rising_star

Wait, are you asking in a UK/Australia/New Zealand context or in a US context? If you're talking about the US, then Eigen's answer is correct. However, a Lecturer in the UK is equivalent to an Assistant Professor in the United States...

Depends. A couple of years ago my advisor was acting dept head and also on the admissions committee. But, he's one of those people that really likes to be involved in shaping the department so he didn't really mind the extra work. Where I did my MA, the dept head was never on the adcom.

In my university, you have to have a MA to teach your own course. So, that limits some people when they initially arrive. After that, your teaching assignments are a mix of teaching your own course, being a TA/grader for someone else, and leading discussion sections depending on your interests and departmental needs. I've done all of those things as a PhD student. But, whether and how much teaching your own course matters really varies from one discipline to the next. In my field, it's expected that you will have taught your own class at least once before graduation. My understanding from history colleagues is that it is the norm to lead discussion sections (which, btw, you can and maybe should develop a syllabus for and run as independently as you can for your own experience) and not teach your own course until nearly done or done with the PhD.

http://www.nsf.gov/c.../reu_search.cfm at least for undergraduates.

My understanding is that FOX refused to air the original pilot. Instead, that episode was spliced and cut into basically the first 4-5 episodes of season 1, which is at least part of why those episodes suck, imo. But, once you get through them, you get a really, really interesting show. So, so good.

The Chronicle of Higher Ed has posted two articles that might be of interest. The first addresses rising debt and poor job prospects of those in graduate programs. The second focuses on graduate education in the humanities. The comments on each post are also interesting and you may want to take a look at them.

Bagels aren't really an evening food, plus they require a lot of chewing. If you are going to bring a snack, you want something that's not crunchy or messy or takes a long time to chew. You know, so that people can actually talk and you aren't distracted by chewing noises. But, I would ask your chair what, if anything, people normally bring.

Dear buffy fans, Watch "Dollhouse". Especially if you're teaching about women & gender in the media. Or science & technology. Also, I am jealous of those of you that don't have massive winter break plans. My winter break will be spent moving across the country, finding an apartment, moving into said apartment, getting a new office (hopefully!), applying for fellowships/jobs/postdocs, writing a manuscript, and some time with my family. Yowzers, that looks insane when I write it all out.

Don't bring any food. Seriously. It's an oral exam and you want people talking, not chewing. I asked my committee if they wanted me to bring food or snacks and they unanimously told me no. I did have coffee and doughnuts at my MA thesis defense but my advisor brought them, not me. And also, it was at 9am.

In my MA program, there were three professors that married their former grad students. In the most recent of those (the only I knew about in any detail), she was originally his advisee, he went through a nasty divorce, and then they got closer. She switched to having another advisor for her research. He's a full professor with tenure and she now has a nonacademic job in the same city.

FWIW, I do think there's more hostility and generally rude posts being made now than there were a year or even two years ago. That said, that is not how I or any of the moderators would like this site to be. So please, try to be cordial to one another even as you disagree. Thanks in advance.

I'd say it depends on your contract. In my department, it wouldn't be unreasonable to ask someone to work during that time because we get paid over the break. Part of the reason they pay us is so we can do things like course prep for spring semester, as far as I understand it. So, at least in my dept, you might not like it and it might not be the norm but you also can't complain since we sign contracts explicitly covering dates over winter break.

Maybe but there's also nothing you can do about it so, why worry about it?

I have to say that the rest of you must be in idyllic departments where departmental politics don't come into play and the childless faculty and grad students don't sometimes get the shaft. Seriously. All sorts of preferences are given to people with children, whether you know it or not. That's just how things work. That said, I have seen that as a grad student without children, my personal needs are not always taken into account. Does that mean I resent those with kids? Maybe a little. But, I'd resent them less if they didn't make excuses semester after semester. Everyone has to take one for the team, at least once or twice. To clarify, my earlier comment, I want to be clear that in my department, the faculty with children basically only teach in the middle of the day, such that they can either drop off or pick up their kids from school. And, this leads to a complete clusterfuck when it comes to grad students because their grad seminars often overlap with our large undergraduate courses that the grad students are TAs for. It's sorta difficult to both sit in on a lecture and attend a seminar simultaneously, you know? But I'm the first to admit that my department isn't super progressive and totally plays favorites, as many people are aware.

wildviolet, I'm going to go against the grain on this. Honestly, departmental politics often plays a role in TA assignments. I'm a fifth year PhD student. I haven't gotten a TA assignment in my top three preferences at all. And it can't be a seniority issue because, I'm one of the most senior students around at this point and I *still* get assigned to things that I don't want and don't even list when given an option. Why? Because in my department, it's all about who the graduate program administrator likes. People sidle up to her and get assignments before the courses being offered for the upcoming semester are even announced. In that case, they even get to set the day and time! So yea, it's not always seniority and often other departmental things play a role, whether its logistics, personality, or other factors that you may not ever be privy to. That said, if the Graduate School is paying your salary, then you should leverage that into getting a position that offers you the most benefit. I see little need to kow-tow to the department's whims since it's not coming out of their budget. I would make it clear that the position being offered is one that you absolutely cannot take (don't even tell them why) and that another option needs to be made available, whether that's more hours on your existing RA, a new 1/4 time RA, or a different 1/4 TA position. And hold firm. Seriously. (I say this because I used to have a position like the one you're in and I did use that to get a position that worked for me and helped me advance my career.) But, you know, do it without burning any bridges. Why not? At least in my experience, faculty with kids are allowed--and even encouraged--to schedule their teaching so that they can leave campus by 5pm or even earlier. They don't teach graduate seminars or undergraduate courses in the late afternoon or evening. Those classes are taught by grad students, adjuncts, or the childless faculty.

I've slept 7 hours a night basically throughout grad school, with the exception of the end of the semester crush. Hell, I even had a friend visit for 48 hours during finals week and basically did no work while she was there and everything turned out just fine. So, no, you don't have to work all the time. People who say they do are likely working inefficiently. But, since you have extra time, get involved with activities in the community. Read an article or two a day. Explore your new location.

A- is not a red flag necessarily. Make sure you have a really good writing sample that shows your ability to do research and write about it.

In my first day of class with a famous sociology prof as an undergrad freshman, she basically explained the breakdown of our class and what she expected our performance to be based on where we went to high school and which part of the country we were from. This professor looked at myself and another male student (out of 12 people total) and said, "You two will do worse than anyone. In all likelihood, you won't even graduate from here and if you do, it will take more than 4 years." To our faces in front of everyone in the middle of class. Why? Because we went to public high schools and were both from the US South. Was I offended? Hell yes. Even more so when she basically reiterated the statement when I met with her in office hours to discuss my paper. In my second semester at that school, a professor flat out told me that I was not and never would be capable of writing at the collegiate level. So yea, I can believe that a professor would say something about blacks and race or anything else because I've heard it happen. But, as fuzzylogician has astutely pointed out, it isn't our place to judge the veracity of the OP's claim. For what it's worth, I think the advice to learn what you can both from the class and from your classmates and get out of there with a good grade, no negative evaluation from the professor, and with your departmental relations intact is the best thing you can do. No one is going to force you to work with this professor in the future so just avoid her if that's what you believe is necessary. That said, I will say that I have had some bizarre undergrad and grad experiences (for evidence, read my posts). I once asked a professor why I didn't get the checkmarks and comments that everyone else got on their weekly response papers. Her answer? My writing was clear and concise and she didn't write much because she didn't have as many critical comments to make. Had I never asked, I might not have known or might have assumed something that wasn't true. Just some food for thought.

Yes and no. I don't really see the point of going to a conference on your own dime if you have no research to present. Huge expense with likely minimal payoff. That said, there's a yes about meeting people first. I met my advisor before I applied because he came to my MA university to give a talk as part of the speaker's series. We went out for drinks with other faculty and that's how I got to know him, which was actually before I'd even considered applying to my current PhD university. But, the flipside is that a couple of years ago, a student that had already applied met my advisor and he was thoroughly unimpressed by her, uninterested in her research ideas, and basically killed her application to our program by saying that he wouldn't work with her and didn't think anyone should. She did not get admitted.

I regularly read a chapter of a book for fun just before bed... Helps my brain relax and unwind and it's a good distraction from all the more serious work. Lately, I've been reading travel accounts. I'm guessing I've got some wonderlust built up so reading about other people's travels to places I've never been is interesting.

dendy, I wouldn't be so negative about it. MANY professors put off submitting recommendation letters until close to the deadline and get them done whether or not you panic. It's something I've learned. Another one of my advisor's students recently started to panic about a letter because he went on a trip on a Friday without submitting it. She called him and he said, I'm uploading it via the airport's internet right now. Note that this does not mean that he is "chronically flake", just that he's busy and things may not get done in the order you want them to. P.S. I sincerely doubt everyone hear can find a "punctual mentor" given that many academics routinely ignore deadlines.

I was forwarded this blog post which I think is relevant. Four "secrets" to Success in Science.

Honestly, I think that your actions have to speak louder than your words. That is, you'll need to prove to your current and future colleagues that you were falsely accused. Because my reaction, at least upon reading your initial post, is that you were accused of something but it didn't go any further because various authority figures decided that the accuser's story was weak and thus had little chance of being successful in court. None of which, by the way, indicates a false accusation, merely one with a lack of physical evidence or other factors that make police and prosecutors hesitant to legally pursue such crimes and perpetuate a cultural problem where women who are raped or sexually assaulted keep silent, rather than coming forward.

If you've already submitted your application, there's very little reason to contact professors now.

Well, if you're studying in China, you'll also need to include the cost of the flight, visa, vaccinations, and health insurance, which definitely add to the cost of a program. Were it me, I'd google around for universities that offer intensive Chinese programs. Even if you can't get campus housing, you can probably find a summer sublet from another college student. See here for some ideas. Hope that helps.