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pears

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  1. Upvote
    pears got a reaction from ArtHistoryandMuseum in Working while in Grad School   
    Depends on the nature of the job, your pay, & time commitment.
     
    Last semester was my first, & I was a for-credit (unfunded) TA, had a full course load, & had a part-time food service job about 12-15 hours weekly. My supervisors were disorganized & inattentive to employee concerns, employees were paid minimum wage & we didn't have a tip jar, & our schedules changed every. Single. Week. I was constantly stressed & frustrated, & had virtually no social life because I was totally burnt out every weekend from job-work & school-work together. It was very emotionally & mentally unhealthy, so I quit at the end of the semester. It simply wasn't worth the spotty minimum wage & stress. So, for me, it wasn't an issue of time or time management; rather, it was an issue of.. well, just about everything else.
     
    That said, I'm sure that a job with better supervisors, a regular schedule, & better pay would be feasible, as long as you're a hard work in all senses & a good time manager. However, I would go into it making it clear that you're a student first, & that there would be a chance that you'd have to change your schedule or leave in the future in order to balance & prioritize academic things.
  2. Upvote
    pears got a reaction from unbrokenthread in Fat-Friendly Campuses?   
    Thank you for sharing all of this! I'm leading a seminar discussion about biopolitics, the embodiment of inequality, etc. in a couple of weeks, & weight/obesity comes up in scholarly papers very frequently. It's amazing how complicated the web of nutrition, poverty, education, gender, etc. is. Although it's a touchy topic — & for good reason — I'm trying to educate myself about epigenetics & the debates surrounding it, too. (If you have any relevant papers, let me know!)
  3. Upvote
    pears got a reaction from mcmanson in Good programs for Native American/Indigenous studies?   
    ASU has a Native Studies program which offers an MS track focused on "Indigenous Rights & Social Justice," and they a very strong anthropology program - I know the latter really stresses the importance of inter/trandisciplinary research, which would be to your benefit, since you're overlapping anthro & native studies areas of research. I don't know their Native Studies program's reputation or funding situation, though.
    TAMU has a strong focus on the peopling of the Americas, but it looks like you want something more contemporary...
    University of Oklahoma had a great program, but sadly, Joe Watkins isn't teaching there at present (NPS Chief Archaeologist, I believe), so I'm not sure if anything's changed there.
    Cal (Berkeley) has a few faculty members who focus on some of those topics, for sure.
    I don't know about their departments or course offerings, but the University of Alaska schools & UBC have a good track record as far as collaboration & native concerns go. University of Arizona seems to have many Native Studies related graduate programs, but I don't know anything about it.
    Hope that helps! Your areas of interest made me recall some papers I've read recently, but I can't remember their authors... brain fart fail. :/
  4. Upvote
    pears reacted to RunnerGrad in Fat-Friendly Campuses?   
    Since I'm in nutrition, I actually have studied obesity. It isn't as simple as calories in = calories out, as some of you think.  It also isn't always about personal choice.
     
    If any of you actually care to educate yourselves, here are some good studies and other articles on the topic:
     
    The epidemiology of overweight and obesity: public health crisis or moral panic?
     
    2006 Canadian clinical practice guidelines on the management and prevention of obesity in adults and children
     
    ECONOMIC CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF OBESITY
     
    Here are some great graphics that illustrate the many causes of obesity:
     
    http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h232/nutritionrunner/determinants_zps32a90d05.jpg
    http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h232/nutritionrunner/obesityfactors_zps9041a94e.png
     
    Oh gee, look at all the factors that aren't under an individual's control!  Imagine that!
     
    The following is the best illustration of all the many factors that affect obesity.  It is an incredibly complex problem:
    http://www.shiftn.com/obesity/Full-Map.html
     
    So please, educate yourself about the causes and treatment of obesity before you go assuming it is the individual's fault.  The research being done in this area indicates that there are many complex, interacting factors that affect obesity and obesity rates.  It isn't always a matter of eating too much and moving too little.  It is much, much more complex.  Energy balance is only part of the equation.
  5. Upvote
    pears reacted to DigDeep(inactive) in Your Favorite Words That Mean Something Specific In Your Field   
    I think my skin color is close to 10YR 7/3 or 7/4 - I'm thinking I should get that tattooed somewhere.....
  6. Upvote
    pears got a reaction from pyrocide in Your Favorite Words That Mean Something Specific In Your Field   
    I'm going to start going around calling people loambags & siltbags.
  7. Upvote
    pears got a reaction from actuallyatree in A Solution for the Tenure Problem   
    On a very superficial level, having only looked into his bio & scanned the article: all this is very easy to for a very young & charismatic professor who appears to be tenured himself. I'll revisit this thread when I've given it a thorough read & more thought!
     
    But, in general, this reminds me of a trend that I have a particular distaste for in anthropology: as far as I can tell, everyone — especially seasoned researchers — loves to run their jaw about how we need to stop writing & speaking in "Academese," make our work relevant to & digestible for the public, stay deeply involved with & committed to the places & people we study, & so on... yet, so far, it's mostly been a case of "do as I say, not as I do," & in turn, that perpetuates our ridiculous system of expectations for anthropologists. I mean, really, you expect me to listen to your complaints about the "opaqueness" of anthropology when you used "somniforous" more than once in your article? Yeah, no. Go away. :|
     
    Anyway, to bring that full circle, there seems to be a good deal of "do as I say"-type academia related pieces floating around; lots of hypocrisy on the part of people whose careers are very secure, but that's not to say they haven't truly earned the ability to say these sorts of things. I just wish there were more progressive academic leadership by action.
  8. Upvote
    pears reacted to mesoarch in Anthropology Results 2014   
    After 4 rejections I was contemplating alternative careers, then today I find out I'm accepted to UNC Chapel Hill and waitlisted at Tulane!
  9. Upvote
    pears reacted to Ancient_DNA in Anthropology Results 2014   
    Accepted by U of T as given advance notice by my POI through e-mail.  Funding appears to be $15k + tuition + health plan + incidental fees (whatever those are), and a bonus top up if I get some prestigious awards.  I'm not sure if this is standard for everyone, but she seemed pretty confident telling me that the letter she attached to the email was indicative of what I, and others, would be getting.
  10. Upvote
    pears reacted to aphdapplicant in unpopular things you love   
    Opposite of you morning people - if the world were my way, we'd go to bed at 6am, wake up by 2pm, and be functional 4pm to 4am.
  11. Upvote
    pears reacted to TakeruK in I need advice on quitting (primarily due to advisor)   
    I'm sorry to hear about your current experience! It does not sound ideal at all!
     
    First, I don't think any of us can really comment on whether you have to pay back your fellowship, because it is probably something specific to your contract and you would have to talk to people who know about the contract to get real advice. However, I would think it's pretty rare that a departmental fellowship will come with the condition that "you must graduate or pay back everything on your fellowship". More commonly, I see clauses like "if you do not finish the term(s) that you have been paid for, you must pay back that part of the fellowship". So if you left in the middle of a term, you would only have to pay back the money that was paid for you to complete that term/semester. Also, it would not make sense to take money back for services performed (e.g. your fellowship was paid for you to have done some work such as TA/RA) after you have already completed that work. There are many non-service fellowships as well, but then they can't say that since you didn't TA/RA, you'd have to pay it back because non-service fellowship means that you did not have to provide any services in order to get the money. But there should be a way for you to discuss this with someone outside of your department (e.g. the graduate school) in a hypothetical manner so that you don't have to tell them you plan to leave or reveal why you want to leave. Anything I or anyone else writes here can only be guesses based on our own previous experiences! Your specific contract may be very different.
     
    Also, there are some things you list that are actual unethical behavior that should be reported if you feel comfortable doing so (or talking about with your advisor) but there are also many things that aren't unethical at all--they may not be the best behavior, but nothing actually that might violate laws, University policies, or constitute academic dishonesty. Since you asked for advice, here is what I think your description of your advisors' actions lie and I hope this might help you decide what issues to focus on reporting if you do go that route. Also, some of this is subjective so other people might have other opinions:
     
    Actions I think are definitely wrong and should be reported / brought up with your advisor if you want to: 
    1. Putting your name on papers without your permission 
    2. Plagiarizing your work
     
    Actions that are questionable but not necessarily unethical/violations depending on your Universities' policies or other situations/details not known here
    1. Last minute editing of a paper without telling you (if you're not first author, the advisor has the right to decide what goes in the paper, although he should have at least shown his coauthors the final draft before submission and allow anyone who doesn't agree to withdraw their name and their contributions to that paper). Without further information, I wouldn't necessarily call telling/suggesting that you remove some statements that the editor won't like to be censorship (if he's right then the editor will tell you to remove those statements anyways). Presenting your work in any medium (talk, paper, poster, whatever) means knowing your audience and strategically deciding what you want to convey. If you want to convince people of A, B, and C (your claims), it might make sense to first present only B if you think A and C are too controversial and might make people ignore your very good points in favour of B.
    2. Sleeping with his students--this might be a violation of University policy. Unless the student is underage, it's probably not illegal. I know my current school has no policies that prevent a relationship between a professor and a student.
     
    Actions that are crappy things to do but probably not something a prof can actually get in trouble for:
    1. Lying to you about himself, the program, and how he feels about your research interests (it's hard to tell between outright lying and changing your mind, or a misunderstanding, anyways).
    2. Choosing to publish only in certain journals
    3. Not reading the papers cited in his work--75% is a large number, but I'd say many people won't read the entire paper when they cite a work, depending on the reason for the citation. 
    4. Poor quality of the education provided by the school--this is super crappy but unless the school promised certain things in writing and then did not follow through, I can't think of a way you can hold the school to providing a certain level of education. 
     
     
    I agree that an ombudsperson would be a good path to go. Maybe it's a bit different in the US, but you might want to consider another route too. In Canada, the ombudsperson is a neutral third party that mediates a tough conflict/dilemma. You can/should also seek out someone who would play more of an "Advocate" role--that is, someone whose job is to be on your side. In Canada, these people tend to be employed by the Undergrad/Graduate Student Association at that school to provide legal advice for their students (sometimes they are volunteers from the school's Law program). It might be good to have both an ombudsperson and an advocate with dealing with tricky legal issues like this case.
  12. Upvote
    pears got a reaction from DigDeep(inactive) in unpopular things you love   
    Ha! Hardly - I think archaeologists just tend to be oddballs with a penchant for the off-beat. As you will note, DigDeep has accumulated some seriously BAMF-status interests. Just don't pick on us, & we won't come running after you with homemade atlatls made of obsidian & rabbit sinew.
  13. Upvote
    pears reacted to DigDeep(inactive) in Favorite quick meals   
    http://www.budgetbytes.com
     
    Best. site. ever.
  14. Upvote
  15. Upvote
    pears reacted to Alterman in Anthropology Results 2014   
    Just got accepted to Oxford
    After 12 rejections, I almost lost hope...
     
    Anybody else got accepted? Feel free to PM me.
  16. Upvote
    pears got a reaction from AKJen in A Solution for the Tenure Problem   
    On a very superficial level, having only looked into his bio & scanned the article: all this is very easy to for a very young & charismatic professor who appears to be tenured himself. I'll revisit this thread when I've given it a thorough read & more thought!
     
    But, in general, this reminds me of a trend that I have a particular distaste for in anthropology: as far as I can tell, everyone — especially seasoned researchers — loves to run their jaw about how we need to stop writing & speaking in "Academese," make our work relevant to & digestible for the public, stay deeply involved with & committed to the places & people we study, & so on... yet, so far, it's mostly been a case of "do as I say, not as I do," & in turn, that perpetuates our ridiculous system of expectations for anthropologists. I mean, really, you expect me to listen to your complaints about the "opaqueness" of anthropology when you used "somniforous" more than once in your article? Yeah, no. Go away. :|
     
    Anyway, to bring that full circle, there seems to be a good deal of "do as I say"-type academia related pieces floating around; lots of hypocrisy on the part of people whose careers are very secure, but that's not to say they haven't truly earned the ability to say these sorts of things. I just wish there were more progressive academic leadership by action.
  17. Upvote
    pears reacted to i.am.me in unpopular things you love   
    haha!
     
    pears - agreed - those taboo fields are really tasty and what a waste for others to throw the yummy parts away!
  18. Upvote
    pears reacted to excitedgradwithquestions in Moving to graduate school with significant other   
    Wow!
     
    This is all such great advice - and it is so relieving to hear that a lot of people have gone this route! So basically, it seems like everything will get less stressful when my SO finds a job. I feel a lot better now Thanks guys! 
  19. Upvote
    pears reacted to Eigen in Moving to graduate school with significant other   
    Why must you rain on everyone's parade when they talk about family life and dating? It's possible to just not read these topics, you know. 
     
    To the OP:
     
    My wife and I had been married a bit over 2 years when we moved. It was definitely an interesting experience, but we'd already been living together. She didn't have work the first year or so we were here, but we were able to live off my graduate stipend pretty well. 
     
    As TakeruK mentioned, I try to be fairly consistent in my work so that we can have regular time to do things together. In general, most of my department is very understanding of trying to keep a work-life balance- we have a lot of dual career academics. 
  20. Downvote
    pears reacted to LittleDarlings in Moving to graduate school with significant other   
    .... Yeah ha good luck with that.
  21. Upvote
    pears got a reaction from meep15 in Working while in Grad School   
    Depends on the nature of the job, your pay, & time commitment.
     
    Last semester was my first, & I was a for-credit (unfunded) TA, had a full course load, & had a part-time food service job about 12-15 hours weekly. My supervisors were disorganized & inattentive to employee concerns, employees were paid minimum wage & we didn't have a tip jar, & our schedules changed every. Single. Week. I was constantly stressed & frustrated, & had virtually no social life because I was totally burnt out every weekend from job-work & school-work together. It was very emotionally & mentally unhealthy, so I quit at the end of the semester. It simply wasn't worth the spotty minimum wage & stress. So, for me, it wasn't an issue of time or time management; rather, it was an issue of.. well, just about everything else.
     
    That said, I'm sure that a job with better supervisors, a regular schedule, & better pay would be feasible, as long as you're a hard work in all senses & a good time manager. However, I would go into it making it clear that you're a student first, & that there would be a chance that you'd have to change your schedule or leave in the future in order to balance & prioritize academic things.
  22. Upvote
    pears got a reaction from AKCarlton in Working while in Grad School   
    Depends on the nature of the job, your pay, & time commitment.
     
    Last semester was my first, & I was a for-credit (unfunded) TA, had a full course load, & had a part-time food service job about 12-15 hours weekly. My supervisors were disorganized & inattentive to employee concerns, employees were paid minimum wage & we didn't have a tip jar, & our schedules changed every. Single. Week. I was constantly stressed & frustrated, & had virtually no social life because I was totally burnt out every weekend from job-work & school-work together. It was very emotionally & mentally unhealthy, so I quit at the end of the semester. It simply wasn't worth the spotty minimum wage & stress. So, for me, it wasn't an issue of time or time management; rather, it was an issue of.. well, just about everything else.
     
    That said, I'm sure that a job with better supervisors, a regular schedule, & better pay would be feasible, as long as you're a hard work in all senses & a good time manager. However, I would go into it making it clear that you're a student first, & that there would be a chance that you'd have to change your schedule or leave in the future in order to balance & prioritize academic things.
  23. Upvote
    pears reacted to QASP in popular things you hate   
    This and CrossFit. Two bad tastes that taste bad together!
  24. Upvote
    pears reacted to AKCarlton in Anthropology Results 2014   
    Just got accepted to Illinois State University's Historical Archaeology program!!
  25. Upvote
    pears reacted to nugget in unpopular things you love   
    Instant coffee. (It's quick and does the job when brewed coffee isn't readily available or I'm in a hurry).
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