Last week's research efforts were especially rewarding for Carole, who finished a study of 32 children in Springfield, MA. It took all day, Wednesday, to get the last four children interviewed (paying the $5 stipend for each participant in the project out of her own pocket, as well as their parking costs) and much of Thursday and Friday to analyze the data. Paul spent roughly ten hours working with graduate students on several projects, and four hours of preparation. Carole learned that four pieces of work had been accepted for presentation at a conference this summer, and spent some time informing her coauthors and preparing revisions. (Carole spends roughly $1500/year of her own money attending conferences.) Paul finished editing a paper for a symposium this March, helped two graduate students edit their papers for the same symposium, and revised some figures for a forthcoming book. Each of us spent approximately four hours writing letters of recommendation for undergraduates and graduate students, and another two hours advising these students on how to write applications for graduate school, fellowships, postdoctoral and faculty positions. So far this winter Carole has sent out about 200 letters of recommendation for students, all prepared on her own office computer, with supplies (paper and printer toner) purchased out of her own pocket because the University does not provide office supplies beyond a few legal pads a semester. Paul read the dissertation of a researcher who might join his lab, spent two hours discussing research with a faculty colleague, and three hours on the phone with collaborators in Colorado and New Jersey.
Funding is a continuing headache. The national funding picture is changing so rapidly that it's a full-time job to keep current. We spent an hour meeting with Paul's lab manager, who is coordinating a series of proposals to NSF, NASA, NIH and private foundations pertaining to science education for women and minorities. Paul spent two additional hours in funding meetings, two hours on the phone with funding agents and colleagues, and an hour in email. This was a slow week; the next major proposal isn't due until Feb. 15. We have submitted or coordinated three proposals, two preproposals, and two fellowship proposals since mid-December, but funding is so tight that Paul will be lucky to see one proposal in four funded. Funding is even more limited in Carole's field (perhaps 5% of psychology proposals submitted to federal sources are funded), so she does not realistically expect any of the six proposals she has submitted so far this year to be funded. Paul must maintain funding for four staff and five graduate students, a medium-size lab for Computer Science.
Most faculty serve the university and national communities. Carole sits on the personnel committee, Paul is the graduate program director. We each sit on international editorial boards and conference committees. Last week, Carole spent 2 hours and Paul 6 hours on these responsibilities; note that when the term is in session, these times increase significantly as the result of regular committee meetings and increased task assignments. Next week, Paul will start working through a stack of journal articles to review. Carole reviews 1-2 manuscripts a week on a regular basis for journals in her field; each review requires 1-2 hours.
Email claimed roughly 30 minutes each day last week; despite this, it's an efficient way to answer questions from students, coordinate projects across the country, set up meetings, and so on. Carole has been involved since July in efforts to obtain birth record information from the state Office of Vital Statistics in Boston; this information is required by the faculty and graduate students in her research area to recruit infant and child participants in research, including masters and doctoral projects. Although the application for this information was approved the information still has not been provided; Carole spends an hour a week on the phone and writing letters on this topic. In addition, she and several colleagues have spent approximately 2 hours a week for the last 4 months trying to arrange for our research office in Springfield MA to be moved to a new location. This involved driving to Springfield to look at new offices, as well as completing forms required by the University and the State. Although the space we have found is significantly cheaper and safer than the current location -- which is downright dangerous -- we learned yesterday that the paperwork will take a year to be approved by the University Planning office and DCPO in Boston. Thus, this task will continue to occupy several hours a week for the next year, time that is not recognized in any formal way yet is essential for the maintenance of our graduate and undergraduate courses.
Next week Paul will spend approximately eight hours on TA assignments, getting ready for the new term. Speaking of which, we both spent approximately four hours last week selecting readings for our respective seminars. When term begins, Carole will teach two courses; Paul, one. His funding supports a colleague to teach his remaining course. We will spend approximately three hours per course per week in the classroom and roughly six hours per course meeting in preparation. In addition, Carole spends one evening a week (3 hours) attending a graduate student - faculty research seminar; this seminar meets every week, term in and out; attendance is essential, and Carole makes regular presentations at these seminars as well as help students prepare for their presentations, which provide essential training for conference presentations, job interviews and other professional presentations. Carole also spends 5-6 hours per week meeting with students in her courses, particularly in one of her spring courses in which students conduct projects in the community and need very careful direct supervision. She lost an hour this week to a student who didn't show up for a scheduled appointment, and another explaining to irate students who have been closed out of her oversubscribed spring courses that the courses are full, and advising them about possible alternatives (which are few in number, because our department has lost several faculty who have not been replaced). Several of these students may face difficulties in completing graduation requirements by May because they cannot get into courses required for their major.
Not all faculty spend their time as we do. Some spend more time teaching, some devote more time to funding, many have much heavier committee responsibilities. We are happy in our jobs, and we are fortunate to have them, but we hope it's clear that we are not underworked or overpaid. We and our colleagues are weary. We have little time to read journals or new books, or keep up with Internet traffic (although Carole spends roughly $500/year on books, out of pocket, because the University library has been devastated by cuts.) We don't really have the time to write this letter. Perhaps this is why people are so ill-informed about what professors do: we don't have time to explain ourselves to the community. We take on more work every year, as our labs branch out into new areas, and we teach more students. We spend more of our own money on research every year. We aren't funded by the University during the summer, although we aren't on vacation; most of the activities described above continue unabated. It's absurd that a couple of professors feel the need to explain themselves to the community. Surely, the University should take at least this responsibility, instead of issuing "report cards" that the public and the legislature interpret as admissions of failure.
Paul Cohen, Department of Computer Science, cohen@cs.umass.edu
Carole Beal, Department of Psychology, cbeal@titan.ucs.umass.edu