text:
Lancelot Sanderson, J.
1. These are consolidated appeals by Sarat Kumari Bibi against two decrees of the High Court of Judicature at Patna dated December 9, 1925, whereby the decree of the learned District Judge of Bhagalpur dated June 23, 1924, was reversed.
2. The respondents, Rai Sakhi Chand Bahadur, Babu Ganesh Lal, Madusudan Das and Moulvi Jamaluddin Khan, who are four out of the five trustees named in the will purporting to have been made by one Raghunandan Lal on July 24, 1923, filed an application for probate on February 27, 1924, in the Court of the said District Judge of Bhagalpur.
3. Raghunandan died on August 31, 1923, leaving two daughters, Raj Kumari Bibi and Sarat Kumari Bibi.
4. His other near relations were his widowed sister Rajdulari Bibi and Krishna Bibi, the widow of Raghunandan's brother, Jadunandan Lal.
5. Caveats were filed by the two daughters and by Krishna Bibi; but objections were filed by Krishna Bibi and Sarat Kumari Bibi only.
6. In these appeals the Board is concerned only with the objections raised by the daughter, Sarat Kumari Bibi, who is the sole appellant.
7. At the hearing of the appeals before the Board the four above-named executors and Srimati Rajdulari Bibi, who is one of the respondents in the second appeal, appeared by learned Counsel. Krishna Bibi was not represented.
8. Three issues were framed by the learned District Judge as follows:
1. Was the will validly executed and attested?
2. Was the testator in a sound disposing state of mind at the time of execution of the will?
3. Was the will executed under the undue influence of Moulvi Jamaluddin Khan?
9. The learned Judge answered the second issue in the affirmative and the third issue in the negative.
10. On the first issue he held that the will was not validly executed, and he answered the first portion of the issue, viz., as regards execution, in the negative and the second portion, viz., as regards attestation, in the affirmative.
11. The ground of his decision was that the propounders of the will had failed to satisfy him that the testator was aware of the contents of the will and that the will expressed his intention. He was of opinion that a very active part in the preparation of the will was taken by Jamaluddin, who was the manager and confidential servant of the testator, and that he took a substantial benefit under the will.
12. Applying the principles laid down in Barry v. Butlin (1838) 2 M.P.C. 480 and Tyrrell v. Painton (1894) P. 151 the learned Judge held that the circumstances in connection with the preparation of the will aroused suspicion, that such suspicion had not been removed, and that he was not satisfied that the testator was aware of the contents of the will.
13. The learned Judge accordingly refused to grant probate of the will to the executors.
14. Rajdulari Bibi and the four above-named executors appealed Sanderson in two separate appeals to the High Court of Judicature of Patna.
15. The learned Judges of the High Court on December 9, 1925, allowed the appeals, set aside the decree of the learned District Judge, and directed that probate should issue as prayed.
16. They held that the will created no trust in favour of Jamaluddin, that the learned District Judge was wrong in thinking that there was any suspicion inherent in the will which took the ease out of the ordinary rule, viz., that the proof of capacity and the fact of execution carry with them the presumption that the testator had knowledge of the terms of the will.
17. The learned Judges said that they were prepared to go further and hold that there was satisfactory evidence to satisfy the conscience of the Court that the testator had full knowledge of the terms of the will, including those contained in the 12th paragraph.
18. Sarat Kumari Bibi, a minor appearing through her guardian and next friend, Jugal Krishna Prasad, has appealed against the :said decrees of the High Court to His Majesty the King in Council.
19. At the hearing before the Board it was admitted by learned Counsel appearing for the appellant that the will was undoubtedly executed by the testator, that it was duly attested and registered, and that now there was no suggestion of undue Influence.
20. The argument presented on behalf of the appellant was that the view of the High Court in regard to the benefit alleged to be conferred on Jamaluddin under the will was not sound, and that the conclusion of the learned District Judge in holding that it had not been satisfactorily proved that the testator was aware of the contents of the will, was correct. It was further contended that in any case there was no reliable evidence that the testator was aware of the provisions contained in the 12th paragraph of the will, and that the probate, if granted, should be granted excepting the said 12th paragraph.
21. The main provisions of the will are that the two daughters are given legacies of five hundred rupees monthly each, which will descend as far as their children's children. The testator's sister is given five hundred rupees monthly and the testator's residential house and furniture. Three hundred rupees monthly is given to an aunt of the testator Rama Bibi, two hundred monthly to Masudan Das, a second cousin, and after one or two other smaller legacies the balance is to go in the first instance to the improvement of the estate and, secondly, to the constitution of a Poor Students' Fund.
22. The 12th paragraph of the will is as follows:
XII. For carrying out the above-mentioned provisions, I, the executant appoint five trustees : (1) Rai Bahadur Babn Sakhi Chand, Superintendent of Police, at present manager of the Jagannath Temple, residing at present at Puri; (2) Rai Bahadur Surja Prasad, son of Babu Ras Bihari Sahay, deceased, Vakil, resident of Mahalla Khanjarpur, district Bhagalpur; (3) Babu Ganesh Lal, my Khalera brother-in-law (cousin-in-law), resident of Mahalla Guzri, Patna City; (4) Babu Masudan Das, son of Babu Ram Narayan Das, deceased, (who is) my relative, resident of Mahalla Golaghat, Bhagalpur, and proprietor of the Gopal Steam Press, Bhagalpur; (5) Maulvi Jamaluddin Khan, the present manager of my estate, resident of Mahalla Imamnagar, District of Bhagalpur. The said Maulvi has up to this time been serving me faithfully and conscientiously and he is acquainted with everything. He is, therefore, assigned the position of manager for life in addition to that of a trustee. His monthly salary for manager's work is fixed at Rs. 250. Over and above this salary, proper conveyance charges shall be given to him, and travelling and daily diet expenses shall be given as in my time, or the trustees may make proper arrangement therefor (?) in such manner as they may think proper. In (case of) increase of the income of the estate, the trustees shall allow him such increment of salary as may be decided upon by them. This item of expenditure shall be a charge on my estate under the head establishments charges. Travelling expenses both ways, etc., shall be paid to trustees Nos. 1 and 3 when they shall come over on business of the estate, and the same rule shall apply to the trustees living at a distance. This (item of) expenditure shall be a charge on my estate under the headallowance to trustees.
23. The will purported to have been signed by the testator in the presence of Sarja Prasad and Satiah Chandra Dey, and to have been acknowledged by the testator to Gauri Shankar Sahay. A note at the foot of the will is as follows: "I certify that I have read over and explained this will to the testator, who seemed to understand it perfectly," and it is signed by Jamal Khan, i. e,, Jamaluddiu. The will is signed in another place by Jamaluddin as the scribe of the document.
24. On July 24, 1923, the will was presented at the Sadar Registration Office, Bhagalpur, by Raghunandan, the testator, who was identified by Sarja Prasad.
25. In dealing with the rule laid down by the above mentioned cases, viz., Barry v. Batlin and Tyrrell v. Painton and the question whether Jamaluddin took a benefit under the will, the learned Judges of the High Court held that "the benefit must be a pecuniary benefit, a legacy, for instance, more or less of a substantial nature.
26. Their Lordships are not able to agree that the principle laid down in the above-mentioned cases is limited to such a benefit as that indicated by the learned Judges of the High Court.
27. Their Lordships are relieved from the necessity of discussing this matter at any length, for it was not seriously argued before them by learned Counsel for the executors that Jamaluddin did not receive a benefit under the will in view of the fact that the testator had thereby appointed him manager of his estate for the period of his life at a monthly salary of Rs. 250.
28. Their Lordships agree with the finding of the learned District Judge, which was to the effect that the undisputed facts of the case show that Jamaluddin took an active part in the preparation of the will, and inasmuch as, in their opinion, Jamaluddin did take a benefit under the will by reason of the provision in the 12th paragraph of the will, by which he was appointed manager of the estate for life at a salary, the principle laid down by the above-mentioned cases is applicable to this case, and these appeals must be decided in accordance therewith.
29. It will be sufficient to refer to the statements of the rule made by Lindley and Davey L. JJ. in Tyrrell v. Painton [1894] P. 151, (p. 157) :
The rule in Barry v. Butlin, Fulton v. Andrew, and Brown v. Fisher is not, in my opinion, confined to the single case in which a will is prepared by or on the instructions of the person taking large benefits under it, but extends to all cases in which circumstances exist which excite the suspicion of the Court; and wherever such circumstances exist, and whatever their nature may be, it is for those who propound the will to remove such suspicion, and to prove affirmatively that the testator knew and approved of the contents of the document, and it is only where this is done that the onus is thrown on those who oppose the will to prove fraud or undue influence, or whatever else they rely on to displace the case made for proving the will…." (Lindley L.J.)
* * * *
It musk not be supposed that the principle in Barry v. Butlin is confined to cases where the person who prepares the will is the person who takes the benefit under itthat is one state of things which raises a suspicion; but the principle is, that wherever a will is prepared under circumstances which raise a well-grounded suspicion that it does not express the mind of the testator, the Court ought not to pronounce in favour of it unless that suspicion is removed…." (Davey L.J. pp. 159, 160).
30. The material facts relating to the preparation and execution of the will are as follows: In July, 1923, the testator was ill; he had been an invalid for a considerable time, and he left his home in Bhagalpur on July 25, 1923; and went to Calcutta for treatment, As already stated, he died on August 31, 1923. It was alleged by Jamaluddin that a few days before the testator went to Calcutta he handed to Jamaluddin two or three pages of notes, written in Urdu by the hand of one Hassan Ali, who had acted as tutor to the testator when he was a boy, and that the testator instructed him to take the notes to a vakeel, named Ranjit Sinha, for the purpose of having them put into the form of a will.
31. Accordingly, on the evening of July 21, 1923, Jamaluddin took the notes of Ranjit Sinha, who dictated a draft of a will which Jamaluddin wrote in Urdu.
32. On the morning of July 22, 1923, Jamaluddin is alleged to have taken the draft of the will to the testator, and at his request to have read it to the testator, who asked him to read some parts again and to explain them. This he did, and he then handed both the documents to the testator. It was alleged by Jamaluddin that the provision appointing him manager for life at a salary was in the notes given to him by the testator and in the draft will dictated by Ranjit Sinha.
33. Unfortunately, neither of these documents has been produced and Ranjit Sinha was not called as a witness. The explanation for the absence of the latter from the witness-box was that he was appearing as vakeel for the executors at the hearing of this case before the learned District Judge.
34. Hasan Ali, the tutor, gave evidence and said that he wrote the notes at the dictation of the testator, who kept what he had written. When cross-examined, he stated "that it was in the notes that Jamal would be a life manager on Rs. 250".
35. On the next day, viz., July 23, according to the evidence of Jamaluddin, the testator gave the draft to him, saying "There are some cancellations in it : copy it out again." It appears, however, from a later passage in his evidence that Jamaluddin made the cancellations in the draft at the order of the testator.
36. Jamaluddin made a fair copy of the draft, but he omitted from the fair copy the paragraph relating to the appointment of trustees and to the appointment of Jamaluddin as manager of the estate for life, He alleged that he was told by the testator to Omit that paragraph from the fair copy.
37. The explanation given for the omisaion was that the testator wished Surja Prasad, the Government pleader at Bhagalpur, to be one of the trustees of the will, that he wished to consult Surja Prasad as to the will, and the testator feared that if Surja Prasad saw his name as trustee and executor he might refuse to give his advice.
38. That evening Suraj Prasad went to the testator's house, and the testator asked Jamaluddin to produce the fair copy of the will which he had made that day.
39. Accordingly Jamaluddin brought it and in the presence of the testator read it out.
40. The testator asked Surja Prasad to see that it was all right. Surja Prasad said he would see it next morning, whereupon the testator told Surja Prasad to take the draft away with him, and that he would send Jamaluddin in the morning. The next morning, i. e., on July 24, 1923, Jamaluddin went to the house of Surja Prasad, who suggested two alterations in the draft, viz., that the Rs. 500 monthly to the daughters should be made an absolute estate of inheritance and that the grant for educational purposes should be specified. Jamaluddin, in reply to such suggestions, said that it was the testator's wish that the disposition, should be as in the draft. Accordingly Surja Prasad did no more than make some verbal alterations and gave the draft back to Jamaluddin. The draft shown to Surja Prasad has not been produced, but there is no doubt that it did not contain the paragraph numbered 12 in the will relating to the appointment of trustees and manager.
41. Jamaluddin took the draft back to the testator, who instructed him to make a fair copy and to add the paragraph as to the appointment of trustees and manager.
42. There is no direct evidence that Jamaluddin reported to the testator the advice which Surja Prasad had given in respect of the two matters already referred to. It appears that Jamaluddin took upon himself to reject Surja Prasad's suggestions, relying on his own alleged knowledge of the testator's wishes.
43. Jamaluddin then made a final fair copy, including paragraph 12, and took it to the testator, read it out to him, and added and signed the certificate that he had read over and explained the will to the testator, who appeared to understand it perfectly.
44. In the afternoon of the same day Jamaluddin and Satish Babu went with the testator in a car to the Court. Surja Prasad was called, and the testator, sitting in the car, executed the will, signing his name on each page : this was done in the presence of Surja Praaad, Satish Babu and Jamaluddin.
45. Gouri Babu was then called, and the testator admitted his signature to him.
46. The will was then placed in an envelope, which was sealed. The testator, Surja Prasad and Jamaluddin went to the Registry Office, where the will was deposited.
47. Surja Prasad in his evidence said that he was aware :
That a man who takes substantial benefits under a will should not take part in its preparation, but I did not know until next day at the registration that Jamal took a benefit under it. That clause was not in the draft.
48. In another part of his evidence Surja Prasad said :
I intend to renounce my executorship. It was after the registration that Jamal Babu told me I was down as a trustee and executor. I said that I ought to have been consulted first, and that I objected, since I was about to retire from ray practice. No executor or trustee was in the draft shown to me.
49. From the above-mentioned evidence it is not clear whether the information given by Jamaluddin to Surja Prasad as to the former taking a benefit under the will, and the latter being a trustee, was given in the presence of the testator.
50. It is possible that it was; on the other band, it is equally possible that it was not, and to assume that the information was given in the presence of the testator would be mere guess-work.
51. Surja Prasad did, in fact, refuse to act as trustee and executor.
52. In view of the above-mentioned facts, in their Lordships' opinion there is ground for suspicion that the testator was not aware of the provision in Clause 12 of the will by which Jamaluddin was appointed manager of the estate for life at the salary of Rs. 250 per month, with the accompanying provisions for the payment of charges and expenses and the possible increase of salary.
53. Indeed, it was not seriously argued by the learned Counsel for the executors that there was no ground for suspicion. The point on which the learned Counsel laid stress was that the evidence was amply sufficient to remove the suspicion and to satisfy the Board that the testator was aware of and understood all the provisions, including paragraph 12 of the will.
54. The learned Counsel for the executors further argued that in any event probate should be granted of all the provisions in the will except that part of it which provided for the managership of Jamaluddin, and he relied on the decision in Rhodes v. Rhodes (1882) 7 App. Cas. 192.
55. In their Lordships' opinion, there is no ground for holding that the testator was not aware and did not approve of all the provisions of the will with the exception of paragraph 12.
56. The question, therefore, is narrowed down to the consideration whether the testator approved and was aware of the provisions of paragraph 12. Their Lordships are satisfied that that part of the paragraph which deals with the appointment of the five trustees was in accordance with the testator's wishes, They are not, however, satisfied that the appointment of Jamaluddin as manager of the estate for life and the terms of such appointment were in accordance with his wishes or that he was aware of the provision in the will relating thereto.
57. It is not necessary for their Lordships to set out in detail all the reasons for holding that the suspicion in respect of the above-mentioned provision has not been removed. It will be sufficient to refer to some of them.
58. The evidence as the existence of the above-mentioned provision in any of the drafts made prior to the fair copy of the will, which was executed, is limited to the evidence of Jamaluddin and Hasan Ali, who was speaking merely from his recollection.
59. None of the material notes or drafts was produced.
60. Ranjit Sinha, whose evidence would have been very important, was not called as a witness.
61. There is no evidence beyond that of Jamaluddin, the interested party, that on the morning of July 24, 1923, the will was read to the testator or that he read it himself :
62. There is no doubt that when the draft of the will was shown to Surja Prasad it did not contain paragrah 12 or any such provision.
63. The explanation given in the evidence of Jamaluddin for its omission was to the effect that the testator did not wish Surja Prasad to know that he was to be a trustee.
64. It is difficult to accept this as a sufficient and reasonable ground for withholding the provisions of that paragraph from the knowledge of Surja Prasad.
65. The position, therefore, in respect of this part of the case is that the clause in the will under which Jamaluddin was to receive a substantial benefit was by his action withheld from the knowledge of Surja Prasad, the Government pleader, whose advise was sought as to the will, and no satisfactory explanation is forthcoming for such action.
66. There are some grounds to support the opinion of the learned District Judge that it was at least doubtful whether the testator could have read the Urdu script in which the will was written.
67. It is curious that Jamaluddin should have endorsed on the will the certificate that he had read it over and explained it to the testator, who seemed to understand it perfectly, if it were the fact, as alleged by Jamaluddin, that the testator could read the Urdu script and that he had, in fact, read the will for himself.
68. The above are some of the reasons which have actuated their Lordships in coming to the conclusion that the evidence is not sufficient to remove the suspicion attaching to the provision in question, and to satisfy them that the testator knew and approved of the said provision.
69. The result of their Lordships' conclusions is that probate should not be granted of that part of paragraph 12 which confers the benefit upon Jamaluddin; in other words, probate should not be granted in respect of that part of the paragraph which begins with the words "The said Maulvi has up to this time," and ends with the words "This items shall be a charge on my estate under the headestablishment charges."
70. This decision, however, does not mean that probate should be refused in respect of the remainder of the will. See Rhodes v. Rhodes (1882) 7 App. Cas. 192.
71. Their Lordships, therefore, are of opinion that the decrees of the High Court should be set aside and an order should be made that probate should issue in respect of the will with the exception of that part of paragraph 12 which has been heretofore specifically mentioned.
72. There remains the question of costs.
73. The appellant, Surat Kumari Bibi, has succeeded in the appeal to His Majesty in Council, but to a limited extent only. She has been contending all through the proceedings that probate in respect of all the provisions of the will should be refused and that there should be an intestacy. In this contention she has failed.
74. On the other hand, the executors have been contending all through the proceedings for probate in respect of all the provisions of the will. In this contention they have failed.
75. Their Lordships, therefore, are of opinion that there should be no order for costs as between the appellant and the executors in any of the proceedings, and that any costs paid under any orders of the Courts below ought to be returned, but that the executors should be at liberty to get their taxed costs out of the estate.
76. The position adopted by Rajdulari before the Board was that probate should be granted in the form and the extent hereinbefore indicated. Consequently their Lordships are of opinion that the appellant should pay the costs incurred by Rajdulari in the High Court and in the proceedings before the Board.
77. Their Lordships will humbly advise His Majesty accordingly.


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Lawyer: Darren Wilson resigned because of threats against fellow police officers, department
FERGUSON, Mo.>> Darren Wilson resigned from his job as a Ferguson police officer after learning of threats of violence against other officers and the department, his lawyer said Sunday.
Wilson, a 28-year-old white officer, had been on administrative leave since Aug. 9, when he shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed. A grand jury decision not to indict Wilson was announced Monday, setting off massive protests that included looting, violence and fires that destroyed about a dozen businesses.
Wilson's attorney, Neil Bruntrager, told The Associated Press that Wilson decided to step aside after Ferguson Chief Tom Jackson personally told him of the threats. Bruntrager declined to go into detail about the alleged threats, and Jackson, didn't immediately respond to a voicemail and email seeking comment.
"The information we had was that there would be actions targeting the Ferguson (police) department or buildings in Ferguson related to the police department," Bruntrager said. He said Wilson and the city were already discussing an exit strategy, acknowledging that staying on as an officer there would be impossible.
Once Wilson learned of the threats, Bruntrager said, he decided to go ahead and resign.
"Under the circumstances, nothing else was important other than safety," Bruntrager said.
Wilson, who had been with the department for less than three years, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Saturday, "I'm not willing to let someone else get hurt because of me."
Ferguson officials planned to address details of the resignation later Sunday, the same day Brown's parents planned to attend a church service where civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton was scheduled to preach.
Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Brown's family, said Wilson's resignation was not a surprise.
"It was always believed that the police officer would do what was in his best interest, both personally and professionally," Crump said. "We didn't believe that he would be able to be effective for the Ferguson community nor the Ferguson Police Department because of the tragic circumstances that claimed the life of Michael Brown Jr."
Crump said the family is still considering civil litigation such as a wrongful death lawsuit, "but don't let that get confused with the fact that they really wanted the killer of their child to be held accountable."
Wilson's resignation meant little to activists and protesters.
On Saturday night, more than 100 protesters gathered near police headquarters, where they were outnumbered by officers. Two people were arrested. Another protester burned an American flag. By midnight, only about two dozen protesters remained.
Many seemed unfazed by the resignation. Several merely shrugged their shoulders when asked what they thought, while Rick Campbell flatly said he didn't care about the resignation, noting: "I've been protesting out here since August."
Victoria Rutherford, a resident who was not protesting, said she believed Wilson should have not only resigned, but been convicted of a crime.
"I'm upset. I have a 16-year-old son. It could've been him. I feel that he was absolutely in the wrong," she said.
Another resident, Reed Voorhees, said he hoped Wilson could find similar work "someplace where he would enjoy life, and move on with his life."
Wilson fatally shot Brown in the middle of a Ferguson street after the two scuffled inside Wilson's police SUV. Brown's body was left for more than four hours as police investigated and angry onlookers gathered.
Some witnesses have said Brown had his hands up when Wilson shot him. Wilson told the grand jury that he feared for his life when Brown hit him and reached for his gun.
The U.S. Justice Department also is conducting a civil rights investigation into the shooting and a separate investigation of police department practices. It isn't clear when that decision will be announced.
It isn't clear what the future holds for Wilson, who has spent his adult life in police work and never wanted to do anything else, Bruntrager said.
"In terms of what it (the resignation) means, it means at this point he doesn't have a paycheck," Bruntrager said. "He has no income so he'll have to make some decisions pretty quickly."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Angelo Carfagna
Associate Vice President for University Communications
Angelo Carfagna is an award-winning writer, editor, communications consultant and international affairs and media studies scholar.
He has led and collaborated on various projects to promote and garner attention for the University's global mission. He is now responsible for internal and external communications efforts and also serves as executive editor of the University's flagship publication, FDU Magazine.
Along with former FDU President J. Michael Adams, he is the author of Coming of Age in A Globalized World: The Next Generation (2006). The book explores the impact of globalization and discusses the significance of global citizenship in a world with diminishing borders. It further highlights the role of education in a society that constantly faces change and conflict.
Angelo Carfagna earned his BA in English and journalism from Montclair State University and an MA in political science from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Following reporting positions with weekly newspapers and The Record, he joined FDU in 1993.
His office is located in Dickinson Hall on the Metropolitan Campus.
Links of interest:
Fairleigh Dickinson University
FDU Magazine
Short Abstract
FDU's Office of Communications includes professionals within University publications, public relations, telecommunications and web operations. This service department provides a wide range of promotional assistance and interacts heavily with the University community of faculty, students and staff, as well as with the general public.
Contact Information


text:
In what might be characterized as a pant-wetting experience, visitors to Chicago's Willis Tower SkyDeck got more than a great view Monday when the attraction's protective layer covering the glass splintered into thousands of pieces.
The glass sightseeing box extends from the 103rd floor of Willis Tower in Chicago and attracts about 1.5 million visitors each year.
The Willis Tower told CNN affiliate WBBM that no one was in any danger -- the protective layer did what it was supposed to do.
Chicago-area resident Jesus Pintado captured the moment on video.
"There was a woman with two kids and they looked really pale and scared because the floor just cracked," Pintado told WBBM.
The ledge is designed to hold up to five tons and its protective coating is intended to keep the ledge from scratching.
The protective layer cracked previously in May 2014, creating a similar panic.
In 2014, tourist Alejandro Garibay told CNN affiliate WGN that he saw lines forming in the glass and immediately moved from the ledge.
There was no immediate danger in that case either..
Bruce Parkinson Editor-in-Chief
An observer and analyst of the Canadian and international travel industries for over 25 years, Bruce uses the pre-dawn hours to prepare a daily news and information package to keep industry members up to date.


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Nairobi, Kenya's capital, the city boasts of very many mind-blowing sites. I made a tour around the city for a day and here is how it went down!
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Who Can Apply: All applicants must be enrolled, or due to be enrolled, in full time university education for the semester they are applying to receive the scholarship fund.
Submission: Create a resume based on the life of any fictional or non-fictional character, from TV, history, literature or myth. The resume SHOULD NOT be about yourself. Again, do NOT make a resume about your own experiences. Resumes should be no longer than two pages.
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text:
Fazoli's Serves Up Fresh Fare and Fresh Information With Yext
- Industry
- Food & Service
- Size
- 220+ restaurants in 27 states
- Headquartered
- Lexington, KY
Fazoli's is a leading Italian restaurant chain with approximately 220 restaurants across the United States.
"Fazoli's is America's largest Italian elevated quick-service restaurant chain, serving freshly prepared pasta entrees, Submarinos® sandwiches, salads, and pizza to approximately 30 million guests each year," says Will Hanrahan, Digital Marketing Manager at Fazoli's.
The Challenge
When Hanrahan took over managing the brand's website and information across the web, Fazoli's had a loyal and growing customer base, but was struggling to manage its consumer-facing information online. This was especially true for localized menu offerings, which changed frequently and varied location to location.
While Fazoli's franchise operators had the autonomy to customize their menus with limited-time offers for their restaurants, the brand was not initially able to publish these tailored menus online at the local level. The Fazoli's website had a single corporate menu page, making it look as though all items were available at all locations. Consumers searching online couldn't always see the correct menu for the location near them, causing confusion that sometimes led to negative reviews.
With only one person managing a growing number of reviews for 220 restaurants, it became impossible to communicate with all the customers leaving reviews on a one-to-one basis.
The Solution
Hanrahan and Fazoli's decided to work with Yext to manage their brand information centrally. Fazoli's uses Yext to manage menus and publish them accurately across the web, customizing them per location.
Fazoli's uses Yext as its central source of truth, making it easy to update all location-specific sites with the same information the brand is publishing on networks like Google, Bing, Facebook, and Yelp — from menu information to hours of operation.
"Customers can visit the local page for one of our restaurants, and they can see everything they want," says Hanrahan. "They can find out more about the menu offerings, call the location, see opening hours. They can do so much from this one page. Making sure it's correct and easy to find is an integral part of our digital marketing strategy." Yext's enhanced menu feature pushes the exact menu from that location into the Google search results.
"The beauty of utilizing Yext is that the customer sees the same, consistent information wherever they look," continues Hanrahan. "I'm really, really happy with how we've used Yext, and I find it very easy. As an example, when a franchisee decides they're going to change the price of a menu item, I can change it on my own, and can respond back saying this is now live!"
With Yext, Fazoli's can update each franchise's page per location, with confidence that the brand is in control of its restaurant and menu information everywhere. Individual franchise owners can even respond to reviews locally.
"We've provided training and access to our franchisees to reply to reviews and resolve issues for their locations. That helps them to be more engaged in their business, be notified about problems, and fix them more quickly and more effectively," says Hanrahan.
"If you want your guests to return, then responding to reviews is going to be critical to build your reputation and avoid people going to a competitor," Hanrahan continues. "Responding to a customer can be the quickest way to fix something and give the customer the feeling that they're being heard. This has been a huge win for us. It's been a win for everyone; operations, marketing, and the local franchise owner."
In Fazoli's first year with Yext, the company saw 33% year-over-year growth in clicks on its listings. This includes 18% year-over-year growth in direction clicks, 63% year-over-year growth in website clicks, and 32% year-over-year growth in phone call clicks.
The Difference
Since implementing Yext, customer complaints about the menu and local store information have dropped. Hanrahan and his team can focus their efforts on driving hungry customers into their restaurants.
"When a new location opens up, we're able to get ahead of the curve by using Yext to set up local pages in advance. We can have everything ready to go so they can kick-start that location. With an easy look at Yext, we can see how we're trending. Almost every single metric is trending positive. We're getting more page views every month. We're getting more website clicks, we're getting more phone calls — everything is just moving in the right direction, which is really good to see."


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EducAid's vision is to create a democratic, dignified and prosperous Sierra Leone, where poverty is eliminated by educated citizens who are able to develop their personal, social and economic wellbeing. As you may be able to note: EducAid is not simply interested in educating Sierra Leoneans; we are in the business of changing the whole country for the better.
There are several complex issues that prevent this vision from coming a reality: low quality of teaching; costly barriers to education; a lack of trained teachers; a lack of fundamental business skills and investment capital are just some of the difficulties that young Sierra Leoneans must face when forging a democratic, dignified and prosperous Sierra Leone. In order to tackle these issues head on we have developed a number of programmes that target these specific issues.
Find out more
More information on each of our programmes can be found by clicking on the images below.


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It's not often that people are encouraged to make light of mental health concerns, but participants in the LGBTQ Laughing Like Crazy workshop will do just that.
During the 16-week program, peer facilitators will help participants formulate jokes and put together comedy routines based on whatever they choose, and this can include their mental health concerns. No previous experience in comedy is necessary, and no prescription or diagnosis is required to participate.
"It's incredibly empowering," says Cindy Bloomberg, lead facilitator of the workshop. "It breaks down your isolation and your anxiety and it reduces stigma."
"We don't talk about [mental illness] — there's shame . . . and if you take it out of there and make it funny and bring people into your world the stigma breaks down."
The workshop will begin with a compulsory information session on Thursday, Feb 11, 2016. The group then meets every Thursday until May 26. Those who have completed the program — the graduating class — perform their routines at a public showcase on June 2.
Participants may invite friends and family to attend the showcase at the YMCA at 20 Grosvenor St. "It's a huge thing to stand in front of 300 people," Bloomberg says. "But you're fully prepared to stand up there and deliver your set when the time comes."
"It's very educational for the audience as well — you've changed their viewpoint . . . and there are funny things about being hospitalized or having attempted suicide," she says. "You wouldn't think that'd be funny, but if the comic can find the comedy in it then they're inviting you to laugh as well."
The program is run by The Mood Disorders Association of Ontario (MDAO), which offers free programs and resources to people in Ontario living with depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder. This is the first time the organization is offering a queer-focused version of Laughing Like Crazy.
While queer people are welcome at the general Laughing Like Crazy, some may prefer a version made specifically for them. Bloomberg, who identifies as lesbian, says that it will be a draw that the classes are taking place at The 519, Toronto's LGBT community centre, rather than MDAO's office at Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue.
"It can be challenging to come to a group, and if somebody might feel more comfortable staying within their community we'd like to offer that," Bloomberg says. "There's a comfort level for people to go to The 519."
MDAO is also offering a queer version of its Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) for the first time. Participants in this eight-week workshop will meet as a group and design plans for dealing with their mental health issues in practical, day-to-day terms.
"A lot of people, when they're in a bad place, have a hard time identifying what or who would be helpful," says Jason Webster, who will co-facilitate LGBTQ WRAP with Kate Welsh. "You make a plan so that when you're not doing well you can look at it and see things you've identified as things that make you feel better."
These solutions can be just about anything — from counselling to a picnic — and the facilitators will bring in various resources to help generate ideas. "[We'll] include materials more specific to LGBTQ people," Webster says. "Such as [information about] LGBTQ community centres, mental health services and sports organizations."
Webster, along with Andrew Kcomt and Robin Simmons, also facilitates MDAO's LGBTQ Drop-In group. In early 2015, the group increased in frequency from monthly to twice-monthly, and now meets on the first and third Wednesday.


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LAFAYETTE COUNTY, Mo. – An initial arraignment was held Wednesday, for a man and woman charged with felony offenses in Lafayette County.
Nathan Alan Thompson, 37, of Malta Bend and Chassity Nicole Little, 30, of Waverly, entered a not guilty plea to a felony count of delivery of a controlled substance. Thompson also pleaded not guilty to unlawful possession or transport of an illegal weapon. Both were arrested after methamphetamine and a handgun were found during a December 22nd traffic stop on Highway BB.
The court set the next hearing for each on December 19th.


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Prawns marinated in our special saucy rub and grilled. Served with homemade fish cake.
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our own reviews, take our own photographs and update daily. We also have an app.


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Online social dating websites is now believed to be internet's new venue for speed dating. All it takes to join the community of people who have one goal in mind – to find the person they could spend their life with - is to sign up for an account that needs to be visited regularly for any updates and reply to visitor messages.
Bradenton, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/09/2015 -- Searching for a true and serious relationship through free social dating sites has become the new trend for many people who want to be adventurous with their hunt for 'the one'. The interest of the public in joining online social dating have escalated dramatically over the years as more and more success stories about couples who just met online and ended up tying knots after a few dates were further promoted by reality TV shows and movies. That if a person didn't manage to get their happily ever after in the community they are in, perhaps, finding love online could somehow fill the holes of their singleness and solitude.
Online social dating websites is now believed to be internet's new venue for speed dating. All it takes to join the community of people who have one goal in mind – to find the person they could spend their life with - is to sign up for an account that needs to be visited regularly for any updates and reply to visitor messages. Yet, the fun in online dating does not stops once the registering for an account, creating a name for the account, writing some description about self and uploading the most appealing picture is done when there are things that should be considered to make an individual's account more outstanding than the others without even pretending.
According to a dating site moderator, who offered some online dating tips for people who are willing to invest time and effort in finding love online, an individual who is most likely to spend a few moments in online dating site should (1) be equipped with good grammar and writing, because this reveals the persona of an individual as intellectually capable of handling adult issues, (2) upload a good profile picture that is not highly edited in Adobe photoshop or Camera360, neither wearing provocative outfits just to get attention though 90% of online daters tend to ping people they find interesting with their profile pictures. But it should not be the basis since a picture is only an impression, (3) avoid making negative impressions about their own profile because it could make people visiting the profile feel devalued, (4) refrain from using a very common catchy phrases just to look interesting and; (5) be prepared and anticipate that in some way, it takes time to find the right person who shares the same vibe and is much willing to spend time chatting with them.
With the large volume of people in online dating sites, patience is a virtue that an online dater should possess. Yet, online dating should not be a dragging experience since committing in one website at a time offers a plethora of benefits like finding people that an individual does not usually meet in the society they're into. If in some cases that an online dating site does not accomplish anything nor find people of interest, never be afraid to move and look for another until an individual found what they've been looking for.
About AGoodKiss.com
Agoodkiss.com was founded by William Nunlist III with his main goal being a 100% free online dating experience for all users. I am a person who has spent a lot of time over the years using many online dating platforms. The one thing I realized is most of them are truly not 100% free. Why should anyone pay to find true love? So with that being said the idea came about in early 2012. Over the next few years I grappled with many insane ideas for a dating website and a dating app (Coming this summer 2015). Some ideas seemed a little too farfetched while others stuck around. The first and most important idea was simple "100% free online dating for all" that was the one idea that would never leave me to many dating websites claim to be free or offer some silly gimmick "chat this weekend for free" what happens after weekend? You get charged $29.95 or whatever the amount maybe. Now to be fair some people may think paying for a membership shows one's devotion to finding love. But when you break down the numbers and visits those websites it is simply not the case. With agoodkiss.com we offer those same features as a monthly membership plus some for absolutely free. Over the next few years you will see a rapid advance in our services that will take the dating scene by storm. Will you come along for the ride and find your last good kiss forever?


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Today I hot footed it down to my local Body Shop store in Preston and met up with the lovely Rachelle who had put on a lovely Blogger's afternoon for a small group of us. The event was mainly to celebrate to unveiling of their new and improved shopfit that looks incredible. If you've ever been in the Body Shop at Preston, you'll probably remember how it used to look. It was always nice, but it wasn't anything out of this world and always felt the same whenever you went in. Now the store looks sleek and fresh, and feels more interactive and hands on in the way that products and samples have been displayed. Shelves are well stocked, products stand centre stage and the whole thing is bright and fun.
We spent the afternoon with Rachelle who talked us through new products, best sellers and how to use certain items. I feel like I learnt a lot about application and ingredients, which opened my eyes a lot to natural products and how things are made. We were also treated to a relaxing hand massage (so good!) as well as refreshments and snacks, plus exclusive discounts so we could treat ourselves to anything that took our fancy.
Danielle, Rachel and I were quick to fill our basket after Rachelle's expert advice, and I came away with some lovely products that I'm really looking forward to using (Banana conditioner – OMG). Thanks so much to Rachelle and the team for having us! I had a lovely couple of hours in the store and have found my new favourite place to go for beauty products!
Do you use Body Shop products? What are your favourites.


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St. Albans Football camp is designed to teach the basic fundamentals and techniques of blocking and tackling, as well as learning how to run, throw and catch the football. The camp will also feature agility work, stretching techniques and guest speakers focusing on academics and hard work.
St. Albans Football Camp
- Date: June
- Gender: Boys
- Age: 9-16 years old
- Options: One One-Week Session (M-F)
- Half-day: 9 AM - Noon
- Facilities: Camp will be held on the Little Field.
Gary Schnell is the Athletic Director and Head Football coach at St. Albans. He has been coaching college and high school football for the past thirty-three years. Coach Schnell just finished his ninth season at St. Albans. Under Coach Schnell the Bulldogs were the 2007, 2009, 2010 IAC champions. Coach Schnell is a 1978 graduate of Towson University and holds a B.S. degree in Physical Education.
Related Listings
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Saint Albans School: Rowing Camp
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Quote: Rev wrote in post #13Quote: Eglman wrote in post #12And what is Ivan´s adopted name? Where´s the wannabe jihadist "Booker" a/k/a Mohammad Abdullah Hassan? Be quiet, E-man.You're fouling up the narrative.
Quote: Eglman wrote in post #12And what is Ivan´s adopted name? Where´s the wannabe jihadist "Booker" a/k/a Mohammad Abdullah Hassan?
Quote: Eglman wrote in post #16Quote: Rev wrote in post #13Quote: Eglman wrote in post #12And what is Ivan´s adopted name? Where´s the wannabe jihadist "Booker" a/k/a Mohammad Abdullah Hassan? Be quiet, E-man.You're fouling up the narrative.OK Rev I will make an adjustment to my tin-foil hat
Later, guys.Long day tomorrow.G'night.Don't let the towel heads bite.
Good night, Rev. Y'all have a good evening.
My disgust with this person cannot be easily expressed.After Making Statement on Ft. Hood, Obama Heads to DNC FundraiserAs you know by now there has been another shooting at Ft. Hood in Texas. At this point, there are fatalities and multiple people are severely wounded. President Obama briefly left a fundraiser in Chicago to make a statement about the situation, saying "We are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened." Nedra Pickler ✔ @nedrapickler Follow Obama spoke from Chicago Cut steakhouse, in same room where he just met w/ about 25 DNC donors who paid up to $32,400Now, he's on his way to another DNC fundraiser. He has been raising money throughout the course of the shooting. "On Wednesday evening, President Obama was being kept up to date on the developments from the mass shooting at Fort Hood while reportedly attending fundraisers for the 2014 election cycle. According to White House spokesman Josh Earnest, Obama is in the loop while at the fundraisers. "Nedra Pickler ✔ @nedrapickler Follow Now in Obama motorcade heading to 2nd DNC fundraiser in Lincoln Park home w/ about 55 donors who paid up to $10Khttp://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlic...raiser-n1818176
LOL. Good Ol' Nedra Pickler of Rush Limbaugh fame. BTW isn't this standard operating procedure for Zero when there is a shooting like this? He spent ten minutes playing grab ass with Dr. Joe Medicine Crow the last time before even addressing the first Ft Hood attack.
In theory the shooter, Ivan Lopez:
ZitatFORT HOOD (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - A soldier opened fire Wednesday on fellow service members at the Fort Hood military base, killing three people and wounding 16 before committing suicide at the same post where more than a dozen people were slain in a 2009 attack, authorities said.The shooter, who served in Iraq in 2011, had been undergoing an assessment to determine whether he had post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Lt. Gen. Mark A. Milley, the senior officer on the base. He was also undergoing psychiatric treatment for depressionhttp://dfw.cbslocal.com/2014/04/02/searc...fort-hood-base/
If true what how was he able to access a gun Since Ft Hood is a gun free zone since Clinton:Obama Is Responsible for Latest Fort Hood Murders – Still a Gun-Free Zonehttp://dfw.cbslocal.com/2014/04/02/searc...fort-hood-base/ When Did Military Bases Become 'Gun-Free Zones'? http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/...litary-gun-free Active Shooter Reported at Fort Hood. Base on Lockdown. Multiple Injuries Reported. [Updated]
ZitatAll were soldiers disarmed by a process begun by President George H.W. Bush and completed by the Army shortly after President Clinton took office.http://bearingarms.com/active-shooter-re...uries-reported/
Illegitimi non Carborundum
from Breitbart:"Obama says the incident brings back painful memories of the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood. He says, quote, "We're heartbroken that something like this might've happened again.""Obama says people at Ford Hood have sacrificed so much for freedom and their sense of safety has been broken once again."Obama's comments come as U.S. officials say one person is dead and 14 wounded at the Texas Army base."Obama spoke at a restaurant in Chicago where he held a fundraiser."According to CBS News:7:18pm Central -- "Sources told CBS News identified the shoot as 34-year-old soldier Ivan Lopez. A source said the violence apparently stemmed from some sort of soldier dispute."
*******************"The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly." Abraham Lincoln"Either the Republican party will reform itself or its going the way of the wind." Pat Caddell at CPAC


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Find the best foreclosure homes listings for sale — bank-owned, government (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD, etc.) and others — in and near the Cherry Hills Village, CO area at Foreclosure.com. Get information on foreclosure homes for rent, how to buy foreclosures in Cherry Hills Village, CO and much more. Save thousands at closing with home foreclosure listings in Cherry Hills Village, CO — up to 75% off market value!
The City of Cherry Hills Village is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 5987 at the 2010 United States Census. Cherry Hills Village is a part of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is one of the most affluent places in Colorado and the United States.
The city hosted two PGA Championships (1941 and 1985) and the 2005 U.S. Women's Open at the Cherry Hills Country Club.
The community was named for a grove of cherry trees near the original town site. On April 16, 2019, the city council voted to rename the 111-year old Swastika Acres subdivision as "Old Cherry Hills".
Cherry Hills Village is located at 39°38′14″N 104°56′50″W (39.637437, -104.947452).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 16.3 square kilometres (6.3 sq mi), of which 6.2 square miles (16.1 km2) is land and 0.077 square miles (0.2 km2), or 1.14%, is water.
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,958 people, 1,980 households, and 1,766 families residing in the city. The population density was 958.6 people per square mile (369.8/km2). There were 2,023 housing units at an average density of 325.5 per square mile (125.6/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 96.06% White, 0.64% African American, 0.15% Native American, 1.51% Asian, 0.57% from other races, and 1.07% from two or more races.
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"The Great Feast"
Preacher: Rev. Stephen Kendrick
Date: November 22, 2015
Stephen writes..."Come Ye Thankful People, Come--it is time to sing a song of harvest home...or so our ancestors believed, and so they sang. As Leo Collins reminds us all the time, it feels good to sing, and it is heartening to sing. Sermons are all very well and good, but music is always the jewel in the crown, and singing together is where music really lifts the heart. And if you really aren't feeling thankful, there's truly nothing that turns the soul towards gratitude than joining your voice with others. A Feast of Song!"


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Karl Jenkins - Motets
Usually available for despatch within 2-3 working days
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If ordering multiple items, we will aim to send everything together so the longest despatch estimate will apply to the complete order.
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Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Cat No: 4793232
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 5th May 2014
WorksAdiemus: Songs of Sanctuary
ConductorStephen Layton
WorksAdiemus: Songs of Sanctuary
ConductorStephen Layton
'Motets' is an intimate, a cappella album that features stunning new choral adaptions of Karl Jenkins' previous hit compositions and marks the year of Jenkins' 70th birthday and fifty years of his career in music.
The album goes back in time and celebrates his hits from the past, including the 'Benedictus' from The Armed Man as well as the stunning 'God Shall Wipe Away All the Tears' in a newly arranged intimate sound.
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As the Western ruling elites seem hell bent on the overall destruction of our civilization, and as Islamic fanatics from around the world share in their hatred of all things European, North American, and Western, here is a reminder of one of the great freedoms of our society, the creation of beautiful artistic nudes.
This photo is a fine example of such a nude. I particularly like how the lovely, delicate contours of her back seem to be enhanced by the background drapery. Such fluidity is something that a Leonardo or Raphael would have appreciated.
It something Islamic fanatics and feminist nut jobs would love to destroy. It is worth noting that in the 1400 years of its existence, Islam has never produced a Leonardo or Raphael, nor will it. And the West produced these great artists over 500 years ago.
And the fact that the figure is white is of course another evil, but that is something about which the poor, oppressed black students of Yale can whine (of course the oppressed black males of Yale would secretly love to bang her, while of course hating her whiteness at the same time).
So enjoy what's left of our world before the internal madness of the PC left and the external madness of fanatical Islamic violence corrode everything that is good and beautiful until nothing remains but the faint memories of our once freedom loving culture and civilization.


text: A memorable Deepavali family trip to Tirunelveli (and the village Kodaganallur, 45 mins from there) was coming to a close. My mother, sister and I were to take 12632 TEN-MS Nellai express (on 8th November) to return to Chennai, while my father was to stay for one more day; before returning through a flight from Madurai. To…Read more A memorable family outing down South – Part 2


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Friday, 5 February 2010
Some sketching on the train, including some(unfounded)worries about what to expect.
Saw Ivan Brunetti and Robert Crumb
Labels: angouleme, ivan brunetti, lewis trondheim, robert crumb
6 comments:
- Ivo Serenthà said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- 5 February 2010 at 06:20
- Paul Rainey said...
Hi Francesca. How did it go? Did you have a successful trip?
- 5 February 2010 at 06:36
- fabtoons said...
It was fantastic.
Will email you about it.
- 5 February 2010 at 06:42
- rob jackson said...
Hi Francesca, sounds great!
Is that Trondheim at the end turning down a copy of bastards?
- 5 February 2010 at 09:14
- fabtoons said...
Yes! I was gutted.
It was so brilliant though. We have such a long way to go just to get anywhere close to the European Comic community.
Toronto should be great, I've been looking at flights - maybe I'll just turn up...
- 5 February 2010 at 14:39
- rob jackson said...
Seeing Crumb would have been amazing! Did you sell many comics?
Might be worth just turning up at Toronto, its free to get in anyhow.
- 5 February 2010 at 14:52
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Pokemon GO Mega Nest List
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ARSpoofing's Shiny PartyJoin us for today's shiny party winner, Eevee!
Every single day is going to be a shiny party here at ARSpoofing! Place your vote for the nest you would like to see lured up and hunted at with 1,000s of other spoofers. The winner will then be chosen at midnight EDT and displayed here until the next day.
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- 13 votes Magikarp in California
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Sunday, September 24, 2017
How do you get people complete projects during the tenure push?
When I started the blog 5 years ago (😱) some of my very first posts were about motivation, and I still need to remind myself of that advice from time to time. In one of my first posts I posted about a great book, Drive, by Daniel Pink who discusses behavioral research suggesting that once certain basic salary requirements are met people are motivated by Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. They need to work independently and develop their own ideas. They need to feel that they have mastered complex theories and techniques. They need to have a good reason for why they are doing what they are doing.
This all sounds great! This is exactly what motivates me. But everyone moving at their own speed or following their own ideas could work for a large well-funded lab but may not be the best way to get a small research lab to finish the papers and projects we need to survive the tenure-track. I have already assigned lab peeps to specific priorities, but some of my mentors want me to pull people off their own projects to help on finishing other people's things. I'm debating whether that would help or hurt our progress. Will I be disrupting lab dynamics and upsetting egos? And what about their own projects? This doesn't really promote autonomy or mastery...
It makes me think of the people who run a "tight ship". One of my past mentors forbade students to leave before 6pm and did random checks on Saturday to make sure everyone was at work. A lot got done, but I hated working that way, and this attitude is so distant from my personality, I would feel horrible imposing similar rules. But what is right? As I drive myself insane about the tenure push, I am torn about protecting my lab at all costs from my internal emotional turmoil... and again I am debating whether this is the best strategy. Will a false sense of security prevent my lab peeps from understanding that it's make or break time? That doom could be impending that we are all in this rowboat together. Everyone was warned very clearly of what joining a new investigator's laboratory entailed, of my timeline, and the pros and cons of coming in as tenure approached. But I feel that they really have no idea...and how could they?
I think I need to better express my sense of urgency, keep stricter deadlines, and shift priorities if necessary...and of course get back in the lab! Maybe the camaraderie of working through this together is that is really needed. In the meantime, this handy productivity guide from the Harvard Business Review may also help!
Photo credit: By PeterJBellis from England (White Water Rafting (on The Nile) - Wikimedia Commons
32 comments:
And what if you explain the situation to the people in your lab and give them a say in what project they work on? I would be very motivated by the thought of helping my PI get tenure (at least if that weren't entirely opposite of what would be beneficial for my project/career) and by the idea of being in the same boat together.ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks for this insight. This would be a good way of framing it. I had a conversation with them about this, but just asked different people if they could help with specific things. Making a list of data that we need and asking people to pitch in is a great idea!Delete
Meh, I give them a lot of say, and I've noticed a frustrating pattern. A few months after starting, they begin thinking everyone else's project looks better than theirs. And so they start dragging their feet, and as a tenure-track prof, I have to do the dirty work for them while simultaneously de-prioritizing the work that actually needs to get done. I regret giving most of my trainees so much flexibility.Delete
They often have horrible taste in projects too, but it makes for lively discussions about whether hypothetical results would be derivative/incremental or not. Better to have them early than at review.
I also think a conversation is the right way to go on that specific question. It's extremely important that the "conversation" not be a directive from the boss. Only transfer people to the project if they are actually passionate about helping.Delete
I say this from experience. I switched labs 2.5 years into grad school. There were many issues, but the straw that broke the camel's back was the PI announcing that everyone was to work on his pet project until it got published. It had already been rejected 5 or 6 times and I didn't believe in the project. I announced that I was switching labs the next day. Had a great 3.5 final years in grad school, working on a project that I cared about. I got 4 first-author publications (2 data, 1 review, 1 protocol) plus a mid-author publication. People who stayed behind in my first lab lost motivation and either didn't publish their own work, or got a single paper out.
- AnonymousSeptember 26, 2017 at 10:01 AM
A few thoughts. Right now in my lab I have a number of DOD/industry grants (i.e., not cushy NSF ones), and there's always a report to write or program review to attend. For the industry work, we have quarterly updates, and time flies. So, these external deadlines help keep up the general sense of urgency for all involved. Are there external deadlines for any of your projects beyond a general need to get things out the door toward tenure? The students themselves play a big role. It may be stereotypical (however, it is fact in my group at this time), but the international students in my lab work much longer hours than the americans -- they just feel that intrinsic need to be productive. I think group culture helps (all in this together). I think I project this to some extent as a leader, but I admittedly am not working the hours that I could be. I do leave at 5:00 most days, and I do have hobbies & a family & generally try to not kill myself if I can avoid it. I don't feel that bad about having higher expectations of them (in terms of time at work) than I do of myself because (and I don't know if this is a terrible attitude) I DID put in my time during grad school and did work well into the night and through the weekends many, many times. Some people may think the culture of grad school is a bad one, but -- when I did my own PhD -- I actually found intrinsic motivation to work my butt off because I realized I simply *could not* get what I wanted out of the experience without going above and beyond. There simply is not enough time when working 40 h/week to do the lab work, do whatever else you need (classes, TA'ing, etc.), AND master the material/become a true expert in the field/write a 300 page dissertation. You need to pour yourself into it, and I think for a brief time in your life, that's okay. Some people sustain this attitude throughout their careers, and I chose not to. I still work hard and am serious about my work, but not to the point of sacrificing everything else. Anyway -- digression -- I think the last option would be to become better at project management (assuming you are not already running your group this way). Lay out out projects with schedules and timelines and goals and deliverables. Identify tasks and bottlenecks. Go through these regularly with students (ideally together) so that they feel more urgency to meet the goals that were lined out. In my experience, things always take longer/go wrong, but you can get a lot more productivity by doing this than by simply showing up at a group meeting and asking "show me your results from the week."ReplyDeleteReplies
Good for you that you put in those hours as a grad student. So did I, and I still do. But please remember that was *YOUR CHOICE.* You have no right to expect it of your students now. Perhaps some do not have the flexibility in their schedules to pull this off? Whatever -- the reason is not important. Your students are entitled to have a life and work reasonable hours, just like you do. So sorry the Americans are not as amenable to being exploited as you'd like!Delete
- AnonymousSeptember 26, 2017 at 11:46 PM
Anon2 - I don't expect it of my students. Or rather - I don't enforce it of my students. I mean, I encourage them to work hard and put in the time, and it's something I respect. However, I also completely encourage work-life balance. I have a range of students with a range of work habits, and as long as they are putting in a base expected effort (and not goofing off, are reliable, etc.), I am fine with that. So maybe when I say "expectations," it's the wrong word. It's something I want to see, and something I encourage (with some degree of balance, of course), but it's not something I insist on or enforce. I am a softie and (I think) my students love me. I think my point is more that I don't feel like it's entirely a double-standard if they are working longer hours than me because we are at different phases in life. Another big difference is family. If someone has a family, I totally get that they simply have to devote x amount of time to that part of their life. It's a lot easier to throw yourself into work/study when it's just you that you have to worry about. I have three kids. I have a husband who also works. I just don't have the mental fortitude or stamina at this age to kill myself working super long hours on top of being responsible for my family and everything that comes with that. I extend the same understanding to any students with families (not very many). And don't give me that B.S. about exploitation. A PhD is a degree. The highest degree you can attain. It is a test. It is one of the greatest challenges you will face in your life. It is about becoming the WORLD EXPERT on a subject. You cannot excel at (or potentially even complete) a PhD without--to some extent--throwing yourself into it. Some people, who are super organized, productive, and maybe to some extent lucky, can do fine and get a PhD with a quasi-normal schedule. But many cannot. It's not a job. You can't expect to come to work for 40 h/week and be granted a PhD. Do law students and med students work 40 h/week? No. Because to learn everything you need to learn in such a short period of time, you have to go above and beyond. That is just how it needs to be. Mastery takes time and devotion. It is not about exploitation. Can somebody get a degree in 40 h/week? Maybe. Will they have gotten out of it what they should have? Unlikely. As for the Americans - sure, they can do whatever the hell they want. I respect that choice. And they will get out of their degree what they put in. And some of my international students will have mastered their subject and have truly produced something that makes a different. Of course, I can't speak in terms of generalities here, because there's definitely a range of work ethics when it comes to "Americans," (ranging from very little to a lot) but certainly on average, international students work much harder. Maybe it's not about exploitation, maybe it's because they worked their ass off to get here, really CARE about what they are working on, and appreciate how fortunate they are to have this opportunity. Many of the Americans are here because they "don't know what else to do." Can you tell I don't appreciate your snarky comment?Delete
I'm too busy to get into a pissing match with you, so I will limit my reply to 2 points:Delete
1) Many tenured profs worked crazy hours to get tenure. Should they look down your nose at you because you are no longer willing to "throw yourself into" your job? Maybe you don't "appreciate how fortunate [you] are to have this opportunity"?
2) You seem to have quite a few double standards going in your lab. You want students to work longer hours than you during *your push for tenure.* You think it's OK if they don't if they have a family to look after. Do you also think that students with a family should get larger stipends so that they can better provide for their families? Let's not forget how many "reasonable" people thought that was a perfectly valid reason for paying women less.
Perhaps you should take some time to reflect on how intolerant and judgmental you are of people that make different life choices from you, or whose priorities don't seem to align with yours. I sincerely doubt that your students are oblivious to all of this
Guys, guys, there is no reason to start throwing adjectives around at each other. I think we're hitting a very critical point. How do we walk the line of essentially running a small business in a bad economic climate? In an ideal world universities would pay our salaries, some staff salaries and basic supplies, but those days are over, so we are pushed to support ourselves, everyone in the lab and their work. This pushes us to make difficult decisions. I would love to pay all people working for me lots of money and have them work 40hrs/week...but guess what? I don't have a single friend in banking or consulting or law that does that! Academic science has flexible hours, but also is a high pressure job requiring continuous productivity. As a boss I want to be flexible, but when the deadlines come, they come...for me as much as for the people who work for me. Same in any other high pressure unstable work-place. If you work for a tenure-track PI, you are essentially working for a start-up...it could blow up or it could go belly up. I made it clear to everyone when they interviewed and I make it clear again and again. I discuss budgets and where everyone's salary is coming from. If they cannot produce the data to support their own projects, the funding may stop flowing...any hiccup could be fatal at this point...Delete
- AnonymousSeptember 28, 2017 at 7:12 PM
Thank you for creating a forum for issues that we all deal with one way or another, reading the blog and all the discussion has been super helpful as a somewhat new PI quick question on this comment: ......"I discuss budgets and where everyone's salary is coming from. If they cannot produce the data to support their own projects, the funding may stop flowing...any hiccup could be fatal at this point..."........ I have been trying to figure out how to say this to my lab folks without freaking my people out lets say grant 1 is ending in 1 year do you give them quarterly reminders or how do you do it?Delete
I think you just treat them like stakeholders in the whole operation (which they are). I am in the lab meeting rotation and periodically I just do a "State of the lab" meeting where I go through all that information. The trick is to not sound frazzled, but basically outline plans very reasonably and clearly...thought I don't know now whether that gives them a fake sense of security, while I'm freaking out internally ;)Delete
- AnonymousSeptember 29, 2017 at 5:27 PM
thank you for your reply :) I guess that is the problem the internally freaking out and trying to protect them from it! the life of the PIDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 26, 2017 at 10:11 AM
Another thing - and this might depends on the nature of your group - but we do a lot of collaborative work (within the group) - and because we don't have lab technicians, the students are responsible for a lot of things. They are always fixing equipment, and working together to problem solve one thing or another. One thing we started using was "Asana". This was actually recommended by my techie student. It's basically a task list (or at least, this is how we use it), but I've found that having this task list online that I can access, and all of the students can access, has helped students tremendously in staying on task and feeling more ownership over the tasks that they had planned to do. In the past, I usually tried to make my own lists of what needed to be done, and expected that the students did the same, but it was not the same. This way we can input all the tasks whenever we meet (run experiment A, purchase materials for experiment B, troubleshoot equipment C, get in touch with collaborator D, etc.) and the students will refer back to it throughout the week and realize "hey, I really need to figure out how to get all of this done". Honestly, I'm surprised at how much of a difference it made because it's really just an electronic version of what people *should* be doing already. But it's public and it's real and I guess it really does help accountability. And -- if you have a lot of shared tasks -- it helps a lot with this as well since you can assign multiple students to the same task and they can see how things are interrelated, etc.ReplyDeleteReplies
Hey there, thank you for your comments. I actually went through the certification manual for project management to do exactly what you say ;) I yet have to master it, but maybe I should write a post on it. I had a post on Asana a while ago. I really like it, but my lab has resisted it, as they have resisted Slack. I just end up doing good old fashioned meetings with followup emails with experiments and deadlines, and that's okay, but it would be better to have a stronger connection. The one thing they don't do is fix stuff, and I may have to get them involved in that because every time something breaks I'm the one who has to figure out how to fix it! :)Delete
- AnonymousSeptember 26, 2017 at 11:52 PM
Haha, the funny thing is that *I* was the one that resisted Slack. I joked about it too - that I was that old, crotchety professor who still uses my flip phone (I'm not old, and I don't have a flip phone). I just didn't *get* it. Why would I use Slack when I could just e-mail? I didn't want to have pieces of information lost in some messaging system? You can have informal conversations over e-mail too - why not? I don't want to be "IM'd" on my phone through this OTHER app. But then I finally used it (after the students started using it on their own) and now I kinda get it and everyone uses it a bunch. Even if I would be perfectly okay using e-mail, the students are definitely way more interactive on slack. Nobody would ever say "hey, I can't find the wrench" in an e-mail to everyone, but they will post it on Slack. And I can be a little more informal as well :).Delete
At the end of the day though, my philosophy is all about "buy in." I don't enforce any "systems" on my students (well, mostly I don't) unless they see the value in them and agree to them. So it's always a "I have this idea, what do you think?" or "I really think we need to do this for this reason? If you disagree, why?" So, if the students don't buy it, then you definitely shouldn't force it. But maybe at a later time with a different group, it'll catch on.
- AnonymousSeptember 26, 2017 at 11:56 PM
Also, I have far from mastered project management (or being a leader). It's not even the concept or the implementation - often, it's literally making the time to do it and keep on top of it. But at the end of the day I keep reminding myself that something is better than nothing, and even if we've fallen off the deep end, we can get back on. And it does help, even if I'd like to do much better.Delete
This is timely. I am around the same stage as you and really dejected about running a lab--I overestimated my trainees' capabilities and my own capacity to mentor them, and I feel pulled so thin. I am worried I don't have the capacity to be my own best postdoc while I try to keep others' projects moving. Plus, as an introvert, I find it draining to meet with people so often while managing just the right tone with everyone... "radical candor" + encouragement. I am not feeling encouraged most days.ReplyDelete
We've been using Asana for several years. It's a wonderful project management system if you actually use it. Getting my trainees to use it reliably has been a giant pain in the butt. Heck, getting them to stop leaving dirty dishes in the sink has been a pain in the butt. I'm at a top program but worry there's still some culture of underperformance in grad school (or my lab?) that makes trainees think that following protocols is optional.
I hope I will snap out of this after another good night of sleep.Replies
Hey Swiss Chard, I hear you! One thing I'm still struggling with is just being the boss and pushing people to get things done no matter what. I try to set very clear expectations (when possible in writing) and right now run a tight ship. As far as the tone, I was reading this article this morning which may be helpful. https://hbr.org/2017/07/how-to-become-a-more-well-rounded-leaderDelete
Intriguing article. I am unsure where I am on the spectra of most of those traits!Delete
It's funny how unclear "clear expectations" seem to be! I'm starting to insist people update Asana projects during our weekly meetings, instead of forgetting to later and asking me to repeat myself. It is so weird to me that all these wannabe-PIs don't see the importance of clear goals and follow-through. I should probably expose them to more of the regular progress reports I have to write--although reminding one of my trainees of such reports (which I had to write very frequently for one high-maintenance grant) caused him nearly to implode from stress. I let him switch to a project that has no pressure from outside the lab, but his productivity is not improved.
This may sound vain, but I think to some extent we got to where we are because we had a higher intrinsic motivation than others (of course, there are a looooot of other factors to consider, but still, motivation is important). And my feeling is that we just cannot expect that from everyone. Many people may simply not be as motivated (for a multitude of reasons). And if this intrinsic drive is not there it is difficult to instill...ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 27, 2017 at 5:38 PM
A lot of interesting discussion here on a range of topics.ReplyDelete
One of the distinctions of academic lab work is that its results-oriented versus vs time-oriented. Of course you need to put the time in to get the results, but there usually (depends on lab) aren't set 9-5 working hours. But I've noticed that while we tell ourselves that one of the perks of academia is flexible hours and 'only caring about the results', that's not actually true. People look at results AND hours. Someone who is highly efficient and brings the defined results working say till 2 PM and then going home will still be appraised as 'not a hard worker'. The optics of it still matters. Same thing at the PI level. It's a badge of honor to be busy, to have your office light on late into the night, to be there on the weekend. Now of course, the reality is that the actual work really requires that level of input at times, but a large part of it is also perception.
So, back to how to work with your personnel. I think the idea of a truly results-oriented management strategy could be optimal for academic science.
Every week, define with your personnel exactly what work needs to get done. If that's experiment A, B and C, negotiate that and define the outcomes. Because it's science, I wouldn't define the outcome as a particular result (e.g. only a positive result that supports your story) but as a valid attempt on a particular question. This way, it's crystal clear to everyone what needs to happen.
If your student decides she wants to grind out A, B and C in 3 days (say, working 14 hours a day), and then take off 4 days, that's great. Alternatively, someone else else might want to spread it out over 6 days, working 7 hours a day. In the end, the work is well defined, and people have that clarifying purpose. Without well-defined actions, there is this need to just be present in the lab to show face.
But with a ROWE, there is no judgment, no need to force people to be in the lab at certain times. It's about the outcomes.
Just a thought. it wont' work for all situations, but I think it would help diverse personnel do quality work and also enjoy their lives. It'd get rid of so much of the passive aggressive interactions and misaligned expectations that does so much damage to mentor-trainee relationships.Replies
- AnonymousSeptember 27, 2017 at 5:46 PM
And I forgot to mention the payoff. Your people will be much happier I think. That's a huge benefit and distinction to organize their work in that way. Because they have the autonomy, they will be more intrinsically motivated. Because you negotiate the work and discuss the results in advance, there is purpose. Also, as a PI, it gives you objective metrics to use to assess your trainees, rather than nebulous moving goal posts. It can also help you plan at the work that needs to get done.Delete
Yes! I completely agree. I've been writing about ROWEs for a long time and that's how I set up my lab.Delete
The problem is that it doesn't work for everyone, because if people are not internally motivated to accomplish things or encounter an experimental hurdle deadlines come and go. I think approaches have to be tailored to different people to make sure work gets done.
- AnonymousSeptember 28, 2017 at 8:43 AM
Cool! I'd love to hear a follow up about the specific challenges you encountered with ROWE. And also, did your people take advantage of the benefits of ROWE. For example, if their work was completed early, did they then just fill that free time with more work, or did they take it for themselves? Were they measurably more satisfied? Did they take more control of the work?Delete
I understand that the best laid plans quickly fall apart once the actual work happens. SO there needs to be room for adjustment. As long as you're all communicating about it...
Re: motivation
You could use extrinsic motivators. I know that is suboptimal, but if you need things at specific times, maybe you could use some kind of carrot? A day off? There probably isn't much you can offer that they would want besides time or money.
Do your people come up with their own ideas for projects or do you assign things? Ownership of one's work is a big factor in motivation I think.
Truth is, the biggest factor in having motivated people is selection of the people on the front end. It's just difficult to predict, and also people change over time.
- AnonymousSeptember 28, 2017 at 11:41 AM
I think ROWE (papers, grants) is obvious to most in academia. In my experience, grad students are the only ones who think working hard per se matters. Paradoxically, it often does for them initially because the quality of their output can be poor. I can reassure myself (for a while) that at least they're trying and learning if I know they're at least working hard. That's relevant for a few months. They can sometimes be slow to grasp that at the end of the day, funders and readers don't give a crap about passion or effort, and they can be shocked to see me fire/fail to renew contracts for good-natured and charismatic colleagues who fail to produce good work in a timely way. I do wish it were easier to fire grad students (ideally, a PhD would be an incidental award for ambitious, independent, and creative research assistants) and that they always had "real" work experience before starting.Delete
The idea that faculty are pressured to appear always busy doesn't match my experience. The "real" superstars are, of course, the ones who make it look easy. On the tenure track, however, it often pays to look like you're working hard as a sign of humility--though I'd say most of us are working our butts off because we truly don't know if we'll make it. But the gloves are off pretty early in academia, especially with increasing reliance on algorithms to determine professional standing.
- KidneyMyosinSeptember 27, 2017 at 7:03 PM
I think you are right in that the question of how to make that final push pre-tenure is related to how much you can work at the bench yourself. I gave my trainees a lot of flexibility and protected their ability to work on their own projects but I also ended up doing some of the critical experiments myself so that I could get the grants and pubs I needed. Fortunately, at the time I also had two technicians who were instrumental in doing much of the preparatory work for the critical projects.ReplyDelete
Now that I am post-tenure, I am quite happy that I can give my students a bit more freedom to explore. I do, however, use grant progress report deadlines as an external check on what needs to be accomplished, as was suggested by one of the posters above.
Aside from that, I like the approach that one of my mentors had, which was pairing up two trainees to work on two projects. Each of them served as the lead on one of the projects. This way the were bouncing ideas off of each other and also could count on having at least a second-author paper from the secondary project if their main project was not going well.
@The new PI: "I think we're hitting a very critical point. How do we walk the line of essentially running a small business in a bad economic climate?"ReplyDelete
You are *not* running a small business and your students are *not* employees. Your students make nowhere near what your friends in banking, law, or consulting make – do you think they work those hours out of the goodness of their hearts? And unlike people who work for a start-up, your students will not reap any benefits when you get tenure. Will you pay them more, will their standing in the field rise? No, it will be seen as your achievement, period.
I hear TT profs all the time excusing conduct they shouldn't with their students (e.g., writing their papers for them) by saying, "well, if I don't get tenure, that's bad for everyone." The truth is that it's bad for YOU. Your students will, in all likelihood, survive you not getting tenure. (Students survive much worse all the time.) So you are not all in the same boat, and maybe there are students who've taken off the rose-colored glasses and who see that.
That said, here are some attitudes to avoid if you want to maintain any sense of team spirit in your group:
- If you leave every day at 5, don't expect those that work for you to stay late.
- Don't judge people's reasons for not staying late; e.g., leaving to pick up your kid is OK; leaving for a basketball game is frivolous and wrong.
- Don't profess to be all about ROWE and then secretly judge people by how many hours they put in. You know what's worse than a boss who tells you that they expect you to be in the lab XX hrs/week (where XX>40)? One that says that they don't care about hours but who really does.
If you want to motivate people to work harder, perhaps you should start by admitting to them that they are working harder to help YOU achieve YOUR goal of getting tenure. Then try offering them something that will really matter to THEM. Maybe for some that's more time off, perhaps for others it's going to an extra conference or two. Maybe you can nominate some for awards. In short, try being very honest with them about the situation – who knows, perhaps this level of honesty from a prof alone will motivate them to help you.Replies
Hi Anon2, there is no reason to judge and give commandments when you don't know what the situation is really like. None of the things you seem to be accusing me about are happening in my lab. I'm not even going to argue on what I'm offering them (a job, training and support to move to the next stage of their career).Delete
On the other hand, my students are employees because my school has no position designed for students, they are given benefits like everyone else, and they have to undergo an annual performance review mandated by HR according to a set of criteria like everyone else in my group. Am I happy with this? No, I think it's insane...but this again brings us to the issue of the corporatization of academia and medical schools, in particular. I had to attend seminars and trainings on how to run the lab according to good business practices and we are all requested to align ourselves to the strategic vision. In some places, your indirect costs dictate how much square footage you are allotted for the lab...this would be an interesting next post.
- AnonymousOctober 4, 2017 at 12:30 PM
"You are *not* running a small business and your students are *not* employees."Delete
That is basically how it works, actually, except the students have way more protections than traditional employees. In theory, the students can waste taxpayer money through poor performance over several years and leave me (as PI) to suffer the professional and legal consequences. In other businesses, they would be fired.
"And unlike people who work for a start-up, your students will not reap any benefits when you get tenure."
I'm at a top R1 and all of my students tell me up and down they want to be PIs someday. My getting tenure is extremely important for their success.
- AnonymousNovember 19, 2017 at 3:22 PM
I finished grad school ten years ago and am still asking my mentor for letters of recommendation on a regulary basis. His position as tenured full professor carries more weight for academic grants/awards than if he were now a science writer or in an industry lab. Academics are constantly judged on their training pedigrees, whether that's the way it should be or not. So helping to make your PI successful/famous certainly DOES have its advantages. The other thing to remember is that the student's research progress/publications/fellowships benefit her just as much, if not more so, than the PI.Delete
- AnonymousOctober 1, 2017 at 11:18 AM
@Anon2, I think students will suffer if their PI did not get tenure: they will face additional uncertainty on the path that already has a lot of unknowns to begin with. And they will benefit if their work were instrumental in getting thesis advisor tenure and recognition in field: they will feel a sense of accomplishment and get a strong letter of recommendation.ReplyDelete
I have a lab document delineating expectations, but I didn't write it until after a decade into being a PI. Basically, the PI needs to make peace with what is adequate productivity as well as times put it. Through the document I say "Grad school is compatible with personal life, but you have to be efficient at work." I don't require more than 40 hrs/wk from students, but the good ones put more in. I have a number of required papers for graduation; when they hit that number, they are free to leave, although they often have more as a result of intragroup collaborations.ReplyDelete
IME, most students are happy to help during crunch-time with whatever needs doing. Not all, mind you, but most are. So I say I need this, it would be great if you helped, and many will. Those who won't I don't bother, but the truth is that someone who is selfish with their time at the time of need is also not the best intragroup collaborator in general, so this is not without long-term consequences.
I imagine most of your folks will offer to help if you tell them what you need, why, for how long, and that you will appreciate it. Good luck!