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?