Writer, Professor, and Everything Else
I’m posting this at 37,000 or so feet, on my way back from Italy from an international conference on MOOCs sponsored by the University of Naples (more accurately, Federica WebLearning). Normally, I wouldn’t pay as much as I’m paying for wifi on a plane, but I wanted to stay awake as much as possible to … Continue reading “A “Modest Proposal” Revisited: Adjuncts, First Year Composition, and MOOCs”
I’ve watched “Con Job: Stories of Adjunct & Contingent Labor” twice now today, even though I don’t have anywhere close to enough time to be doing that– and I don’t have time to write this post, either. But I kind of can’t help myself, I suppose…. Anyway on the positive side: It’s probably the most … Continue reading “Thoughts on “Con Job: Stories of Adjunct & Contingent Labor””
Via the internets, I came across this latest Ms. Mentor column in CHE, “Adjunct or Starving Artist?” and while I generally agree with her, I wanted to add my own slightly different answer to the question because I can recall asking it of myself around 23 years ago and because I think Ms. M. has … Continue reading “A slightly different answer than Ms. Mentor to the question of “Adjunct or Starving Artist?””
Some very good and blunt advice from “Piss Poor Prof” in Inside Higher Ed, “Can You Afford to Be An Adjunct?” Just about everything he says here is spot-on to me: the money isn’t worth it, it is not a “back door” into a more permanent job, it’s something only worth doing while doing something … Continue reading ““Can you afford to be an adjunct?””
I don’t know why I’ve never actually come across this before (perhaps because I’m not an adjunct– at least not anymore and/or right now), but one of my grad students who is writing about adjunct issues referenced this site, AdjunctNation. Great site. Besides info about and some articles from the magazine Adjunct Advocate, it also … Continue reading “"Welcome to AdjunctNation"”
I just finished reading Robert Prisig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (and I don’t think anyone deserves this since I’m talking about a book originally published in the early 1970s, but spoilers ahead). I have been reading it off and on for about four years, though I’ve been trying to read it in … Continue reading “Finally finished “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance;” it was okay”
It must be after the end of the school year because why else would I have the time and/or motivation to write not one but two blog posts in less than one week! In any event: Just the other day, an associate dean of some sort at Southern Illinois University–Carbondale sent around an email to department heads … Continue reading “Two Thoughts on “Volunteer Faculty””
Clair “Tenured Radical” Potter seems to have struck quite the nerve with her Inside Higher Ed column “Angry About Adjuncting? The radical move might be to quit.” The gist of the column is basically in the title: adjuncts who are angry and bitter about their working conditions ought to quit and seek employment outside academia. Lots of … Continue reading “Potter is not wrong, it’s just…”
I have some time on my hands right now. I am completely done with the 2016-17 school year, I am not teaching this summer (and thus not contractually obligated to do much of anything until late August), I won’t be teaching this fall because of a research fellowship, I’m trying to work on finishing a … Continue reading “That horrible and strange article about writing by John G. Maguire”
Among other things, US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said at the Conservative Political Action Conference the other day: Now let me ask you: How many of you are college students? The fight against the education establishment extends to you too. The faculty, from adjunct professors to deans, tell you what to do, what to … Continue reading “Responding to DeVos at CPAC: Oh, if it were only that easy….”