Irony

All that effort to plan and implement my past lessons with a minimum of talking, and now I'm listening to people speak for hours at a time.

At least the labs are more fun!

I want clarification on "time off"

Me: I graduated in 2007 and then taught high school biology and integrated science up until now, what about you?

Hypothetical Other Persons: Oh you too?  Yeah I took some time off as well before graduate school, and (insert: traveled/relaxed/did drugs/stared into nothingness for days at a time).

Me: ...

Why We are Walking Out

The below message is circulating around the UC mailing lists, and it explains why UC staff and students are walking out today (except me, because I can't fail out of graduate school just yet):

***

On Thursday, September 24, an unprecedented coalition of UC faculty, undergraduates, grad students, postdocs, lecturers, and staff will engage in a system-wide walkout. As UC Davis graduate students and lecturers concerned with the quality of all UC students' education, we write to clarify the reasons for this walkout as we understand them.

This summer, UC administration began implementing tuition hikes, enrollment cuts, layoffs, furloughs, and increased class sizes that jeopardize our education, endanger the livelihood of the most vulnerable employees, and compromise the fundamental mission of the University. This is not simply another budget cut; although the UC Regents repeatedly state their commitment to "quality, access, and affordability," their recent actions undermine all three principles. These decisions affect all sectors of our campuses and communities, and threaten the fundamental character of the university.

On Thursday, we walk out to support our faculty, who are concerned about the undermining of shared governance. Their traditional involvement in decision-making processes was subverted this summer when President Yudof assumed emergency powers, ignored the recommendations of the Academic Council, and created the Gould Commission on the future of the UC, originally with no faculty from any UC College of Letters and Science present.

We walk out because faculty furloughs threaten to lower the quality of UC education. Whether taken on instructional days or not, furloughs suggest faculty should spend less time either on research or instruction, both of which are key components of UC's prestige. (Nonetheless, the faculty walkout statement requests an end to furloughs only for salaries below $40,000.)

We walk out to support our university staff members. The UC Office of the President demanded unlimited rights to furloughs and layoffs from University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), who are striking on 9/24 in response to unfair labor practices. They will be joined by the Coalition of University Employees (CUE). Our education depends on the vital role of UC staff, who make possible the day-to-day functioning of this university.

We walk out to support our undergraduates and their families, who now find themselves carrying a majority of the burden of funding this university. President Yudof’s proposal to raise student fees will bring tuition to over $10,000, forcing undergraduates to take larger loans, work full-time jobs, or drop out. While student fees continue to rise, course offerings are cut, extending the time needed to graduate. Lecturers and postdocs represented by the American Federation of Teachers Unit 18 have been laid off after UCOP refused to consider furloughs or answer questions, canceling required courses just weeks before classes begin. UC prides itself on making the world's best research faculty available to California's best students, regardless of income. Recent administrative actions threaten to strip students of that promise.

We walk out to support our fellow graduate students, who face proposed fee increases alongside heavier workloads, reduced lab assistantships and teaching appointments, and greater debt. Administrative responses to the budget cuts undermine our educational and professional goals, hinder our ability to offer quality teaching, and diminish the perceived and actual quality of a UC graduate degree.

The crisis facing UC, while certainly related to the state budget , is primarily about California's priorities for funding education. After the 1978 passage of Proposition 13, California's K-12 public schools dropped from 4th to 45th in the nation. Current budget decisions by UC administration place our university system on that same path. There are alternatives to fees and furloughs, including pay cuts -- rather than pay raises -- for the highest-paid UC executives, and the tapping of surplus funds from medical and extension units.

The UC Regents' actions accelerate a long-standing process of privatization and have led us, today, to a crisis we cannot and will not stand for. On September 24, we will not conduct official university business. Instead, we will gather at our university for education of a broader sort. We walk out to educate students and all Californians about what the University of California has been, what it promises to be, and what it might be in the future. We walk out to force the administration to seek alternatives to fee hikes and furloughs, and to demand that legislators prioritize state funding for education. We walk out to demonstrate that this university belongs to its students, its community, and its workers. We walk out on 9/24 so that come 2010, we still have a public university in California: a university solidly committed to quality, access, and affordability.

Sincerely,

Toby Beauchamp, Graduate Student, UC Davis
Kristin Koster, PhD, Lecturer, UC Davis
Vanessa Rapatz, Graduate Student, UC Davis
Kaitlin Walker, Graduate Student, UC Davis

Grad students and email

In response to an email invitation for all grad students to attend "the biggest, baddest, most expensive party the [Graduate Student Association] has ever thrown," flyers were electronically exchanged chronicling the downward spiral and certain demise of the UC system, along with a picture of the UCOP pouring salt on a melting banana slug.

That is all.

SC Orientation

I'm in a new place called UC Santa Cruz, and after a long day of listening to and reading up on and thinking about everyone-there's research project, I see that there's a long road to travel before I can get all of my mind here, too.

Short Pause for Ph.D Orals Survival Kit

Parts 1-5 of my Top Ten List of Things I Learned while Teaching Secondary Science are completed, and that means I am halfway toward actually completing a blogging objective!

I wanted to interject here with a link to a helpful guide for preparing for the Ph.D orals examination, entitled "An Orals Survival Kit:"

Too often, no one explains to graduate students what to expect of their comprehensive exams.

It is like standing in front of a firing squad. Your executioners are four professors who are experts in their fields. You writhe before them as they take turns posing questions almost beyond your grasp. The threat hangs constantly over your head: Fail to satisfy them, and your graduate career will end.

Parts 6-10 will be up soon.

Classes and Teaching

I just enrolled for my first batch of graduate courses for the fall. A couple seminars dot my weekly class schedule, along with a very interesting section on "teaching chemistry", which emphasizes the need to practice modern teaching pedagogies in anticipation of the rigorous 20-hour-a-week TAing commitment. I giggled slyly.

UCLA Visit

Other than one particular interview with a professor, my UCLA visit went well. I blame anything other than myself for the following transcript of some of the conversation had during our one-on-one:

Prof: Draw the structures in your project that you're referring to.
Me: Oh, ah, sure... *pencil stutter*
Prof: *waits*
Me: *pencil stutter*
Prof: *waits*
Me: Ahh...
Prof: *looks at paper, then at me, then at pencil*
Me: ...*pencil stutter*
Prof: *picks nose*
Me: *draws a particular rendition of structures*
Prof: Really?
Me: ...*pencil stutter*

...

Prof: So how many DNA molecules are in a human cell?
Me: Umm... millions?
Prof: ...What?
Me: I mean, uhh, billions?
Prof: ...*narrows eyes and motions to floor*
Me: Oh... ahh... 100,000?
Prof: Oh for fuck's sake it's 46.

...

Prof: Do you know [insert any scientific topic here]?
Me: No! *cries and waves white flag*

For the most part I liked the visit and did well, despite the painful encounter above. I met a couple really nice professors that are doing some fascinating work, and I'm growing fond of the campus and the city. We'll see what happens!