The Quiet Time...
We are now in what I call 'the quiet time'. The rush of the Spring semester is behind and the Summer classes have not started. This means that there are only a few people on campus. Of course, the office staff are there. However, they spend most of their time playing solitaire, or surfing the Internet. There are no students.
I always find this an interesting time on a campus. It is great time to get research work done. The Library is open, but it too is almost empty. What is really fascinating about this time in the pulse of the University calender is that it becomes possible to figure out who does any research and who does not. The faculty who are around at this part of the year are the ones who are prepared to post their Vitas on-line. They publish. They go to conferences and present. The people one does not see are the ones who do not appear to do any research. They only post vague accounts of their alleged research on their web pages. I guess it is a 'sheep from the goats' thing.
Next week, the Summer semester will start. The quiet time will end, somewhat. Everybody knows that around here the only people who teach in the Summer are people with large child support bills, adjuncts who need the money and a few others who are fiscally desperate and don't care a fig about research. The Summer is one of the very best research opportunities that we have.
The great thing about the 'quiet time' is that one gets to have lunch with people with real research projects. Although we may work in totally different areas, as there are few places open, we often end up in the same place to grab food in the middle of the day. We get to talk and gossip. One can learn a great deal at these sessions. I got to hear about some excellent scandals that were covered up. However, I also got to learn a great deal about an area which interests me, but I do not really know a whole lot about, just today, over a sandwich. I love it.
I guess next week, I will just start shutting my office door again. Maybe I won't have to. We shall see how many students there are. However, I have managed to get a lot of real research done this week and have written a huge amount. It is fun to be part of the 'productive club'. I just wonder what all the other so-called 'professors' are doing?
The CP
I always find this an interesting time on a campus. It is great time to get research work done. The Library is open, but it too is almost empty. What is really fascinating about this time in the pulse of the University calender is that it becomes possible to figure out who does any research and who does not. The faculty who are around at this part of the year are the ones who are prepared to post their Vitas on-line. They publish. They go to conferences and present. The people one does not see are the ones who do not appear to do any research. They only post vague accounts of their alleged research on their web pages. I guess it is a 'sheep from the goats' thing.
Next week, the Summer semester will start. The quiet time will end, somewhat. Everybody knows that around here the only people who teach in the Summer are people with large child support bills, adjuncts who need the money and a few others who are fiscally desperate and don't care a fig about research. The Summer is one of the very best research opportunities that we have.
The great thing about the 'quiet time' is that one gets to have lunch with people with real research projects. Although we may work in totally different areas, as there are few places open, we often end up in the same place to grab food in the middle of the day. We get to talk and gossip. One can learn a great deal at these sessions. I got to hear about some excellent scandals that were covered up. However, I also got to learn a great deal about an area which interests me, but I do not really know a whole lot about, just today, over a sandwich. I love it.
I guess next week, I will just start shutting my office door again. Maybe I won't have to. We shall see how many students there are. However, I have managed to get a lot of real research done this week and have written a huge amount. It is fun to be part of the 'productive club'. I just wonder what all the other so-called 'professors' are doing?
The CP
posted by The Combat Philosopher at 9:58 PM
1 Comments:
You alluded to learning more about a unfamiliar topic that interests you. In a future entry, I would like to hear more about that.
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