So my college allows students to use ChatGPT to craft 100% of their essays and discussions. The essays earn no higher than a 60% bc ChatGPT can’t write an essay. It will also use “tapestry” and “beacon” multiple times incorrectly. I’m so sick of reading these dogshit essays. I don’t even know my students bc they use the chatbot for emails too and it’s an online class. Their PFPs are photoshopped. I give up this generation sucks

I’m at the beginning of my six-year tenure clock at an R1 with limited guidance from my mentors and new department.

So, I’m curious what measurable annual goals you’ve set for yourself on the TT, or set for yourself when you were on the TT, such as # of articles, grants, talks, etc.

I wish that I cared less about what people think about me, especially students. I really really wish it was easier for me. But I’m a fairly young-looking woman, and way too many people like to order me around and treat me like I don’t know how to do anything.

When I stand my ground, it feels like all hell breaks loose. It often turns into a whole thing, and it gets really exhausting to deal with incidents and temper tantrums because the person didn’t expect me to actually say no to them...

I know you can’t prevent everything completely, but how do you successfully give off “don’t f* with me” energy?

As a TA, I have been crying while grading for an exam right now. It is a mass session, so around 200 students. For some reason, the professor has chosen to not use Scantron, so here I am. I really really hate this as a total waste of my time to manually grade those stupid multiple-choice questions!

So, I guess any suggestions? Can I ask the head of the department to change professors after this term or that's inappropriate?

In terms of opinions about the state of things?

Edit: That students are disinterested and entitled. That administration is power hungry. that we are likely headed for a cliff.

How do I discontinue my CFA (california faculty association) membership. I can no longer afford to pay $100 per month after tax and I cannot find official way to opt out. Anybody knows?

Teaching a graduate level quantitative course this semester and saying I’m disappointed in the students’ performance with the latest assignment is an understatement. Several students turned in half-finished assignments with responses to questions left entirely blank. I didn’t even realize these students were struggling with the questions because they didn’t try to see me at office hours or ask for help.

Grading this assignment has been an absolute nightmare. Following my usual, extremely lenient, grading policy is still giving several students grades that are unacceptably low. If they turn around and do better on the next assignments and the final project, then they can still pass my class without repercussions, but frankly I am not sure if they are capable of getting nearly perfect scores.

I’m already extremely pressed for time so offering them a chance to resubmit for a regrade is not going to be an option. Do I just let these grad students flunk? Do I offer them some kind of makeup opportunity that doesn’t create more work for me? What does that even look like? I’m leaving this institution at the end of the semester and I don’t want to ruin these students on my way out, but at the same time I need to hold some kind of standard.

I have a student who failed this past term. This was a pretty sure fail case too. The student missed about half of our course classes, constantly absent or extremely late, did not participate in the group project, and missed critical assignments.

The student went nuclear when receiving the grade and started spamming my inbox. At first, they were shocked but still civil, but then it rapidly devolved to suggesting that I didn't like them, am biased, picking on them, demanding that I respond immediately, and threatening to go to the dean, etc. My eval for the class was good and comments all praised me, so the student's accusations are clearly baseless.

I discussed the matter with my chair and kindly explained the grade breakdown and the assessment to the student, but the student was spiraling. My chair said the student went on to continue to email the chair.

They've stopped emailing me, but I am kind of left with PTSD from the situation because it was stressful. I don't like being accused of this and that, and even having to discuss it with my chair pre-tenure just feels stressful. Last, the student has been spamming my RMP account with about 15-20 different reviews, some of which were calling me names. I don't have the student's IP address or anything to actually prove it, but it's pretty clear that it's the student in question doing it. Given their behavior, I'm afraid of running into the student or what erratic thing the student could do next. I'm pretty much at a loss that the student has gone so radioactive as a means to not accept their own poor performance.

Anyway, it's all upsetting and making me a bit depressed over the few days dealing with it. Has anyone else dealt with such a problem. Any advice for dealing with it and/or coping? TIA.

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We all know the type - they were sick, then their cat died, then they needed to be home for a family event, then their car died, etc. etc. They never seem to be able to hand in those late assignments, finish that draft of their proposal, ir pull the trigger and finish that manuscript.

You meet with them regularly, and the always seem optimistic they can get on top of it, but you meet again and they've come up short.

Students, if you are reading this, take note as well. If you feel like you keep disappointing your prof/advisor and don't know why you just can't get that thing done, take a look at what you have been spending your time doing instead.

I don't know about y'all...but when I first became a prof, I was so excited to teach and work with students. Now I just feel jaded...and things have started taking a toll on me... I've gotten increasingly snarky and sarcastic, and my filter is completely worn to stubs. Prior to becoming a prof, I never imagined that students could be this annoying. Even when I was a TA, they weren't nearly this bad!

Granted, for the last two years, I've only been teaching three lower-level undergrad classes every semester. Next semester, I'm gonna be tenure-track at a different institution. They're not gonna give me more than one course per semester until after I get tenure. I look forward to a whole lot more research and a whole lot less teaching. Additionally, I look forward to teaching research-related classes consisting of grad students and a few upper-level undergrads.

Okay so this is completely related to the thread I posted a couple of hours ago about apathetic students, but I just started at a new school and I am completely miserable here. I have already applied to several jobs, but I am concerned about the ethics of leaving after one semester. This would be a first for me -- I have a stellar track record of longevity at my previous two schools. I don't want to get into all my reasons for being unhappy here because that's not really the point of my question, but has anyone left a school very shortly after being hired before?

Do you take your regalia to the cleaner? How often? Each year? Only after a hot and sweaty commencement? Never?

And how much does your cleaner charge to clean it? Please include your country/region?

Do you take your regalia to the cleaner? How often? Each year? Only after a hot and sweaty commencement? Never?

And how much does your cleaner charge to clean it? Please include your country/region?

I'm an assistant prof at an R1 in the US. The dissertation phase for me was stressful and pretty exhausing. When I became an asst. prof on the tenure track I thought life would be easier.

However, I'm finding that the constant pressure for publications and grants with relatively little guidance (compared to being a student) is impacting me. At least during the dissertation I felt like I had some structure and on the "right" path. Now I sort of feel like I'm feeling my way through it and not sure if what I'm pursuing will be enough. I still have a few years before the tenure decision, so I'm trying to pace myself for the marathon. What were others' experiences? Thanks for your perspective.

https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2024/03/princeton-opinion-column-intro-courses-inequitable
This op-ed captures a lot of what is happening in classrooms, IMHO, as in, I'm entitled to a grade because I am here, and who are you to tell me I need to work harder to catch up... Am laughing and crying at the same time :(

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Hi all,

I'm not expecting to find solutions, but I thought a post here might be some fun way to blow off some steam. What are some red tape issues you have encountered in your work? Find any fun loopholes? Anythings you decided are just not worth doing anymore?

For me, I'm starting at an newly designated R1 that is still working on developing research support infrastructure, in a college that really does not know how to do research. (Some other colleges have this figured out a lot better, but there are still issues there). I'm coming from a wonderfully supportive, but small and struggling LAC, where we really only had one or two people for the entire school to help with budgeting and purchases. Now that I'm at the R1, each department has their own administrative support. Wow! But also there are a ton of restrictive policies. I knew about some specific to my work before I started, and wouldn't have taken the offer if I didn't know how to deal with them. But the regulations that are really getting me now is furniture. I have a nice lab space, but it was a classroom, so I need to get it ready to be a lab. But, due to University policy, I'm not allowed to buy the same kinds of things I bought at my last school. I instead have to go through a few select and incredibly expensive vendors. For me it would be a 10x cost increase. But because my college doesn't really get how to support research yet, my start up budget is not enough to cover what I need. I would have *plenty* if I could purchase what I wanted. So whoops on me for not knowing about that prior to negotiations. No idea the solution here, but it is frustrating. I've heard of this kind of issue before, but this is my first time personally experience a scenario where more support actually just becomes more restraint. I really wish they would just let me spend my money and do my job. I'm actually really good at it.

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What about you guys? And similar rants?

Here’s a question: does anyone teach at a school where the students seem like they actually want to be there? I feel like I’m teaching high school - I have never seen it this bad before. I’ve been teaching for almost 15 years and I just started at a new school where it just seems like all of the kids don’t care about anything. I have started looking for jobs elsewhere because I just can’t take the daily demoralization, but is it like this everywhere now?

Fellows profs -- I was hoping for some recommendations for a good podcast that focuses on the professor experience -- not specific to a field, but, rather just about the day-to-day challenges of being an academic nowadays. Cheers!

This was my first year on the market in (finished my PhD in a social science this past fall) although I've done a good amount of adjuncting while finishing the degree. It definitely paid off as I just finalized the paperwork for a position as a Lecturer at a large state school. I targeted mostly positions that were more teaching forward (TT at liberal arts colleges or CCs and NTTs everywhere). While I only did the adjunct game while finishing the degree and then this semester while being on the market I am really excited to land a full-time gig!

https://preview.redd.it/qvmqd43r4brc1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=c3feaa062754cb55ac47685767ede90b5ad68a3c

Long story short: I have notified my chair that I will be leaving this summer. Moving to a different city and another private institution. My chair, after discussing with the dean, has “asked” me please consider remaining associated with the university because they need to have qualified people in their roster to not lose their accreditation! At this time I don’t have more details on what “remaining associated with” means, but I would like to know if someone has ever been in such situation. On the one hand, I would like to “help out” the program, but on the other hand I don’t need any drama or consequences for participating in something like this. For context: my name appears in all reports that the program submitted earlier this year for reaccreditation.

A student miraculously made it to the test after being trapped at an airport 1/2 way across the US mere hours ago.

my courses involve a lot of in-class group work. These are usually projects that students work on for a day or two, and are mostly completed in class.

What should I do when students are absent on these days? let them do the project solo? Drop them into a group that has already done half the project without them?

or should I abandon group projects entirely.

Welcome to a new week of weekly discussion! Continuing this week, we're going to have Wholesome Wednesdays, Fuck this Fridays, and (small) Success Sundays.

As has been mentioned, these should be considered additions to the regular discussions, not replacements. So use them, ignore them, or start you own Fantastic Friday counter thread.

This thread is to share your frustrations, small or large, that make you want to say, well, “Fuck This”. But on Friday. There will be no tone policing, at least by me, so if you think it belongs here and want to post, have at it!

Right now I'm interviewing for math/stats NTT teaching positions. One of the questions I was asked, TWICE, by an admin and math faculty member from a small teaching college was "what would you do for the community?".

Never had that question before and I'm not even sure that it applies to my position. I just flat out had to say I didn't have any ideas since I didn't know what the local opportunities are to be engaged with the community were. But I'm curious if this is a thing now and what others would say in such a situation. This school is unusual in that it used to be a community college and it isn't anymore, so I think they still are kind of retaining that community college flavor, but even in that case for non tenure track I've been never been asked to engage with the community.

I'm a young (ish) new professor and this is my first time taking on a teaching position. I'm at an R1 equivalent university (not in the US) and for the most part I've enjoyed my work. The students are dedicated and enthusiastic about learning (for the most part) and I'm very lucky to be at a research focused institute where my only teaching focused responsibilities are lecturing.

Students here have the option of writing an intensive 15 month long undergraduate dissertation and every year a few students interested in entering academia do so. One student interested in working in my subfield approached me and I taught this student last semester and they did well in my course so I took them on. I made it clear that this would be my first time advising someone as well so it would be a learning curve for the both of us. Additionally the student is working on a rather novel topic in my subfield so it's a pretty challenging project.

For the most part I think work has gone well. They're making decent progress and they have great work ethic and are very enthusiastic about the project itself. I've been enjoying guiding them as well.

The only issue is that they suffer from massive imposter syndrome and underconfidence. I don't want to armchair diagnose them but I get the distinct feeling that they've never received proper compliments in their life before. Everytime I mention that they've done a good job on a particular task they become really flustered. The more serious of the issue is their underconfidence and low self-esteem. There was a particular set of experiments that they had wanted to run which I had suspected might not lead to conclusive results but given that the entire point of an undergraduate dissertation is to encourage interesting research, I told the student to go ahead with them if they thought it'll work out. It wasn't too time consuming and you experience is the best teacher. However as I suspected, the results were inconclusive. The student sent me a panic stricken email at 2 o clock at night apologising for not listening to me and asking if I still wanted to be their advisor. The email baffled me and the next day when I met them I let them know that it's very normal to make mistakes. They kept apologising over and over again and I was worried they'd work themselves into a panic attack.

I know ultimately it might not be my problem but I remember a professor in my undergrad who was a huge support system to me and got me through some really tough times in my undergrad and I still owe them for actually finishing through my aacademic journey. So I feel like I should help student who needs it as well. To reiterate, this student is a good researcher and a good student and I want to help them realise that.

Should I gently suggest they reach out to the on campus counselling services? Or would that be out of line?

I am a computer science professor mostly teaching introduction-level courses and a couple of labs. Given that I often teach the lab associated with my 180 courses, I am not shocked to see students in both sections. But I've found since the return to in-person lectures, a lot more cheating has occurred in my course. Students fail exams, and quizzes which are in person, but manage to code the lab projects (which can be completed after the lab) in complex ways far above the level of a 180 course. So I started to implement a "Cheat Test", where I present it as a normal lab, but if they run the test cases with code that is more than 49% copied, (which is detected by how it was typed, like long sections being pasted in at once or being similar to a set of responses that they would find online, but should not be known for them) I will be able to see that they cheated. I try to give these students opportunities for recovery, as if I had to report them they would most likely be dismissed as this university has a zero-tolerance policy for cheating. Most students will admit to cheating and I will just dock their grade in the class by a letter and give them a replacement lab (which is significantly harder). Last semester, 28% of my students cheated on this assignment, and 85% of those students were offered the recovery option. 91% of those students cheated on the makeup assignment. At this point, I had no choice but to report them resulting in 22% of my class failing and being dismissed. Does anybody have a similar experience or can offer me some sort of advice? This is the second semester in a row I have had over 20% of my class dismissed. I do not believe my class is difficult, as I rarely fail students and give a decent amount of extra credit points. I am just lost on what to do. I have been teaching for almost a decade and never had this problem before. I did not become a professor to fail students, I wanted to help people confirm their decision in their major as I genuinely think computer science is an amazing field. I feel as though I am damning these students in a way I am. They are dismissed from this university and will have a huge amount of difficulty trying to find other undergraduate programs. If anyone has any advice, let me know.

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Everyone I know hates their LMS system. It seems like there are only a few options, and they all suck.

Does anyone like their LMS? If so, which one? Anyone know what their school pays for this “service?” I can’t help feeling like we’re all getting ripped off.