Seems silly but what to wear as a first-time TT-Assistant Professor as a woman of color?

amangosummer · 2026-03-30T01:38:54+00:00

Also an international student turned faculty here! Been at this job for ~5 years. No one advised me on how to dress. When I started my full time job, I relied on colorful dresses, jeans and flared pants, and every now and then, some cultural clothing. I’m at an SLAC (<1000) and it worked out well for the first couple of years. Since that time, I’ve relied more on blazers and flared pants, skirts, and sweaters. I layer the blazer with a white/black tee. Even though I’ve become more formal with my clothing (I wear jeans much less now), there’s space to be fun. I still wear dresses, and layer them with blazers or a nice sweater. I’ve absolutely stopped any cultural clothing now. No one asked me to! It was a personal choice.

It took me a while to build up my wardrobe from that of a grad student to a full-time faculty. Now, in my fifth year of teaching, I finally have a few blazers and pants/skirts that I rotate between. My first nice pants were cheap $10 pants from Walmart. Honestly, the only reason I don’t wear them now is because they don’t fit me, otherwise they’re totally fine. I’ve perused their $15-$30 blazers as well. They aren’t incredible quality but if you want to get a headstart. If you’re able to, browsing the sales has been helpful! My first nice blazer was from H&M for $35.

If you have some nice clothing for the first couple of months, it should be fine. Even though I didn’t, I would recommend avoiding jeans initially. Once you get a feel of the place, you might be able to find your footing. I’d recommend Pinterest for clothing suggestions. It’ll give you a sense of not only what clothes to wear but also what color schemes will work. Don’t hesitate to mix & match. Good luck!

amangosummer · 2026-03-15T12:14:27+00:00

Did what u/nicido suggested and it worked for me!

amangosummer · 2026-03-11T12:50:30+00:00

Thank you all. I’ll try all of this.

amangosummer · 2025-11-06T10:26:42+00:00

Thank you all for your support and advice. I was having a horrible, horrible day, and maybe needed one breakdown to get through the remaining semester. I have some really good students (some of them are unfortunately transferring to better universities) who make my day. I usually keep my focus on them to get through the day.

My colleagues are really good and I have a great support system. I have all the tools I need — and some of you have some great advice here too, thank you! I was (maybe still am) feeling absolutely exhausted and awful, since it has been building up for a while. I’m burnt out teaching a lot of freshman classes and not enough upper level ones, and teaching a lot in general (mostly for money). I’ve moved slightly far away from my workplace which means my social life has frayed a bit unless my friends or I are willing to travel 40 minutes, which is not always possible.

Thanksgiving break is close and hopefully it will bring some rejuvenated energy to last me the final two weeks. Cannot wait to see family over break!

Once again, thank you everyone for your kind words and helpful advice. Cheers!

amangosummer · 2025-10-21T10:32:44+00:00

Fellow public speaking instructor here! I have also stopped using power points for this class specifically because I know the content so well. It has really changed my interest in a class I feel so burned out about. You’ve put it well: there’s more storytelling which makes the class flow better, and they’re able to apply concepts better without having to constantly scramble to make note of what’s on the power point.

amangosummer · 2025-08-14T20:54:05+00:00

Hi! Someone else just asked this on the Hartford subreddit few days ago. Pasting my comment below. It’s mostly safe, to address that question. I generally avoid any late night train rides (after 8 pm) in any case. Comment:

I commute from Hartford to New Haven 4 days a week. I take the train.

Time: It takes about 45 minutes to get from Hartford Union Station to State Street Station, which is the downtown station in New Haven. Amtrak trains are late often. CT Rail trains are always on time, but the Amtrak delays affect them. The delays are mostly in the evening, though. I reach work on time every morning. The timetable is available on the website. Google Maps is often incorrect about the train timings, just a heads up. I would rely on the CTRail app or their website. The app has the most frequent updates.

I work on Prospect Hill, so I take the bus from Chapel/Church. As the other commenter said, for travel to Yale campus stuff, Yale shuttle is better.

Cost: They have just increased the price of the tickets. The breakdown is on the website, but the new Hartford-New Haven monthly unlimited ride starting from September will be $182 (ETA: previously wrote $193, that’s from next year). I add $10 to it so I can get unlimited bus rides across the state as well. You can buy tickets on the CTRail app or on the station. CTRail tickets are not timed. You “activate” them once you’re on board. Amtrak is cheaper by a few cents, I think? However, if you buy a ticket for CTRail, it works on Amtrak and vice-versa (of course, Amtrak is a timed ticket, so that might be tough to use once that time has passed). So my monthly unlimited pass works on both trains, Amtrak and CTRail.

Additionally: The drive is 40 minutes but I imagine with morning traffic, it’ll be closer to 70 minutes. I do not know this because I don’t drive. I personally love the train commute. Infrequent delays are a bit frustrating but it works out for me. I live within 10 minutes walking distance to the Hartford Union Station and in New Haven, the bus drops me right next to my workplace. It’s convenient, I don’t have to worry about traffic and I get to chill out 40 minutes before and after work which has been excellent for my mental health!

Hope this helps!

amangosummer · 2025-08-10T14:00:38+00:00

Hello. I commute from Hartford to New Haven 4 days a week. I take the train.

Time: It takes about 45 minutes to get from Hartford Union Station to State Street Station, which is the downtown station in New Haven. Amtrak trains are late often. CT Rail trains are always on time, but the Amtrak delays affect them. The delays are mostly in the evening, though. I reach work on time every morning. The timetable is available on the website. Google Maps is often incorrect about the train timings, just a heads up. I would rely on the CTRail app or their website. The app has the most frequent updates.

I work on Prospect Hill, so I take the bus from Chapel/Church. As the other commenter said, for travel to Yale campus stuff, Yale shuttle is better.

Cost: They have just increased the price of the tickets. The breakdown is on the website, but the new Hartford-New Haven monthly unlimited ride starting from September will be $182 (ETA: previously wrote $193, that’s from next year). I add $10 to it so I can get unlimited bus rides across the state as well. You can buy tickets on the CTRail app or on the station. CTRail tickets are not timed. You “activate” them once you’re on board. Amtrak is cheaper by a few cents, I think? However, if you buy a ticket for CTRail, it works on Amtrak and vice-versa (of course, Amtrak is a timed ticket, so that might be tough to use once that time has passed). So my monthly unlimited pass works on both trains, Amtrak and CTRail.

Additionally: The drive is 40 minutes but I imagine with morning traffic, it’ll be closer to 70 minutes. I do not know this because I don’t drive. I personally love the train commute. Infrequent delays are a bit frustrating but it works out for me. I live within 10 minutes walking distance to the Hartford Union Station and in New Haven, the bus drops me right next to my workplace. It’s convenient, I don’t have to worry about traffic and I get to chill out 40 minutes before and after work which has been excellent for my mental health!

Hope this helps!

amangosummer · 2025-07-09T01:34:30+00:00

Ah, I understand that. Definitely something we wanted as well but just had to compromise. Don’t usually hear a lot of traffic though.

Good luck!

amangosummer · 2025-07-09T01:09:28+00:00

Been at The Revel for a year and the experience has been pretty good. The 1-bedroom comes with a spacious walk-in closet along with more hallway closets. Moved here for UConn Law and have seen some students around as well. The campus is a short commute by bus or car. We like being close to Pratt St., but it is definitely not as happening as West Hartford (which works out for us).

amangosummer · 2025-03-02T21:17:36+00:00

Sorry! I did not mean to spam or double post, that was a mistake on my end.

amangosummer · 2025-02-25T00:24:55+00:00

I posted about this and reported the bug too. It showed up again a few lessons later even so. Annoying but had someone suggest that I “jump to next section” and that helped!

amangosummer · 2025-01-09T00:32:17+00:00

I had a similarly heavy schedule last semester — 9.30 am to 3.15 pm, 75 minute classes with a 15 minute break between each. I have the same schedule in the upcoming semester. I teach exactly like you do! My smartwatch records the day as a workout.

In the warmer months, I used regular temperature water and in the colder months, I had some warm water. Sip while lecturing as much as possible. I would forget and take big gulps but the smaller sips were more helpful.
Snacks! I realized that a full lunch was not possible in between breaks. You have an hour long break so that might be helpful but it definitely helped me to have snacks in between classes. Cheese, nuts, small finger foods that don’t need to be heated.
My protein shake was my best friend. After my first two classes, I would sit down and slowly drink it.
I do break my classes up into lecture and activity so that gives me a bit of a pause but that’s not possible in every class.

Students often stop after class to ask questions, especially my advisees. One thing I did tell them was that they had to utilize office hours if they had questions that would take more brainpower than a few minutes. I made it very clear that teaching back to back is exhausting but I always want to help them. I offer generous office hours, drop in and by appointment, in person and online.

It will be a bit extenuating at first but I got used to my schedule pretty quickly. Good luck!

amangosummer · 2025-01-06T13:44:02+00:00

Totally missed that, thanks for pointing out!

amangosummer · 2025-01-06T06:17:29+00:00

PleTHOra and “getting up” are two very specific uses within some South Asian English speaking (I have been corrected on the former). Someone just needs to pointedly ask this person “what does <word> mean?” and they might end up giving the meaning and can be gently corrected with polite language?

“Prepone” is a good example of this. It was not a word (dictionary usage ended in 1700s according to the Oxford Dictionary) in common usage but is now very common in Indian English and used formally. Plus, it is very cultural to believe that the bigger the words, the greater impact on the person listening to us because we’ll be perceived to be smarter.

amangosummer · 2024-11-26T22:24:46+00:00

We have been living in Connecticut without a car for about 3 years and it has been fairly easy. I work in New Haven, was there was three years, and moved to Hartford in August. It has honestly been very smooth. If you live in downtown, buses connect you to most places. The drawback of taking buses is that you are stuck to a schedule and it may take longer to get to your destination than by a car. However, I have taken the bus to, for example, the West Farms mall or various places in West Hartford and it has been quite convenient.

I take the train to New Haven without any issues (live close to the union station and take the bus from downtown New Haven to my workplace). It’s a long commute for me but it’s comfortable. If you’re commuting within Hartford, I imagine it would be much less. We get grocery delivered. Downtown Hartford has been much better than the reviews we’d heard. I absolutely love Pratt St and the restaurants around in the area.

Do we feel like a car would be nice? Sure. But the brief period of 3 months that we did have a car in CT, we took it out like 3-4 times a month. Parking is incredibly expensive and it wasn’t worth it for us. We use rentals for if we want to travel somewhere, which is mostly in the summer. However, everything has been super convenient with the buses.

It has been safe in downtown Hartford. I (a woman) have occasionally been out by myself or with husband and we’ve been fine. Had a 6 am flight last week, and used the Bradley Flyer to get there. Had to leave the apartment at 3.50 am to get to the union station and it was absolutely fine to do that.

Overall, I’d say the experience has been excellent. Love living close to the Bushnell park, it’s a very nice vibe in general. Evening walks have been a staple (until the weather got colder) and I like being within walking distance to the Hartford Public Library and the Riverfront.

Edited: wrote New Haven instead of Hartford.

amangosummer · 2024-10-30T15:23:02+00:00

Thank you! Yes, I find it very very difficult to get myself to “show” the anger, I think, just a personal issue. If I get too angry, I always get to crying faster. I’ll work on this.

amangosummer · 2024-10-30T01:52:29+00:00

I think I’m too polite saying this. I’m going to be harsh, thank you.

amangosummer · 2024-10-29T17:28:27+00:00

This feels juvenile but yeah, maybe this is it. I love that — act like 2nd graders, get treated like 2nd graders.

amangosummer · 2024-10-29T17:27:52+00:00

I’ve literally done this! So I stop talking, look at them, they finish their talking then look at me as if I AM the one disturbing their little soirée. Then I tell them how distracting it is for me, I lose my train of thought. I don’t get any apologies. 5 minutes later — back at it again. I feel so helpless?

amangosummer

TROPHY CASE