Academic etiquette
Blogger FemaleScienceProfessor has a great article up at the Chronicle of Higher Education about academic etiquette. Amusing and informative — and good for people who work in many walks of life, as well. (Particularly, some good advice about job searching from the points of view of both applicant and hiring committee.) And I have to love tip # 11:
For students visiting professors, even during office hours: If you are going to ask a professor a question and you need to refer to your notes or a book, have them within easy reach, with the relevant pages marked. Don’t spend the first few minutes searching through your backpack and your giant folders covered with skull doodles only to realize that you left the desired item at home and have no idea what your question was, so instead you just ask the professor if you missed anything important in the class session you skipped because you overslept.
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For students visiting professors, even during office hours (cont):
And don’t dare to have your mouth full with a boiled egg while you try to make your point. Breakfast is supposed to occur any time before personal meetings.
I could write an entire book on how to treat (or not to treat) administrative, technical, and support staff in academia. We’re not extensions of our phones and computers. We have lives, interests outside the office, and biological needs that must be tended to. Giving someone a confusing and scattershot set of instructions will usually result in a job that is not done properly or not done at all. I could go on and on. And on.
Academic higher-ups need to be more sensitive to the people working for them. It’s beyond arrogant to call Professor X or Department Chair Y or Program Director Z at the drop of a hat and expect that he or she will stop doing whatever and come running merely because the administrator in question has 45 minutes between meetings and wants to catch up on some work. Make appointments (and keep them!). Plan in advance. Everyone else does it. Act like your co-workers matter. They do.
Thanks, MC, for sharing this article! I’d love to print it out and post it on my office door, but I might lose my job. ; )
–EA Week
Which give me that chance to pass on my usual answer to the question, “Did I miss anything important by not coming to class today?”
“Yes.”
(If they ask what that was, I answer, “Class.” The time it takes to expend these two words is already about two full seconds more time than I think the question merits.)