good Counsel Academy in November there was much tittering when I suggested that the causes section on Facebook would be a good way to identify folks who might share some of the same interests that the students have.
Oh well-that's what happens when you fall in love with the technology and don't always see the dark side. Just another challenge!
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