Robert Flint wrote, "It is a slippery slope! We have been asked/required to participate in an increasingly growing number of such events over the years. While I agree that some recruitment-/conversion-/retention-related activity is ok, we are now asked to cover approximately 7 3-hr accepted student/transfer advising days over the summer during which we are not under contract, plus another 6 or so prospective student and early acceptance events during the normal fall/spring academic year."
At my University, Dept. chairs are under a 12 month contract and when I was chair I did many of these sessions. But in the years since I have continued to do some of these events regardless of whether I was under summer contract. Frankly, I view myself as a full time employee and member of the department for 12 months a year and I get a bit irritated when a faculty members begs off a chore because "I'm not paid over the summer." We are full time professionals and should act that way. Of course, if one is away on a summer vacation or otherwise unable to participate in such activities, that's perfectly fine. But to demur simply because one is technically not being paid over the summer strikes me as a bit disingenuous. I assume that we all accept our medical and other benefits over the summer so let's not be quite so selective. All that being said, I agree that the number of events Robert mentions is quite excessive and goes well beyond what could be reasonably expected of faculty whether they are under summer contract or not. I also agree with others who have said that there are tasks from which we might gracefully bow out. I would not, for example, readily agree to phone students for chats. Phone communication is not my forte (just ask my wife about my typically monosyllabic responses to her calls) and I would probably scare off the poor dears. Ed Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Department of Psychology West Chester University of Pennsylvania Office hours: Mondays noon-2 & 3-4; Tuesdays & Thursdays 8-9:15 & 12:30-2 http://home.comcast.net/~epollak/home.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, & bluegrass fiddler...... in approximate order of importance. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=9541 or send a blank email to leave-9541-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu