The Fora: A Higher Education Community

Actor Ryan O'Neill, aged 82.

My twist on that statement is leading a horse to water (to drink) and then watching it drown.

Last day of the semester. I had the following emails today:

Begging email for me not to fail the blatant case of plagiarism because they are supposed to graduate next week.
Request for feedback on the paper draft that was due 32 days ago.
Request for extra credit that starts with " I know you say in the syllabus no extra credit. But. . . ."

I need to game show voice over to tell me what I've won with all three in 1 day!

...and horses are typically smart enough not to drown. This one...?

Quote from: Caracal on December 08, 2023, 10:46:08 AM

Quote from: jimbogumbo on December 08, 2023, 10:27:53 AM

Quote from: Langue_doc on December 08, 2023, 07:08:34 AMHow did he last 16 years at East Carolina University?

The publishing bar in terms of quantity isn't that high there. Once tenured, I'm guessing from what students said he was chatty, not a really hard grader and seemed just odd. He also did a ton of service work.

I'm guessing that he left as something went too far. He almost certainly was dinged at UNLV for being in rank that long with few pubs, and I'm guessing also the ECU recs were not great.

The news articles I've seen have said that ECU said he was an assistant Professor, which doesn't really make that much sense? Can you be a non tenure track assistant professor?

Yes — my institution has rank but no tenure.

Quote from: jimbogumbo on December 08, 2023, 10:27:53 AM

Quote from: Langue_doc on December 08, 2023, 07:08:34 AMHow did he last 16 years at East Carolina University?

The publishing bar in terms of quantity isn't that high there. Once tenured, I'm guessing from what students said he was chatty, not a really hard grader and seemed just odd. He also did a ton of service work.

I'm guessing that he left as something went too far. He almost certainly was dinged at UNLV for being in rank that long with few pubs, and I'm guessing also the ECU recs were not great.

The news articles I've seen have said that ECU said he was an assistant Professor, which doesn't really make that much sense? Can you be a non tenure track assistant professor?

Oh, lets be honest here. We all know of some very odd profs who could probably cross the line into insanity, given enough stressors. They operate on the edge of competence. Sometimes they are publishing, sometimes they are teaching OK, and and sometimes they are doing service and getting along, but then enough bad events happen that threads start getting pulled just a bit too much, and too simultaneously.

So, I am quite sure that he was on the radar of more than a few people. Its just that you can get by as weird for two decades before that turns into "bat crap crazy."  Or at least before it becomes enough "bcc" that someone could turn that into a reason for you to be removed from your job.

They did a very poor job of parsing out the difference between the act itself (with no particular "perp" attached), which is always reprehensible, and "the process" of investigating such acts and punishing those responsible.

Also, lets be honest, they were probably deathly afraid of stepping into Mideast politics.

Quote from: Langue_doc on December 08, 2023, 07:08:34 AMHow did he last 16 years at East Carolina University?

The publishing bar in terms of quantity isn't that high there. Once tenured, I'm guessing from what students said he was chatty, not a really hard grader and seemed just odd. He also did a ton of service work.

I'm guessing that he left as something went too far. He almost certainly was dinged at UNLV for being in rank that long with few pubs, and I'm guessing also the ECU recs were not great.

Quote from: Sun_Worshiper on December 02, 2023, 08:15:52 AMDecember goals:

• Make progress on paper #1 with colleague - the plan is to submit to a workshop/conference with a January due date and the paper is basically ready to go, so I doubt this will get much attention
• Make progress on paper #2 with colleagues - the plan is to get it off to the next journal by the end of December; ball is in colleague's court
• Make progress on paper #3 with colleagues - ball is in my court
• Review and submit proofs for book chapter #1
• Finish and submit book chapter #2 w colleague - December due date
• Make progress on my own book project (book project #1)
• Respond to publisher's queries about book project #2

I made some good progress on paper #3 and book chapter #2 over the last few days. Going to keep working on the former today, while my coauthor focuses on the latter (which we should get out the door to the publisher next week).

I also heard back from the publisher about a book proposal that I submitted a couple of months ago with a colleague. The response was generally positive, but we'll need to answer a few questions convincingly to get support from the board. That will be a task for the next week - adding it to my list in the meantime.

I'll finish the first report today. Then read for the second, and maybe accomplish something else, we'll see.