Fall is in the air!

With the first fall in the new house comes a load of fun (and work). Our yard is full of trees meaning our yard is full of leaves. On this fall day, the leaves were too wet to mulch so we decided to rake and play. The kids may not have snow to play in this year so hopefully the leaves will be an adequate substitute.

Notes from the Tenure Track: Part II

When I started working at Saint Xavier University, I was welcomed with open arms. But later the first year when I received my first annual evaluation from the chair, I was shocked. It seems that one student out of the nearly 150 had a problem with me and wrote comment stating that i was "arrogant and talk down to students." It seems that my annual review focused on this one point and did not mention all of the other positive reviews or the comments of the faculty reviewers. When I spoke with the chair, she said that it looked like more than one student due to the way the forms were transcribed, she acknowledged that it was only one student from the original forms, but she did not change her letter before moving on to the dean. When I asked what my rights were in terms of sending a response, she said that "was just not done." This continued throughout my time there with the additions of many factual errors leading to my next 2 pieces of advice:

Advice #2: Be sure to check annual reviews for facts and be sure to speak with your supervisors about positive and negative items.

Advice #3: Do not be intimidated and stand up for yourself during your probation period. If you don't, who will?

I believe that if I had challenged each review at the dean's level with a rebuttal letter, I would have had a better case against the tenure committee. Do not forget advice #1 about documenting everything.

Halloween Mayhem

Another Halloween has come and gone with cuteness all around. It seems though that Halloween has become a weeklong (or more) festival. We had school carnivals, parties and trick or treating that lasted most of the week. We even had a party in my night classes which make for more fun than the typical lecture.

I am not one to change it though as it is my favorite time of the year.