I had my first department retreat today. I should have gone to the one at Brown when grad students were invited, but I skipped it – it was during one of my “I hate grad school and I just want to curl up and think about how I will never graduate” phases. A topic for another day.
But this was a faculty-only retreat – and certainly my first opportunity to participate in one. After all the complaining I’ve heard from faculty (not at OSU! I swear!) about such retreats, I expected an 8 hour meeting with coffee breaks. But it was fun! I already feel at home with my colleagues. Lively debates, interesting ideas. An hour was devoted to “how to advise grad students” aimed at educating the new faculty. It was particularly comforting to know that many not-so-junior faculty were asking the questions I expect I will ask. (Assuming I attract a grad student.)
The numbers were a little daunting though. 10 Ph.D. students? At once? 50 in career? Really?
Three of my colleagues also admitted to being arrested. Multiple times each.
I have so much catching up to do.
In all the departments that I know, young faculty members who are on tenure track do not direct PhD students by themselves (they are not allowed), only co-direct them with a more senior faculty, and usually only one at a time. (It is different issue for Master’s students.) 10 PhD students at the same time is still a lot in computer science, even for a tenured professor, unless you make them work in a pyramidal scheme (e.g. the more senior students direct the younger ones, there was a PhD comic about it) as in Chemistry labs (but even there, it is considered a bad practice from what I heard).
Was your retreat on campus or far away? I had both, and usually retreats which are far away are far much more interesting, because people who came care more, and do not escape for email (although in our era of blackberries, iphone and androids, maybe this has changed too).
I always thought about the supervision of PhD students as a form of reproduction process (hopefully not cloning!), and with each faculty member directing 40 students over a career of roughly 40 years, it is obvious that only a very few can become faculty members and that graduate school should prepare them to take other duties (both psychologically and educationally) after graduating. Did they raise those issues at the retreat of your department?
The retreat was off-campus, but nearby. There was no wifi. I, along with a few others, had data devices. I admit to using mine to look up rules and regulations that I didn’t know – I was thankful for not having to interrupt more than I did. Overall, I thought that the participation was high. Apparently they have been to more exotic places in the past, but opted for somewhere local due to budget concerns.
I didn’t raise the issue you do, Jeremy, even though I was thinking of it at the time. I did always think that I wouldn’t raise too many Ph.D. students. I’ve had the opinion that “why a Ph.D. if you don’t want to be a prof?” I think I need to change my thinking though. Perhaps the route from Ph.D. to non-academic job isn’t as clear in theory, but then, perhaps, I need to think more on what the options are.
Actually, I was not suggesting to “raise” fewer PhD students, but rather to prepare them to life in general and not only to academic life.
I have my own retreat on Friday, far away from campus, the attendance seems average, we will see. I will report! 😉
10 Ph.D. students? At once? 50 in career? Really?
No. Not really.
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