Week Two Notes
Jan. 19th, 2013 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowIt's been a longish week. (Fortunately, next week is a short one - no "ish" - thanks to MLK Day.) I finally got the textbook for the Linear Algebra class, and word is that Textbook Services will have copies for the students by Tuesday or Wednesday.
Meanwhile, thanks to last summer's retirements, the Dean has given us permission to advertise two job openings, one in statistics, one in applied mathematics. The search committee for the statistics position brought in two candidates this week for face-to-face interviews/auditions. (We ask them to give a half-hour lecture in a calculus class and a one-hour research presentation.) They came in Monday and Friday. I'm on the search committee for the other position. (Our Chair prefers that each committee have one out-of-field member; one of our Math Ed people is on the stat committee.) Wednesday morning, we conducted phone interviews with the five top applicants, and then chose two of them to come in for face-to-face meetings. (We actually wanted three, but the Dean vetoed that.) On top of the search business, we also had a colloquium presentation on Tuesday. For once, it was scheduled so I could attend; it was on a subject not too far from my own work.
Two other items worthy of mention:
1. The university is, of course, ADA-compliant; there are plenty of entrances with automatic doors, controlled by wheelchair-height buttons. But one day this week, as I was heading back to the office from one of my classes, I saw a man in a wheelchair rolling up to one of the other doors. He was controlling the chair manually, spinning the wheels with his hands. Anyway, he came zipping up to the door and, with no hesitations or slowdowns at any point, spun ninety degrees, grabbed the door handle, yanked it open, spun back, and shot through before the door could even start to reclose. I felt like applauding.
2. Returning from class Thursday night, I passed by one of the offices. Its door was open, and one of my former students was talking to the professor. As I strode swiftly by (when I'm alone, I walk pretty fast), I heard the student say "Professor :myname: is legendary - " before I moved out of earshot. Now, it's probably for the best that I didn't hear the end of that sentence. Hearing what other people say about you when they don't know you're there is generally not a good thing, whether the comment is positive or negative. Nonetheless, part of me is dying to know what the next few words were....
Meanwhile, thanks to last summer's retirements, the Dean has given us permission to advertise two job openings, one in statistics, one in applied mathematics. The search committee for the statistics position brought in two candidates this week for face-to-face interviews/auditions. (We ask them to give a half-hour lecture in a calculus class and a one-hour research presentation.) They came in Monday and Friday. I'm on the search committee for the other position. (Our Chair prefers that each committee have one out-of-field member; one of our Math Ed people is on the stat committee.) Wednesday morning, we conducted phone interviews with the five top applicants, and then chose two of them to come in for face-to-face meetings. (We actually wanted three, but the Dean vetoed that.) On top of the search business, we also had a colloquium presentation on Tuesday. For once, it was scheduled so I could attend; it was on a subject not too far from my own work.
Two other items worthy of mention:
1. The university is, of course, ADA-compliant; there are plenty of entrances with automatic doors, controlled by wheelchair-height buttons. But one day this week, as I was heading back to the office from one of my classes, I saw a man in a wheelchair rolling up to one of the other doors. He was controlling the chair manually, spinning the wheels with his hands. Anyway, he came zipping up to the door and, with no hesitations or slowdowns at any point, spun ninety degrees, grabbed the door handle, yanked it open, spun back, and shot through before the door could even start to reclose. I felt like applauding.
2. Returning from class Thursday night, I passed by one of the offices. Its door was open, and one of my former students was talking to the professor. As I strode swiftly by (when I'm alone, I walk pretty fast), I heard the student say "Professor :myname: is legendary - " before I moved out of earshot. Now, it's probably for the best that I didn't hear the end of that sentence. Hearing what other people say about you when they don't know you're there is generally not a good thing, whether the comment is positive or negative. Nonetheless, part of me is dying to know what the next few words were....
