Answer: Stamina, endurance, energy, and enthusiasm

Question: What do university professors need to teach a 4/4 load, be active scholars, and involved community members?

This is no surprise to me, really, but living it is so very different from anticipating it. My first day of teaching occurred today, although I have been having orientation activities and meetings for a week. Only Wednesdays will be this long, but here is a breakdown of my very first day as a university professor:

7:30-8:30am Awake, shower, prep, primp, chai, check bag for handouts, flashdrive, notebook, lunch, and water bottle.

9:00-9:50am Arrive at office, print assignment sheets and make copies, collect syllabus copies, chat with officemate and various other friendly faculty in copy room. Chug some water.

10-10:50am Introduce self and syllabus to energetic (and slightly scared) freshman in College Composition, give students time to partner up and interview each other and then introduce partner to class. Distribute first short assignment, dismiss class, field several initial questions and students personally introducing themselves.

11-11:45a Office hour during which one student from 10a class came in, sat down in the chair next to my desk and told me she's scared of writing and is very unsure about this first assignment. Also, that she doesn't have a user name, so can't access her KU email. In response to the latter, I picked up the phone and dialed the IT Helpdesk and sat on hold while talking her down and helping her to see how she could successfully write this brief assignment in a way that fit the parameters, but also used her language and expressions, and was possibly fun to write. Eventually had her leave a message for IT and encouraged her to email them as well since they are likely bombarded today. Told her not to give up on IT, be persistent, and also confirmed that she felt better about writing this assignment. Ate some petite sweet pickles, roasted red pepper hummus and wheat fiber crackers. Chugged some water.

11:45-55a Realized I didn't have enough assignment sheet copies for 1pm class, so made more.

11:55a-12:54p Comp Conversation weekly meeting with faculty teaching comp. Very funny and informative meeting - basically, I have amazing, smart, creative colleagues who are willing to share their expertise and ideas. What a fortunate place to have landed!

12:55-1p Walked to DeFran building and immediately got lost, circling various loops through hallways before accidentally stumbling upon my classroom.

1-1:50p See 10-10:50a - repeat.

1:50-1:55p Walk back to Lytle Hall and find classroom.

2-2:50p See 1-1:50p, except instead of introducing their partners to the class, the students spent 25 minutes talking to their partners, which must be continued outside of class in order to complete the first short assignment - Who is your partner? It's an exercise in identity creation/definition. This first part has someone describe and present who you are - the second part will be the student's chance to write his or her own story. Who you are according to someone else vs. who you are according to you.

2:55-3:15p Head to car, drive to other side of campus, get lost in a maze of parking lots trying to locate the Multicultural Center. Finally see it (very obvious place that I totally missed on the way in). Park, head to director's office.

3:15-4:30p Have delightful and supportive meeting with Director and Assistant Director and Graduate Assistant of the Center about 1) the feasibility of bringing two Native American stand-up comedians in my acquaintance to campus next fall (apparently, there is money and space for this sort of thing, so feasibility is high), and 2) developing a Multiethnic Film Series for next fall. Completely successful, early-in-the-process meeting. Lots of great ideas exchanged and a plan of attack. Sweetness!

4:30-4:50 Sit in sweltering car responding to a few emails, then drive to Betty's for a portabello pesto wrap, small three-cheese & mushroom soup, diet birch beer, and a peanut butter brownie...to go. Gaze out window while waiting for food, wondering how I'm going to make it through a three-hour class....

4:50-5:55p Head back to office with delicious dinner items, check emails while eating, load up bag so I can head home when class is over.

5:55-6p Walk into a sweltering classroom with melting students. Walk out mumbling "oh hell no" partially under my breath. Quickly scout two open classrooms, return to sauna and look at prof who taught in that room before my class. I say, "Room 212 is open." He responds, dripping with sweat, "GO." We do.

6-8:30p New classroom also has an oscillating fan, which I turn on high and position to cool the students down. This is my advanced comp class and already I can tell how on the ball all of these students are. Solid, smart conversations and debates, some teasing and joking back and forth. Good rapport right away. Several thank me for moving classrooms (I wouldn't want to teach in a sauna, as I explained). A handful even offered that they were excited about this class and the possibility of picking a social or cultural issue that they thought was important and to write about it in different ways all semester. No one looked at a watch, no one looked bored, conversations were lively. They gave me energy and I left class wide awake and just as excited at the end of the day as I was at the beginning.

8:35-9p Called mom to give her the day's overview (knew she was wondering) while driving home.

.....

10:58pm Bedtime and the sweet, calm dreams that are only possible when life is working in your favor. Realizing once and for all that yes, all that hard work, time, energy, sacrifice, heartache, frustration, obstacles, and annoyance was worth it. Yes it was. I'm there. It happened faster than I expected. :)

Why is tenure necessary?

In the wake of Amy Bishop's calm killing of her colleagues, lots of academic types are seriously questioning what has been an under-the-radar discussion for a long time: why is tenure necessary in our modern age? And why is the process seemingly so potentially unfair, unjust, and hazardous...not to mention time-consuming and stressful?

Story in Chronicle of Higher Education on the Bishop shootings: http://chronicle.com/article/The-Fatal-Meeting-Death/64295/

As a former journalist and creature of the business world and current PhD candidate trying to get a job, I wonder who tenure benefits? The scholar who survives the five-year obstacle course riddled with political maneuvering who then gains the right never to be fired unless something truly unlawful or grievous occurs? The students who, while the tenure process is underway, suffer a distracted, disinterested, and sometimes downright hostile professor who then may become relieved and equally uninvested in students' progress once he or she gains tenure? The university that demands all sorts of arbitrary proof that the scholar is actually a scholar (scholarly publications only, please) AND a teacher (your students best love you!), AND a good service member of the university community (can't say no to that "request" for Honesty Committee service!) and then judges the professor on how high he or she has jumped through these hoops in order to "approve" tenure?

I just don't get it. I didn't get it before I entered the system of higher education and I sure don't get it now. In fact, even though I am sitting on the cusp (or the abyss, if you will), wondering if I will even GET a job as a professor, I don't support the idea of tenure, regardless of how transparent the process may be at certain schools. Why shouldn't we, as teachers and scholars, be culpable and responsible to our students first, then our scholarship, then our service to the university community and the broader community - at all times?! Not just for the five years the tenure gauntlet takes? Why not require professors to continue being good teachers while encouraging creative and productive scholarship and service? What is so scary about eliminating tenure? Productive and worthy teachers and scholars will still be employed, will they not?

What is so wrong with transitioning higher education to a merit-based system where individuals must show consistency and regular growth (like anyone in any job that is NOT higher education), instead of going 150mph for five years and then slamming on the brakes? Which approach seems healthier for the professor and more beneficial to the students? Or do we in the academy even really CARE about maintaining a healthy and happy professoriate and a smart and encouraged student body?