mushroom cloud over Greene Hall - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: May 12, 2005

RE: RE: mushroom cloud over Greene Hall

Date: May 13, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Best Practices
"I think CoB does this by offering fewer, larger (relative to Summer avgs.) sections of courses. It seems like a good idea, and should be supported."

Sorry, BP, don't know enough about this to comment but have used Best Practices as a Board name for over a year on both websites. Please find an alternative. Thank you kindly.

Date: May 13, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: BizEd
"Didn't know about the paper at Babin's journal. Also didn't know Babin was zeroing in on the chair job. CoB faculty did get an e-mail from Doty today indicating that Babin won the college research award."

Was the fix in?

Date: May 13, 2005

I think CoB does this by offering fewer, larger (relative to Summer avgs.) sections of courses. It seems like a good idea, and should be supported.

Isn't that efficient? Isn't that what we are supposed to try to be?

With under 3 weeks to go until summer school, why change traditional teaching schedules in any college? Control freaks.

Date: May 13, 2005

I was told that all the business summer teaching contracts were returned to the college because they had 6 hour teaching loads

Date: May 13, 2005

Here's the way I think summer pay should work:

Each college gets $$ based on the number of students enrolled. Then, the dean's office in concert with the chairs decides how to allocate that $$. If I want to teach small classes, that's fine -- I'll just have to teach more sections than a person who teaches larger classes. Why is this so hard?

In the CoB, classes are usually large. The CoB is a cash cow for the university, as it generates more $/course than any other college, I'd guess. Time to kill another goose that lays golden eggs.

Date: May 13, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: King Soloman's Miner
"Here's the way I think summer pay should work: Each college gets $$ based on the number of students enrolled. Then, the dean's office in concert with the chairs decides how to allocate that $$. If I want to teach small classes, that's fine -- I'll just have to teach more sections than a person who teaches larger classes. Why is this so hard? In the CoB, classes are usually large. The CoB is a cash cow for the university, as it generates more $/course than any other college, I'd guess. Time to kill another goose that lays golden eggs."

It's not hard. That's how things got done until all the summer money went upstairs so to speak. Can't you see how efficient it is to have the administration deciding how to allocate summer money and teaching loads in a centralized way as opposed to having each Dean and Chair doing this? For proof, look no further than the allocation of classrooms. In the bad old days, Deans and Chairs did this in an inefficient way. Between the printing of the course schedule and the start of classes, some changes might be necessary at the Department or College level. With the new system, changes can easily be made since no one knows where any classes are meeting. Further, since contracts are given back to the central adminstration they are far more knowledgable about how many faculty have quit than anyone else. This clearly puts them into a better situation to handle classroom switches at the least moment than mere Deans or Chairs. This constant carping and whining about necessary changes needs to stop.

Date: May 13, 2005

I don't understand why USM even needs Deans. If we take your excellent suggestion it would certainly cut down on carping and whining, and make things a lot more efficient. Just hire a few more toadies, er, henchmen, er, highly skilled snowballing multi-tasking adminstrators, and run it all from the Dome. I mean, look at the crew of Deans you've got now -- one of them hiding under his desk, one of them letting the job kill him, one of them trying to run for the border with a big target painted on his back, and I guess the other two are hoping people forget their names. Sounds like a damn thankless job to me.

Date: May 13, 2005

Got the word "carp" from another thread. Love it. Better than "b*tch." May be my new favorite word.

Date: May 13, 2005

You're right. Reading this message board is improving my vocabulary. I'm still trying to learn to curse in French. Spanish curses can be a bit on the rough side.

Date: May 13, 2005

It's quite elegant in French. Mlle de Guerre is accomplished, although I understand from others that she has the rare talent of cursing without using actual profanity. As I do not speak French myself, I usually don't understand the literal meaning, but I can deduce the general drift. There is a lot of body language and occasionally a champagne glass is sacrificed.
I attempt to restrict Mll. de Guerre's access to the computer as much as possible, particularly before coffee. It's not good for her to be so overwrought, although she never "takes it out" on others. Her staff do worry about her state of mind.

If you do learn any good French curses, kindly let me know. There are certain administrative types I would like to use them on.

Sincerely,
H.A.

Date: Jun 2, 2005

yum, yum, yum!