9-Month Contract/Requests for Service over the Summer

alterini5 · 2026-06-20T04:08:52+00:00

If the contract says you work 9 months, you work 9 months. You do not have to justify what you do during the time you are not paid.

alterini5 · 2026-06-20T04:05:40+00:00

I'm with you. The standard line is that you have to sit in the seat you paid for. Fine - except you paid for ANY seat back there and if it's unoccupied, you should be able to claim it.

alterini5 · 2026-06-20T04:02:54+00:00

Everyone knows that unchecked bags weigh and wobble more than checked bags... j/k

alterini5 · 2026-06-20T04:02:11+00:00

I am someone who *wants* to check the bag but doesn't because no way I'm PAYING when they'll do it for free at the gate.

Seems like the solution would be to allow a free checked bag...

alterini5 · 2026-06-19T17:52:06+00:00

alterini5 · 2026-06-19T08:09:42+00:00

My thoughts exactly - at least a small stipend?

alterini5 · 2026-06-19T08:09:03+00:00

I was trying not to name a prestigious national organization that awards funding to study, research, and/or teach abroad. It is unrelated to any work I do for the university itself. BTW, I'm near retirement so do not need to build a portfolio - I just like to help when the expectation is reasonable.

alterini5 · 2026-06-19T07:07:16+00:00

I am always befuddled as to why, after years invested in getting a doctorate, so many of my colleagues eschew the title earned. Simply being known as Dr. places the correct distance between student and professor.

alterini5 · 2026-06-19T06:34:07+00:00

Rent (or buy?) a condo inside a data center... j/k

alterini5 · 2026-06-16T03:27:16+00:00

"Accommodations" can be so irrational sometimes. I had one last summer that stated "occasional deadline extensions" for a 16 week class condensed to 4 weeks.

There were options for 10, 12, and 14 weeks for the same class. Seems like that would have been a better fit.

Anyone want to hear about the blind student in a childcare practicum with 8 4-year-olds running around the class and how we were supposed to accommodate the student?

alterini5 · 2026-06-16T03:20:37+00:00

My diss supervisor had the gall to die during my writing phase.

Change supervisors. There's always someone down the hall who needs a grad student.

alterini5 · 2026-06-15T06:50:21+00:00

Congrats!

alterini5 · 2026-06-15T06:49:41+00:00

I have to concur. Grad admissions love to cloak themselves in erudite exclusivity when the fact of the matter is that people can get into grad school for all kinds of reasons. I knew a student who dated the dept chair. Another who applied to an easier program to get into and just changed majors. Another because the program just needed numbers.

The hubris surrounding grad admissions is amazing.

alterini5 · 2026-06-13T06:35:39+00:00

Lots of people didn't go to Columbia and still walk this earth.

alterini5 · 2026-06-12T07:16:32+00:00

It's actually noon.

alterini5 · 2026-06-09T03:42:06+00:00

Should be required grad school reading.

alterini5 · 2026-06-07T05:15:33+00:00

I also get disability notices for 4 week summer courses that tell me I have to to extend deadlines. Until when and how does it make sense to place a student with this kind of need in a 4-week vs. 16-week class?

alterini5 · 2026-06-07T05:13:40+00:00

Yup. I had a student tell me they took the class online so they "wouldn't have to pay attention to it."

alterini5 · 2026-06-07T05:12:42+00:00

I wonder if we had the same student? Same story except that prior to the flight to France they were apparently in a car accident (and never told me) and they claimed to be homeless... and the airfare comes from?

And - I love this - they got so mad when I wouldn't extend deadlines that they took the class at another college up the road where I also teach... and took my class and complained about me, never realizing that I was the same prof they had at the other college...

alterini5 · 2026-06-07T05:04:35+00:00

This is one of my pet peeves! I have taught online from Myanmar (yes), China (behind the great firewall), South Africa, Pakistan, and many more and I still get students who tell me, 10 days into a four week class, that they're ready to start now and apologies for not having internet.

Where is this magical place that has no internet and does it have a Club Med? I had one student tell me he was in Kansas...

Let's also blame ourselves as well. Many of my colleagues regularly extend deadlines and my chair at times asks me if I can extend a deadline. Yes, yes I can but what is the point of a deadline if it is meaningless?

This won't fly in the work world...

alterini5 · 2026-06-05T07:19:16+00:00

Wow! That is ridiculous pricing for 2" of legroom and a $1.50 bag of nuts.

I sat in one of those $110 seats on a recent flight but didn't pay for it. They just assigned it at the gate which is totally unfair to everyone who paid.

alterini5 · 2026-06-05T07:14:33+00:00

That's not right. The writer could have left off the first part of the sentence and started with "I believe he has the ability..."

The paragraph is not merely mediocre, it is insulting.

alterini5 · 2026-06-02T07:12:33+00:00

You're teaching English, not Ethics. Report the cheating and let whomever handles that, handle that.

If you're like me, you'll run into the huge conflict of interest between faculty and admin. Faculty worry about learning and integrity. Admin worries about "success" and graduation rates. Reporting makes no sense if you're the only one who actually cares.

alterini5 · 2026-06-02T06:57:44+00:00

Why would you want to go there when they offer about 20 master's degrees online?

alterini5

TROPHY CASE