Phew. I'm home, for as long as it's still my home, which is only a few more weeks. It seems however, that the house itself will be mine for awhile longer. Did you all know the economy was in the crapper? Apparently while I've been running all over the place and avoiding the news, the housing bubble burst. Making moving on short notice a rather stressful prospect. Oh well, what will be will be. Two mortgages, One salary, here we come!
Despite that minor issue, the new job thing is very exciting. I haven't figured out if it's my new University, or merely the fact that I'm now a faculty member, but the difference from my current post to the new one is like night and day. I have my own lab, a really nice one and my own office. Both are climate controlled, in a building with elevators, and ladies rooms on every floor. Right now my building has one ladies room for three floors and two temperatures: ice cold or boiling hot. Plus, they just gave me keys, I didn't have to sign away my first child or put down a deposit or anything, they just gave them to me! Being a grownup is pretty cool.
Creature comforts aside, I think the position is going to be great. During my interviews, this was the least favorite place, so I was a bit nervous about the job. I think it is mainly because the guy who dropped me off at the airport afterwards clearly did not like me, so I had a bad vibe after that. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have a job, and I'm only of the luckiest gals around right now, but there were some nerves. Which were completely erased the minute we visited and the Associate Dean gave me a giant hug to welcome me. I think this place is going to be ok.
During the last few weeks, I have run across another public perception that clashes with the academic reality and I thought you would indulge me in musing about it. I have realized I do not know how to answer the question "So what will you be doing?"
Faculty positions are pretty standard across the globe, some of the details are different (how many classes you are expected to teach, number of committees, expectations of research dollars and grad student advising, etc.), but in general, it's a pretty standard gig. You teach, you research, you advise. What you teach, what you research and who you advise are pretty much (not always, but often) your choice. So, technically the answer is "whatever I want". It occurs to me this might be why the jobs are so hard to come by; that's a pretty sweet deal. It also is not a very satisfying answer to my non-academic friends.
It's not quite that simple. It's not whatever I want, it's what I'm qualified to do. Faculties hire people that have similar interests/expertise to what already exists or different ones if they are looking to broaden their impact. That choice is often dictated by ????? A lot of things I suppose, probably the direction the department wants to take. Questions like: Do they want to be the number 1 University in X discipline, Do they want to be a well respected well rounded program? What teaching expertise do they need to fill out the undergraduate curriculum? are discussed to death. Sometimes it's as simples as they cannot agree and just want the least offensive candidate. I think this is mostly the case, but on the heels of a job search I might be biased.
Anyways, here's where we get a little circular. I'm going to do what I'm qualified to do. I'm going to pursue my research interests. They are my interests because they are what I want to learn about. So I will being doing what I want to do. Hmm, that puts me back where we started, answering in a way that doesn't actually convey the life of a Faculty member.
Since I do environmental type research, people seem to assume that my new University must want me there to explore a particular aspect of the environment relative to their location. I get a lot of "do they have what you do there?". This is also not true. Science is a bit more general than that. My particular research expertise is not location specific. In fact, as you are all aware, my research field site is in New Mexico, which is not geographically similar to either my current location in the Northeast, or my new location of the deep south (a whole other topic to be musing on). This is not to say I won't pursue topics relevant to my new location, but it is not going to be required of me. Right now I have grants under consideration to work in two other states. The air is everywhere, where I am is irrelevant to understanding it.
"I'm going to teach" Now there is a promising answer. A simple, straightforward, verb for what I'm going to do. Most people understand that. Until it comes to "teach what?". My classes haven't been assigned yet, and the department is such that I will get to choose what I teach. I haven't decided yet what they will be, so that line of thought becomes a stumper too.
For now, I'm going with "What I do now, but permanent" (I've given up on explaining the tenure process). The lack of response to that answer is good usually a quick nod, or "ok". I guess, it must satisfy somehow, or maybe I should be concerned that there is a bigger problem: No one actually knows what I do, so they don't want to ask....
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