tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post2170010793631609114..comments2024-03-25T02:33:41.590-05:00Comments on FemaleScienceProfessor: Think Different?Female Science Professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288567883197987690noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-81652337714415208492012-10-17T19:25:09.580-05:002012-10-17T19:25:09.580-05:00OT, but one of your colleagues from Scientopia pos...OT, but one of your colleagues from Scientopia posted this: <br /><br />http://scientopia.org/blogs/drugmonkey/2012/10/17/sfn-2012-professors-behaving-badly/<br /><br />Victoriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09905693422600946177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-8684877842439870202012-10-10T12:45:47.207-05:002012-10-10T12:45:47.207-05:00In my circle it is also that humanities profs have...In my circle it is also that humanities profs have far more regular contact with students in crisis and classroom emergencies and so would not see the student emergency as so urgent - it happens all the time! But, an administrator! That is URGENTY!@#!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-69408173868884767942012-10-09T13:52:41.935-05:002012-10-09T13:52:41.935-05:00Bringing in money includes tuition, thus the balan...Bringing in money includes tuition, thus the balance is not as weighted to STEM as one might think.EliRabetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002964638398767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-20572925234961774962012-10-09T10:46:37.991-05:002012-10-09T10:46:37.991-05:00I've seen both "yes men" and indepen...I've seen both "yes men" and independent cusses on both sides of C.P. Snow's divide. I've also seen caring for students more than administrators on both sides. I think it is true that humanities and social science faculty are more reliant on administrators for resources, and that this does tend to color their priorities.<br /><br />In engineering, the department chair tends to be whoever doesn't leave the room fast enough, and the dean is someone brought in from the outside by the higher administration and imposed on the faculty. We ignore him as best we can, though he has been given too much power and does not use it wisely.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-50236620405113082432012-10-08T12:33:43.587-05:002012-10-08T12:33:43.587-05:00I'm with Anonymous who posted at 01:32. Stem ...I'm with Anonymous who posted at 01:32. Stem fields usually bring more money to the university so they have more "power" than ss/h who have to jump when told me. Incidentally, our univ decided to cut some humanities programs last year. One professor then started emailing the entire campus community protesting the injustice of it all. We got a couple of responses from the A&S dean but after that, she just ignored them. Didn't stop that guy though. Of course, we're all sort of sympathetic but if there's no other way but to cut programs, you cut off the ones that bring in little or no money first.jbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-25559870796970509022012-10-08T12:01:36.218-05:002012-10-08T12:01:36.218-05:00Although I've heard that Medical Schools are i...Although I've heard that Medical Schools are incredibly dysfunctional compared to regular STEM.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-57956738170088637482012-10-08T09:53:33.247-05:002012-10-08T09:53:33.247-05:00I've been on both sides, and I feel the same w...I've been on both sides, and I feel the same way as the Anon and RJ. <br /><br />I think, too, that there is a difference in that those in STEM are there because they want to teach or do research: they can get job elsewhere, but chose to be in a university setting.<br /><br />In the humanities, there are fewer external options, and thus academics are more beholden to admins than students. nanoalchemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10000634831902196631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-85411884397483280522012-10-08T08:33:20.132-05:002012-10-08T08:33:20.132-05:00I have to echo Alex. Academic life in STEM has it...I have to echo Alex. Academic life in STEM has its issues but from what I hear and read it's nothing like the being in social sciences/humanities (ss/h) and I'm so grateful. Colleagues in ss/h consistently seem more worried about job security and the role politics plays in getting and keeping a job. I'm not naive and I recognize that there are politics in STEM fields and departments but they don't seem like such an overwhelming force. This may be because our metrics of performance are a little more straightforward - publishing is paper rather than book based which gives more chances to establish yourself in the field and grant funding is pretty easy to quantify. I wonder too though if it's a function of overall societal status of these fields. Certainly all academic fields have taken a prestige hit lately but not nearly as hard in STEM as in ss/h. Does that contribute to the feeling of insecurity? How sad - we need folks in ss/h to envision new ways that society might be organized or understood - their vulnerability (real or perceived) has to have a constraining effect on that. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-60127575144717296002012-10-08T08:06:44.800-05:002012-10-08T08:06:44.800-05:00I wouldn't extend my anecdote to explain anyth...I wouldn't extend my anecdote to explain anything about these general disciplines. I can imagine that, at other universities or at my university in a different administrative era, the situation could be reversed. <br /><br />And, re. RJ's comment, this particular situation involved a classroom issue, and nothing to do with labs or safety.Female Science Professorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15288567883197987690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-84273536487888343752012-10-08T02:24:24.648-05:002012-10-08T02:24:24.648-05:00My instinct was that STEM and science labs have th...My instinct was that STEM and science labs have things in them that can explode, and experiments that students could ruin. <br /><br />Whereas, in humanities the novels of Walter Scott should survive students for long enough to deal with the administrator.RJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-10009022364060358862012-10-08T01:32:23.873-05:002012-10-08T01:32:23.873-05:00My first guess was the following explanation: the...My first guess was the following explanation: the humanities and social sciences bring less money themselves from grants, and thus depend more on the administration, and have less power compared to the administration. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-12632148140102623872012-10-08T00:56:37.225-05:002012-10-08T00:56:37.225-05:00However much I might complain about life in my cor...However much I might complain about life in my corner of STEM, I've come to a conclusion similar to your post last year about the misery of biomed folks: Physical science and engineering are among the least screwed-up disciplines, at least in terms of how they function in a university. (I can't speak to how the culture of scientists outside the academy compares with other cultures outside the academy.) And even as miserable as the biomed folks seem to be, humanities and social science are even weirder, with even stranger politics and battles.<br /><br />Your post confirms this.Alexnoreply@blogger.com