tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post114606479176127083..comments2023-10-31T13:15:14.564-02:30Comments on An Ontarian in Newfoundland: The migrant-worker model for university employmentChris in NFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06064023598020493124noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-25249711453053227932011-11-16T02:05:38.734-03:302011-11-16T02:05:38.734-03:30The University's online employment system help...The University's online employment system helps you find the best fit for a career at the University. I hope that it eventually proves easier for you the reader to follow the postings and comments.College Jobshttp://www.scholarlyhires.com/Search/Administrative-Staff-including-leadershipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-53103263044641735472010-02-13T16:58:52.797-03:302010-02-13T16:58:52.797-03:30Great post… Great info on bounce rates… I’ll have ...Great post… Great info on bounce rates… I’ll have to write an entry about the same topic some day soon… Bounce rates can tell you alot…<br />I tend to look at the bounce rate and then look at the keywords that brought people to the site. Does the page answer the keyword question? If No then there is some work to do on that or a new more focused post.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://online%20universialwork.com" rel="nofollow">part time money making ideas</a>angelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10506776941087544270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-1146175629094467092006-04-27T19:37:00.000-02:302006-04-27T19:37:00.000-02:30Not that I want to run the risk of putting my foot...Not that I want to run the risk of putting my foot in my mouth yet again (although, it seems at home there) I should probably say that upon further review, I was being overly general in my feelings toward tenure. I think what bugs me the most is that there seem to be many tenured professors at the end of their career who take the tenure for granted and take up space that could be occupied by the profs that haven't forgotten what got them into teaching in the first place.<BR/><BR/>I'm going to assume that when you start on the track of getting your PhD it's not so that people are forced to call you Dr. at cocktail parties but rather to invest in something more in the education system. (Again, a generalization I suppose).<BR/><BR/>I had the opportunity to see one of my former professors who had been turned down for tenure at UWO a few months ago in a store. She had been one of my favourite professors for various reasons. As it turns out, she gave up trying to fight for tenure and went back to what she loved most--writing and working with the federal government. She had previously been employed with the U.N. and helped with the rapid reaction force. At the time I was in her class, it made me sad to think that I had to endure two tenured professors who were pathetic excuses for educators, while she was fighting to stay at the school with so much to offer the students.<BR/><BR/>My biggest beef with the system, as I saw it, was the how a tenured professor could have been left in a teaching position when so many people (and it was more than just my other professor, I discussed this with the dean and with two members of the guidance department) knew just how horrible he was. It was painfully obvious that it was easier to wait for them to retire, rather than try to get them out of their positions.<BR/><BR/>Then again, that goes back to the bigger question: how can you justify a system that protects the bad apples and neglects the good ones? But then, that happens everywhere, I see it in my position with the government. I guess it's just a matter of doing what you can and forgetting the rest.Lesleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12891041230874404452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-1146171103634372202006-04-27T18:21:00.000-02:302006-04-27T18:21:00.000-02:30B-My apologies -- I certainly did not mean for tha...B-<BR/><BR/>My apologies -- I certainly did not mean for that to sound as condescending as it did. I was trying for an extreme example to make a point and ended up ignoring the writers and texts of substance for which small presses are an invaluable resource. The hazards of glib rhetoric. Forgive me?<BR/><BR/>And yes, I do know the difference between educational and trade publishing, and how the big guns like to dump their excesses -- my original point being that many people probably do not, and do not necessarily differentiate between the resources of Bedford and those of Cormorant. <BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, professors who publish are unlikely to learn much about either sphere because academic publishing is another species entirely ... and even those who publish many books probably do not bother themselves with the mechanics of publishing -- they're just relieved to get that big fat "Books Published" line on their CV.<BR/><BR/>As for the specific annoyances cited at the outset of your comment ... well, I have no defense for the "not for resale" issue (though usually when I see those, they're the Norton-type books), but the prof who keeps asking for desk copies is obviously a moron, and a shameless one at that. But then, I've heard you sound off on the many idiots you have to deal with in the day-to-day travails of the publishing world, and not all of them are professors ...Chris in NFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06064023598020493124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-1146162869988278452006-04-27T16:04:00.000-02:302006-04-27T16:04:00.000-02:30C--I do have a beef when a prof asks me for a free...C--<BR/><BR/>I do have a beef when a prof asks me for a free copy of a book I sent them 9 months before. It makes me wonder how she or he could lose a book that they (supposedly) teach consistently. And I do have a beef when I see books that are marked, "desk copy not for resale" in the on-campus (!!!) used bookstores. <BR/><BR/>Educational publishing is different than trade publishing, so your comparison isn't quite apples vs. apples. But remember, many of those big guns to which you are referring are multinational companies, and a lot of them see the Canadian market as a dumping ground for some of their product. ("Oh, we printed 10,000 extra copies, ach, send 'em to Canada.") And the more profs take free books for free books' sake, and don't provide feedback as to in what areas certain books are lacking, these companies won't need an office in Canada. They'll just close up shop, head back across the border, and send us the McWhiteDudeAnthologies they think we want. <BR/><BR/>Lots of people have learned quite a lot of things about publishing recently...granted, some of it had to do with plagiarism, but commentary on how the business works has been part of media coverage. And every few years when there's a huge profile on a big name like Atwood, a chunk of the article always covers the business of publishing. I'd also like to believe that professors who publish learn something about the business along the way.<BR/><BR/>You can only image how disappointing it is for me to read your line about "obscure chapbooks". Geez. It's condescending, and you know that's not the business I'm in. There are more than a few household names published by and continuing to publish with literary (not everyone likes the term "small") presses, including the one I work for. Buy them. Try them. You'll like them.queen Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08585421065875161639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-1146157142357846562006-04-27T14:29:00.000-02:302006-04-27T14:29:00.000-02:30There may be a bit of a misconception here (2nd pa...There may be a bit of a misconception here (2nd para of your last post) about the nature of university positions, Lesley. You seem to think that good profs without tenure or not<BR/>on tenure track are being passed over or undervalued, when this is rarely the case. This is the other part of what I'm suggesting is a simplistic view of the system.<BR/><BR/>A professor who is hired by a university on a contract basis is very unlikely to end up on tenure-track at that same university. For that to happen, a position would have to have been posted in his or her very specialization. Since only a handful of such positions open up in the country in any given year, this is a highly unlikely scenario. That is the only way in which contract profs can become tenure-track at the same uni - they have to enter the pool, be assessed and, if they get past that, shortlisted and interviewed like everyone else. Your great profs, if they were on contract, were likely waiting for these opportunities at other institutions. Otherwise, they were perhaps not far into their tenure-track or, worst case scenario, had failed to get tenure because they had not satisfied all the criteria (teaching, publishing, service, getting grants etc - the stuff Chris mentions). These criteria are fairly straightforward and profs know what they're up against. On occasion a prof might put all of his or her eggs in one basket and neglect important aspects (maybe a book project fails to take off before tenure time and the prof has published nothing else, or nothing in worthwhile journals, in the meantime). The task is well defined in advance and reasons for failure quite obvious in the event (I don't like talking about this - 5 years is not far away really!). On the odd occasion where reasons for rejection have not been as clear, tenure candidates have made stinks about it etc but that hardly ever happens. <BR/><BR/>In short, there are loads of fab but tenureless teachers out there, but that does not necessarily mean that they will remain tenureless if it's tenure they want. I wonder if you've followed up on some of the good profs you mention - a lot may actually be tenured somewhere now. <BR/><BR/>I quite agree about the supreme and central importance of good teaching in all of this. It's a must, and I think most profs hired to teaching/research positions would feel like failures if they made a mess of this most vital part of their roles.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-1146156751937094852006-04-27T14:22:00.000-02:302006-04-27T14:22:00.000-02:30B,I'm not sure that your beef with professors' sen...B,<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure that your beef with professors' sense of entitlement with free books has so much to do with complacent academics as the big guns of academic publishing like WW Norton, Broadview, Longman, Houghton Mifflin et al. I think I average unsolicited free books about twice a month -- and honestly, the only reason I know anything about publishing is the same reason anyone not active in publishing would, i.e. I know people in the business. I can only imagine how aggravating it is to have some musty canadianist demanding a dozen copies of some obscure chapbook that your publishing house never recouped its losses on ... but then, he's probably been courted by publishers all his career, and doesn't differentiate between the big guys and the little.<BR/><BR/>And I never meant to suggest that *all* non-academic jobs are lucrative. But then, I suspect you weren't motivated by a large salary either when you went into publishing ...Chris in NFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06064023598020493124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-1146155334966278182006-04-27T13:58:00.000-02:302006-04-27T13:58:00.000-02:30I am not one of those friends and acquaintances wh...I am not one of those friends and acquaintances who got hired in a solid and lucrative lucrative job. After taxes, I pretty much live at the poverty line. I did manage to pay off my student loans, tho' I continue to waste money on rent. I didn't choose to get into publishing for the money; I'm invested in education, reading and writing, too. But chances are, after you become tenured, I'll still be making less money than you. <BR/><BR/>But here's one of my beefs with professors--while almost all want to get published, and perhaps need to get published--there are many who haven't a clue about the book business. They've no idea of the cost or effort involved with putting out a book, and keeping it in print, and they don't realize how difficult it is for publishers to stay afloat.<BR/><BR/>Every day, I get demands (not requests) or form letters for desk copies of many of the titles we publish. Often, it's not just for one copy, but for three or four, because the TAs need copies, too. In a lot of cases, Profs demand desk copies of the same title every year. And of course, extras for the TAs. Again. <BR/><BR/>Prior to the 1990s, books were sold to college and university bookstores at what was called a short discount (20% or 22%). This short discount took into account the free desk copies and, if necessary, other materials that might need to be generated by the publisher.<BR/> <BR/>In the 1990s, college and university bookstores demanded a larger discount (40%) to match that offered the normal retailers of books. This discount ate into the very small profit that made it possible to send out desk copies.<BR/> <BR/>Today, on a book that sells for $19.95, the publisher makes very little profit. Costs of paper, printing, and binding are higher; the royalty rate paid to the author is higher, and the average discount at wich we sell the book is higher. But if we raise the price of the book any more, no one will buy it.<BR/> <BR/>Where are publishers to get the margin to make possible the number of free copies that are routinely requested? <BR/><BR/>I've got several friends who are professors, and I've met tons of profs at the Learneds over the past few years, and I'm astounded and frustrated by the sense of entitlement that they have towards receiving free books. Why aren't departments paying for desk copies for the TAs? Many publishers would be happy to sell additional desk copies at a 40% discount. We could use the money to publish more books or support materials to existing tiles. Hell, I could get a well-deserved raise. But if the very people and institutions who supposedly respect reading, writing and education aren't willing to pay for it, I'm never going to have anything close the job security that tenure provides.queen Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08585421065875161639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-1146140318764107672006-04-27T09:48:00.000-02:302006-04-27T09:48:00.000-02:30Yes, maybe I was making a generalization, and yes,...Yes, maybe I was making a generalization, and yes, in the real world, the idea that the bad ones tend to rise to the top is true.<BR/><BR/>In my experience (and from several people I have spoken to about their University experiences at several schools throughout Ontario) I have found that many of the long standing "well-respected" profs are the ones who have been shielded by tenure while the great profs that work hard to make sure their students get it were left to struggle to hold on to their positions at the university.<BR/><BR/>You're also right that I did have options. And I did take many of those options. There were four classes I had to drop because of my difficulties in the class and the desire to ensure that I ended my career with a good average. Including the one course where I worked with the professor to prevent having to drop it. He worked so hard to help me understand the information so that I could stay in his class. I was willing to take a failure in order to spend an hour every other day in his class. <BR/><BR/>That's not to say that I had three years (and two summers) of teachers that were total screw ups. Overall, I had more good teachers than bad. Sadly, many of those goods ones were either special guest teachers (I know there's a name for that) or ones who were spending their sabbatical teaching at another school. Which to me, is incredible since they were also conducting research and working on other projects in addition to planning and teaching such high level courses.<BR/><BR/>To me (and again, this is my opinion), teachers should inspire you to look for more, make you want to learn, and help you see things differently--in effect TEACH. Sure that's a BIG generalization and not all do that, but I didn't want to spend several hours a week in a class with a prof who is just trying to sell their new book and only give out A's and B's to those who spend their afternoons sucking up to them. And YES, this does happen.<BR/><BR/>I wish the both of you luck in your tenure track, if only because it sounds like that would mean two more "good" teachers into the system. I also hope that you continue to work with your students in the manner you have. From what Chris has said on this blog, the work he puts into his classes and the work that the students are exposed to/complete is work that would make anyone enjoy their university experience.<BR/><BR/>I don't know what the solution is, nor do I want to sit and try to understand something that I'm sure many schools struggle with. This is just my opinion on what I think is wrong with the system. If I had the opportunity to go back and do it all again, I would probably have gone to another school, sought out the professors in the classes I needed who challenged me in my education instead of the ones who made me wish I hadn't wasted more than $20,000 on education.Lesleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12891041230874404452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-1146110627631789982006-04-27T01:33:00.000-02:302006-04-27T01:33:00.000-02:30I'm following Chris into tenure-track this year, a...I'm following Chris into tenure-track this year, and I feel immensely fortunate. I am also aware of the challenges ahead. <BR/><BR/>New faculty have to work very hard to get tenure five years down the road. Thereafter, if they are worth their salt at all, they will need to keep proving to their peers, to their students and to THEMSELVES that they remain worthy of their tenured positions - otherwise the earning of tenure will become a very hollow victory indeed. <BR/><BR/>Lesley, you are making some very damning general comments based on unfortunate experiences with INDIVIDUALS. <BR/><BR/>"Added to that, one of my fantastic professors who didn't get tenure and was relegated to night courses suggested I look up old issues of the Western News to see just how much of a bigot my one professor was" - HOW, exactly, does this support your argument? And do you think it reflects particularly well on your "fantastic" prof?<BR/><BR/>I quote from Minelle Mahtani's article "Academic Pressures Mount on Generation Next" on page 10 of Academic Matters, Spring 2006: "This [academic service etc] really accelerates the stress level," another tenure-track professor confides. "I spend a lot of time performing to these increasing expectations. Trying to publish everything I write. Going crazy on the conference circuit. Making sure I get high teaching scores. I never feel like I can quite keep up and I'm working at least 70 hours a week." <BR/><BR/>I think most tenured and tenure-track faculty feel incredibly lucky to have the security they have in this day and age. Most do not abuse it or take it for granted. As Chris points out, there are bad apples - he has already explained the value of tenure better than I ever could, so I won't rehash any of that. I'll just say that in my own opinion, a lot of what is said in posts like these and elsewhere is facile and extremely cynical.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-1146102413452844642006-04-26T23:16:00.000-02:302006-04-26T23:16:00.000-02:30First thing: professors are *constantly* under one...First thing: professors are *constantly* under one form or review or another, both internal and external, especially in the early stages of their careers. Raises, promotion, status, and tenure itself are all subject to extremely rigorous evaluation processes. And teaching is in fact part of that -- not as significant a part as I think it should be, perhaps, but then there are reasons for that ... one reason being that full-time profs are responsible for many things besides teaching. Teaching technically comprises 40% of my job. Another 40% is research, and then the last 20% is administration -- sitting on committees, taking on roles as chairs, coordinators, deans and so on. The greater the administrative role, or the more significant the research project undertaken, the less that percentage is devoted to teaching (i.e. the fewer classes we have to teach). <BR/><BR/>Believe me, I cringe when I think of some professors I know up in front of a class; similarly, I've taken classes with some serious losers, people so socially inept or indifferent or arrogant that I would have cheerfully garroted them with my shoelaces. And I firmly believe that anyone who is in this profession should be deeply invested in teaching. <BR/><BR/>Some people aren't. Some people do in fact use tenure as an excuse to do nothing and be dismissive of students. But I maintain that these people are the exception to the rule ... and besides which, anyone who wants to actually put a little forethought into it can avoid them. Because you know what? University students are adults. It's not the professors' job to play guidance counsellor or truant officer, nor in the end are they obliged to make sure ever student in the class gets it. Unlike high school, you have a huge amount of control over what classes you take and who you take them with. As Lesley pointed out, there are resources for this sort of thing -- teaching evals are kept on record for just this reason. Your prof is inaudible? Drop the class. Transfer into another. Take it next year. No other choices, and it's mandatory? Suck it up. It's a learning experience -- think you'll never have to deal with socially inept / moronic / insufferable bosses in the working world? <BR/><BR/>Tenure exists as it does for the simple reason that academic freedom cannot be a matter of degrees. To say that "tenure is a ridiculous idea unless it is something that can be revoked for poor performance" misses the point of tenure. That's like saying that free speech is a ridiculous idea unless we're allowed to censor things. And like free speech, for every genuine instance of that right being exercised in a useful and intelligent manner, you get a dozen Howard Sterns, or Anne Coulters, or Larry Flynts. It's the unfortunate catch ... in some cases, it gets abused or used irresponsibly.Chris in NFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06064023598020493124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-1146077524488310662006-04-26T16:22:00.000-02:302006-04-26T16:22:00.000-02:30I'm neither an academic nor a business type, but I...I'm neither an academic nor a business type, but I'll comment anyway.<BR/><BR/>Universities are stuck with two extremes: the terribly insecure contract prof and the tenure prof.<BR/><BR/>Tenured profs, as stated by lesley, can get away with anything they want. This isn't unique to them, many who are "unassailable and unfireable" tend to slack off; those who work hard while tenured must be bitter when looking at their git co-workers.<BR/><BR/>Keeping people on contact if you don't have to (financially) is shit. Is there any in-between (my memories of MUN say "no"). Outside of academia people are hired in "permanent" positions, but they can be layed-off or fired if the situation warrants it. Why can't the academic world adapt to this middle-ground?tanker bellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09080888329110339975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14665637.post-1146073405803457402006-04-26T15:13:00.000-02:302006-04-26T15:13:00.000-02:30You may not like what I have to say about it, but ...You may not like what I have to say about it, but I hate tenure, and I think it needs to be overhauled. When I was at UWO I had several profs who had tenure and were retiring. They had had tenure for several years while a couple of my other profs did not have it, and probably would not have it for a while. The problem was, the tenured profs were horrible teachers. One was a bigot and the other basically read from the text book as a lecture tool. I had several other profs who were poor at actually teaching and I blame my failures in class on them (my personal favourite was the Philosophy professor who was unclear in his lectures because of his overuse of the word um and his inability to keep his throat clear for more than three words). The kicker for me was that if I went to the sacred place where all the student evaluations were held and actually looked them up BEFORE I took the class, I would have seen that these professors were not ones I wanted to waste my precious tuition money on regardless of what courses I needed to graduate. Added to that, one of my fantastic professors who didn't get tenure and was relegated to night courses suggested I look up old issues of the Western News to see just how much of a bigot my one professor was.<BR/><BR/>Before I go off and rant on that let me get to my point, tenure is a ridiculous idea unless it is something that can be revoked for poor performance. It should be like a vote process. There should be some form of a review. If the professor gets so many poor reviews and is investigated, then tenure could be taken away. I know there is the argument about he said/she said but then that's where the review comes in from a neutral source to disprove a disgruntled student comment from a legitimate complaint.<BR/><BR/>There are way too many good teachers who are disregarded because of tenure issues and way (WAY) too many teachers who are protected by tenure.<BR/><BR/>My attitude: if the student is paying as much money as students pay for tuition, they should know that their teachers are giving them the best education, and these old cronies who have taken the whole tenure thing for granted all these years are preventing the really good teachers who value teaching well from achieving anything.<BR/><BR/>(Clearly my education has served me well what with all the run on sentences and the lack of coherent arguments up there...)Lesleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12891041230874404452noreply@blogger.com