Latest

02
Apr

What’s going to be on the exam?

Do you love it when students waste office hours with questions that don’t help them learn? Do you want
5 min read
29
Mar

What if the PI recommendation letter is missing or is bad?

Before condemning a job application to the recycle bin for want of a great letter from the dissertation advisor, please
3 min read
27
Mar

Competition for the “best” REU applicants is outrageous

On a Friday in mid-March, a student in my department was notified that they were just accepted into an NSF-funded
4 min read
26
Mar

What to read to improve your teaching?

People often ask me what they might to read to get started with teaching science at the college level —  or
1 min read
26
Mar

What is the least worst LMS?

I admit it, I don’t like using the LMS. (The LMS is “learning management system” — the software that universities
1 min read
23
Mar

Recommended reads #125

This case study of search committees demonstrates how downright sexist conduct is pervasive in academic job searches. When it comes
2 min read
19
Mar

We need more honest talk about prestige and social capital

Some people will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid dropping the H-bomb. (This’ll be a short and less-than-grand post
3 min read
15
Mar

When the book reps visit

A couple weeks ago, the students in our department bought lunch for the faculty. It was a nice catered takeout
3 min read
13
Mar

Things I wish other people blogged about

I make a point to post at least once a week. Sometimes the blog posts are full essays, sometimes they’
2 min read
12
Mar

Sizing up competing peer review models

Is peer review broken? No, it’s not. The “stuff is broken” is overused so much that it now just
6 min read