Academics Chat Thread

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I believe the old Chat thread has fallen off the front page of this section, and I thought it might be time to reinstate it. I know it's only sporadically useful, but sometimes it's nice, right?

I am a lowly postdoctoral English Lit type. Finished my PhD in 2014, teaching associate for a couple of years, and now part-time while DD is a baby. I'm currently working frantically to get my book manuscript to the publisher by my deadline (October), and also trying to regain enthusiasm for the job market.

Who else is lurking around here?

She received a free flight, accommodation for a week, and exposure to key scholars working this area.... I point this out to her and say it's a shame she won't give anything back. Her reply? "I'm a bit disappointed to receive your email....."

Am I hopelessly out of touch with my expectations?

No, not at all. That is outrageously rude and entitled - and quite short-sighted for her own career. I wonder if you need to see her, and explain that she has obligations, and if these are not followed through, she will start academic life with a bad reputation.

It's not something for an email, although that would put it all on record.

But you could frame a tutorial/meeting with her as you giving her advice for her own good. She certainly needs it!

oops have now read your update! Good that she's realised she's been an idiot - but it might be worth a meeting with her anyway to explore why she refused at first, and the consequences of such a refusal, had she persisted.

Frame it as a friendly advice chat I'm nothing if not passive-aggressive

Checking back in.

Gauche is your job at your current place or somewhere new?

Somewhere new. Different country. Three times the salary and a massive FUCK YOUUUUU to my current department . Won't hear about a possible interview for ages though.

Theresa May has announced she will be giving a major speech on Monday with the launch of the new tertiary education review.
My guess is tuition fees are going to be dropped by a third.
Vocational education is going to be pushed up the agenda in line with the Industrial Strategy.
And a lot of VCs are going to be bricking it this weekend.

Woah, that sounds exciting gauche - would you definitely go if you got it?

I'm an absolute wuss. I said "no" to a direct request from my HoD on behalf of our Director of Teaching via email yesterday morning, and heard nothing back all day. Spent a sleepless night wondering if I'd made my point appropriately and if my reasons were valid and perhaps I shouldn't have been so direct - ran into Director of Teaching today and he was very blase and 'we'll sort something out'. I clearly need to work on my ability to say "no" with more confidence!

Pretty sure. It wouldn't be a massive move, more like going from the UK to Ireland. DH is keen, his job is portable, the kids are small enough to adapt easily, and the quality of life would potentially be a big improvement.

I've just told the information audit person that my spreadsheet will not be done by Friday and if they want to come and tell me how to do it they can be my guest but I will still need to look at every single file on my computer.
They are refusing to answer my questions about what types of files need notating and how I'm supposed to know which ones I have without opening all of them. All my colleagues have about 1 line of data which excludes 90% of the file types I've asked about. I know they all have them (e.g. journal articles, apps) but if I'm supposed to ignore those, I want someone to tell me this!

Sounds cool, gauche! Good luck :)

worst - that really sounds like a nightmare. Maybe they don't quite know and hope they can just the tick the box?

Ugh. Piecemeal rejections. I applied for something quite out of my league (not a job, more like a post-with-responsibilities). Not expecting to get it, and expecting the rejection anytime now. Got some of it. There are several posts, and I've just been told I didn't get some of them. But the rest are still in consideration. Argh! I just want my 'no' so I can stop day-dreaming about what would happen if I get it... as I totally can't help doing that!

I can relate to the 'I just want no' feeling, but I hope that they've notified you because you're still in the running for the others!

I'm also in the 'ooh, maybe ...' stage of things. I've got yet another application to put in and am feeling excited about it. Maybe this time.

I am also fucking furious with a lazy colleague. Tell me: why do some people become academics if they don't want to do any of the work?!

My question wouldn't be why they became an academic, but how? Usually you have to work pretty hard to get a fixed term or permanent position in academia.

With all the current HE stuff (particularly the USS dispute, responses from universities) many colleagues from my research field have become fed up of high workload for little recognition, and are now doing the minimum possible for teaching and admin. This is a field from which few usually strike, everybody is very research focussed, very competitive, very driven, culture of long working hours. The morale is lower than I have ever seen it. Is this at all relevant to the lazy colleague i.e. is the laziness induced by the current HE climate?

Well, quite!

Is this at all relevant to the lazy colleague i.e. is the laziness induced by the current HE climate?

This is what I'd be thinking.

I also have a colleague with a relapsing illness about which they're in denial. So they're often not around & so we have to pick up the slack. So that seems lazy. But ... I wouldn't wish this illness on my worst enemy. Yet it puts a strain on the rest of us - and our health/well-being.

Aw, thanks LRD. Somehow your optimism makes me feel special, like I could really be in the running, despite knowing you don't know any details at all!

And, oh dear, when I said I'd help out and take over a class for someone out for medical reasons this semester, I didn't expect to have to deal with strikes and snow days and their intersection with student assignments. Turning out to be a bigger job than the "I've got it all set up; it should run itself" as advertised! But that's not her fault. I hope she's doing okay - she was planned to be back soon, but it was potentially very serious and I haven't heard from her. Hoping for not the worst. Puts my stresses in perspective, at least.

And I'm not stuck at home anymore! Our schools finally opened again today and I slogged through the snow (and carried my daughter part way, as it was nearly her height in places!) to school.

Full rejection finally came in. Oh well. But I was expecting it, so it's okay.

And helping out with this class is being SO much more work!! Some kind of weird review is occurring. I'm supposed to get a ton of information from everyone on the module by next week. With effectively means today for striking staff. Like my bizarre, annoying request to go trawling through their computer files is going to be top of people's priority list today. I may end up doing like worst's colleagues and just report what they want doesn't exist... (it doesn't seem to be exactly the same as worst's as it's tied to teaching, but similar make-work, argh!).

So, quietly checking my work email with the “go away” message set up and I find yet another journalist asking for an interview (namely, for me to save him from the effort of reading all my carefully crafted research reports available free online) about my work for an article he’s writing. Having acquiesced too many times, spending an hour to prep and an hour to be interviewed & then more to follow up with more information, to find I barely get a mention (or even notification the piece is out), I’d love a polite way to refuse him without seeming unhelpful. Any ideas?

"No."

That's the polite answer.

Ah, excellent advice! So far I’ve gone with icily ignoring it. Or, ignoring it, as is the reality of not responding. Wimp as I am.

I wonder how one would feel or think if one receives an email that says:

No.

Best Regards,
NeverEverAnythingEver

Or would "yours sincerely" work better?

I would just be honest and say that you can't manage this at due to time commitments. Repeat if asked again.

Yes purple, that’s the polite way, but then how will he learn how exploitative he’s being? Though I suppose it’s not my job to educate him.

I would just say that and let him figure it out (if he ever does). Could you resend links to your reports and say that he could work from those? I am less direct than I should be at times though. I have lessons to learn!

Yes that makes sense. I have done this in the past.

If you actually want your research properly reported and available to lay readers, you need to talk to the journo.
I did a science media placement and even with a science background other fields aren't that accessible and talking on the phone means you can get things straight when (not if) they don't quite grasp your carefully written reports.