I have to agree with Louis on this one. When I was chairperson I always maintained that my single greatest duty was simply to "be there." I actually like getting e-mails from students (most of the time). I'm not crazy about some such as the string of e-mails I received yesterday from a mother whose son was failing my summer biopsych course. But for the most part, it's just fine with me. I just had an e-mail from a student whose work, class & commuting schedule made a face to face meeting difficult. I was able to advise her via e-mail. It saved her hours of travel time and it saved me from a) having to come in on a day that I'm not normally in the office or b) foisting her off onto our already overburdened chair or assistant chair, or c) blowing her off.
That being said, I think there is a big difference between those of us at state institutions and those at small private schools. At the latter, 2 students' tuition payments may equal a faculty salary and the administration is understandably solicitous of the students. In some private schools, if a student misses a couple of classes the professor will often call to ask what the problem might be. That behavior would be rather rare at my institution although certainly not unheard of. (And yes, I suspect that Louis does something similar at his state school.) It's not uncommon for a student to e-mail me over the weekend before an exam to get clarification on some point or other. That's fine with me. And on the other side of the lectern, my students probably get annoyed by my e-mails about upcoming events, recent articles in the popular press on the topic they're studying, and various administrative matters. Others thank me profusely. Ed Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Department of Psychology West Chester University of Pennsylvania http://mywebpages.comcast.net/epollak/home.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, bluegrass fiddler and herpetoculturist...... in approximate order of importance. --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
