comp12

One program I can think of is the SAIC's MFA program in Studio, which has a number of emphases. One of them is "Sound." A lot of "Computer Music" grad programs are also heavy into installation-type work. But many of them are very heavy into technology (coding, programming, interface building, etc.) and/or computer research. That sounds like it may not be up your alley, so perhaps you are right in that you might want to consider "art schools" with faculty and resources available for sound, rather than vice versa.

Ok guys, fun topic to discuss: Do you justify your texts, or left-align them? Yes, if you're submitting a paper to a journal, or your dissertation to the library, you keep to whatever protocols are required; but what if when you have a choice? Do you justify your seminar papers / conference papers / homework assignments / etc. etc.?

I applied for a summer TA-ship outside the department; waiting to hear back. I'm also travelling to present at two conferences. I won't find out until the fall if the department has enough funds to cover travel grants for the summer, so I expect that I might be fully feeling pinched in the wallet come a few months.

Hi all! Just wondering what is the departmental culture like at your school when it comes to attending other's PhD defenses? Of course, they are are listed publicly, but do only friends/invitees show up? Do everyone in the department show up? Do nobody ever show up? How much is the result reflective of a large vs. small department, and how much is it the effect of overall departmental culture? Cheers!

This might seem like an esoteric question, but I'm sure it comes up. I know that at most departments, the process of submitting applications to reimburse travel costs for conferences/symposiums is rather straightforward: get itemized quotes of airfare/hotel/shuttle/taxi/etc. But what if the destination is more easier and practical to just drive to? What is the best etiquette and protocol for submitting the "itemized" costs? I know that the IRS and some companies have a standard per-mile reimbursement for roadtrips, covering gas and "wear-and-tear" of the automobile, but is it proper etiquette and protocol to find one of these rates and use it in my proposal? (This is assuming the university/department does not publish its own mileage reimbursement rate, which I don't think mine does.)

60's? Eh, a spring chicken I say! My prospective adviser has already broken 80

I've recently had a paper submitted for a conference. This conferences archives and publishes all of the papers that are presented (not just the abstract). Each year's conference is compiled into one book, which is indeed circulated / sold. The question is: should I / can I list this paper as a publication on my CV in addition to a presentation?

I did some quick searches for "ergonomic chairs" and received some rude sticker shock. (Gee, so apparently it's those chairs in my TA office that has been eating up my department's funding!) What kind of a budget am I looking at here? Is it possible AT ALL to get something comfy and practical for under 100 bucks?

I don't know if I've really heard that term used so widespread and standard-practice, but no doubt there are various differences between UG and G mindsets, typically stemming from their different points in life, their structure of education, and their goals for what they do. College life is usually filled with going to class and doing homework assignments. UG students learn by being presented information. G students learn by uncovering new information. I gather when most people speak prerogatively about UG "mentalities," they are probably poking at the phenomena of modern college students perhaps being more motivated by external forces than their education per se. For example, maybe the harsh modern economies cause college students to be careerists rather than learners, and they pick their classes and do their homework all with a focus on how to achieve highest grades with highest efficiency. This is all with an eye to getting the best possible job after graduation. Or maybe, their motivations are in the social aspects of college life, rather than the academic. Grad students, supposedly don't care about all that, and mainly focus on their own work/research and nothing else. A quick google search on "undergrad vs. grad" will probably yield a lot more comparisons. One of my favs is: http://blogs.uoregon.edu/projectgraduateschool/2011/06/08/how-is-graduate-school-different-from-undergraduate/

I fortunately live in a city with good climate and relatively free of pollution, but I do have some respiratory issues stemming from a combination of allergies, asthma, and deviated septum. I spend a lot of time indoors in my apartment, so I'm wondering what are some good practices for keeping air clean inside a bedroom? I've heard that getting a plant (that Im not allergic too, obviously!) might help. Is this true, and what kind/how big would be best? Thanks!

I'm going out soon to get a new chair. No, I'm not having problems with committee members. Yes, I find the piece of furniture in my bedroom is inadequate. I live in a furnished apartment, and have found my current chair to be too budget-dorm'ish that I think I'd like to splurge on a new one. I spend so many hours of my day sitting at my laptop that an investment might be a good idea. I'm clueless about shopping around for furniture, since in the past I've only just made bulk trips to Ikea and have huge sprees where the things I buy seem to be more influenced by sticker price and spur-of-the-moment "aesthetic" decisions rather than thought out rational decisions. I have no idea how to compare or how pricing goes for good quality chairs. Does anybody have any tips or specific models they like? Lumbar support is appreciated for when I need to spend hours working on the laptop, but recline and armrest adjustments are important too for when I'm doing extensive reading, etc. Thanks!

11.5k sounds really low for a 50% or 20 hour TA assignment. Are you sure that stipend directly corresponds to the level you'd be offered? Maybe that 20 hour figure is just an even, round example figure, and for TAs like you, you'd be working at something close to 33 or 25 percent? As for making things work, I suppose something like only a 10k living stipend is not ideal, but is not unusual for an MFA program. The starving artist or writer life has to begin somewhere, right, so why not at the graduate level, heh. It seems while STEM stipends can go into the 30ks, I've only heard of MFA stipends maxing out at 20K tops. Sometimes, like TakeruK writes, the TAship is only part of the allotment. Maybe there is a small fellowship or RAship the department can come up with to add to the stipend. You wont know th specifics of your particular offer under you receive it. Health insurance is typically included as part of a TA or RAship though, so you wouldn't have to worry about that. Also, these stipends usually only cover work for 9-month academic years, so you might be able to supplement that with finding a summer TAship or job elsewhere. Depending on cost of living in the university's area, maybe it is doable with a 9-month 11.5k stipend, free health insurance, and time to find work over the summer.

I've attended and TAed for two different universities now, and in my experience, I find that TAs generally are able to finish their work on average at or slightly underneath the amount of their workload. Many TAs end up joining the union to protect themselves from being consistently overworked past their paid load. E.g., if one is paid for 15 hours a week, he or she may spend 3 on lecture, 3 on sections, 2 on office hour, 1-2 on lesson plans, and the rest as needed on grading. Most often, it is the grading that may force a TA to overwork, and when that happens, s/he is encouraged to go to the professor first to strategize allotment of time. Because of union rules, TAs are discouraged from putting in more hours than paid, even if willingly, and the university/prof is required to either reevaluate the assignments and grading needs, or hire more TAs or increase the existing workload. Sometimes, during peak semester times, a TA might work more hours than the load, and that balances out some of the off weeks, but all in all, I've found virtually all TAs are usually able to handle all their requirements close to the rate that they are being hired. I've only heard of universities that hire TAs by workload, so they are paid for the hours they sre expected to put in. I've never heard of them being hired by the course/credit load of the class they are teaching, as that sounds more typical for lecturer/adjunct/associate teacher positions.

Pinkrobot's advice is good. I think they really do expect either finished seminar papers or almost finished or developed thesis papers. Proposals won't cut it, since the sample is not just used to gauge length or plain writing ability (otherwise your proposal would be fine) but also your ability to develop an argument or research. Therefore, a proposal wouldnt be as good as a completed paper.

I think you will get more responses if you post this int eh Languages thread, under the Humanities category.

But what about the irresponsible gun owners? Again, gun advocates have returned to the nonsensical line of "if you outlaw guns, only outlas will have guns" rhetoric. Can't we move past that? Gun control advocates are not saying they are trying to stop all crime. Crime happens. Gun control advocates ARE trying to stop these shooting spree outbreaks that kill innocent people in this country at rates exponentially greater than other places. Meanwhile, there are tons of statistics that prove correlations between stringency of gun laws and murder rates. Meanwhile, we have a wealth of examples and predescessors of nations that have been in America's shoes before, and have clearly successfully transformed their problem. This is no knee-jerk reaction. This has been a long time coming, and way overdue. I can't imagine why anyone wants to uphold the status quo here. I'm sorry that a small portion of the population will be inconvenienced, but I think the many of 10,000+ lives lost every year would be prevented in the future, with some careful legislative action.

I think what's gotten lost in between all this back-and-force dueling between Internet machos, is that I've still yet to read any single rational or intelligent argument in support of upholding this country's currently lax gun laws.

The instant jump does not annoy me. That's because serious action is ALREADY long overdue. Even if such reactions are so "instant," it is still too late. It's not about This or that specific case, it's about the big epidemic, and preventing it from happening in the future, which might just happen to you or someone you love.

It is bigger than gun control, but gun control IS a big part of it. Other countries struggle with mental health issues too. But when they take away guns, their murder sprees decreased light and day.

I appreciate the value of having opposing views for balance, but I feel that you might be simply attempting to play devil's advocate here, instead of engaging in productive conversation. The fact that it happened in such a safe, affluent town is exactly part of why this has generated so much coverage (along with thr fact the victims were small children) . That only makes action more sensible, that this could happen anywhere and we need to prevent future ones. And I don't know why you are implying that gun-control supporters DO want to ban access. All of the intelligent gun-control supporters recognize that simple solution would not be perfect, but rather a series of steps such us more rigid regulation, tighter enforcement of sells, disarmment through incentivized buy back of weapons, better mental health care and awareness, all compounding to hopefully one day lead to a perfect world where we then can have the ability to ban guns altogether if we democratically wish.

At the two universities I have attended, grads can certainly take UG-level language classes without paying. In fact, grads usually can take any class they want pending the workload doesn't interfere with their regular work, and that they satisfy whatever pre-req. requirements the course needs.

See, in my own case, the more relevant question would be: HOW do you get profs to think you're smart and hard working, when you are a slacker and clueless?

I'm at a high-ranked public. Mine rises approximately anywhere from 0 to 2 or 3 percent depending on the financial health of the state that year.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/

BTW, any Missourians know about proper way to colloquially call University of Missouri Columbia? I figure probably just University of Missouri is just about right, but since I have lots of acquaintances at UMKC, it just doesn't sound correct. I follow sports, so I tend to just spill out Mizzou, but I don't know if anybody calls it that in everyday life! Same as California. Inside the state, you ALWAYS call it Berkeley, very rarely even UC Berkeley, even more rarely UCB, and NEVER ever colloquially call it California or Cal, the latter two of course are only reserved for sports.