My graduate assistant Sean was there, as well as the young woman who will be my graduate assistant next year, Laila. She and I were working together to coordinate some high school site visits I will be doing for the Freshman English and Early College Experience programs. And my undergraduate writing intern Sarah was at the computer working on finishing up the very late fall newsletter. Another former student who knows both Sarah and Sean had popped in for a visit, and an advisee had stopped in to have her plan of study signed. It made for a crowded but lively work space.
Today we had a department meeting, which, like department meetings everywhere, was pretty dull. But one of the things we spent a great deal of time on was a revision of the merit review forms. Boring as this it, it is a good thing. The department has revised the forms to award more merit for teaching, administration, service, and outreach—all the kinds of things I do as Writing Project director, more than I produce traditional scholarship, though I do that, too.
There were many general, philosophical questions about the new document, but many of us had self-interested questions, too. One of mine regarded the merit line for advising. Under both the old and the new forms, additional merit points are awarded to anyone who advises fifteen or more undergraduates. With over 800 English majors and about 68 faculty members in the department, the average professor has about twelve advisees, so anyone who takes on a few more than the average is rewarded.
Since I took on the assignment of being the default advisor to the dual degree students in English and Education, I have become inundated with advisees. This is partly because so many of the pre-teaching English majors who are assigned to me will stay with me even though they do not ultimately get into the Neag School of Education, but also because some forty percent of our undergraduate majors will eventually wind up in education on some level, and those who have an inkling of this now want to work with a faculty member who has actually worked in public education at the secondary level.
So anyway, I chimed in at the meeting and asked if it was acceptable on the merit form to write in additional merit points for myself on my self review since I currently had 62 advisees. As soon as I said that, there was a brief hush that came over the room. I think my colleagues thought me crazy to take on so many advisees.
I suppose it is simply indicative of my background as a former high school teacher, but I just really like working with the students. I enjoy meeting with all my advisees, even if it is extremely time consuming. I have days when I need to lock myself in the little office at the back of my office suite to get work done, but generally I really love those days when I have a crowd of students in there working together and talking among themselves. I feel really honored that the students view my office space as some place friendly to them. I wish I had more space for them to spread out, sit down, have a cup of coffee. There aren’t many spaces like that for the students in our building.
Those of you who remember the old CWP offices might recall that the former CLAS one—where I currently am—had a bank of desks and computers along the east wall, and a library with a reading space, and that the director had a separate office across the hallway. That would be a wonderful set up to still have. Even the crowded old space in Arjona had a large conference table in the back by the windows. I don’t recall ever seeing lots of students in that office, and in truth, it was so crowded that the conference table was usually piled high with boxes and binders and books. But I wish I had such a space, because I would use it differently.
The current office for the Freshman English kegiatan is a little more like what I would like to see, with meeting space as well as work space and lounge space. It’s a nice area for the graduate students to congregate in, though I don’t see undergrads in there. What I like about the students who socialize in my office is the mix of grad students and undergraduate students, as well as English and Education majors I get.
Hopefully, next year I will be supervising as many as six fifth year students from Neag, students who most likely will have completed their BA in English and BS in Education and who will now be working on their research projects for their MA degrees in Education. I’ll have to find time and space for them to share the office with the regular graduate assistant and undergraduate intern. It will be a challenge, but I welcome the intellectual hustle-bustle of the students.
If only I could knock out the back wall of my office and take over the courtyard that’s outside my window. That would be a nice space, especially in the warm months, for spreading out and letting students mingle among themselves. Just a little cold right now, however.
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