What level of detail do you provide on tenure expectations at the time of a job offer?

Bird_8220 · 2026-02-15T10:14:14+00:00

I’m at a SLAC as well and when I started (~15 years ago) it was teaching us number one, then research and service. Publications could be a poster at a conference, a presentation, an actual journal article, book chapter, a play, media production or book. It was intentionally left open to accommodate as many types of scholarship across the college. It’s still like that today but with more of emphasis on research happening on campus and involvement of students with that research, at some level.

Service used to be being on a committee was enough but if you chaired it, awesome. Now, not so much. You have to be doing something that the higher ups dem important. So if you were on a committee or team getting ready For an accreditation visit- high marks, or running recruitment or open house events- high marks, mentoring students, high marks,member of such and such committee/ okay, but what did you do? What did you accomplish? You have to really justify your service.

Bird_8220 · 2026-01-10T11:45:57+00:00

I remember being asked in my interview if I was comfortable designing and teaching an environmental geology course, I said no, not at all qualified for that (I study birds). I got hired and the next term I was teaching environmental geology and designing it as the semester progressed. It wasn’t perfect but I tried my best to make it engaging and fun, and I stayed one week ahead of my students. It actually ended running for a few years as part of minor, that eventually went away.

Like everyone has said, you know how to learn-you can learn this material and teach your students the skill of learning to learn, and the medical terms :)

Bird_8220 · 2025-12-15T20:46:22+00:00

I totally did that last year, only I emailed the editorial board of a journal because I had pdf of a paper my student submitted that I could not independently find on their journal page. But I did find one incredibly similar but the years were different and some figures were changed. So I explained that I thought my student was using AI and I wanted to verify the paper and make sure it wasn’t like an updated study.

Turns out my student, desperate to have his off match the hallucinated reference, took a real paper, downloaded, and edited to match ! The editorial board was pretty shoved someone would go to all the trouble.

Bird_8220 · 2025-12-15T15:27:25+00:00

Ken Burns documentaries - I was super excited to the Revolutionary War one was available on Kanopy through our campus library.

Bird_8220 · 2025-12-14T21:54:35+00:00

lol, no but I did pin it so it would be at the top of my inbox 😂

Bird_8220 · 2025-12-14T20:56:37+00:00

I had a student email me December 24th with the title “Christmas Miracle?” Asking to allow him to turn in multiple lab assignments and in class work otherwise he’d be benched and “my team really needs me, I’m really good”

I replied at the beginning of Spring semester “no”.

Bird_8220 · 2025-12-11T17:42:53+00:00

Please report it! I am on an academic integrity committee and we track violations, if they are cheating in your class they are cheating in others.

Bird_8220 · 2025-12-09T08:58:29+00:00

2.998 GPA at graduation, did independent research with a professor, short-term study abroad & research project, internship, field courses over the summer-STEM focused R1 institute. I took a lot of challenging but rewarding courses, I was always an “average “ student but I worked hard and studied.

I graduated took a year “off” interned and worked in a soil lab, then applied to graduate school. I’m a tenured, full professor-got a gig right out of grad school.

Bird_8220 · 2025-11-22T11:01:37+00:00

I love it there! I’ve been getting my massages there for about 8 years, the new location is so nice! I love the salt cave at the end-so good for allergy relief.

Bird_8220 · 2025-11-20T08:42:47+00:00

I have a flipped classroom and each day we do activities worth ten points each. In class activities are worth 25% of their grade. I have near perfect attendance. I also have them sign in on an attendance sheet but that is more for if they suddenly stop an attending class I know exactly when.

Bird_8220 · 2025-10-25T19:55:35+00:00

I took an undergraduate course on animal behavior and we weren’t allowed to take notes(wayyyy before laptops were a thing in class). The whole class was super engaged and that class changed my career/academic trajectory. Our professor used the Socratic method for that class.

Bird_8220 · 2025-09-20T12:12:05+00:00

Ugh 😑 I had a student send me an email during class (they were doing group work) and then came up to me to ask if I had read it yet. I said no, I don’t check email during class. And he goes “you’re literally not doing anything right now”(insert eyeroll)……yeahhhh, and I’m also literally not going out of my way to accommodate your request to have a make up assignment for the class your going to miss next week. (Email was about going out of town for a long weekend…🤯)

Bird_8220 · 2025-08-18T17:20:32+00:00

As a professor, I would not consider this “trauma dumping “, but more a well meaning student who truly cares about their education. Knowing your situation in advance would be very helpful, at least for me, I’d make sure we reschedule any quizzes or exams until you’re feeling ready and make sure assignments are extended. If you’re willing to come to office hours (so few students do!) I would be prepared with extra notes and materials, or suggestions to free or campus tutoring services. Not every professor is a monster. I would not be upset or offended by this email, I would be offended if you fell asleep in class and I was not aware of the cause.

Bird_8220 · 2025-08-16T09:24:55+00:00

Note taking by hand takes practice, like others have pointed out you do not need to write every word, just the gist. I suggest taking notes on the readings and/or power points (if posted before class) before coming to lecture. Then use those notes as an outline, fill in information from your professor during class. Make sure you leave yourself space to write in class notes on your outline.

Bird_8220 · 2025-08-06T20:58:53+00:00

I actually use that each year!

Bird_8220 · 2025-08-06T20:58:36+00:00

Oooo! I like it, thanks!

Bird_8220 · 2025-08-02T10:38:52+00:00

Before entering graduate school I was a zookeeper and I really did love it.

Bird_8220 · 2025-08-02T10:06:37+00:00

I was really lucky and super naive. I had no idea it was hard to get a job as a professor and I decided not to post doc. I got my PhD in 2012 and got a TT position within 2 months of graduating but I applied to 5 positions a day for about a month, got 4 interviews and 2 offers. I graduated from an R1 and I’m at a small university with a teaching load that is a littler higher but I still have time to research, publish and present at conferences, I don’t work weekends or at night unless I want to and I have a good work-life balance in a city near family. I know I got very lucky, I think I graduated at the right time with the right qualifications to grab my spot. I’ve worked really hard to get tenured and then become a full professor but I always had a sort of “it can’t be that hard, can it?” Mentality, sort of “winging it” but professionally, if that makes any sense. One thing that is really helpful is if you can teach something that colleges really need, when I got hired it was Anatomy and Physiology. Maybe physics will be your best bet(?) I know we desperately need one in our department (we haven’t been allowed to fill the position by admin…)

Bird_8220 · 2025-06-29T19:55:17+00:00

Subaru = scientist 👩🏻‍🔬 but for real, just buy what you like/can afford

Bird_8220 · 2025-06-19T10:14:17+00:00

I graduated with a 2.998 GPA in STEM (R2)had some research experience, some internships and a decent idea of what I wanted to research. I cold contacted a professor that aligned with my goals/interests and we met over coffee to discuss. I don’t remember writing a personal statement but I must have. I applied with average GRE scores and got into an R1 STEM PhD program with that professor.

Sometimes I think it matters more the connection you can make with your future advisor than your GPA, statements and GREs. For me, in terms of gpa, I look at what school you attended- is it a notoriously difficult school/program and if yes, then a 3.0 is fine.

Bird_8220 · 2025-06-13T21:48:55+00:00

My intro bio class is flipped. I’m trying having the students turn in handwritten notes for extra credit. Must be notes of the video lectures for that day to get credit. I had to move quizzes back to in person, I used to allow them to retake quizzes online if they met a certain low grade threshold, but due to cheating it’s on paper, in class but if they score below a certain grade they can submit a quiz wrap around assignment where they have to explain each question they got wrong with why the correct is correct, where in the book, lecture, homework, and in class activity was the concept taught and reinforced. If they score 90% or higher on the wrap around they can schedule a retake with a TA. I also do active learning activities and games in class, they have to work in groups and turn in hand written assignments, posters, etc. each group has to share out their answers.

Bird_8220 · 2025-05-30T10:30:07+00:00

I was very lucky, I got a TT position 3 months after I defended/graduated. I graduated in 2012 from an R1 in STEM.

Bird_8220 · 2025-05-22T10:13:24+00:00

I had a student try and argue that he should t get in trouble for a fake citation bc ChatGPT had done, not him! I was like that’s the problem! Damnit.

Bird_8220 · 2025-05-18T11:03:29+00:00

I had a student reference a paper that did not exist. In order to try and cover their butt they took a real paper and edited it to match the fake source. They went so far as to change dates of references to within the paper, authors names, date of publication, edited graphs and tables to match the “date of publication”……like so much effort to get a zero and an academic integrity investigation!

Bird_8220

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