Welcome to a new week of weekly discussion threads! Continuing this week we will 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 Sunday Sucks counter thread.

This thread is to share your successes, small or large, as we end one week and look to start the next. There will be no tone policing, at least by me, so if you think it belongs here and want to post, have at it!

So I wanted to check-in with the community on a potential ethical question around reaching out to the potential authors of a paper or funding proposal after you've (positively) reviewed their work to see if they'd like to collaborate?

I just finished reviewing a number of funding proposals submitted largely by consortia/teams of academic and industry collaborators for a funding body that I'm affiliated with. One of the proposals was simply outstanding and I was very impressed, which was reflected in my review. After finishing, I figured let me look up who these folks are (the proposals had CVs etc on all the authors). They seem to be impressive people doing impressive work. I figured, why not reach out to them and see if they'd like to collaborate with me on some stuff.

What are the ethics around doing so? When you review good publications and/or funding proposals by unblinded submitters, is it OK to reach out to those folks who one was impressed by/liked after the reviews are done if you didn't know about them beforehand and were introduced to their work through your service as a reviewer?

I am putting together my tenure package & wondering is there a way to put different formats (pdf, doc) combined in one document to then create a table of contents?? 🤔😟

I'm seeking suggestions on how to spend a sabbatical year productively. The sabbatical should focus on "an intensive study that improves teaching" but that's the only constraint.

I'm a tenured professor of management/entrepreneurship in my late 50s. I hope to rediscover joy in teaching, but if that doesn’t happen, I’d like to acquire skills that will serve me well in retirement, whether as a volunteer or as the basis of a side income. I love to learn whether it's online or through travel. I've got strong writing and statistical skills; I'm very current with tech but not programming. Any advice would be appreciated!

I see a lot of negative posts here (which is fine), but I want to see some good stuff too!

As the title suggests, I have a student this semester who is otherwise intelligent, but requires so much reassurance. I don’t make the class I have her in particularly difficult (it’s an elective). For instance, I provide a study guide of topics each exam will cover, and the exam is a straightforward multiple choice test. Honestly? If they pay attention in class and quickly review the posted slides, most students will pass without a problem. She has perfect attendance, participates and asks questions, etc. so she’s not a student who needs to worry.

Yet, this student keeps emailing me regarding the exam because she’s worried that the topics listed in the study guide are not enough. I have determined this is really about her trying to quell her anxiety than it is about the content and her comprehension of it. But aside from providing very short (1-2 sentences) responses to her long-winded inquiries, I’m not sure how else to politely convey the message that the issue here is her anxiety.

Grading my Intro to Oceanology exams. The question says: Discuss the origin of Earth's oceans and how is it related to the origin of our atmosphere. I am still baffled when the students feel it is more important to share their beliefs with me than to get a good score on the question. 🤷‍♀️

Student's answer:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
 So, God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.

I am starting to wonder whether I am making my class harder/more work than it needs to be (for me and my students). I teach in a public policy school. The class I teach is one of the required courses for a nonprofit and social innovation minor. It also can fulfill a GedEq requirement. I get maybe 20% students in the minor, 80% using this as a GenEd because it sounded interesting. My class is not the "introduction to nonprofits" which covers information like organizational structures, board governance, finances, etc. It's more about broad concepts like working with communities, practicing empathy, thinking in systems, and analyzing root causes. Because of this I am not really "testing" for knowledge. (Though I suppose I could.) I would call it more perspective and soft-skills based. In a way I sometimes feel it would fit better in something like a sociology department.

I assign 3-4 materials each week for students and they need to submit a weekly summary. We have a first reflection and final reflection (the first has several prompts about their understanding of social change, changemakers, how to make change and the final reflection they look back and discuss how their answers are different now using course concepts and evidence). In addition, they have a portfolio assignment of exercises where they need to do things like interview an expert, map existing interventions of an issue, attend a event, take individual action for an issue, etc. They have an in-class grade which comes from in-class polls and a self-assessment and peer assessment of their participation.

This ultimately is quite a bit of work. The summaries need to be graded for comprehension. The exercises need to be graded to how well they apply concepts. I have to tally up all their in-class participation points. I look around at other professors that aren't even reading students' work, using incomplete/complete grading, or giving them full participation credit if they're just in the room. I sometimes feel I am creating more work for myself than I should - especially with a class like this. I'm not teaching engineering or medicine or another technical field where I feel it's critical to be assessing students carefully and closely.

Am I making this harder than I need to? Should I just do as so many of my colleagues do and just lower my grading standards and basically throw out As? I think grade inflation is a real issue but it feels like fighting a losing battle. Otherwise, any other suggestions to drastically cut my grading and coursework time? I guess ultimately I want students to really learn, gain something from the course, but also not really be "an easy A". I want to still hold them accountable, have standards, and give them honest assessment of their work. Maybe I'm trying have my cake and eat it too.

I got this in response to asking a student for a doctor's note after they missed two consecutive classes this week (in addition to missing a class a week since the semester started).

At this point I'm really wondering how they got into college, and feel genuinely concerned with the levels of intelligence and common sense that some students are displaying (or lack thereof).

Just wanted to share that gem, happy Saturday y'all!

Originally dictated to my phone while frustrated. Now edited to read better. So much of what we talk about here and what students complain about is having to do homework. Students don't want to do it it leads to them having so many reasons they didn't do it. It leads to us having to shoot down so many reasons why they were too busy to do it. (Yet they are never to busy to be on social media or gaming).

There's too many ways to cheat on it now too.

Maybe what we should all try is just having a midterm exam and a final exam and that's it. Less due dates, and all work happens in and is due in class.

No homework, no work in class other than lab work for subjects that require it , no term papers since those are too easy to fake with GPT.

The thing we used to do with term papers we will do with verbal examinations live and in person.

Midterm, final, and maybe have part of those be a verbal examination.

What are the reasons to not do that because it feels like there's a ton of reasons to do that. Especially, ESPECIALLY at places where job one is to not have the studnets complain.

I am a community college instructor, and I went into D2L today to find that only 2/35 students had completed the quiz or assignment that are due tomorrow. I sent out an all-class e-mail to remind everyone to get those in. (Note: this is the only reminder I have sent this week.) This is the resulting e-mail chain:

Student: ...too many emails from you.

Me: Noted. I will remove you from any further correspondence.

Student: ...now to the other extreme. How is it respectful or responsible would it be to not inform an adult student regarding important information ONCE? Once is the key word along with adult. Please stop trying to micro-manage this class. We only need to be informed ONCE.

How would you respond? What would you do? I admit I could have responded more professionally, but this is not my first snarky/accusatory e-mail from this student, and I am at my wits end.

I’ve decided that I am quitting academia. For context, I’m a clinical professor at a major medical university. I’m halfway through my second year. But I simply can’t go on.

I’ve been incredibly productive with my research, teaching, and contributions to the department. But the cost to me, and my quality of life is disproportionate to the gains. I feel like I’m on a sinking ship - that soon the water will rise and I’ll go from treading to drowning. While, the pay is respectable, it isn’t enough for me to pay off my loans and credit card debt I acquired through my training, and it certainly isn’t enough to make regular trips to friends and family who I’ve been separated from in pursuit of a professorship. The isolation some weeks is unbearable.

I’ve been recruited into an industry job that pays almost 50% more, in one of my favorite cities where I’ll have access to all my best friends. It’s a director level position. I’ll have a ton of freedom and flexibility in the role. It’s a no-brainer and I’m incredibly grateful.

Still, I feel incredibly guilty. My department worked really hard to recruit me. By leaving now, I’ll be creating a lot of work for my colleagues who I respect. Still, my department also dumped - and continues to dump - a ton of unexpected labor on me (literally they just add stuff to my calendar, like classes I have to teach) without any of my consent. I’ve also been told that I’m not allowed to research particular topic areas. Further, I have little control over what I teach due to administrative bloat. And frankly, while I stand by my teaching, students are pretty mean. Essentially, I feel duped into a role that they knew wouldn’t fit my interests or values, though that I still have an obligation to the department.

I know that this decision is right for me and that above all, no matter where I work, I will always be writing and contributing my voice. At the same time, I know many will be “disappointed” or confused by my departure. Telling my boss will also be scary as I’m not expecting a friendly reaction when I break the news. But there’s literally nothing that they could offer me that would make me stay.

I suppose this post is to get some of these feelings off my chest and by people who can understand. I’ve worked so hard to get to where I’m at and I feel like I’m also letting myself down, even though I know on the other side I’ll be much happier.

I hold a lot of respect for the profession and to those who can make it work, so I hope this post isn’t read as a critique of academia itself. Any words of wisdom to help me process this would be useful.

Edit: I want to add that I’m working pretty much 9-12 hour days and still have work on weekends to keep up with the demands. This new job will be pretty strictly 9-5 PM.

New AP here - trying to figure out how to better streamline my workflow from various sources. I use PDF Expert connected to Zotero for reading/markup and citations but am trying to find a way to organize standalone notes.

Currently I'm using apple notes for meeting and talk notes etc, but would love to be able to organize them better (eg by project or advisee) and integrate them with other media eg extracted notes from readings, outlines and project brainstorm notes, etc. If I'm on my phone or laptop I'd type notes and on iPad would prefer handwritten.

Anyone have any thoughts on setups that could work well for this use case? Tysm!

So I plugged my starting salary into an inflation adjusted calculator to see what an equivalent amount would be worth in today’s dollars. Turns out that the result of all those years of trivial “merit” raises, one salary bump for promotion, and two periods of university-wide salary freezes, means that I am making the same amount today as I was as a starting assistant prof, years ago. It’s demoralizing. Is this by design? Is this the norm in academia?

I’m a fairly new professor and would appreciate some advice on a student potentially passing off a presentation template as his own.

Background: Early in the semester, I had students form groups and every week someone is responsible for giving a short presentation to their group based on that week’s reading. Students are suppose to submit a written guide that they use to structure their presentation.

Cheating?: The problem is that I had one student submit an actual slide deck that doesn’t cover any of the readings. In fact, it reads more like a general intro level presentation on a broader, related topic. The slide deck is more detailed on basic concepts and definitions than my own lecture presentation that week. Which is what makes this seem fishy.

To add to my suspicions, two weeks prior, I overheard this student having a conversation with one of his group mates (who also used a suspiciously detailed slide deck). He complimented his group mate on his presentation. The group mate told him that he had used a template from a website and that it was easy. I didn’t think much of it at the time but now I’m suspecting that they both used this website to either reuse a premade template or used AI to generate the presentation itself.

I tried using reverse image search to try to find the pictures in the slide but haven’t had luck. I’ve also copy pasted some of the text from the slides into Google, and small portions have linked back to cliff note type websites.

So, what should I do? Has anyone else heard of websites that students are using to reuse or generate templates?

Throwaway. I’m at a cc where we go up for tenure in the third year. (We can’t retain rank when we begin here.) Bad dean is on a performance plan and will likely be out at the end of the year.

But, the dean is messing with many of the pre-tenure people by violating the contract (and getting grieved for it).

While that’s happening, they’re also writing minimal observation reports and lying on them! During the observations, they’re on their laptop and leaving early.

This is across different departments. Probably another grievance about to happen.

My question is: why mess with us?

I like where I work but the pay isn't great and the admin seems pretty firm with only giving standard cost of living raises across the board. I just discovered an opening at another institution that would pay more but require a move to a higher (but not crazy) cost of living area. A lot of the job factors balance out - some are better, some are not but overall I'd be OK working there and could even end up liking it a lot (or not).

I've got half a mind to apply and use the offer to negotiate a raise and stay where I am. The extra money and staying here would be very nice indeed. I'm not yet 100% sure I would take the job if I did get the offer, but the increase in salary without an increase in workload is very tempting. However, I've got a bad feeling that my institution won't negotiate if I bring an offer in and them to counter it. I'd like to be more confident about my chances before making my decision. I know once I start this process, I have to be willing to walk if they won't play ball.

Any suggestions for how can get a better grasp on my admin's willingness to negotiate without directly asking people? I'm not super creative when it comes to this sort of thing. I also don't want to spoil the comraderie that we have because it is pretty rare.

Hello! I’m the person who posted topic asking for advice regarding faculty & student bullying. I come bearing another question. Do you schedule 1:1 meetings with your students mid semester? I had them fill out a survey and the responses were mixed. The students that have the 2 faculty members who are badmouthing me wrote more negative reviews. The students that do not have those 2 faculty members wrote all positive reviews with a couple beneficial suggestions that I will implement. The negative reviews were rough and rooted in misogyny (I’m a youngish female). I may have cried reading them even though I try to have a thick skin. The negative reviews weren’t even useful, they said that I suck, that I don’t know what I’m talking about, that I’m condescending. The good reviews said I’m warm and helpful, organized, inspiring. Anyway, I’m wondering if I should schedule a 15 minute 1:1 with each student as a “check in” and to see how they’re feeling post midterm. However, would this be weird out of the blue?

Just curious. Answer in any terms you like.

For example, what percentage of emails in your inbox is going to unanswered? What percentage of class prep do you actually feel that you do?

Had the joyous task of submitting my workload earlier this week and thought it might be fun to see where others find space to let things go.

Personally, I’d say a good chunk of my time is made up of thinking about emails I’ll eventually forget to send.

I'm frustrated, but also just sad and disheartened.

I'm teaching an asynchronous class. At the beginning of the semester, I was very clear that this class would actually be more work than taking the class in person. There's more assignments because there are quizzes that they have to take every week to prove that they're actually watching the lecture videos (which of course, tons of them still don't do) - Edited to add that this is a department requirement. The quizzes are multiple choice and SO easy as long as you do actually watch the lectures. But then they still have regular assessments and written discussions on top of this. Only a small number per semester. If the class was in person, there wouldn't be quizzes, and there would be less overall assignments. When I teach live, I also have trivia contests, games, and discussions, and all sorts of activities to break up the lectures.

I'm a grad student and adjunct in my 5th year of teaching. I've participated in tons of workshops to teach online classes effectively, engage students, and make them interesting, but also hold students accountable.

But I keep getting RMP reviews complaining that I give too many assignments and that I'm too heavy of a grader. The quizzes are autograded. You either get it right or wrong. And there aren't many other assignments during the semester and 85% of the class got at least a B.

I know, I know. I shouldn't even be reading the reviews. But I can't help it and it just makes me so sad every time. I work SO hard to make the asynchronous class engaging and interesting but still meet learning goals. Despite the fact that these classes have more assignments than in person classes, I still try to be so conscious of my students' time. They barely have assigned readings each week, usually like 3 pages total, so most weeks, it's just watching the lectures and taking the quiz each week.

My end of semester evaluations are almost always a 4+/5 (though I am not a pushover...I have a zero tolerance policy for any academic integrity violations and have no problem giving zeroes. If a student doesn't read the directions and responds to an essay question with entirely wrong examples that aren't what the question specifies, they will lose points and possibly fail) , but my RMP ratings are always a 1. Yes, I know that this generally means I am doing a good job since my other evals are good, but I am still disheartened. I also seriously worry that these ratings will prevent students from taking more classes from me in the future, which will be a problem if I don't reach enrollment minimums. If that happens, I won't be asked to teach anymore and I'll lose income. I don't make enough money as it is and don't have time to try and take on teaching more classes.

Today I got an RMP rating that said that they were excited to take my class, but that I've made them not like this subject anymore and that I basically destroyed their entire interest in it. I love the subject that I teach and I work so hard to still make these pre-recorded lectures engaging and hearing this just makes me feel sad.

No advice or anything needed. Just wanted to get it off my chest.

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I am an international faculty member (Non US citizen AND non permanent resident) (Non tenure track instructor) in the US. I am writing this post seeking some sort of advice from other professors about what is going on in my department. I have been working here teaching commonly taught languages and other classes at a private regional R2 (somewhat prestigious university, or at least it was in the past) university in the midwest since 2020. Now, the faculty members in my department have voted NO to renew my 3 years contract. I will try to keep this short...

Here is my story...

1. I began to work in July 2020. I ACED the interview and I got the job. One of the best days of my life. COVID hits 3 weeks after interview. I begin to teach online. I survived. 4 semesters. I got my initial appointment renewed with no issues.
2. Regarding immigration: I was in OPT during my first year after my masters degree and the university agreed to sponsor my H1B visa and my green card. In 2021 they began green card process. Spring 2022 was first semester in person the university attorney messed up something and suddenly my visa is expired. I had to pay $5,000 out of pocket for premium processing + trip to stamp my passport in home country and I was told I had to switch my classes to online and go back to home country ASAP to avoid a 3 year entrance bar to the US. I refused and completed the semester because I did not want to cause trouble to the students, etc.

These were very turbulent times at the university. Financially. Former president was cutting programs, staff and faculty were leaving, retirement benefits got cut, etc. The president and the provost were dismissed.

In Summer 2022 I got my new H1B visa stamp valid until January 2025. This is the last time I saw my parents. All was good, I taught summer 2022 course to get some money back. The attorney told me that the green card process that began in 2021 failed. My chair was supported and worked with the attorney in a new PERM green card process that is supposed to be completed in early 2025.

In Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 the students came severely ill prepared for class. I started to observe significant differences and dishonesty in one of my colleagues (grade inflation, using different sylalbus and exams for a sequence of classes, etc). This results in SEVERE issues in my classes, students sent me to the dean, constant complaints, etc. Students burping at me in class, farting, insulting me, damaging furniture, and what not. I had to call the out and enforce syllabus policies, etc. Otherwise the classes were simply unteachable.

In Summer 2023 I taught the best semester of my life. No issues at all. Fall 2023 was okay, students came much better prepared to the University. In Spring 2024 the differences between instructors sit me again at the dean with students complaints. In July 2024 I paid $3000 for premium processing of my H1B visa with the PERM green card pending.

During this time:

1. STUDENTS: I have taught around 400-500 students in 4 years. Evals have been mostly okay to glowing with occasional descriptors at 3.9/5. Almost 100% response rate. Hundreds of glowing comments, some others not that great. Students complain all the time here. I've observed pathological grade obsession, absolute helplesness, dependency, impossible to hold them accountable, etc. I've had GREAT students too. Students have burped, destroyed furniture in class, and more. I stick to my guns. I consistently apply syllabus policies, do not inflate grades, etc. Students learn A LOT. This is what I was told to do when I got hired here. As for today, my classes have never been more EMPTY lol my colleagues classes are full and the university says we're having almost the largest incoming and better prepared class we've ever had.
2. COLLEAGUES: Probably the worst part of working here. Lots of politics, rampant nepotism in hiring policies, A LOT of mediocrity. Entrenched and encysted hatred. I respect seasoned people a lot, but half of the department are around 70-80 years old. The other half 40-60. I am the youngest one BY FAR (We are talking about people who have been here years before I was born). Again, don't get me wrong. At first I saw this as something very positive because I could learn from experience. I see some barely qualified people who has been teaching higschool for decades before coming here. They were hired at the same time as I was. They work like 40% less. Literally.
3. WORKLOAD: After retirement of tenured professor (in 2022) with no replacement there is a critical hiring need that is not being met. I was asked to create 2 classes for the students in the major, because otherwise they cannot graduate in time. I accepted and did it with GREAT SUCCESS (Glowing students evals and my LOR's send students to prestigious grad schools in the US and abroad). I did this in addition to ALL my other 4-5 classes lol. Tremendous workload that resulted in phisical and mental health problems.

SALARY: In Spring 2023 after an awful semester I had (like some other professors) a salary raise (first salary raise in like 10 years for some people here lol). I received a 5K bonus too and started to contribute to 401K retirement employer match. 2 months after the salary raise, the university adjusted my taxes bc they made a mistake and I end up making 200 dollars less every month (after a salary raise LOLOL)

In Spring 2024 I had another salary raise to (almost) go back. The president himself gave it to me, in person. I talked about immigration, he said we're helping as much as we can, we want you to stay with us many years. I felt grateful.

SERVICE: I have done EVERYTHING. Study abroad trips, committees, seminar classes, etc everything. Mostly unpaid, of course.

NOW: I go for contract renewal +170 students surveyed. Mostly glowing evals (with around 15 negative comments in 90 pages of evals). My report was glowing. It was rejected. Colleagues start to add lines to my report stating that I am not compassionate with the students, I insult them and I have a rude tone. I show evidence of DOZENS of emails and evals comments stating that I was so patient and nice and caring and kind. Doesn't matter. An unacceptable shaming process begins in which more lines are added to my report. I go to the voting meeting with my passport and tell them all think about my PENDING PERM GREEN CARD PROCESS.

They have voted NO (after all I did and after paying $8000 for temporary immigration with the permanent permit pending). The chair and dean say they can do nothing. I have contract until May 2026. I think they won't honor it and just kick me out at the end of the spring semester. If so, my immigration process and pretty much all my life will be RUINED. Idk what to do. I need some HELP and advice.

Thanks for reading, there is much more to unpack. I answer questions. Thanks again.

This is neither here nor there, just sharing a feeling. Some of my colleagues have just ridiculously impressive portfolios. (You see them in detail when for instance considering tenure or promotion cases in your department.) Like I just honestly can't even fathom how some of them have such stunning (and time-consuming) accomplishments across teaching, scholarship, and service. And it's not like--oh, well they're jerks, or they ignore their families or something. They're nice, good people but are just really impressive. I don't really know what I'm asking for except maybe if anyone can relate. And trust me, I'm not looking for reassurance, or conjecture that maybe I just can't see my own accomplishments. Just commiseration. I should add that I feel grateful about it in many ways. Glad to be at a place with such great colleagues. But sometimes it just feels like, wow, that's a lot.

Hi all! I just got my first gig teaching a local liberal arts school. I will be teaching 6 credit hours, and I was wondering on average, how many hours should I expect to work weekly. I haven't found a lot of resources online that answer this question, and I just would like to plan ahead.

Thank you in advance!

Edit: This will be my very first time teaching, so I'm still very new to all the units/credits and all the prep, especially since I would have to come up with everything from the ground up for this class. Any other piece of advice is also greatly appreciated!!!

One faculty and one staff member. Please send congrats/condolences/good vibes/consternations according to your faith.