I never see my colleagues

[DrSomebody]

It's not typical, but more typical for R1s, and I do want to know where you are because I want to apply there next time there is an opening, unless you are in a very expensive region or a very warm region. Despite being tenured, I almost think the freedom and lack of administrative nagging of renewable FT NTT at an R1 would be a dream to me. It's what I originally wanted. Basically, that does sound like a dream.

[pepsi_alum]

I thought I'd check into say that I'm starting to feel better about the situation. I still don't see my colleagues often, but I'm beginning to develop a better understanding of them and their work habits. Most people are collegial and I don't sense any major conflicts or tensions lurking beneath the surface. I think what's going on is that junior untenured faculty are so busy writing/publishing that it's easier for them to work from home or in the field. The tenured faculty are so accustomed to this mindset that they've continued these habits post-tenure and have remained productive researchers as a result, which is what the university wants. The handful of people who do use their offices regularly are the ones work the most closely with our students (both undergrad and grad).

[Aster]

A college professor choosing to not work on the the college grounds...

That is singularly depressing to me.

[fast_and_bulbous]

A college professor choosing to not work on the the college grounds...

That is singularly depressing to me.

On the one hand, I agree with you. But from a research productivity perspective, sometimes being away from the office is a good thing - too many interruptions on campus.

But that is a very skewed perspective. I did enjoy visits from students and interactions that were spontaneous while I was faculty, and that is part of being part of a department, as is the service with all the committee work etc. But the many interruptions that regularly occurred in the office would keep me from getting "deep" research work done - the kind of work that requires solid attention for hours. Being able to get that at home or even in a library or whatever is pretty nice and in fact the system in many places (R1 for sure) rewards this kind of "selfish" behavior with research productivity über Alles.

I tried to get R1 research done at an R2.5 but couldn't without pissing everyone at R2.5 off due to my singular focus that came at the expense of other things I "should have" been doing more. Staying home for four consecutive days while chair allowed me to put together a presentation that was my ticket out of there and into R1 land where I currently reside (much happier).

Just closing your office door and working alone isn't really much different than just being in a different building anyway.

[cointegrated]

R2 - Pretty much the same here. I only see my colleagues when they teach and have office hours. I have one colleague I have lunch with pretty regularly. I see the department chair and the office assistant. The dean. That is it. I work on research in my office. I like to leave home for relaxation.

[Wahoo Redux]

R2 - low research productivity despite the letterhead which claims we are an "Urban Research University."  As I posted elsewhere I may go several months or even an entire semester without seeing some of the people I know are FT faculty.  We have peak hours----essentially 10am-2pm----when there tends to be activity and interaction, otherwise I work in a ghost-town office.

Part of this is the internet; we no longer need office hours to communicate privately with our students. 
Part of this is adjunctification; a great many of my colleagues teach 1 to 3 classes as part-timers, have no service, rarely hold office hours, and leave immediately after teaching.
Part of this is disenfranchisement; no one seems to hold any great grudges here, but peeps are not particularly involved or interested in the campus----some morale issues.
Part of this is attrition; the administration is slowly letting the department die: whenever someone loses a tenure bid, there is a failed search, or someone retires (and immediately moves away from our economically depressed community), the line is gone; we are literally losing people.

We ended up with a small cadre of people from the department, most of whom are nearing retirement, and we hang out from time to time.  We have had trouble meeting people from other departments.  It's a little sad.

On the other hand, no one bugs me if I cut out of office hours early (students rarely visit and email frequently) and I can concentrate on my grading and writing----so my sadness is largely assuaged by not having to deal with other people.  B'sides, when we go out the conversation naturally turns to bitching about work, so there's that to miss too...

Maybe try getting on a pub trivia team or joining the community theater or volunteering at a museum? 

[Aster]

My college also has low faculty morale. It's not circling the drain, but the water is shallow.

On Fridays, I hardly see any other professors at all in my building. It is mostly just me, one or two department heads, a few adjuncts, and a couple of high-performance new professors. One-third to one-half of those professors will end up leaving my college for a better offer within 4 years.

Everyone else on Fridays is just gone. A bunch are off moonlighting for other colleges, a few do real estate on the side, but I don't know where the bulk of the faculty are. We aren't allowed to swap physical office hours with virtual office hours, but I get the impression that many are doing it anyway.

All that said, I get an enormous amount of work done on Fridays with nobody being here to bother me. Fridays are my most productive day of the week for service and scholarly activity.

[downer]

My college also has low faculty morale. It's not circling the drain, but the water is shallow.

On Fridays, I hardly see any other professors at all in my building. It is mostly just me, one or two department heads, a few adjuncts, and a couple of high-performance new professors. One-third to one-half of those professors will end up leaving my college for a better offer within 4 years.

Everyone else on Fridays is just gone. A bunch are off moonlighting for other colleges, a few do real estate on the side, but I don't know where the bulk of the faculty are. We aren't allowed to swap physical office hours with virtual office hours, but I get the impression that many are doing it anyway.

All that said, I get an enormous amount of work done on Fridays with nobody being here to bother me. Fridays are my most productive day of the week for service and scholarly activity.

Sounds like you have a chance of being one of those who will leave soon for a better offer. Working at a place that is so far from thriving is pretty depressing. Get out!

[paddington_bear]

I almost never see my colleagues either, except for at department and committee meetings. (I'm at a master's-granting, comprehensive blahblah.) There used to be more activity in our department, but things have changed. The policy/practice has been that you have to be on campus 4 days a week; there's no requirement about the number of hours on those days, of course. No one really monitors this, I don't think.  I think that some of my colleagues have office hours online and the proportion of those who teach two days a week to those who teach three days a week is about 60-40. On Fridays, the department is a ghost town; on Mondays and Wednesdays it's a little better. The people who are present in the department seem to get the short end of the stick in terms of having to address issues that students have,  which seems unfair. And I don't think it leaves a good impression on students who never see any faculty's doors open.

Our department had some "difficulties" a few years back, and I think there are still some residual bad feelings. Our campus in general has had recent turmoil - our pres and other admins left or retired last year, overall and department enrollment is down -  so there's a lot less chatting in hallways and morale probably isn't as high as it once was. Ugh.

[the-tenure-track-prof]

I agree. It sounds like heaven to me too!.
My faculty office is located in a brand new building that has a state of the art furniture and equipment, and a few faculty members are in their offices. I LOVE IT because I can plan my time and get a lot done with no interruption except when a student wants to come and see me in my office. Often times I also have a very well equipped kitchen all to myself.

Sounds like heaven to me.

Hell really is other people.

Are people in your department productive in research? If they are just cranking away on papers and proposals most of their time anyway it probably doesn't really matter where they are typing their words.

Does your department have clear guidelines for tenure/promotion? One concern from lack of interaction with my colleagues would be not getting the story on what is important, and making connections with the people who are going to be voting on these things.

But mostly having no faculty around and having a culture where that is OK is great from a purely selfish viewpoint, which is a valid viewpoint to consider.

In my experience R1s are all about publishing research and getting grants, and just about everything else is of secondary importance.

[Wahoo Redux]

I almost think the freedom and lack of administrative nagging of renewable FT NTT at an R1 would be a dream to me. It's what I originally wanted. Basically, that does sound like a dream.

This is largely true from my experience.  I teach more, am paid a bit less, found myself on several committees, but my stress level is easily a third of the TT faculty and I have a good deal more free time despite the additional grading.  It's hardly "a dream," but being FT NTT has its advantages.