Hiatus until 2009

This will be the last post of 2008. Please check back in January for more.

I was getting ready to post today, and I just realized that I had never posted the success I had finally getting the article accepted that was being held up by the bad reviewer (3 revise and resubmits). I got the acceptance letter right before NCA. Even in the final review, the reviewer recommended against acceptance and had "philosophical problems" with the manuscript, but the editor accepted it anyway. In the meantime, I just did the page proofs for the 11-month review article, which will come out next month. It builds on the first article, but oh well. It's just great to have them both out there.

I've been able to get several things done this week that I just didn't have time for at the end of the semester, and that's a really good feeling. I had been sitting on a manuscript, waiting to submit it to a journal until after the article with the 3 revise and resubmits got accepted. So I took the feedback from NCA where I presented it and sent it off to a journal this week. Then, I revised a draft of the NSF grant that I'm working on. I was supposed to have that to the person at my university that is helping me a couple of weeks ago, but I just couldn't do it until now. I'm still hoping to have it submitted in mid-January.

Now, I'm working a little bit on teaching stuff. I have another new prep in the Spring, and I'd like to have the syllabus and maybe the first day of class done before I leave on "family tour." I'm also working on a paper that I was planning to submit this month, but it will have to wait at least till early January. I had almost run all of the data when I noticed that not all of the data was in my SPSS file. I had surveyed people at several organizations, each of which was stored as a separate Excel file. When I combined Excel files, two of my copy-and-pastes were not complete. So I'm rerunning the statistics. I don't think there are enough missing cases to really change my conclusions, but it's still pretty frustrating. And I need to get reports to those organizations that participated, outlining the overall results and any particulars about their organization. Lots to do in the next few days.

In case no one has said it to you recently, have a happy holiday and a great finish to 2008!

Finally Finished

So I turned in final grades yesterday, meaning that I'm essentially done with the semester. My department wants a written assessment report of what students learned, but other than that, I'm done.

It's been an interesting finish to the year. Am I over committed? I've been blaming my busy-ness on having students come by for advising, which hasn't happened much until this year. But that has slowed to a trickle since Spring registration. And reading through proposals took a decent amount of time, but I feel more behind that I could possibly blame on that. All I know is that it's been weeks since I felt like I had a week where I got everything done that I wanted to. That may be normal for some, but I am typically able to plan out how much I can get done and actually do it. I had planned on having four things under review by the end of this week. I will have one, and two others are very close. The problem, of course, is that January brings challenges of its own (new course prep, getting ready for NCA submissions, etc.). I really wanted to have these things off the plate.

grading and grading, but the piles never seem to get smaller

Buried alive under piles of grading.

Students Over for Dinner

I had one of my classes over for dinner last night, and it was absolutely fabulous. I think they enjoyed it, and I had a blast.

I'm on several thesis committees, and three of those students have decided to do proposals this week. Two down, one to go. And one final to go. After today, I'll be able to breathe a little. Just a little, though. I've given up hope that papers will ever evolve to the point where they grade themselves.

Results of Budget Meeting and the Start of Finals

So the big news from the budget meeting last week is that my teaching will indeed be increased from 3-2 to 3-3. However, it's tough to be disappointed with that since the savings will fund promotions and merit increases (including mine) that otherwise wouldn't be funded. ("Oh, congratulations on getting associate prof. with tenure, but unfortunately we don't have money to pay you any more than a 1st year asst. prof.") Several of our lecturers are in jeopardy as well as one of our adminstrative assistants, and those jobs are a pretty big deal to our division. But I think after the dust settles in the Fall, 2009, things should be quieter, more certain. Of course, things would be much more certain if the economy improves. However, I asked point-blank if things like the reduced teaching load would be given back when the economy does turn upward, and the reality is that the faculty will have to fight for it all over again.



I gave my first of two finals today. Making slow progress on grading, but I can see it being done by the end of the week without too much difficulty. I graded final papers in one of my classes, and I definitely need to spend more time on how to write a research paper. These are seniors who have all taken research methods, but I guess I can't rely as much on that class as I thought. Some papers were good, but some missed the mark.



I'm scaling back my expectations for the next couple of weeks. I originally thought I'd have three or four things under review by Jan. 1, but that just isn't going to happen. Bummer. The problem is that it means I'll still be working on stuff in the spring, which will delay some new stuff that I wanted to have written up and in to NCA. I need to clone myself. Anyone familiar with that process?

Lots of Little Things

Done with classes. I've just got two finals to give. Whoopee!

The stacks of grading have invaded my office and are beginning to assert their presence. I may need an emergency escape plan.

I've been asked to be the interim graduate director next year while the person that is our graduate director is overseas. Yikes! Seems like a really cool thing that I'd be interested in doing, but I worry that it's going to take me away from my research too much. But it comes with a course release, and it seems like it would show my university and any others that I'm interested in in the future that I can work with graduate students. But haven't I shown that in other ways?

Speaking of course releases, the deans and administrations just approved a reduction in teaching load from 3-3 to 3-2 this year, but now I've heard that it's likely they will take that away. Big bummer. I'm not sure what we're going to learn at this budget meeting today. I'm almost certainly going to be there, but I'm hoping that it's not just a vent session.

Nearly There

I will be finished with all classes a week from today. That's when my last final is. Quite a bit to do between now and then. I'm also on a number of thesis committees, and they're all trying to get proposals done before the break, so I've got quite a bit of that as well. I feel like I'm on a precipice, where I could have a great last couple of weeks or a disasterous time in terms of getting stuff done. Hopefully, I'll fall the right way. It's a little scary to look too far forward--February is going to be tough. Really tough. When did I sign up for this type of stress?

Budget Cuts

A few weeks ago, our university president announced that there would be some financial restraint used in the upcoming budgets and asked departments to start thinking about cutting back. My outgoing department chair followed that announcement with a number of new departmental policies that would save a little bit. I just received a notice of a faculty meeting Friday where we will discuss more practical budget matters. Apparently the dean has asked departments to prioritize their programs and budgetary needs so that "important things" don't get cut. Obviously, that implies that there are unimportant things that we are doing, and I'm interested to know what those are. I think that my job has, in some ways, been shielded from the economic situation in the country, and it's interesting to think about it affects me more and more. There are a lot of things that I have counted on that I wonder about. The assistant dean in charge of research and the internal grants that I apply for has said he doesn't anticipate cuts in his area because "this is so integral to who we are as a university." I wonder about that assurance. I am due for a merit increase in August. I'm not sure if they can change a policy like that without the approval of the faculty senate, but it's definitely something to think about. There is talk about finding ways to reduce our dependence on adjuncts and lecturers, and I wonder if they will increase our teaching load (a nightmare that haunts me). I'll know more in a week, I guess. I just hope this meeting isn't an excuse to vent about the situation.

Day Off

No blog today. Eating leftover turkey and watching football. I'll be back on Monday.

Thankfulness

Too often, we let cynicism get the best of us. I was at a panel at NCA where someone suggested that healthy cynicism (aka realism) is not necessarily a bad thing. Nevertheless, I think it's also good to stop and think about how fortunate we are. Even if it is cliche this time of year...

Despite my occasional complaints about students, administrators, reviewers, and various other people I encounter in my job, I am INCREDIBLY thankful for my job and what I do. I love what I do, and sometimes, it's all too easy to dwell on the little things that I would change and not see the bigger picture. I get paid to do what I love, and I'm giving thanks this weekend for that.

Also, in all of the economic turmoil in the developed world and with an awareness that there are many people not affected by that turmoil because they are so poor, I am very grateful for what I have. I do not have to worry about my next meal. I have a great place to live. I have a car to get me from point A to point B anytime I want to. I am truly blessed through what I have.

Finally, I have family and friends that are wonderful. I know this time of year is a lonely time for some as the holidays emphasize the importance of family. I am grateful for all of the people around me that care about me.

Conferencing

I didn't get a chance to post anything after Monday of last week. I spent the latter half of the week at NCA. As conferences go, I have to say that this has been one of my favorite. I feel like there were more panels that related to what I wanted to study than most conferences. I met some very interesting people and got to catch up with some great friends. I am leaving very intellectually stimulated and excited about new ideas. And despite the controversy, San Diego was probably one of the nicer sites and most certainly one of the least expensive. I'm exhausted because I stay up late most nights visiting with people and got up early for 8:00 panels, but I had a great conference.

No, I'm not cracking under the pressure

Lots to do this week. With NCA just a few days away, and Thanksgiving shortly after that, the next couple of days are critical. I need to finish a draft of that grant proposal and send it to a few people to look at. I need to decide today on which textbook(s) to use in my new prep next year. I need to make substantial progress in my pre-tenure portfolio. There was a workshop last week where assistant professors who had just gone through pretenure gave information and members of the rank, tenure, and promotion committee responded to that information and to questions. I don't know that I got that much new information, but it definitely served to emphasize that my pretenure portfolio is not just a collection of stuff, but a rhetorical presentation of myself. They encouraged proactive framing with short descriptions of each class that I teach and introductions for each section.

My university also pays a small stipend to faculty who volunteer to grade writing portfolios that students submit during their junior year, and I need to get started on that. It's part of my university's efforts to make sure graduates can put sentences together coherently. And a few odds and ends before I leave town. Lots to do.

This week, I graded a paper in my communication ethics class I noticed 2 things.

First, more than any other ethics class that I've taught, this class has their head firmly wrapped around situational ethics, and they refuse to see any other possibilities. Situational ethics has always appealed to a lot of students, but never to an entire class. And make no mistake, the situation as many of them see it is "how can this situation benefit me." Part of what I like about the class is challenging them to think about what they will do when faced with ethical dilemmas where what's right conflicts with what seems self-serving. This class seems to have no trouble with that dilemma and is very honest and vocal about pursuing self-interests over what's "right" in any kind of objective sense. I will have a chance to look at each student's perspective individually at the end of the semester, and it may be that it's just the vocal few that feel this way. I'm hoping.

Second, I've noticed a trend where students have trouble reading something and picking out the main argument. Part of this could certainly be that the pace of their lives has quickened, and they are not taking the time to read at any depth. This is certainly not a very scientifically founded assertion, but I am wondering if it is possible that teachers' use of PowerPoint could be robbing students of the ability to pick out main points themselves. Why would you learn to do that when someone gives you a bulleted list? I suffered from PowerPoint abuse from a teacher that made too much use of bullet points, so I tend to not use PowerPoint when I don't really need it. I've had several students in the last couple of years complain because they didn't know what to take notes on. I'm not sure how one would study this, but I would like to see some data.

Budget Cuts

This morning, my university (like many universities, I'm sure) announced a series a dramatic budget cuts. Of course, things like this start at the top. Our (university) president sent an email outlining an optimistic vision of the long-term future coupled with a cautious vision of the short-term and a recognition that no one knows when the short-term will fade and we will be in the long-term. The president's message certainly had ominous tones to it, but that email was followed by an equally ominous but more specific response from my chair (the lame duck chair, not the interim who takes over in January). Up to the point, travel to conferences was funded to some degree, whether or not you were presenting a paper. Now, if you aren't presenting a paper, travel will not be funded. They are "suggesting" that people who were traveling to NCA but not presenting forego their trip. They are also cutting back on food at departmental get-togethers (eliminating NCA party, potlucks for department holiday party, no bagels at faculty meetings, etc.). Perhaps most disturbing in the announcements was that hires are being frozen, although there was no indication of what that means for the current ongoing searches. Our chair thinks that searches underway will probably continue, but that any vacancies by departures (including our chair who "officially" departs at the end of the 08-09 school year) will go unfilled.

This is probably the first time that I have personally felt any of the economic recession. And don't get me wrong, even with these changes, I count myself very blessed. I'm still not sure how much I'll feel these changes, particularly this year. They are cutting back on office supplies, so I should probably start hoarding like I anticipate other will. (It's interesting to think about bartering notepads for pens and paper clips for candy from the vending machine.) I wonder what this will do to internal grants. You have to think that they will be reduced. Funding faculty research has always been a top priority, and there are those who know how important it is to not lose how far we've come. I may email the dean in charge of research for his thoughts. I also wonder about external grants, and how much more competitive they'll be. I'm working on an NSF proposal right now, and I'm anticipating sending another proposal out in the Spring. Things may get a lot tougher, and I may not realize how easy I had it.

A Little Overwhelmed

Do you ever have one of those days when you feel like you have everything under control until the day starts and so many other things pop up that you have to do?

So I've got a paper to finish by Wednesday to send to an NCA respondent, and I need to get pretty close to finishing an external grant application so that I can get feedback on it before it's due. I've got grading to finish by Thursday, and I'm about 25% of the way done after piddling around on it over the weekend. But with all of that, I felt ok about things.

When I get to my office, I see a stack of complementary review copies of books--I need to select a book(s) for a class next semester that I'm teaching for the first time. (So excited about a new prep!) It's tough to do that because I haven't really thought about the syllabus yet. More support for Weick's ready-fire-aim approach to decision-making--seems to guide my course planning decisions. I also have an email from a student that needs advising (registration is this week) and from a student who is my advisee who needs my permission for two substitutions on her degree program because of schedule conflicts between classes. I have already been working with this student, but when I look at the schedule myself, I see that she only needs one substitution but will have to take an evening class. And one of the organizations that has been helping me with data collection is asking about results--I've written up the academic results but haven't put it together in a format that's ready to be sent out yet.

Very frustrating to have your day planned and have that disrupted. And it's just Monday. I hope that the week improves.

Success

I got an email yesterday that the 11-month-review article was accepted! Success! It's a great feeling.

If only that submission with the 3 revise and resubmits would get accepted.

I'm working on too many things with too little time. The nice thing is that one of the papers I'm working on right now ties in to two things that I want to submit for publication before the end of the year, so at least it's killing three birds with one stone.

PreTenure Portfolio

I'm starting to put together my pretenure portfolio today. Yes, I've kind of kept things together as I've gone, and the self-evaluation part of my yearly evaluations have made me keep my faculty data form (the coverpage of the pretenure portfolio at my university) current. So it's really a matter of printing everything (which is slightly problematic because my department is paper-stingy) and putting it in notebooks with dividers. It's really interesting that they want so much printed out. I kind of want to include a very brief portfolio with a flashdrive full of documents, but I don't want to hack anyone off. And my peer reviewers (people at my institution) will be viewing my portfolio and making their recommendations in a conference room where they may not have a laptop. Still, it's not very green.

Submission and Relief

Everything is submitted to ICA. I still have stacks of stuff to get done in the next few weeks, but it's such a relief to get that done. I also sent in an application for an internal grant for next summer. Nice.

Next on the list...writing a paper for an NCA panel, finishing the grant application I've been working on since June, and submitting some stuff to journals. My goal was to submit three new things to journals this year. I've got one written, but I'm trying to get a revise and resubmit accepted before I send it off. I'd like to send off the two conferences submissions that I just finished. Plenty of rewriting and polishing still to do, but should be doable.

Started grading papers in one of my classes today. I've been procrastinating these, and I really need to get them done by Wednesday. The first one was terrible, so I'm pretty unmotivated to do any more.

The End in Sight

I can't write too much today--the ICA submission deadline is Monday. I'm going to make it. I should have one paper submitted by tomorrow, and the other possibly tomorrow, but Monday at the latest.

Progress and A Cool Distraction

Making progress on the two ICA submissions that I'm working on. Both papers are coauthored, and I sent a revision of the Lit, Methods, and Results to my coauthor yesterday. Just some polishing and the discussion section to go. I'm hoping to spend a decent part of today working on the other one.

I saw a very interesting idea recently. It's a project called National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that you write 50,000 words in 30 days. I wrote short stories when I was younger, and the idea of writing a novel intrigues me. I can't do it this year, but I like the idea of planning for it next year. They suggest having an outline and plot notes (but no prose) in advance. The website says that getting a mediocre novel on paper will get you further toward publishing a book than saying "one day, I'll write a novel." If you would like more information, check it out at www.nanowrimo.org. Maybe I'll have more time to pursue hobbies after tenure (don't we all say that).

Google Reader and A Busy Week

It's been a busy month. I had 184 posts on my blog reader, and I don't follow that many blogs. I read some of them but had to skim a lot.

The ICA deadline is a week from today. I've got two papers (both coauthored, but both that require significant effort from me) to submit, but a lot of work to do on them in the next week. And my school has a deadline for an internal grant on the same day. Fun times. After that, I've got a host of things for November. It's a busy time.

Can I leave for Thanksgiving early?

I will be gone to NCA the Thursday and Monday before Thanksgiving. An interesting issue has arisen in my organizational communication class. Originally, I had scheduled an activity for Thursday that could be led by someone else and a work day for Monday to give them time to work on their group projects. This week, a student asked me what we'd be doing on that Thursday. When I said I was still thinking about it, she said, "could you decide quickly? It affects travel plans." These students have griped all semester about how they have so little time in class to work on their group projects (and they're all too overcommitted to find time outside of class). This was one of the few times in my teaching experience thus far where I actually had to hold myself back. We are not allowed to "cancel" class, so I have often allowed groups to work on their own and email me a report of what they did as a way of checking attendance. However, I think that I will require them to be in the classroom for both days and have someone come to the class to take attendance. Of all the nerve...

Institutional Review Board

I'm on the IRB at my university. Because of what I research and the way I gather data, nearly all of my research is exempt or at least expedited through review. Today, we met and discussed a proposal from someone in Sports Medicine. The proposal included a dietary supplement and a series of medical tests. After reading all of those descriptions in this 50ish page IRB submission, I'm glad I research my area. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad there are people who feel passionate about medical research. But I'm happy not to be one of them.

New Activities

So I did new things in two of my classes yesterday (which is why I didn't have time to post them yesterday!). In my communication ethics class, we met in one of the university cafeterias in order to talk about ethics outside the classroom (pun very much intended). I passed out the paragraphs that I had students write at the beginning of the semester regarding how they made ethical decisions, and I asked them to make notes on any changes in what they would write now, whether it was a dramatic change of perspective or just a change in vocabulary. They then shared those ideas around a table, and we ended by processing what we've learned so far together. I think it was an idea that I will try to do each semester now.

In my organizational communication class, they presented the methods that they are using for their final org. comm. analysis project. After the presentations, I had them get into groups with people from other research teams and critique each other, giving at least one piece of positive feedback and one piece of negative feedback. I'm not sure yet how that went as far as the students are concerned, but it gave me time to skim through the methods papers. When the research teams came back together at the end of class, I was able to give some feedback to them based on not just their presentations but also their papers. So even if the students didn't get good feedback from each other (which they may have), I was able to give immediate feedback.

I sent the revise and resubmit off yesterday for the paper with the 11-month review. My impression from the editor is to expect a pretty quick turnaround time. Fingers crossed.

Progress

I feel like I'm making some real progress on projects now. The revise and resubmit that I had on the 11-month reviewed article is just about finished. I just need to read over it one more time, and send it off. I have a rough draft of a conference submission that's due at the end of the month, and I'm making strides with a coauthor on another submission to that conference. It's nice to feel more in control. November will have it's busy moments, but hopefully, it'll be manageable.

Generating Traffic

As I've mentioned before, I have this blog on blogger.com and another on wordpress.com. I love the control that I have through Blogger, but it's been interesting to note that Wordpress.com tends to send quite a bit more traffic. A great deal of that could be because of topic/content--the stuff I have on Wordpress reaches a larger audience. Still it's frustrating to have that audience, but not have the control to advertise or add Google Analytics. I know this blog had more traffic over the summer when I was reading other people's blogs, but I just don't have time to keep up right now (I'll bet my reader has well over 200 unread posts).

Meeting about a Grant, Making Time to Think

Met today with someone at my university to think about the grant that I started over the summer. I've fixed the "fatal flaw" now, and I'm moving on to revising the application and sending it off. The meeting with this former program officer went well. Even though he had a lot to say, most of it was framing feedback rather than major changes. He also suggested that I ask my university to commit to some things as gestures of support, including a yearly course release. I'm not sure if that'll get approved or not, but it sounds good to me.

I went to a retreat this past weekend (by choice, not associated with my university) where the speaker quoted someone (C.S. Lewis I think) saying, "creativity is the residue of wasted time." I like that idea. The speaker's point in that part of the retreat is how driven we are to do, do, do, and how little time we have available to think about ideas creatively. I know that's a struggle for me. My pace is such that I hardly have time to think about bigger picture issues and make creative connections between ideas. The speaker encouraged us to talk as if obsessive busyness was a vice rather than a virtue--tough words to live by, but I intend to try.

Helping Students Write Better

This past week, I met with one of my thesis advisees, another graduate student, and a group of seniors working on a project. With each meeting, I went over some of the ideas that they had written in an early draft of whatever they were working on (thesis proposal, class paper that could turn into thesis proposal, literature review of class paper, respectively). All three meetings took quite a bit of time, but I left all three feeling fired up about what I do. Generally speaking, I hate grading. I don't like sifting through stakes of assignments. But when I get the chance to (1) look at something critically, (2) discuss that assignment with the student(s), and (3) leave them encouraged about the core ideas and ready to revise the way those ideas are presented, I am reminded of why I love my job. In this time of uncertainty and rising unemployment, I am truly grateful to have a job, but I am also grateful to be blessed with a job that I love.

New Chairs, Grants, and Finding Time/Energy to Write

My department has chosen and new chair (I was at the meeting where this happened), but for some reason, the decision has not been announced. Not sure why, because Dr. New Chair Candidate had already been asked if he was willing to take the job if offered.

Last week, I got an organization to commit to some research for which I'm writing a grant. One of the grants advisors at my university had told me that not having an organization already on board might be a "fatal flaw" so I have that taken care of, and I'm ready to revise this application a few times and send it off.

I feel like I'm right at the point where my writing is starting to suffer because I'm overcommitted. Until now, I think I've convinced myself that wasn't true (and maybe it really wasn't), but I think I'm teetering on the edge at this point.

Great Exercise

I conducted a fantastic exercise in my organizational communication class today. I had told students that one of the most important things that I wanted them to get out of this class was an understanding of the importance of critical thinking and, when appropriate, dissenting in organizations, but I really don't have any activity or assignment to reinforce that. Over the weekend, I had an epiphany.

Early in the day, I emailed the students saying that I was adding reading quizzes to our class. I said that they would be presenting a summary in groups of the methods for analyzing organizational communication that we've covered in class. And I said that each student would be required to volunteer 4-6 hours at the nonprofit organization that their group was assessing (I had previously said that each group had to volunteer, but that the volunteering could be delegated to a couple of group members). Naturally, I was very unpopular after that email. Then during class, I explained that I wanted to meet with groups individually but that we wouldn't have time for every group during class time (I do plan to do this, but I've alloted class time for it). I explained that at least 2 groups would need to schedule a time to come to my office hours--if they had conflicts, they could call in sick to work or come up with another excuse.

During class, I had several complaints and worked these into a discussion of rocking the boat when managers are irrational, unfair, or unethical. The discussion was great, the surprise that none of that was real was priceless, but more importantly, the opportunity to practice and experience dissenting was invaluable for students. And I think they've forgiven me for the 3 hours of misery that they endured.

Faculty Conference

Today, I'm on my way to a "faculty conference," a retreat where all of the different colleges and schools at my university meet at one place to discuss some topic that is of relevance to all of us. This year, we are talking about "Deep Learning," the ability of former students to retain information years after they graduate. In other words, what from my class do I want students to still remember in 5 years? Missing out on two days of work is tough this time of year, but I think that the conversations will be very useful and inspiring (if I can put my assessment cynicism aside).

Mentoring Young Faculty

During interviews as part of our interim chair search, one candidate mentioned the importance of mentoring young faculty. I've often thought about what that means. Most people that I talk to agree that mentoring young faculty is important, but few can define what that means beyond learning which committee assignments to avoid. I think in terms of research, it means reading drafts of manuscripts and helping with research design. In terms of teaching, I heard someone today talk about the importance of sitting down, discussing what classes you are teaching and want to teach and how can the department help you in such a way that you know what you're going to teach, your new preps are minimized, and you don't teach a class once and never again. I liked that answer. Probably not the whole answer, but a pretty good start.

Lots of grading

So this week, it's the week of lots of grading. I learned something in the last few years of teaching, and during syllabus-planning for this semester, I laid out all of my due dates on a spreadsheet. For the most part, I was really able to spread things out throughout the semester. The downside of this is that I'll be grading something almost every week from now through mid-December, but I consider that to be preferable to those weeks where literally nothing other than grading can get done. However, this week, I couldn't do it. So I have papers and reports on those papers in one class today and Thursday, and I have a take-home test due Wednesday in another class. We have a faculty conference this Friday and Saturday, which means very little will get done over the weekend. So a busy week. I've just got to not get too far behind.

Blogging, but where's the time

This week has seemed like a mad dash. So much to do. The nice thing is, it's getting done. But unfortunately, some things are following by the wayside. I haven't been able to get to my blog reader to keep up with the blogs I read in about two weeks. Maybe next week, but probably not. Sigh.

I'm on the committee to determine an interim chair for our department. We've narrowed the field to two of the nominated candidates (both of whom nominated the other person). We'll meet with them next week and I guess pick the "winner." :)

Really nice rejection letters

I got a journal rejection letter earlier this week. It was not for one of the submissions that I've blogged about before. Even though the editor rejected the article, I have to say that it was the nicest and most supportive rejection letter that I've ever gotten. I've reviewed stuff for him before, and that may have something to do with it. Or he may just write like that. Either way, I appreciated the letter even though I'm disappointed about the result.

By the way, this is the fourth rejection that I've gotten at this journal. I'm 0-4, yet I still get asked to review submissions. How is it that I'm good enough to review articles but not to publish them?

Let the grading begin

So today, I'm giving my first "midterm" of the semester. Of course, it's not really the middle of the semester, but I wanted to beat the rush. Actually, we have covered about half of the material because most of the end of the semester is devoted to students' projects and applications. Plus, it seems to me that having a midterm now helps students at the true midpoint in the semester when every other class (including one of my other classes) have their midterm.

So the grading begins today. Because I have a 3-2 teaching load and this semester is the "3," I am expecting a higher grading load than last semester or next semester. But also, one of my writing-intensive classes has almost double the enrollment that it had last year. So I'm expecting to be overwhelmed as the semester continues.

Great Response Equals Great Questions

As I've mentioned in previous posts, my organizational communication analysis class is working with two nonprofits this semester. We are conducting communication audits in both of these organizations, which will hopefully help them better serve the community and help students better understand how to do such analyses. Representatives from both organizations came to my class on Thursday to talk a little bit about themselves, how they came to their organization, what their organization does, and how people communicate in their organization. The class period was supposed to introduce students to the organizations and help with any final focusing the students (in groups of 4 or 5) needed to do. I was incredibly please with what each person shared, and I could not have been happier with the questions that my students had. I had told them that their group needed to have pertinent questions that would help them better understand what they needed to do. The students were great, and their thoughtful questions made me proud.

Of awkwardness and touching rituals...

The awkwardness that I feared during the faculty meeting this morning was avoided because Dr. Chair is out of town. We had a substitute running the meeting. There were some interesting things discussed today including selection a faculty member in each area to "run" the assessment of that area. As frequent readers might guess, I hoped that my name would not even be thought of to be the point person for my area (although the departure of the chair means that there are only two of us), but my ears perked up quite a bit when they said there was a stipend involved in the task. It actually does not seem like that much more work than we've already done (and a 2-4 page summary of that work), and the stipend will be nice. Who knew I would be volunteering for an assessment-related assignment?! I guess the saying is true: never say never...

Today was our "Founder's Day" convocation, when the provost officially declares the school year open. A traditional part of this ceremony is a reading of the inaugural speech that our founder gave when he opened the school. The choir and orchestra perform. It's really an incredible tradition. Today as I was experiencing this for the third time, it made me think about rituals at the other colleges of which I've been associated and their rituals for marking time. My undergraduate institution also had an opening convocation with a great deal of pageantry, and that is still one of the events that I think of when remembering my time there. My PhD university didn't have an opening ceremony like that (although the first football game might be close in terms of excitement and freshness), but it had a plethora of other traditional ceremonies throughout the year. I think those things that bring former students back "home" and instill in new students the sense of community are important. Particularly for current students, these events help mark the passage of time, whether it's the awe of newness that comes the first time one experiences the tradition, or the cherished moments as one enjoys those traditions one last time as a senior, or the memories they bring whenever one returns physically or in memory. Today made me appreciate where I work all the more.

New Chairs

I'm on the committee to help select an interim chair for our department. So far, we have two nominees. One person is well liked and has lots of administrative experience, and he has been nominated several times. That person, in order to make it a two-horse race, nominated someone else. At the faculty meeting where we discussed the process, there was a lot of predictable sarcasm about no one really wanting to do it. It's definitely quite a commitment, and I'm glad that I'm ineligible as an untenured, assistant professor.

It's interesting have what could be described as a "lame duck" chair. It's not that Dr. Chair is intentionally neglecting duties, which don't officially end until December. It's just that it seems like his heart may not be completely in it. We have an all-department meeting Wednesday that he typically conducts, and that will be an interesting meeting. It will be his first time to face the faculty since announcing his resignation, so we'll see how it goes and how high the awkwardness quotient gets.

Rewarding Experiences

I am ending the week with a couple of really rewarding experiences. Yesterday in my morning class, we finished class with one of my top two favorite activities of the semester. It was rushed and might have made a bigger impact if I had had about 10 minutes more classtime. However, my talking through those 10 minutes might have ruined it, so you never know. But even rushed as it was, I think it was one of those rare moments when students say, "ah." As I looked at the students, instead of trying to pack their bags early or finish their conversations on IM, they looked like they were really thinking about big picture issues (the exercise revolved around personal ethics and decision-making).

The second experience came in the early part of the afternoon, when one of my former students came to visit. This student graduated last year and used her lunch break to come back for a visit. I had this student in classes three of my first four semesters at this university as well as the summer between my first two years. We talked about what she's doing now, the classes I'm teaching, this group of students. She was part of a class of students ('08 grads) that were juniors when I started at this university, which meant they were just getting into the parts of the curriculum that I teach. That class has a special place in my heart as one of the first cohorts that I have taught. I'm excited about the students that I have now, and they really are great students. But the '08 cohort was uniquely special to me.

Both of these experiences brought the week to a great end. I had to go to the dentist today, which threatened to ruin the joy, but those two experiences still stand out.

The Learning Commodity

The September issue of Spectra had a number of great articles about teaching in it. One of the ones that jumped out at me the most was Roger Smitter's commentary on education as a new commodity. Smitter argues that we as educators face the challenge of students (and more importantly, parents) who expect nothing more from college that job preparation. These constituents are only interested in "learning" a skill set that will land them a better job when they graduate. Smitter concedes that the rising cost of education should share part of the blame as should college recruiters who laud the value of their school by emphasizing job placement rates. What I most appreciated about his article was that we as communication faculty are in a great position to respond. "We have a long tradition of teaching core values while also addressing contemporary needs."

I have complained on this blog before that I don't like the trend in terms of trying to attach a dollar sign to what students get from a class (as well as the assessment techniques that tend to drive this trend). I am challenged by Smitter's final call, "Teach them well. Help them see that what we offer can't be commoditized." Easy enough to say. Two of my classes are less skills-based, which makes it a little easier in those classes. One of my classes is all about skills, and in that class, students were practically falling out of their chairs with boredom during the day that we talked about the big picture. However, I like that challenge more than just sitting back and going with the flow (i.e., being "flushed").

Crazy Busy

I guess I just need to learn that Mondays and Thursdays, I just won't get anything done. On paper, I actually have a little bit of free time, but it never seems to work out that way.

Just sent the article off that had the problematic reviewer. Also sent an appeal to the editor in terms of this reviewer. We'll see how that goes.

Agghhh. No more time to blog!

Hasn't the semester already started?

Had a student register for my class yesterday, two weeks after the start of school. This senior had never seen an advisor, so she "didn't know" that she needed to register for the pre-req to my class last spring and apparently just discovered that she should probably talk to someone about it. My class doesn't really depend on the pre-req that much, so it's not a huge deal for me to permit a student in. It's just the fact that she didn't even consider talking to an advisor (her advisor is me) until after the beginning of her senior year. Four year plan anyone?

I've almost completed the revise and resubmit on my manuscript that recently was given its third revise and resubmit. I talked with an expert on the type of statistics, and he said that I was exactly right in what I was reporting, that the reviewer was wrong. I'm writing the anonymous letter to the reviewer, but I'm also hoping to appeal to the editor.

My classes seem pretty good. Really good students.

Next Steps in Finding a Chair

So today, the dean met with our department to discuss how the search for a new department chair would go. He is basically open to whether we want to conduct a quick search and have a new chair in place by January or whether we want to have an interim chair for some period of time, and conduct a more drawn-out search. I'm in favor of the latter, and I get the feeling that is what most people are wanting. The dean is going to meet with us again in a week to make a final decision.

From there, the faculty will nominate 2 people to serve on a search committee, either for a permanent chair or an interim chair. Typically, I run from committee work, but I think that I will try to be one of those 2 people.

Other than that, it's time to get serious about teaching. No more holidays for a few months.

This Post Scheduled for Labor Day

So I'm camping this weekend, but I scheduled a post for today before I left. It's great to be at a university that recognizes my labor--every other school I've been at has classes on Labor Day. Conveniently, all of my classes meet on Mondays, so I basically have to teach a half-week next week. That's happened each fall that I've been at my university by accident, but I think I'm going to start requesting Monday classes for the fall semester when they ask for preferences in the spring. It's nice to have off your hardest day.

But lest you think I'm goofing off the whole weekend, I did bring two manuscripts to revise. I don't have my laptop, but at least I can read through them and make notes. I don't know if I should be proud of my dilligence or ashamed that I can't take a break.

Stunner!

I got an email this morning from my department chair saying that he was stepping down at the end of the semester and that he would be leaving my university to accept a job at another university. I was stunned. My chair has always had a rebel/cynical side to his personality, particularly as he talks about administrators, but I never saw this coming. During one of the retreats over the past couple of weeks, we were talking, and he asked me if I felt appreciated and if I ever thought about moving to a more research-intensive university. That conversation makes much more sense now, since I'm sure he had an offer at that point. It's interesting to think who will be taking over in January. We have a new Dean as of this summer, and so to have a new chair also makes the future a little uncertain. I feel like my university carefully balances teaching and research. While most people respect that balance, I know that there are people in my department that would prefer a stronger teaching bias, and I hope that the new chair does not fall into that camp.

But more than being destabilizing, it's a little sad. Nobody's perfect, but for all his faults, I really liked him. He was dedicated to our department and would "fight" for us if resources seemed scarce. More than that, he supported me in my research and teaching, and he understood my sense of humor (slightly sarcastic and cynical).

Dr. Chair, you will be missed.

Classes Under Way

All of the classes I'm teaching meet on Mondays, so Monday was a pretty hectic day. Especially given the students that were also begging to be let in to the first class. My other two classes went really well. I think Mondays are going to be pretty long days throughout the semester, but it makes the rest of the week a little easier.

Yesterday, I met with the director of a nonprofit in the area who I was hoping to recruit for my organizational communication analysis class. This director was great, and when she heard about the professor who had given me her contact information, she was especially enthusiastic about participating. So, I've now got two nonprofits on board for that class, which is exactly what I was hoping.

All in all, a great start to the semester. I meet one class today and the other two tomorrow. Then a long weekend. The universities that I attended for my undergraduate and graduate degrees didn't take Labor Day off, so it's nice to be at a place that does. Especially with all of my classes meeting on Mondays!

Wait Lists

I met with my first class this morning. I am teaching a class that is required of all of our majors in the most popular time slot of our schedule, which means that I had the students who were enrolled plus those that were on the wait list and were smart enough to show up in case there were any open spots. Interestingly, I actually ran out of chairs today. Part of the problem is my departments because they only create enough sections for the number of seniors that year, which means there is little room for maneuvering by students. Most of the problem is that everyone wants to take the class in the fall so they can have an easy semester in the spring of their senior year. And most of them want this time slot. The class is enrolled to the limit, but I'm probably going to allow at least 2 of the students that are wait-listed to be in the class. Besides, I have too much free time this semester--I need a couple of extra papers/assignments/tests to grade!

Finally!

The marathon wait is over. Just shy of 12 months, the manuscript that I had under review since last September has received a decision. And the decision is a great one, by my standards. One reviewer torched the paper and said that it should be rejected. The other reviewer really liked the paper and recommended that it be revised and resubmitted. The editor told me that she agreed more with the second reviewer and that if I revised the paper, she would only send it to that reviewer. Not only that, I don't really think the edits will be that substantial. The reviewer pointed out several things that I had not noticed, and I think the end result will be a much better paper. While this paper was under review, I collected more data, so the sample size will be larger as well. It's nice when it all comes together. Finally.

New Graduate Students

I get to meet with our new graduate students today at their orientation. I'm kind of excited about it. We've got a pretty large class this year--11 students (which is larger than we've had since I've been here). Three of those students are part of our accelerated Master's program, where students take graduate classes during their senior year and finish a bachelor's and master's degree in 5 years. At first, I wondered if this wouldn't be seen as the easy way to get a master's degree, but having watched students go through it last year, I think it's quite a bit tougher than the traditional way. Whereas a traditional student might be taking a minimal load and adjusting to the increased expectation of graduate school, these students are taking 15 or 16 hours as well as completing graduate requirements in some of those classes. I teach a communication theory that is usually the first class that our master's students take. I'm not particularly looking forward to grading that many papers for the class, but I am very excited about the prospects for discussion--from everything I've heard, it should be a pretty lively group.

Classroom Technology

I am interested to know what other people do about students' use of technology in the classroom. I'm not talking about the obligatory use of PowerPoint by professors. I'm referring to practices of surfing, IMing, and texting during class. I know other teachers who say "no laptops allowed" in class. Being untenured, I'm not brave enough for that. I have a statement in my syllabus that discourages electronic distractions and says that I reserve the right to forbid them. I heard about one professor who became Facebook friends with his students so that he could find their IM screenname and send a message to stop IMing (without missing a beat from his teaching). The IT people at my university have indicated that I may soon have the ability to "switch" on or off the wireless access in my classroom. (I would love to be in the middle of teaching and switch off access--it would only be surprising once, but the looks on students' faces would be priceless!) This morning, I read this syllabus statement about "multi-tasking" in the classroom that I really liked. I've already printed my syllabi for the Monday, but I'm thinking about circulating this statement.

Almost through "Orientation"

I just read this wonderful post on the word “retreat." I wonder if they teach you at "adminstrator school" that calling an all day meeting a retreat makes people think that they are not at a meeting. At any rate, most of my retreating is done now. I had a breakfast training session to discuss how to effectively mentor new faculty, which was actually a productive and important discussion. The only thing left for this week is my presence at a series of new student orientation exercises. This afternoon, there is a time for communication majors to meet with professors. I don't think there's much value at all in me going, but it seems like it would be "noticed" if I do go. Then, Friday there is an orientation for new graduate students, and since I am teaching one of the first classes the graduate students in my department take, it seems like a good idea for me to go.

Another Day of Meetings

Whereas last week was filled with lots of meetings with my department, today is an all-college meeting and department break-out times in the afternoon. We'll hear from the new dean this morning as well as a special speaker on some topic of interest. Fortunately, the afternoon session is typically less intense for our department than others because of last week's "retreat." I love seeing everyone back and ready for the school year to begin, but sitting through speakers seems agonizing, even when they are good speakers with useful information. On the plus side, I'm on my way to breakfast, and it's the best breakfast of the year!

Mentoring and People Who Need Mentoring

I've been asked (and I accepted) to be a mentor this year to a new faculty member at my university. It's a little weird that I have only two years under my belt, and I am trying to give advice to this new person. But maybe the person that is in charge of the program knows something I don't. My mentee seems like a nice person. They mix up departments so that you aren't paired with someone you normally see anyway. That has advantages of fresh opinions, but it also means that one of us will be trekking to the other's building for lunch or coffee from time to time. And it means that me sitting in on his class and vice versa may not be as meaningful. I'm excited about the opportunity to do this, though. It's a nice way to give back, it will probably help me better know what's going on in the university, and it's a good way to meet other faculty.

I got a review back from a journal yesterday. The editor gave me a third revise and resubmit. One reviewer is still not happy with the manuscript. This reviewer is the same one who asked for GFI and other statistics that are not used in SEM anymore. This time, the reviewer asked me to use confirmatory factor analysis to let factors emerge from the data, which is condemned in chapter 1 of almost every introductory SEM textbook. The reviewer said that it would be the "gutsy" thing to do. He/she was full of nuggets like that. My subject needs to "grow up." He/she was "exceptionally bothered--almost perturbed" by one aspect of the manuscript that he/she had not noticed before (complained that this was missing from manuscript, but told me in the first review to delete it). My favorite comment was, after a few introductory sentences praising the changes I had made, he/she transitioned to critique with "Now, what do I find problematic in this manuscript?" I don't mind healthy critique. It's not my favorite part of my job, but I know that my research needs it, and I know that it's a vital part of academia. And this reviewer did offer some helpful tips for cleaning up a table and has provided each review in less than three months (better than some). But I don't think that he/she will be satisfied until the manuscript fits some agenda, and he/she uses sarcasm to encourage me to get it there (and I only put about half of the borderline-sarcasm in this blog). Of course, I will revise the manuscript. I've invested too much time to not, and I have other articles waiting on this one. It will be interesting to write a response letter. I've already decided that I probably won't respond to the sarcasm/arrogance, but I have to write it in such a way as to argue for my position on thing that I'm not giving in on.

Assessing my teaching

So the “retreat” that my division begins each year with is over. Monday and Tuesday, we met and planned for the coming school year, and one of the big topics that we discussed was classroom assessment—proving how effective my teaching is. I am expected to be able to show at the end of the semester that students have achieved the objectives that I set for them in my syllabi and if not, how I will teach differently next time. Having been an assistant professor for only two years, I am not in a position to say that I have found the perfect teaching techniques. Far from it, I am constantly thinking how I can better communication a particular lesson, so that isn’t the problem that I have with this assessment talk. My disagreement is that it places the burden of proof on me. There is no sense that a student is also responsible for his or her learning. There is a growing attitude of consumerism in students, who feel that they have paid for their education, which entitles them to sit passively in a classroom while the teacher entertains and shows them how each skill or knowledge component being taught gets them a better job when they graduate. Assessment fits in with that mentality perfectly, but I think this is the wrong model from which to approach education. Don’t get me wrong. I am against the old sage on stage perspective. Tuition gets a student in the door. What that student does with the opportunity to learn is up to him or her.

Meetings begin today

This morning, I'm about to sit through two days of meetings. I'm near the back of the room, so there is definitely the temptation to stay on my laptop through the meeting. I've watched my students do that in class, and I can tell when they are not "taking notes" on their computer. So I should probably not try it...

The meetings today and tomorrow are my department's annual "retreat." Today, our chair will give a "state of the division" speech and we'll talk about assessment through the afternoon (far too long, in my opinion). Tomorrow, we'll be learning how to "podcast" our classes so that students that skip class can easily get caught up. It'll be a fun-filled time of sitting.

The nice thing about today is that it's great to see people again. After being separated all summer, it's nice to reconnect.

Choosing a Blogging Platform

This blog was developed on Blogger.com. I have another blog that I have also started on Wordpress.com, and it’s been interesting to see the comparisons between the two. Blogger is so much easier to use, and I really like the fact that I can access the HTML, which makes customizing the program so much easier (which is why I have three columns on this page instead of two). You can’t play around with Wordpress.com (the hosted version) like that, and I miss that flexibility. Blogger is also a little more user-friendly and intuitive. However, I feel like Wordpress does a better job of directing people to my blog—that blog gets more hits from Wordpress.com than this blog gets from Blogger.com. I wish there was a way to combine the benefits of both without the drawbacks. But just knowing something like that is interesting, given that I knew so much less about blogging a few months ago than I do now. I think part of the reason that I love my job is that I get paid to learn new things.

Organizational Communication Analysis (but a little organizational recruiting first)

One of the classes that I’m teaching this summer is Organizational Communication Analysis. Basically, it’s how to conduct a communication audit in an organization. I’m kind of excited about this class—when I interviewed, this was one of the classes they said I would be teaching. And there’s certainly opportunity to slip in some of my research into the data collection, which is kind of nice. Historically, the class has been taught as a service learning experience for students, where students are analyzing communication in a nonprofit organization. This benefits the students with an experience much better than any classroom exercise and with something they can put on a resume. It benefits the community by improving communication in a nonprofit organization that is providing services to the community. Lots of good things happening through this class project. The problem is that means that I have to recruit a nonprofit. I’ve already blogged about how much I like recruiting organizations for research. (I’m still working on that project, so available CEOs are still welcomed to email me.) Fortunately, I’ve connected with a professor who has a lot of contacts in the nonprofit industry, and she has helped me. I’ve got one nonprofit on board. Still, I’d really like to split the class into two groups and have each group study a different nonprofit. I think the comparisons would provide incredible fodder for discussions. So I’m trying to get one more nonprofit organization to buy-in.

Urgent Grade Change

One of the students that worked with me this summer turned in paperwork late and received an “I” for her work. She got the final stuff finished and emailed it to me about a day after I turned in the “I.” No big deal. This student worked hard, and I don’t have a problem changing the “I” to a good grade. The problem is that is something I have to do in person, on campus--it’s not an online change. But I’m trying to avoid campus right now, partly because of gas prices (the reduced demand that’s in the news—thank me) and partly because commuting time eats into the time I can use to get stuff done (and this is the final week of freedom from meetings). Again, no big deal. I’ve talked with the person that’s in charge of grade changes in my division, and I can fill out the paperwork next week when I have to be on campus for meetings. But it’s not that simple, at least not for the student. She gets an angry email from financial aid saying that her name will be stricken from the “approved” list because of the incomplete summer work. I think that we’ve figured out that as long as I complete the grade change by the first day of school, the financial aid office won't smite her and nothing else bad will happen. I have competing emotions from all of this. Having student-loaned my way through many years of college, I understand what the threat of losing that financial aid means to a student. At the same time, the paperwork was late. I sent four emails before her grade was due explaining the urgency of the situation. So I struggle with sympathy and indifference. Fortunately, all’s well that ends well. I will complete the grade change next week, two weeks before classes begin.

Waiting on Journal Reviewers

I have an article ready to send to a journal write now, but one of the citations is to another manuscript that I have under review right now (but not the 11 month review, fortunately). I’ve gotten two revise and resubmits on that manuscript, so I feel like it is close to being accepted. I would really like to cite the manuscript as “in press” rather than citing a conference paper version that is out of date. I wish reviewers were faster.

Under Review

I have an article that has been under review since last September. I normally start gently asking the editor for updates around 4-5 months after submission, but in this case, those inquiries have tended to fall on deaf ears. I got one update in March that promised a decision, but I haven’t heard anything. I recently called the editor, but he is at “his summer home.” I am at the point now where, I hate to pull out and have wasted a year, but I wonder when, if ever, I’ll get a reply. And if I get a revise and resubmit, how long will that take?! I think I’ve decided to rewrite the manuscript and wait to withdraw it until I’m completely ready to send it to another journal. I’m shooting for end of August so that it’s done before school starts and so that I can say I gave it a year.

Punctuation

You Are An Exclamation Point

!

You are a bundle of... well, something.

You're often a bundle of joy, passion, or drama. You're loud, brash, and outgoing.

If you think it, you say it.

Definitely not the quiet type, you really don't keep a lot to yourself.

You're lively and inspiring.

People love to be around your energy. (But they do secretly worry that you'll spill their secrets without even realizing it.)

You excel in: Public speaking

You get along best with: the Dash

An interesting diversion at What punctuation mark are you?

Free Consulting, Grants, and Fatal Flaws

One of the big tasks of this summer has been working on a grant proposal. My university doesn’t require me to secure outside funding as some do, but “they” definitely smile on it. Plus, it helps the long-term outlook of my career, it enables me to do meaningful research that I couldn’t do otherwise, and it can buy out summer teaching and course reductions. So I am trying to apply for grants from time to time.

As I wrote on Monday, I polished a grant application and sent it to the people at my university that critique grant applications. The person I was working with (former program officer at the National Science Foundation) said that the application looks really good and stands a reasonable chance of being funded…except for a “fatal flaw.” I was proposing some longitudinal research in an organization, which was fine, and proposing to use students to help with that, which was great, but I didn’t have an organization that had signed on. He said they would never fund such an uncertain project, particularly given that other parts of the grant depended on this one. Never mind the fact that the grant included incentives (in addition to free consulting) that were supposed to help me recruit an organization. Never mind the fact that I tried to “recruit” an organization for a project two years ago and got nowhere while discovering that cold calling managers is about on the same level as dentists and tetanus shots in terms of how I’d like to spend my time.

So I am letting the August 18th deadline pass and planning to recruit an organization this fall and submit the grant in January. I’m a little bummed because it pushes back the anticipated start date of the research, but it does postpone the pressure. And my application will definitely be more competitive with an organization that has committed to be studied. The nice difference between now and that failed experience two years ago is that was not for a funded project but this is. Which means that, because of indirect costs, the university has something substantial to gain by helping me. Which means that people at the university are trying to connect me to alumni and parents of students that can help me. You can help too. Any CEOs that are reading this are welcome to apply!

Tasks for today

1. Finish rewrite of grant proposal and send to the people at my university that will tell me what's wrong with it and why it is unrealistic to get it done by the deadline.

2. Work on lesson plans for the new prep that I am teaching this fall.

3. Make progress on content analysis project.

4. Catch up on the blogs that I read and write an insightful post on my own blog.

Beginning of the End

The first day of classes is one month from today. So, in theory, I have one month left of summer “break.” In reality, meetings and “retreats” start August 11th, so it feels like closer to two weeks. Either way, the end of summer is in sight.

When I reached the half way mark, I think I was in freak-out mode. I was freaking out that the summer was halfway over, but I had barely finished what I wanted to get done for the spring semester and hadn’t really started what I wanted to get accomplished for the summer. Ah, what a month and some changed expectations can do! Maybe a little bit about changing what I expected to get done, but it’s also been a very productive month, in spite of visits from family.

Today is also the end of the summer program in which I was participating. My university has what it calls a Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP), which I thought was a really cool and unique idea until I googled it and my school wasn’t on the first several pages. Apparently, SURP is a popular acronym. Basically, they give me a stipend for involving students in my research. So this summer, two students helped me analyze data. One student was a little better than the other in terms of getting stuff to me on time and depth of thinking, and I wish I had pushed the other student a little harder. They both did fine, but one seemed to "get it" a little more than the other. I had hoped to get a little more done with that, but I’m happy with what we did do. It’ll still take me most of the fall to finish the data and write it up, but the summer has definitely helped with that project.

Success!

It’s an awesome feeling to have an article accepted at a journal. I revised and resubmitted an article earlier this summer. I got the “accept with minor revisions” a few weeks ago (mostly grammatical), but it was really nice to get the official acceptance this week. The article is coauthored with a former professor of mine and will be in Western Journal of Communication late next year. Great feeling. (By the way, the editor has been great. Good feedback and incredible turnaround time.)

Yes, I do work during the summer

Last week, I endured a great deal of good-natured ribbing from family about how I get the summers off. My problem is that someone forgot to tell me that I get the summers off. I have already blogged about how busy this summer feels. It is definitely an interesting feeling to be this busy but have people assume that I am on a 3 month vacation. These are the same people that put research in quotation marks when I tell them my job duties.

A friend told me that, to get people reading my blog, I need to blog every day. The problems with that are twofold--first, I have other things to do that take up my time. Second, it's the summer, kind of a monotonous time to start blogging. Nevertheless, I am going to try to bump it up to 3 times per week.

Vacation

I have family visiting this week, and we went backpacking through Sequoia National Park. We hiked from Wolverton to Alta Meadow. Then we left the trails and tried to get to Moose Lake. There supposedly were unmaintained trails in that direction, but we rarely saw them. We made it as far as Pterodactyl Pass, but had to turn back because of weary feet and threatening rain/lightning. The views were incredible--we even saw a bear and her cub (from a safe distance). Best of all, I didn't take any work with me. It was nice to get a few days of recovery ahead of the last push to get stuff done before school starts.

I'm not a Publishing Slut

I think I've recently experienced growth. For as long as I can remember, my attitude about research was as soon as something was finished, send it to a journal to be reviewed. There are definitely times that I can remember when I've worked on an article and polished and got it to the point where I thought it was perfect (though reviewers seem to never agree with me on that). There have been other times when a paper just wasn't very good but was as good as it was going to get, and I sent it out inspite of its flaws. Whether it was a poorly designed study, unremarkable results, or insignificant conclusions, surely someone will want to read it, right? So last week, I had a paper that I had worked on a fair amount, and I had it on my to-do list to send it out. I had the journal picked, I had checked the manuscript submission guidelines, everything was ready. I knew that it didn't have a good chance of even a revise and resubmit. If it got rejected, I had already decided not to put too much effort into sending it out again because it wasn't part of my research program. But still, it doesn't hurt to give it a try once, does it? A host of reasons to not submit this occurred to me, not the least of which was the potential reviewers who would read this mediocre work and might be biased against something later of which I was proud. I said no. I didn't send it. And after the decision, I felt pretty good about it. Growth!

Why I Love My Job

I recently read a great post on another blog about the possibilities that come with this job. I think the details that come with those possibilities sometimes obsure the fun. The fact that I don't have time to pursue all of the possiblities sometimes gets me down. But what a wonderful job I have! I get to learn and be around other people who want to learn. I get to discover ways of helping people communicate with each other in more effective ways. And they pay me for it! It's always nice to be reminded why I wanted to be a professor to begin with.

A 40 hour work week?

Part of me wonders where the standard of a 40 hour work week came from. My level of interest is not great enough to look it up on Wikipedia (the gold standard for researching such things, according to some of my students); I'm just curious. I know that it was associated with a number of labor reforms such as minimum wage and child labor laws. This is why I'm interested. Last Friday, July 4th, I spent a considerable part of the day in my office working on several research projects. And I felt that using this "holiday" to catch up on things was perfectly normal. This got me thinking about the amount of time that I spend working each week. Like many, I was warned during my PhD that it would usually be more than 40 hours a week. I think 60 was the most common response from assistant professors that I asked who were at Research 1 universities. I'm not at an R1 university, but I do think I get close to 50-55. And again, a few hours in the evening or on the weekend seems acceptable. I hate to think that I've given up the benefits that labor leaders fought so hard to provide me--it's just that I can't get it all done in 40 hours. I wonder how many hours are appropriate for assistant professors. Maybe I'll look that up on Wikipedia!

Publish or Profit?

As an assistant professor in organizational communication and as a new blogger, one of the things that I am trying to do more of is look at blogs about communicating in the workplace. I’ve found a number of really good sites recently although I am waiting to list them in my blogroll until I see a little more about how and what they write. One blog caught my eye. I’m not going to identify or link to it because I am still uncertain about how I feel regarding this blog. Coming from a Research 1 PhD program, I feel like I was socialized to believe that research should be done, published (mostly in academic journals), and then those results should be shared with people in such a way as to improve whatever you were studying. For example, if you were studying the ways in which nurses manage their emotions, you would conduct the research, publish it in an academic journal, and help to improve the quality of the nurses’ workplace experiences. Approaching research from this perspective tends to distance oneself from consultants. It’s not that I’m against consulting, it’s just that I was “raised” to appreciate academic research over consulting.

So earlier this week, I was reading this blog that got me really excited. I was completely ready to post a link to this blog as the author talked about dissenting in the workplace, a topic that is closely related to what I research. And then I read the end. The blogger was kind enough to be available for telephone consultation for the modest fee of $75 for a half hour. Part of me was immediately indignant. “Use your research to help people” part of me screamed. But then, part of me thought, “$150 per hour? I must be in the wrong profession.” And then that part felt guilty for thinking that. Like I said, I haven’t decided how I feel about this blog, but it just seems wrong on some level.

3 columns

Success!! So today, I learned how to add 3 columns to my template. I had help from a number of “tips” sites that I found through Google, but the most helpful one was Tips for New Bloggers. I am still playing with colors and a few other elements, but I’m liking the way it looks more and more. It’s amazing—a few months ago, I couldn’t even spell HTML and now I’m adjusting CSS pages.

Self-Evaluation

Tomorrow, my self-evaluation is due. It is an interesting exercise to sum up an entire year in a single document. On the one hand, it is a little depressing that so many hours of work takes so little space on paper. I just had an article rejected at a journal—I wish they had waited until Monday, so I could report that manuscript as under review. At the same time, it is neat to be able to point to successes in the last year. One of my division chair’s comments last year was that I needed to be more programmatic in my research. Part of the problem was that I had finished up a number of projects that were started during my PhD program and weren’t directly connected to the main line in my research. I have been much more programmatic this year. I’ve had a pretty good year teaching as well. One of my classes had final grades that were too high. My other classes were fine, so I am hoping to make the argument that the students making high grades in that class were exceptional (which is true). I have certainly had rough spots this year, but it’s nice to be able to point to some high points.

Halfway Through

Last Monday, I blogged about the stress and pressure of summer break. As I counted the weeks of summer break, I’ve come to the realization that this past weekend was halfway through the summer. We had graduation April 26th and my first meeting of the 08-09 year is around August 11th. I think I’m mostly past the point of being overwhelmed with stress about not getting everything done this summer, but it is a little sad that the summer is halfway over.

Submissions

The last week has been pretty good. In spite of the stress and pressure of summer break, I have to say that I have felt a great deal of accomplishment in the last seven days. I had a manuscript that I had been given the chance to revise and resubmit to a journal, and I got that done. It’s not a paper that’s directly connected to my research program, but I have probably put more time and effort into the study that’s reported in that paper than anything else I’ve ever done (except possibly my dissertation). So I really want to get that paper published (if anyone reading this blog recently received a manuscript to review, be kind—it could be mine.). I also submitted 2 new manuscripts to journals. One of them, I have to admit, is not my best work. It is as much work as I really want to put into the project, and I am hoping to get merciful reviewers that have ideas about how it could be improved. I definitely feel a little guilty for submitting something that is probably not going to get accepted, but I wanted to see how it went—I felt like I owed it to the paper and to the students that helped with it to give it at least one try at a journal. The other recent submission is a paper that I’m proud of. I took the theory part of my dissertation and worked on it for about a year now. This paper presents a series of propositions about the concepts that are important in my research program over the next few years. I sent it to a better journal, and it would be quite a feather in my cap to have it published. It’s nice to feel productive, and it’s really nice to feel like I am finishing projects from this past spring and am ready to begin the summer. Even though summer is well underway.

Blessings and Curses of Summer Break

Summer break brings an interesting mix of blessings and curses. There a lot of great things about summer, not the least of which is the flexible schedule. I love the fact that I can work from home, a number of days a week, especially since I am almost to the point of selling internal organs to pay for gas (one tank for an appendix, anyone?). One of my goals for this summer has been to finish up a number of projects from this past year, and I’ve done a lot of that. I also intend on working on some of the lessons for this coming year (I’ve got one new prep and two old preps that need some fine-tuning). And I’m spearheading a curriculum revision in my department (“that’ll teach the new kid to make creative suggestions in faculty meetings.”). It’s really nice to have larger chunks of time to deal with larger projects.

But it’s not all vacations and bathrobes. I think, because of the availability of more time, I tend to overload that time, which ends up putting more pressure on me. “So yeah, let’s try to send off a gazillion manuscripts to journals and plan a research program for the next five years—I’ve finally got the time to do it.” I think this past weekend, I kind of hit a wall as far as feeling the stress of having to get things done. I know that I need to relax and understand my limitations, but the idea of all of this wonderful “free” time and the realization that it will be gone during the regular school year goads me into putting more and more on my to-do list. So it seems one has to accept the curses of summer along with its blessings. I wonder how others do it. In the meantime, I’m going to try to whittle down my list of things I need to do.

I still haven’t figured out the 3 columns yet on this blog template, but it’s summer so I’ll probably have some free time this week. :)

Learning how to blog

So I am changing some elements of my blog this weekend. I've tried to set aside time to do more posts and also just to work on the basic mechanics of the blog over the last couple of weeks, but we all know how that goes. I looked at a lot of blogs, and a number of them had similar templates so I changed my template a little. I'm in the process of trying to add a third column, so if you're reading this and there are three columns, I was successful. It's kind of fun learning HTML, kind of like a new language, although I do wish it was a little more intuitive.

Back in the Swing of Things

One of the things that I really appreciate about conferences is how much of a “recharge” they can be. When research ideas are not as vibrant, when the day-to-day research process seems mundane, when I’m just not motivated anymore, conferences serve as a jumpstart to enthusiasm. The time at a conference helps me to think big picture about projects that I want to do and where different ideas fit in the larger scope of my research. When I return, I tend to be “on fire” for making progress on those projects. Of course the drawback to that is work-a-holic-ness, and I am definitely feeling the pressure of doing more, making sure I’m on track toward that big picture. But with the decreased rhythm of the summer, that pressure probably is not a bad thing. Even if I sound ridiculously busy to some, it’s nice to not be bored!

Conferencing, Part 2

The conference in Montreal was a lot of fun. I had time to get reacquainted with old friends and met several new ones. And contrary to my initial expectations, several of the panels that I went to were great. One that was particularly interesting dealt with communication problems in organizational groups, while another was centered on communication technologies in organizations. There were other good ones, too, but those were the ones that really stood out in my mind. My presentation went fine. The presenters before me took too much time, so I had to cut my material short. But all in all, it was fine, and I think I got sympathy from the audience for having to speed things up. The conference was great. Montreal as a conference site, on the other hand, was just ok. It probably would have been fine except that the US dollar is doing so poorly against the Canadian dollar. So things that would have been a little over-priced anyway were really out there after the exchange rate. But even still, it was a good weekend.

Conferencing, Part 1

Yesterday, I left for a conference in Montreal. It's tough for me, being away from family and from routine for several days, particularly on a holiday weekend, but it is so much fun to see friends from other universities. I'm sharing a hotel room with my officemate from my PhD program. I have already seen several people I know at the hotel restaurant last night and in the lobby this morning. Sometimes I dread sitting down for the panels (although some are fabulous), and I almost never enjoy presenting my paper(s). I'll write Monday about how all of that goes. But renewing connections with friends is a wonderful thing.

The Worry Contagion

Have you ever noticed how when other people are worried about something, they really want you to worry also? There is a lot of talk at my university about a proposed change in the tenure and promotion policy. I am of the opinion that if you work hard and are good at what you do, tenure takes care of itself. Now, granted, I am still four years away and may be singing a different tune as that time approaches. For the moment, it's not something I worry about. But others do. In a lot of the talk about tenure, there is the sense that it's something to fear, and I get that feeling from tenure-track colleagues as well as tenured faculty members. And they really want me to be worried as well. I think I've noticed this before, but the feeling is stronger these days. Perhaps I am oblivious to my impending doom, but I choose not to worry from now. Woo Hoo!

A New Beginning

This post is my first attempt at blogging, and this blog is my first foray into this new communication channel. I’m a university professor, and I’ve heard my students discuss blogging numerous times. Until now, I have not tried it myself. I am starting this blog in part to explore the act of blogging itself so that this blog serves as a place of dialogue about the medium itself. As a relatively new professor, I am also hoping that this blog serves as a place to discuss what it means to be a professor and a place to share experiences.