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k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjr94o
gdjt49h
1,606,307,953
1,606,309,420
3
37
Maybe, not saying any of those?
This is a weird tip, but it’s helped me. Just say out loud what you want to communicate and record yourself. Then write that. Most of us think a lot less about talking than writing (and put less pressure on ourselves), so that can help you get started. We also don’t use as many conjunctions when we speak, we just say what we want to say.
0
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12.333333
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjqfjc
gdjp6fx
1,606,307,255
1,606,306,142
20
6
Be careful not to overuse transition words or phrases in general.
I am new here in Reddit, so I don't know if it is possible to send a file here or not. I guess I have a interesting book that help you with that. How could I send it for you?
1
1,113
3.333333
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjqfjc
gdjq9ow
1,606,307,255
1,606,307,112
20
5
Be careful not to overuse transition words or phrases in general.
Google transitional phrases
1
143
4
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjxl2s
gdjrsri
1,606,312,572
1,606,308,392
18
16
Anyone giving you absolute rules in this thread is full of it. Transition words can be helpful AND over-used. Try to use them only when it’s useful as a guide to the reader. Try not to use them when you’re putting them in “just because”.
Sentences for STEM should be precise. The focus is on nouns and facts, so they should be at the start of the sentence. Minimize the use of I or We, science is not about us, it is about the science. Your sentence starters should be avoided and only used when absolutely necessary. Strunk and White Elements of Style is an old classic about writing.
1
4,180
1.125
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjp6fx
gdjrsri
1,606,306,142
1,606,308,392
6
16
I am new here in Reddit, so I don't know if it is possible to send a file here or not. I guess I have a interesting book that help you with that. How could I send it for you?
Sentences for STEM should be precise. The focus is on nouns and facts, so they should be at the start of the sentence. Minimize the use of I or We, science is not about us, it is about the science. Your sentence starters should be avoided and only used when absolutely necessary. Strunk and White Elements of Style is an old classic about writing.
0
2,250
2.666667
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjrsri
gdjq9ow
1,606,308,392
1,606,307,112
16
5
Sentences for STEM should be precise. The focus is on nouns and facts, so they should be at the start of the sentence. Minimize the use of I or We, science is not about us, it is about the science. Your sentence starters should be avoided and only used when absolutely necessary. Strunk and White Elements of Style is an old classic about writing.
Google transitional phrases
1
1,280
3.2
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjr94o
gdjrsri
1,606,307,953
1,606,308,392
3
16
Maybe, not saying any of those?
Sentences for STEM should be precise. The focus is on nouns and facts, so they should be at the start of the sentence. Minimize the use of I or We, science is not about us, it is about the science. Your sentence starters should be avoided and only used when absolutely necessary. Strunk and White Elements of Style is an old classic about writing.
0
439
5.333333
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjvvpq
gdjxl2s
1,606,311,437
1,606,312,572
16
18
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that..." /s
Anyone giving you absolute rules in this thread is full of it. Transition words can be helpful AND over-used. Try to use them only when it’s useful as a guide to the reader. Try not to use them when you’re putting them in “just because”.
0
1,135
1.125
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjp6fx
gdjxl2s
1,606,306,142
1,606,312,572
6
18
I am new here in Reddit, so I don't know if it is possible to send a file here or not. I guess I have a interesting book that help you with that. How could I send it for you?
Anyone giving you absolute rules in this thread is full of it. Transition words can be helpful AND over-used. Try to use them only when it’s useful as a guide to the reader. Try not to use them when you’re putting them in “just because”.
0
6,430
3
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjq9ow
gdjxl2s
1,606,307,112
1,606,312,572
5
18
Google transitional phrases
Anyone giving you absolute rules in this thread is full of it. Transition words can be helpful AND over-used. Try to use them only when it’s useful as a guide to the reader. Try not to use them when you’re putting them in “just because”.
0
5,460
3.6
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjr94o
gdjxl2s
1,606,307,953
1,606,312,572
3
18
Maybe, not saying any of those?
Anyone giving you absolute rules in this thread is full of it. Transition words can be helpful AND over-used. Try to use them only when it’s useful as a guide to the reader. Try not to use them when you’re putting them in “just because”.
0
4,619
6
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjxl2s
gdjum8f
1,606,312,572
1,606,310,541
18
3
Anyone giving you absolute rules in this thread is full of it. Transition words can be helpful AND over-used. Try to use them only when it’s useful as a guide to the reader. Try not to use them when you’re putting them in “just because”.
One thing I do in editing is cut so many transition words, like using however even though I’m not making a different point. You are probably ahead of me! I’m not an engineer. I’d read more articles in your field specifically to see when, how, and what words they use.
1
2,031
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k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjxl2s
gdjvw5z
1,606,312,572
1,606,311,446
18
4
Anyone giving you absolute rules in this thread is full of it. Transition words can be helpful AND over-used. Try to use them only when it’s useful as a guide to the reader. Try not to use them when you’re putting them in “just because”.
Go back and remove all of the words listed if the are not necessary.
1
1,126
4.5
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjp6fx
gdjvvpq
1,606,306,142
1,606,311,437
6
16
I am new here in Reddit, so I don't know if it is possible to send a file here or not. I guess I have a interesting book that help you with that. How could I send it for you?
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that..." /s
0
5,295
2.666667
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjq9ow
gdjvvpq
1,606,307,112
1,606,311,437
5
16
Google transitional phrases
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that..." /s
0
4,325
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k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjr94o
gdjvvpq
1,606,307,953
1,606,311,437
3
16
Maybe, not saying any of those?
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that..." /s
0
3,484
5.333333
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjvvpq
gdjum8f
1,606,311,437
1,606,310,541
16
3
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that..." /s
One thing I do in editing is cut so many transition words, like using however even though I’m not making a different point. You are probably ahead of me! I’m not an engineer. I’d read more articles in your field specifically to see when, how, and what words they use.
1
896
5.333333
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjp6fx
gdk1lil
1,606,306,142
1,606,315,054
6
9
I am new here in Reddit, so I don't know if it is possible to send a file here or not. I guess I have a interesting book that help you with that. How could I send it for you?
Some advice that really helped me was to just start writing. Don't worry about how things connect. Just get them on paper. You can then return later to smooth things over and properly connect ideas. Made my writing 10x faster as I would sit there and languish trying to figure out the right phrase and paragraphs would take hours.
0
8,912
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k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjq9ow
gdk1lil
1,606,307,112
1,606,315,054
5
9
Google transitional phrases
Some advice that really helped me was to just start writing. Don't worry about how things connect. Just get them on paper. You can then return later to smooth things over and properly connect ideas. Made my writing 10x faster as I would sit there and languish trying to figure out the right phrase and paragraphs would take hours.
0
7,942
1.8
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjyuau
gdk1lil
1,606,313,381
1,606,315,054
5
9
Write proper transitions between paragraphs and you won't need helping words to string together an argument or analysis. Your campus writing center can help with that, or you can just follow the advice given by any random one from another campus-- it will all be the same. The advice to read more-- and to read more broadly --is very good, but it's far too late to do that for OP. So use your writing center. Even an undergraduate tutor can be quite helpful to grads who struggle with clarity, style, mechanics, or organization in their writing.
Some advice that really helped me was to just start writing. Don't worry about how things connect. Just get them on paper. You can then return later to smooth things over and properly connect ideas. Made my writing 10x faster as I would sit there and languish trying to figure out the right phrase and paragraphs would take hours.
0
1,673
1.8
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjr94o
gdk1lil
1,606,307,953
1,606,315,054
3
9
Maybe, not saying any of those?
Some advice that really helped me was to just start writing. Don't worry about how things connect. Just get them on paper. You can then return later to smooth things over and properly connect ideas. Made my writing 10x faster as I would sit there and languish trying to figure out the right phrase and paragraphs would take hours.
0
7,101
3
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjum8f
gdk1lil
1,606,310,541
1,606,315,054
3
9
One thing I do in editing is cut so many transition words, like using however even though I’m not making a different point. You are probably ahead of me! I’m not an engineer. I’d read more articles in your field specifically to see when, how, and what words they use.
Some advice that really helped me was to just start writing. Don't worry about how things connect. Just get them on paper. You can then return later to smooth things over and properly connect ideas. Made my writing 10x faster as I would sit there and languish trying to figure out the right phrase and paragraphs would take hours.
0
4,513
3
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdk1lil
gdjvw5z
1,606,315,054
1,606,311,446
9
4
Some advice that really helped me was to just start writing. Don't worry about how things connect. Just get them on paper. You can then return later to smooth things over and properly connect ideas. Made my writing 10x faster as I would sit there and languish trying to figure out the right phrase and paragraphs would take hours.
Go back and remove all of the words listed if the are not necessary.
1
3,608
2.25
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdkchvj
gdjr94o
1,606,320,844
1,606,307,953
5
3
I struggle with my own writing to be honest, but that's more about motivation. [However], I edit a lot of academic papers written in English by German academics and they love to overuse this type of stocking filler. More often than not, I find it is perfectly fine to just launch straight into your next sentence or statement while making sure that, in its entirety, it follows on from the one that preceded it. It gives an air of confidence in your argument without having to depend on fillers such as "however", and, "moreover". And as has been said already, learn to write by reading. Good luck!
Maybe, not saying any of those?
1
12,891
1.666667
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdkchvj
gdjum8f
1,606,320,844
1,606,310,541
5
3
I struggle with my own writing to be honest, but that's more about motivation. [However], I edit a lot of academic papers written in English by German academics and they love to overuse this type of stocking filler. More often than not, I find it is perfectly fine to just launch straight into your next sentence or statement while making sure that, in its entirety, it follows on from the one that preceded it. It gives an air of confidence in your argument without having to depend on fillers such as "however", and, "moreover". And as has been said already, learn to write by reading. Good luck!
One thing I do in editing is cut so many transition words, like using however even though I’m not making a different point. You are probably ahead of me! I’m not an engineer. I’d read more articles in your field specifically to see when, how, and what words they use.
1
10,303
1.666667
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjvw5z
gdkchvj
1,606,311,446
1,606,320,844
4
5
Go back and remove all of the words listed if the are not necessary.
I struggle with my own writing to be honest, but that's more about motivation. [However], I edit a lot of academic papers written in English by German academics and they love to overuse this type of stocking filler. More often than not, I find it is perfectly fine to just launch straight into your next sentence or statement while making sure that, in its entirety, it follows on from the one that preceded it. It gives an air of confidence in your argument without having to depend on fillers such as "however", and, "moreover". And as has been said already, learn to write by reading. Good luck!
0
9,398
1.25
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjyuau
gdjr94o
1,606,313,381
1,606,307,953
5
3
Write proper transitions between paragraphs and you won't need helping words to string together an argument or analysis. Your campus writing center can help with that, or you can just follow the advice given by any random one from another campus-- it will all be the same. The advice to read more-- and to read more broadly --is very good, but it's far too late to do that for OP. So use your writing center. Even an undergraduate tutor can be quite helpful to grads who struggle with clarity, style, mechanics, or organization in their writing.
Maybe, not saying any of those?
1
5,428
1.666667
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjyuau
gdjum8f
1,606,313,381
1,606,310,541
5
3
Write proper transitions between paragraphs and you won't need helping words to string together an argument or analysis. Your campus writing center can help with that, or you can just follow the advice given by any random one from another campus-- it will all be the same. The advice to read more-- and to read more broadly --is very good, but it's far too late to do that for OP. So use your writing center. Even an undergraduate tutor can be quite helpful to grads who struggle with clarity, style, mechanics, or organization in their writing.
One thing I do in editing is cut so many transition words, like using however even though I’m not making a different point. You are probably ahead of me! I’m not an engineer. I’d read more articles in your field specifically to see when, how, and what words they use.
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k0qpoa
askacademia_train
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I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjyuau
gdjvw5z
1,606,313,381
1,606,311,446
5
4
Write proper transitions between paragraphs and you won't need helping words to string together an argument or analysis. Your campus writing center can help with that, or you can just follow the advice given by any random one from another campus-- it will all be the same. The advice to read more-- and to read more broadly --is very good, but it's far too late to do that for OP. So use your writing center. Even an undergraduate tutor can be quite helpful to grads who struggle with clarity, style, mechanics, or organization in their writing.
Go back and remove all of the words listed if the are not necessary.
1
1,935
1.25
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdltwxu
gdjr94o
1,606,348,026
1,606,307,953
4
3
Our Dark Lord dictates Cthulhu reveals As shown by dark rituals Those should surely help greatly
Maybe, not saying any of those?
1
40,073
1.333333
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjum8f
gdltwxu
1,606,310,541
1,606,348,026
3
4
One thing I do in editing is cut so many transition words, like using however even though I’m not making a different point. You are probably ahead of me! I’m not an engineer. I’d read more articles in your field specifically to see when, how, and what words they use.
Our Dark Lord dictates Cthulhu reveals As shown by dark rituals Those should surely help greatly
0
37,485
1.333333
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjr94o
gdjvw5z
1,606,307,953
1,606,311,446
3
4
Maybe, not saying any of those?
Go back and remove all of the words listed if the are not necessary.
0
3,493
1.333333
k0qpoa
askacademia_train
0.95
I am struggling with my thesis writing, please suggests sentence starters. I am currently writing my engineering Ph.D. thesis. One of the challenges I am facing is, I ran out of sentence starters. I have used 'In addition', 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', 'Therefore', 'as is evident above' and 'However' a lot. I mean, really a lot to the point where everything looks cliche and uninteresting or even annoying. So, can you please suggest to me some interesting/unique sentence starters alternative to these words? ​ Thanks.
gdjvw5z
gdjum8f
1,606,311,446
1,606,310,541
4
3
Go back and remove all of the words listed if the are not necessary.
One thing I do in editing is cut so many transition words, like using however even though I’m not making a different point. You are probably ahead of me! I’m not an engineer. I’d read more articles in your field specifically to see when, how, and what words they use.
1
905
1.333333
jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gchk1ls
gchkb0b
1,605,527,584
1,605,527,831
71
528
It may well be a wise approach of your advisor. Your undergrad record will presumably be looked at in any case, the LoR won't change that whatever you do. So if it's not great then the best thing is to address it and remove concerns, which is what this is doing. I think there's a good chance it'd be considered quite rude to ask to remove it too - your advisor probably knows better than you, no? Not to always trust them, but in this case he's clearly being strategic.
Part of the purpose of LoR is to address things on your CV that an admissions committee might find questionable, such as poor undergraduate performance. It’s good that your advisor brought it up and - this is key - said how it did not negatively impact your higher-level academic success.
0
247
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jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gchk1ls
gchlbog
1,605,527,584
1,605,528,764
71
136
It may well be a wise approach of your advisor. Your undergrad record will presumably be looked at in any case, the LoR won't change that whatever you do. So if it's not great then the best thing is to address it and remove concerns, which is what this is doing. I think there's a good chance it'd be considered quite rude to ask to remove it too - your advisor probably knows better than you, no? Not to always trust them, but in this case he's clearly being strategic.
I agree with the replies so far. And I want to add: most academic institutions will ask for all transcripts from all institutions of higher education. Having the first hand account from your current advisor that those grades don't reflect your actual abilities in the area of study will improve acceptance chances. In my opinion, your advisor is acting 100% in your best interest by including that line.
0
1,180
1.915493
jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gchp22h
gchn58i
1,605,531,798
1,605,530,305
50
21
Two points here: 1. There's nothing unethical about sharing the contents of the letter. It's expected that you will know what is in the letter, even up to the point that some professors will have the student draft the original letter. 2. I personally would definitely not remove that part. The application committee will see your undergrad grades (I assume) so they will need this addressed and it's much better for them to hear it from your professor.
better to have the poor grades addressed then just sitting there. they will absolutely be seen and taken into account.
1
1,493
2.380952
jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gchp22h
gchoho5
1,605,531,798
1,605,531,356
50
7
Two points here: 1. There's nothing unethical about sharing the contents of the letter. It's expected that you will know what is in the letter, even up to the point that some professors will have the student draft the original letter. 2. I personally would definitely not remove that part. The application committee will see your undergrad grades (I assume) so they will need this addressed and it's much better for them to hear it from your professor.
Hi, It's common practice for PIs to show students their LoR if the PI feels they would like the student's input. Sometimes there are specific criteria for awards that PI want to ensure they have addressed to your satisfaction. Your PI can also add or dismiss your recommendations that you add, so don't over think it. Revisions on work is common place in academia, this is all part of the process. Regarding the "negative wording", suggest a change. You have been mauling this over to the point where you have asked reddit for help, it clearly is bothering you. This is why your PI showed you the letter. Cheers Hope that helps
1
442
7.142857
jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gci2kgy
gci9q9t
1,605,540,057
1,605,543,659
15
19
Honestly, if your undergrad grades are weak, the committee **will certainly** know that. Your professor mentioning it won't change anything. If it were some minor flaw, sure, don't draw attention to it, but grades are kind of the #1 easy criteria here; they know. I think it's a great recommendation that would absolutely encourage me to admit you if I were in the committee's position.
Proactively providing a potential counterpoint to apparent past poor performance should be perceived as pretty positive.
0
3,602
1.266667
jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gci9q9t
gchpeve
1,605,543,659
1,605,532,072
19
11
Proactively providing a potential counterpoint to apparent past poor performance should be perceived as pretty positive.
This is good. And the advisor being open is also good sign that he/she supports you. I will not worry.
1
11,587
1.727273
jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gchoho5
gci9q9t
1,605,531,356
1,605,543,659
7
19
Hi, It's common practice for PIs to show students their LoR if the PI feels they would like the student's input. Sometimes there are specific criteria for awards that PI want to ensure they have addressed to your satisfaction. Your PI can also add or dismiss your recommendations that you add, so don't over think it. Revisions on work is common place in academia, this is all part of the process. Regarding the "negative wording", suggest a change. You have been mauling this over to the point where you have asked reddit for help, it clearly is bothering you. This is why your PI showed you the letter. Cheers Hope that helps
Proactively providing a potential counterpoint to apparent past poor performance should be perceived as pretty positive.
0
12,303
2.714286
jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gchpeve
gci2kgy
1,605,532,072
1,605,540,057
11
15
This is good. And the advisor being open is also good sign that he/she supports you. I will not worry.
Honestly, if your undergrad grades are weak, the committee **will certainly** know that. Your professor mentioning it won't change anything. If it were some minor flaw, sure, don't draw attention to it, but grades are kind of the #1 easy criteria here; they know. I think it's a great recommendation that would absolutely encourage me to admit you if I were in the committee's position.
0
7,985
1.363636
jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gchoho5
gci2kgy
1,605,531,356
1,605,540,057
7
15
Hi, It's common practice for PIs to show students their LoR if the PI feels they would like the student's input. Sometimes there are specific criteria for awards that PI want to ensure they have addressed to your satisfaction. Your PI can also add or dismiss your recommendations that you add, so don't over think it. Revisions on work is common place in academia, this is all part of the process. Regarding the "negative wording", suggest a change. You have been mauling this over to the point where you have asked reddit for help, it clearly is bothering you. This is why your PI showed you the letter. Cheers Hope that helps
Honestly, if your undergrad grades are weak, the committee **will certainly** know that. Your professor mentioning it won't change anything. If it were some minor flaw, sure, don't draw attention to it, but grades are kind of the #1 easy criteria here; they know. I think it's a great recommendation that would absolutely encourage me to admit you if I were in the committee's position.
0
8,701
2.142857
jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gchoho5
gchpeve
1,605,531,356
1,605,532,072
7
11
Hi, It's common practice for PIs to show students their LoR if the PI feels they would like the student's input. Sometimes there are specific criteria for awards that PI want to ensure they have addressed to your satisfaction. Your PI can also add or dismiss your recommendations that you add, so don't over think it. Revisions on work is common place in academia, this is all part of the process. Regarding the "negative wording", suggest a change. You have been mauling this over to the point where you have asked reddit for help, it clearly is bothering you. This is why your PI showed you the letter. Cheers Hope that helps
This is good. And the advisor being open is also good sign that he/she supports you. I will not worry.
0
716
1.571429
jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gcif8tb
gcj5ucw
1,605,546,304
1,605,558,351
3
4
In terms of showing you the letter, two out of my three letter writers for my masters application showed me their recommendation letters. Mainly because they were from a different discipline than the one I was applying to, so they wanted to make sure they hadn’t missed anything that might be important to mention.
That's really helping you in my opinion. Keep it.
0
12,047
1.333333
jv5f5u
askacademia_train
0.99
My advisor showed me his LoR and asked me what I thought. He mentioned my poor undergrad grades but "put a positive spin" on them. Should I ask him to remove it? Hello community. Please remove if not appropriate. Thanks. I'm an international MS student looking to apply for PhD programs in the US this round. My advisor called me in and showed me what he wrote for my LoR and asked me if I wanted to change anything (I don't think this is normal or "ethical" but who am I to say no to a kind gesture). I'm not originally from my current major (CS) and I did a double major in undergrad. My grades suffered because of my unfamiliarity and, to be honest, immaturity. My advisor mentioned it in the letter and said something like (from memory): >Although I admittedly had concerns as to whether Joe would be able to keep up with graduate courses and conduct research due to his unconventional background and his undergraduate record, he immediately proved that my concerns were silly as he was able to maintain a near-perfect GPA and was able to successfully participate in research. I'm honestly extremely flattered that my advisor thinks so highly of me (he's not the expressive type), but at the same time am conflicted because I've heard that anything critical or mediocre on a letter is going to be viewed negatively. This has led me to wonder if I should bring it up and suggest that leaving out the part about concerns may be best. I don't really have anyone around me who's experienced higher education (my school doesn't really receive international students/faculty and no one really goes abroad either, I'm also the only one of my friends or family to have went to college) and so I decided I'd try to make a post here. Thanks for any feedback.
gcj5ucw
gcivwaf
1,605,558,351
1,605,554,073
4
3
That's really helping you in my opinion. Keep it.
I often have statements in my letters like that. When students apply to anything academic they are asked for the transcripts, so the committees will see those poor grades. There are various ways to approach this, from writing in a personal statement (e.g a close family member died in the semester I got two Ds) to having a letter writer put those grades into context (e.g. our department had an ass of a professor who started hating students as he got closer to retirement so failed 60% of his class that term so hey, a C was a good grade). If there isn't some type of mitigating statements a selection committee will likely err on the side of taking poor grades as a red flag.
1
4,278
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xszbqw
askacademia_train
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I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqndlia
iqndh76
1,664,646,292
1,664,646,242
23
4
Postdocs were never intended to be permanent, so don’t do it permanently! That’s the equivalent of an adjunct professorship, which was never intended to be a permanent career for anyone. The difference is that at least as a postdoc, you’re paid reasonably. For permanent research and non-teaching positions, look for Research Assistant Professor jobs; these are non-tenure track, research-based jobs with little to no teaching responsibilities. Salary and funding is usually dependent on grants, so they are called “soft money positions”, as opposed to “hard money” positions funded by the university’s general operating budget. If the grant dries up, you need a new job. Many of these positions are hard to find — they are not often advertised and usually professors offer them to long-term postdocs before their contract is up to keep them employed.
There are such things as research assistant professors, though I know less about the pipeline for those. There's also contracting research companies. You don't have much time for "your" research, but most I've been with support their people publishing on things related to their contracts. There's also .gov positions, like at NSF, DoD, etc. Can be heavy on paperwork and admin, but some positions still get to do quite a bit of research.
1
50
5.75
xszbqw
askacademia_train
0.94
I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqnjt99
iqndh76
1,664,648,905
1,664,646,242
8
4
Some Belgian universities have a "research professor" (BOFZAP) category if that's an option
There are such things as research assistant professors, though I know less about the pipeline for those. There's also contracting research companies. You don't have much time for "your" research, but most I've been with support their people publishing on things related to their contracts. There's also .gov positions, like at NSF, DoD, etc. Can be heavy on paperwork and admin, but some positions still get to do quite a bit of research.
1
2,663
2
xszbqw
askacademia_train
0.94
I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqo4qyg
iqndh76
1,664,658,051
1,664,646,242
5
4
I'm a psyc professor at a school that is R2 (e.g., my department has PhD programs, but we don't have enough throughout the university to qualify as R1). Even though my teaching load is a 2-3 (some of our faculty are on 2-2, 2-1, or 1-1 loads depending on grant support), it's extremely easy. The trick is to get the same classes each semester. If you can swing this, then there is practically no prep after the first couple years. At this point, I have all my lectures essentially memorized down to the individual jokes. I periodically change things around to keep it interesting, but I could basically teach the same classes for the rest of my career if I was that unmotivated. The point is that I have plenty of time for research (or whatever else I want to do).
There are such things as research assistant professors, though I know less about the pipeline for those. There's also contracting research companies. You don't have much time for "your" research, but most I've been with support their people publishing on things related to their contracts. There's also .gov positions, like at NSF, DoD, etc. Can be heavy on paperwork and admin, but some positions still get to do quite a bit of research.
1
11,809
1.25
xszbqw
askacademia_train
0.94
I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqnmjc4
iqo4qyg
1,664,650,088
1,664,658,051
3
5
In Denmark, there exist research positions. https://english.dm.dk/salary/universities-and-institutions-of-higher-education https://english.dm.dk/career/research-staff Enjoy! I've linked above the Professional/Trade Association of Academic Workers in Denmark (DM). > Researcher > The appointment as researcher is a postgraduate position where the main tasks comprise research (including a commitment to publish/scientific dissemination) and research-based public-sector consultancy. Additionally, it involves a certain amount of teaching and a limited number of other tasks. The predominance of the various tasks may vary over time; however, a balance should be ensured allowing the researcher to qualify within the areas relevant to the position (typically research, research-based public-sector consultancy and teaching). Supervision is provided as well as the option of enhancing your teaching skills with a view to preparing a written assessment of the teaching skills of the researcher. The appointment as researcher may be of limited tenure or tenured, meaning that the researcher transfers to a senior researcher position after a positive assessment. The starting point is that the position is full-time; however, part-time positions also exist. An appointment as researcher requires PhD-level qualifications. > > The following fixed allowances are granted to researchers: and then > Senior researcher > The position of senior researcher is usually a tenured position with an obligation and a right to teach and carry out research. The appointment may be without tenure if the main area of responsibility of the position is research and development. > > The main tasks comprise research (including a commitment to publish/scientific dissemination) and research-based public-sector consultancy. Add to this a certain amount of teaching as well as research management, guidance and supervision of assistant professors and researchers as well as carrying out professional assessments. > > The position is usually a full-time appointment; however, part-time appointments exist.
I'm a psyc professor at a school that is R2 (e.g., my department has PhD programs, but we don't have enough throughout the university to qualify as R1). Even though my teaching load is a 2-3 (some of our faculty are on 2-2, 2-1, or 1-1 loads depending on grant support), it's extremely easy. The trick is to get the same classes each semester. If you can swing this, then there is practically no prep after the first couple years. At this point, I have all my lectures essentially memorized down to the individual jokes. I periodically change things around to keep it interesting, but I could basically teach the same classes for the rest of my career if I was that unmotivated. The point is that I have plenty of time for research (or whatever else I want to do).
0
7,963
1.666667
xszbqw
askacademia_train
0.94
I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqnn1k8
iqo4qyg
1,664,650,308
1,664,658,051
3
5
Nope. Eventually get a job
I'm a psyc professor at a school that is R2 (e.g., my department has PhD programs, but we don't have enough throughout the university to qualify as R1). Even though my teaching load is a 2-3 (some of our faculty are on 2-2, 2-1, or 1-1 loads depending on grant support), it's extremely easy. The trick is to get the same classes each semester. If you can swing this, then there is practically no prep after the first couple years. At this point, I have all my lectures essentially memorized down to the individual jokes. I periodically change things around to keep it interesting, but I could basically teach the same classes for the rest of my career if I was that unmotivated. The point is that I have plenty of time for research (or whatever else I want to do).
0
7,743
1.666667
xszbqw
askacademia_train
0.94
I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqnu4fr
iqo4qyg
1,664,653,410
1,664,658,051
2
5
You are not alone. I loved teaching until 2009 when the public schools started declining rapidly. And we only teach upper level- seniors- and grad students. Now that there is no standardized testing even grad students are woefully unprepared. Sigh.
I'm a psyc professor at a school that is R2 (e.g., my department has PhD programs, but we don't have enough throughout the university to qualify as R1). Even though my teaching load is a 2-3 (some of our faculty are on 2-2, 2-1, or 1-1 loads depending on grant support), it's extremely easy. The trick is to get the same classes each semester. If you can swing this, then there is practically no prep after the first couple years. At this point, I have all my lectures essentially memorized down to the individual jokes. I periodically change things around to keep it interesting, but I could basically teach the same classes for the rest of my career if I was that unmotivated. The point is that I have plenty of time for research (or whatever else I want to do).
0
4,641
2.5
xszbqw
askacademia_train
0.94
I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqndh76
iqnm7qn
1,664,646,242
1,664,649,948
4
6
There are such things as research assistant professors, though I know less about the pipeline for those. There's also contracting research companies. You don't have much time for "your" research, but most I've been with support their people publishing on things related to their contracts. There's also .gov positions, like at NSF, DoD, etc. Can be heavy on paperwork and admin, but some positions still get to do quite a bit of research.
Well that depends on how much you dislike teaching, right? At some point we all have to do things that we do not like... I naively believe that it would be extremely lucky for someone if they like every part of their job...
0
3,706
1.5
xszbqw
askacademia_train
0.94
I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqndh76
iqnuuiq
1,664,646,242
1,664,653,731
4
5
There are such things as research assistant professors, though I know less about the pipeline for those. There's also contracting research companies. You don't have much time for "your" research, but most I've been with support their people publishing on things related to their contracts. There's also .gov positions, like at NSF, DoD, etc. Can be heavy on paperwork and admin, but some positions still get to do quite a bit of research.
I'm full time research. Whether you can have a full time research post depends on your institution. It's a thing that exists here in the UK but you (and by extension your research group) need to bring in enough grant money to cover your salary. You need to be constantly bringing grants in if you want to be permanent and full time. It's not as idealistic as you may think. If a more steady faculty position came along within my group with some extra teaching attached, you bet your ass I would go for it. I would advise caution as to the pick and choose approach to what you want to do in academia. Getting jobs is hard enough already. If teaching really bogs you down, move to industry. Otherwise just see you teaching as paying your way to really getting stuck into your research during the summer.
0
7,489
1.25
xszbqw
askacademia_train
0.94
I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqnmjc4
iqnuuiq
1,664,650,088
1,664,653,731
3
5
In Denmark, there exist research positions. https://english.dm.dk/salary/universities-and-institutions-of-higher-education https://english.dm.dk/career/research-staff Enjoy! I've linked above the Professional/Trade Association of Academic Workers in Denmark (DM). > Researcher > The appointment as researcher is a postgraduate position where the main tasks comprise research (including a commitment to publish/scientific dissemination) and research-based public-sector consultancy. Additionally, it involves a certain amount of teaching and a limited number of other tasks. The predominance of the various tasks may vary over time; however, a balance should be ensured allowing the researcher to qualify within the areas relevant to the position (typically research, research-based public-sector consultancy and teaching). Supervision is provided as well as the option of enhancing your teaching skills with a view to preparing a written assessment of the teaching skills of the researcher. The appointment as researcher may be of limited tenure or tenured, meaning that the researcher transfers to a senior researcher position after a positive assessment. The starting point is that the position is full-time; however, part-time positions also exist. An appointment as researcher requires PhD-level qualifications. > > The following fixed allowances are granted to researchers: and then > Senior researcher > The position of senior researcher is usually a tenured position with an obligation and a right to teach and carry out research. The appointment may be without tenure if the main area of responsibility of the position is research and development. > > The main tasks comprise research (including a commitment to publish/scientific dissemination) and research-based public-sector consultancy. Add to this a certain amount of teaching as well as research management, guidance and supervision of assistant professors and researchers as well as carrying out professional assessments. > > The position is usually a full-time appointment; however, part-time appointments exist.
I'm full time research. Whether you can have a full time research post depends on your institution. It's a thing that exists here in the UK but you (and by extension your research group) need to bring in enough grant money to cover your salary. You need to be constantly bringing grants in if you want to be permanent and full time. It's not as idealistic as you may think. If a more steady faculty position came along within my group with some extra teaching attached, you bet your ass I would go for it. I would advise caution as to the pick and choose approach to what you want to do in academia. Getting jobs is hard enough already. If teaching really bogs you down, move to industry. Otherwise just see you teaching as paying your way to really getting stuck into your research during the summer.
0
3,643
1.666667
xszbqw
askacademia_train
0.94
I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqnn1k8
iqnuuiq
1,664,650,308
1,664,653,731
3
5
Nope. Eventually get a job
I'm full time research. Whether you can have a full time research post depends on your institution. It's a thing that exists here in the UK but you (and by extension your research group) need to bring in enough grant money to cover your salary. You need to be constantly bringing grants in if you want to be permanent and full time. It's not as idealistic as you may think. If a more steady faculty position came along within my group with some extra teaching attached, you bet your ass I would go for it. I would advise caution as to the pick and choose approach to what you want to do in academia. Getting jobs is hard enough already. If teaching really bogs you down, move to industry. Otherwise just see you teaching as paying your way to really getting stuck into your research during the summer.
0
3,423
1.666667
xszbqw
askacademia_train
0.94
I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqnu4fr
iqnuuiq
1,664,653,410
1,664,653,731
2
5
You are not alone. I loved teaching until 2009 when the public schools started declining rapidly. And we only teach upper level- seniors- and grad students. Now that there is no standardized testing even grad students are woefully unprepared. Sigh.
I'm full time research. Whether you can have a full time research post depends on your institution. It's a thing that exists here in the UK but you (and by extension your research group) need to bring in enough grant money to cover your salary. You need to be constantly bringing grants in if you want to be permanent and full time. It's not as idealistic as you may think. If a more steady faculty position came along within my group with some extra teaching attached, you bet your ass I would go for it. I would advise caution as to the pick and choose approach to what you want to do in academia. Getting jobs is hard enough already. If teaching really bogs you down, move to industry. Otherwise just see you teaching as paying your way to really getting stuck into your research during the summer.
0
321
2.5
xszbqw
askacademia_train
0.94
I like research, I don't like teaching. Should I be a postdoc forever? Hello, My field is cognitive psychology. I like my field and I run lab experiments. I also like being in the academia. However, I don't like teaching. As you may know, there are no enough positions in private sector and post-doc is not a stable position in academia and there is no chance for promotion (a step further is an assistant professorship that requires teaching). I would like to hear your experience. What should I do? Thanks in advance!
iqnu4fr
iqo541l
1,664,653,410
1,664,658,211
2
3
You are not alone. I loved teaching until 2009 when the public schools started declining rapidly. And we only teach upper level- seniors- and grad students. Now that there is no standardized testing even grad students are woefully unprepared. Sigh.
Look up think tanks in your field. Also corporate loves to do research to publish white papers. Also government agencies as well.
0
4,801
1.5
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idk00t4
idjuzk3
1,656,076,866
1,656,074,256
71
46
When I was in undergrad I had a year long course that was team-taught, but one of the profs had a stroke the summer before. He was at retirement age but a brilliant man with many teaching awards, so their solution was to switch around the order everything was taught in with the hope he would recover enough to teach in winter, instead of teaching in the fall like usual. In theory this was fine because the order of the material didn't matter. But it was already renowned as one of the more difficult classes you could take and he didn't end up teaching well at all. Sometimes he told us the wrong stuff, sometimes he just forgot what he was going to say entirely and just sadly stood their awkwardly smiling and apologizing. The entire class did very poorly on that exam and most of them were pre-med and extremely bitter about their GPA going down. He was basically forced into retirement after that. I feel like on the whole it was handled poorly for everyone involved. Maybe if he had more time to recover he could have kept teaching? Maybe he only should have done some lectures? I had another class, a core class, taught by someone in his late seventies who had taught it since the 1980s. He unexpectedly died the following year and they were left scrambling
My uni's got mandatory retirement at 68 so it almost never comes up - I am in favour of figuring out some sort of upper limit of age to keep turnover healthy but 68 does feel rather early to me.
1
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vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idk00t4
idjunn9
1,656,076,866
1,656,074,071
71
27
When I was in undergrad I had a year long course that was team-taught, but one of the profs had a stroke the summer before. He was at retirement age but a brilliant man with many teaching awards, so their solution was to switch around the order everything was taught in with the hope he would recover enough to teach in winter, instead of teaching in the fall like usual. In theory this was fine because the order of the material didn't matter. But it was already renowned as one of the more difficult classes you could take and he didn't end up teaching well at all. Sometimes he told us the wrong stuff, sometimes he just forgot what he was going to say entirely and just sadly stood their awkwardly smiling and apologizing. The entire class did very poorly on that exam and most of them were pre-med and extremely bitter about their GPA going down. He was basically forced into retirement after that. I feel like on the whole it was handled poorly for everyone involved. Maybe if he had more time to recover he could have kept teaching? Maybe he only should have done some lectures? I had another class, a core class, taught by someone in his late seventies who had taught it since the 1980s. He unexpectedly died the following year and they were left scrambling
I feel like the majority of cases are due directly or indirectly due to old age, and those faculty members are already emeritus and semi-retired if they are still around. Just give them minimal to no responsibilities (or students to supervise, or classes) and let them show up and sit in their office if they want.
1
2,795
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vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idjw8je
idk00t4
1,656,074,932
1,656,076,866
21
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Insiders reviewing each other has rarely worked. The academic world is insular and people protect each other. Additionally, many faculty members have no proper training in psychological and biological assessments. The tenure systems make the problem worse. The end result is that many faculty members continue to function through cognitive decline. They continue to teach, make admission decisions and pull salaries. A sea change is needed to hold members of academia accountable to the public.
When I was in undergrad I had a year long course that was team-taught, but one of the profs had a stroke the summer before. He was at retirement age but a brilliant man with many teaching awards, so their solution was to switch around the order everything was taught in with the hope he would recover enough to teach in winter, instead of teaching in the fall like usual. In theory this was fine because the order of the material didn't matter. But it was already renowned as one of the more difficult classes you could take and he didn't end up teaching well at all. Sometimes he told us the wrong stuff, sometimes he just forgot what he was going to say entirely and just sadly stood their awkwardly smiling and apologizing. The entire class did very poorly on that exam and most of them were pre-med and extremely bitter about their GPA going down. He was basically forced into retirement after that. I feel like on the whole it was handled poorly for everyone involved. Maybe if he had more time to recover he could have kept teaching? Maybe he only should have done some lectures? I had another class, a core class, taught by someone in his late seventies who had taught it since the 1980s. He unexpectedly died the following year and they were left scrambling
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vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idjuzk3
idkes0w
1,656,074,256
1,656,083,247
46
53
My uni's got mandatory retirement at 68 so it almost never comes up - I am in favour of figuring out some sort of upper limit of age to keep turnover healthy but 68 does feel rather early to me.
I LIVED THIS. My grad school PI had early onset familial dementia. They were frequently confused by very simple aspects of the projects we were working on. Funding essentially dried up and we had to scrape by on fumes. Current grad students must either get fellowships to cover everything or TA every quarter (most students in my program only TA for one quarter). They were pretty good at masking it, either coming off as quirky, naive to a specific area of research, or (frankly) drunk if there was alcohol at the event. They tried to include an extremely offensive statement in a paper that I was co-first author on, and got mad when I told them that if they weren't willing to change it I'd have to withdraw my name from it. I had sent some articles about why the statement was offensive, and they responded by saying we should go to Ombuds to discuss my professionalism. In private I told the ombudsperson everything, and she was very concerned and said we needed to "plan an intervention with as much documentation as possible." I told her that jeopardizing my LOR was career suicide and declined to participate further. The median time to graduation in this lab is around 8.5 years (normal for the program is \~6.5). The PI was recently appointed to a lower level administrative position, and is openly trying to get a higher level administrative position (e.g. along the lines of an associate dean).
0
8,991
1.152174
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idkes0w
idjunn9
1,656,083,247
1,656,074,071
53
27
I LIVED THIS. My grad school PI had early onset familial dementia. They were frequently confused by very simple aspects of the projects we were working on. Funding essentially dried up and we had to scrape by on fumes. Current grad students must either get fellowships to cover everything or TA every quarter (most students in my program only TA for one quarter). They were pretty good at masking it, either coming off as quirky, naive to a specific area of research, or (frankly) drunk if there was alcohol at the event. They tried to include an extremely offensive statement in a paper that I was co-first author on, and got mad when I told them that if they weren't willing to change it I'd have to withdraw my name from it. I had sent some articles about why the statement was offensive, and they responded by saying we should go to Ombuds to discuss my professionalism. In private I told the ombudsperson everything, and she was very concerned and said we needed to "plan an intervention with as much documentation as possible." I told her that jeopardizing my LOR was career suicide and declined to participate further. The median time to graduation in this lab is around 8.5 years (normal for the program is \~6.5). The PI was recently appointed to a lower level administrative position, and is openly trying to get a higher level administrative position (e.g. along the lines of an associate dean).
I feel like the majority of cases are due directly or indirectly due to old age, and those faculty members are already emeritus and semi-retired if they are still around. Just give them minimal to no responsibilities (or students to supervise, or classes) and let them show up and sit in their office if they want.
1
9,176
1.962963
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idkes0w
idjw8je
1,656,083,247
1,656,074,932
53
21
I LIVED THIS. My grad school PI had early onset familial dementia. They were frequently confused by very simple aspects of the projects we were working on. Funding essentially dried up and we had to scrape by on fumes. Current grad students must either get fellowships to cover everything or TA every quarter (most students in my program only TA for one quarter). They were pretty good at masking it, either coming off as quirky, naive to a specific area of research, or (frankly) drunk if there was alcohol at the event. They tried to include an extremely offensive statement in a paper that I was co-first author on, and got mad when I told them that if they weren't willing to change it I'd have to withdraw my name from it. I had sent some articles about why the statement was offensive, and they responded by saying we should go to Ombuds to discuss my professionalism. In private I told the ombudsperson everything, and she was very concerned and said we needed to "plan an intervention with as much documentation as possible." I told her that jeopardizing my LOR was career suicide and declined to participate further. The median time to graduation in this lab is around 8.5 years (normal for the program is \~6.5). The PI was recently appointed to a lower level administrative position, and is openly trying to get a higher level administrative position (e.g. along the lines of an associate dean).
Insiders reviewing each other has rarely worked. The academic world is insular and people protect each other. Additionally, many faculty members have no proper training in psychological and biological assessments. The tenure systems make the problem worse. The end result is that many faculty members continue to function through cognitive decline. They continue to teach, make admission decisions and pull salaries. A sea change is needed to hold members of academia accountable to the public.
1
8,315
2.52381
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idkes0w
idk4186
1,656,083,247
1,656,078,784
53
19
I LIVED THIS. My grad school PI had early onset familial dementia. They were frequently confused by very simple aspects of the projects we were working on. Funding essentially dried up and we had to scrape by on fumes. Current grad students must either get fellowships to cover everything or TA every quarter (most students in my program only TA for one quarter). They were pretty good at masking it, either coming off as quirky, naive to a specific area of research, or (frankly) drunk if there was alcohol at the event. They tried to include an extremely offensive statement in a paper that I was co-first author on, and got mad when I told them that if they weren't willing to change it I'd have to withdraw my name from it. I had sent some articles about why the statement was offensive, and they responded by saying we should go to Ombuds to discuss my professionalism. In private I told the ombudsperson everything, and she was very concerned and said we needed to "plan an intervention with as much documentation as possible." I told her that jeopardizing my LOR was career suicide and declined to participate further. The median time to graduation in this lab is around 8.5 years (normal for the program is \~6.5). The PI was recently appointed to a lower level administrative position, and is openly trying to get a higher level administrative position (e.g. along the lines of an associate dean).
Generally, nothing. In the case of someone at the uni where I work, they are looking into medical retirement for one specific colleague who has been causing a lot of trouble due to some health problems that are also becoming mental health problems. He has caused so much trouble this past semester that he was almost fired (and he is fully tenured with 20+ years of service). One more major f’up or complaint for harrassment and he’s out. I only know this because I have been asked if I am ready to step into his position when it inevitably happens.
1
4,463
2.789474
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idkes0w
idkdmb8
1,656,083,247
1,656,082,799
53
16
I LIVED THIS. My grad school PI had early onset familial dementia. They were frequently confused by very simple aspects of the projects we were working on. Funding essentially dried up and we had to scrape by on fumes. Current grad students must either get fellowships to cover everything or TA every quarter (most students in my program only TA for one quarter). They were pretty good at masking it, either coming off as quirky, naive to a specific area of research, or (frankly) drunk if there was alcohol at the event. They tried to include an extremely offensive statement in a paper that I was co-first author on, and got mad when I told them that if they weren't willing to change it I'd have to withdraw my name from it. I had sent some articles about why the statement was offensive, and they responded by saying we should go to Ombuds to discuss my professionalism. In private I told the ombudsperson everything, and she was very concerned and said we needed to "plan an intervention with as much documentation as possible." I told her that jeopardizing my LOR was career suicide and declined to participate further. The median time to graduation in this lab is around 8.5 years (normal for the program is \~6.5). The PI was recently appointed to a lower level administrative position, and is openly trying to get a higher level administrative position (e.g. along the lines of an associate dean).
We have this problem at my institution. A senior faculty member seems to be declining quickly. Terrible memory, confusion, and MEAN. Like, absolutely ferocious to students and faculty. Other senior faculty say this person took a sharp turn recently. We don't know what to do.
1
448
3.3125
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idkes0w
idk4zbe
1,656,083,247
1,656,079,219
53
3
I LIVED THIS. My grad school PI had early onset familial dementia. They were frequently confused by very simple aspects of the projects we were working on. Funding essentially dried up and we had to scrape by on fumes. Current grad students must either get fellowships to cover everything or TA every quarter (most students in my program only TA for one quarter). They were pretty good at masking it, either coming off as quirky, naive to a specific area of research, or (frankly) drunk if there was alcohol at the event. They tried to include an extremely offensive statement in a paper that I was co-first author on, and got mad when I told them that if they weren't willing to change it I'd have to withdraw my name from it. I had sent some articles about why the statement was offensive, and they responded by saying we should go to Ombuds to discuss my professionalism. In private I told the ombudsperson everything, and she was very concerned and said we needed to "plan an intervention with as much documentation as possible." I told her that jeopardizing my LOR was career suicide and declined to participate further. The median time to graduation in this lab is around 8.5 years (normal for the program is \~6.5). The PI was recently appointed to a lower level administrative position, and is openly trying to get a higher level administrative position (e.g. along the lines of an associate dean).
Not much, unless waiting for mandatory retirement counts.
1
4,028
17.666667
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idkes0w
idk35ac
1,656,083,247
1,656,078,374
53
3
I LIVED THIS. My grad school PI had early onset familial dementia. They were frequently confused by very simple aspects of the projects we were working on. Funding essentially dried up and we had to scrape by on fumes. Current grad students must either get fellowships to cover everything or TA every quarter (most students in my program only TA for one quarter). They were pretty good at masking it, either coming off as quirky, naive to a specific area of research, or (frankly) drunk if there was alcohol at the event. They tried to include an extremely offensive statement in a paper that I was co-first author on, and got mad when I told them that if they weren't willing to change it I'd have to withdraw my name from it. I had sent some articles about why the statement was offensive, and they responded by saying we should go to Ombuds to discuss my professionalism. In private I told the ombudsperson everything, and she was very concerned and said we needed to "plan an intervention with as much documentation as possible." I told her that jeopardizing my LOR was career suicide and declined to participate further. The median time to graduation in this lab is around 8.5 years (normal for the program is \~6.5). The PI was recently appointed to a lower level administrative position, and is openly trying to get a higher level administrative position (e.g. along the lines of an associate dean).
They promote you to dean?
1
4,873
17.666667
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idjuzk3
idjunn9
1,656,074,256
1,656,074,071
46
27
My uni's got mandatory retirement at 68 so it almost never comes up - I am in favour of figuring out some sort of upper limit of age to keep turnover healthy but 68 does feel rather early to me.
I feel like the majority of cases are due directly or indirectly due to old age, and those faculty members are already emeritus and semi-retired if they are still around. Just give them minimal to no responsibilities (or students to supervise, or classes) and let them show up and sit in their office if they want.
1
185
1.703704
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idkie94
idk4186
1,656,084,616
1,656,078,784
20
19
In my experience, the person keeps teaching until doing something ridiculously inappropriate: repeating the same sexist anecdotes in class, slapping a female colleague on the ass, or something similar. Costs of confrontation are just too high until something forces the issue.
Generally, nothing. In the case of someone at the uni where I work, they are looking into medical retirement for one specific colleague who has been causing a lot of trouble due to some health problems that are also becoming mental health problems. He has caused so much trouble this past semester that he was almost fired (and he is fully tenured with 20+ years of service). One more major f’up or complaint for harrassment and he’s out. I only know this because I have been asked if I am ready to step into his position when it inevitably happens.
1
5,832
1.052632
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idk4186
idk35ac
1,656,078,784
1,656,078,374
19
3
Generally, nothing. In the case of someone at the uni where I work, they are looking into medical retirement for one specific colleague who has been causing a lot of trouble due to some health problems that are also becoming mental health problems. He has caused so much trouble this past semester that he was almost fired (and he is fully tenured with 20+ years of service). One more major f’up or complaint for harrassment and he’s out. I only know this because I have been asked if I am ready to step into his position when it inevitably happens.
They promote you to dean?
1
410
6.333333
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idkdmb8
idkie94
1,656,082,799
1,656,084,616
16
20
We have this problem at my institution. A senior faculty member seems to be declining quickly. Terrible memory, confusion, and MEAN. Like, absolutely ferocious to students and faculty. Other senior faculty say this person took a sharp turn recently. We don't know what to do.
In my experience, the person keeps teaching until doing something ridiculously inappropriate: repeating the same sexist anecdotes in class, slapping a female colleague on the ass, or something similar. Costs of confrontation are just too high until something forces the issue.
0
1,817
1.25
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idk4zbe
idkie94
1,656,079,219
1,656,084,616
3
20
Not much, unless waiting for mandatory retirement counts.
In my experience, the person keeps teaching until doing something ridiculously inappropriate: repeating the same sexist anecdotes in class, slapping a female colleague on the ass, or something similar. Costs of confrontation are just too high until something forces the issue.
0
5,397
6.666667
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idk35ac
idkie94
1,656,078,374
1,656,084,616
3
20
They promote you to dean?
In my experience, the person keeps teaching until doing something ridiculously inappropriate: repeating the same sexist anecdotes in class, slapping a female colleague on the ass, or something similar. Costs of confrontation are just too high until something forces the issue.
0
6,242
6.666667
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idkdmb8
idk4zbe
1,656,082,799
1,656,079,219
16
3
We have this problem at my institution. A senior faculty member seems to be declining quickly. Terrible memory, confusion, and MEAN. Like, absolutely ferocious to students and faculty. Other senior faculty say this person took a sharp turn recently. We don't know what to do.
Not much, unless waiting for mandatory retirement counts.
1
3,580
5.333333
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idk35ac
idkdmb8
1,656,078,374
1,656,082,799
3
16
They promote you to dean?
We have this problem at my institution. A senior faculty member seems to be declining quickly. Terrible memory, confusion, and MEAN. Like, absolutely ferocious to students and faculty. Other senior faculty say this person took a sharp turn recently. We don't know what to do.
0
4,425
5.333333
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idm69ms
idl2xuw
1,656,108,230
1,656,092,323
11
7
We had an adjunct in that situation. She had been there for a long time, retired secondary teacher doing dev math classes. Wonderful teacher and friend. Very well liked. She blew up on a student over a dumb thing. As soon as she finished going off on the student, she walked to the dean's office, told her what happened, and said she didn't know what was wrong with her. She knew she wasn't right. Half an hour later I'm in the dean's office working on how to cover her classes for the rest of the semester. That's our process.
I lived with an alcoholic professor (back in the 80s, when I was a grad student) whose problem was so bad that she'd black out for weeks and just disappear off the grid. Her classes were never removed; she was never sanctioned. She had tenure. She had ten years or so to go until retirement at that point, but they let her coast along, getting progressively worse. She worked until she retired, and then moved out of the country, and never got any better (I know from people who were mutual friends, and she continued this pattern until her death). Another professor at the same university around the same time recounted how there was a faculty association initiative to discuss drinking and addiction issues among the faculty, that then got watered down in the proposal after administration got wind of it to be more generally applicable to the university community as a whole (in other words, deflect the problem by mostly looking at students and other non-faculty), and even then, when it finally got implemented, it was broadened to be issues in community and the state. In other words, barely any mention of the original problem. I'm guessing that the issues of decline for non-addiction purposes will be handled in a similar fashion. Unless they really hate said faculty member, they'll keep them on and going. But if you're out of favour politically, they'll use it as an excuse to get rid of you, sometimes with a buy-out, sometimes not.
1
15,907
1.571429
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idm69ms
idl3ml2
1,656,108,230
1,656,092,587
11
6
We had an adjunct in that situation. She had been there for a long time, retired secondary teacher doing dev math classes. Wonderful teacher and friend. Very well liked. She blew up on a student over a dumb thing. As soon as she finished going off on the student, she walked to the dean's office, told her what happened, and said she didn't know what was wrong with her. She knew she wasn't right. Half an hour later I'm in the dean's office working on how to cover her classes for the rest of the semester. That's our process.
From unis I have been at, they get shuffled into intro classes for non-majors where they can do the least damage. There was a well documented case of an absolute lunatic who was a university medical professor, and when she finally ‘retired’ it turned out she had been teaching only medical ethics to first years for quite a while- no actual medicine classes.
1
15,643
1.833333
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idm69ms
idk4zbe
1,656,108,230
1,656,079,219
11
3
We had an adjunct in that situation. She had been there for a long time, retired secondary teacher doing dev math classes. Wonderful teacher and friend. Very well liked. She blew up on a student over a dumb thing. As soon as she finished going off on the student, she walked to the dean's office, told her what happened, and said she didn't know what was wrong with her. She knew she wasn't right. Half an hour later I'm in the dean's office working on how to cover her classes for the rest of the semester. That's our process.
Not much, unless waiting for mandatory retirement counts.
1
29,011
3.666667
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idlkshx
idm69ms
1,656,099,366
1,656,108,230
3
11
We have a system of periodic review of all faculty, even tenured faculty, tied with our rank and step system of merit advancement. Every two years for assistant and associate professors, every three years for full professors, and every four years for distinguished professors. We also have a pension system, which removes any financial incentive to continue working at our institution once we have 40 years of service (2.5% of average of high-three salary per year of service).
We had an adjunct in that situation. She had been there for a long time, retired secondary teacher doing dev math classes. Wonderful teacher and friend. Very well liked. She blew up on a student over a dumb thing. As soon as she finished going off on the student, she walked to the dean's office, told her what happened, and said she didn't know what was wrong with her. She knew she wasn't right. Half an hour later I'm in the dean's office working on how to cover her classes for the rest of the semester. That's our process.
0
8,864
3.666667
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idm69ms
idlpr28
1,656,108,230
1,656,101,362
11
3
We had an adjunct in that situation. She had been there for a long time, retired secondary teacher doing dev math classes. Wonderful teacher and friend. Very well liked. She blew up on a student over a dumb thing. As soon as she finished going off on the student, she walked to the dean's office, told her what happened, and said she didn't know what was wrong with her. She knew she wasn't right. Half an hour later I'm in the dean's office working on how to cover her classes for the rest of the semester. That's our process.
In a word: poorly. I was in a grad program that had this happen not once, but twice in the span of a few years. The first was a professor who had dementia. It took years for them to take any action, and I think his retirement finally came about when someone reached out to his family for help, but that was *really* late coming. It was fairly shocking to learn there was no other route they felt was available when he hadn’t been able to work for quite some time, and he clearly needed more support than he was getting. Lots of people turning a blind eye, for sure. His office was apparently a disaster, well beyond the normal academia clutter. The other was a professor who disappeared for literally years. Faculty were concerned enough to do wellness checks because they didn’t even know if she was still alive, but she remained in her position. She was only physically present for one semester I was there, and I was her TA. She tried to convince me I should give all her lectures for her, in addition to all the grading and stuff I was already handling. It was deeply uncomfortable to have to push back, she really pressured me. She disappeared again after that, and eventually left the department under circumstances I don’t fully know (and shouldn’t, frankly). Her grad students either left the program or switched to other advisors; very few successfully graduated with her at the helm. And that’s the span of a few years in one department. It was strange, sad, and awful to see.
1
6,868
3.666667
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idm69ms
idk35ac
1,656,108,230
1,656,078,374
11
3
We had an adjunct in that situation. She had been there for a long time, retired secondary teacher doing dev math classes. Wonderful teacher and friend. Very well liked. She blew up on a student over a dumb thing. As soon as she finished going off on the student, she walked to the dean's office, told her what happened, and said she didn't know what was wrong with her. She knew she wasn't right. Half an hour later I'm in the dean's office working on how to cover her classes for the rest of the semester. That's our process.
They promote you to dean?
1
29,856
3.666667
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idm69ms
idkiu67
1,656,108,230
1,656,084,780
11
2
We had an adjunct in that situation. She had been there for a long time, retired secondary teacher doing dev math classes. Wonderful teacher and friend. Very well liked. She blew up on a student over a dumb thing. As soon as she finished going off on the student, she walked to the dean's office, told her what happened, and said she didn't know what was wrong with her. She knew she wasn't right. Half an hour later I'm in the dean's office working on how to cover her classes for the rest of the semester. That's our process.
poorly
1
23,450
5.5
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idk4zbe
idl2xuw
1,656,079,219
1,656,092,323
3
7
Not much, unless waiting for mandatory retirement counts.
I lived with an alcoholic professor (back in the 80s, when I was a grad student) whose problem was so bad that she'd black out for weeks and just disappear off the grid. Her classes were never removed; she was never sanctioned. She had tenure. She had ten years or so to go until retirement at that point, but they let her coast along, getting progressively worse. She worked until she retired, and then moved out of the country, and never got any better (I know from people who were mutual friends, and she continued this pattern until her death). Another professor at the same university around the same time recounted how there was a faculty association initiative to discuss drinking and addiction issues among the faculty, that then got watered down in the proposal after administration got wind of it to be more generally applicable to the university community as a whole (in other words, deflect the problem by mostly looking at students and other non-faculty), and even then, when it finally got implemented, it was broadened to be issues in community and the state. In other words, barely any mention of the original problem. I'm guessing that the issues of decline for non-addiction purposes will be handled in a similar fashion. Unless they really hate said faculty member, they'll keep them on and going. But if you're out of favour politically, they'll use it as an excuse to get rid of you, sometimes with a buy-out, sometimes not.
0
13,104
2.333333
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idl2xuw
idk35ac
1,656,092,323
1,656,078,374
7
3
I lived with an alcoholic professor (back in the 80s, when I was a grad student) whose problem was so bad that she'd black out for weeks and just disappear off the grid. Her classes were never removed; she was never sanctioned. She had tenure. She had ten years or so to go until retirement at that point, but they let her coast along, getting progressively worse. She worked until she retired, and then moved out of the country, and never got any better (I know from people who were mutual friends, and she continued this pattern until her death). Another professor at the same university around the same time recounted how there was a faculty association initiative to discuss drinking and addiction issues among the faculty, that then got watered down in the proposal after administration got wind of it to be more generally applicable to the university community as a whole (in other words, deflect the problem by mostly looking at students and other non-faculty), and even then, when it finally got implemented, it was broadened to be issues in community and the state. In other words, barely any mention of the original problem. I'm guessing that the issues of decline for non-addiction purposes will be handled in a similar fashion. Unless they really hate said faculty member, they'll keep them on and going. But if you're out of favour politically, they'll use it as an excuse to get rid of you, sometimes with a buy-out, sometimes not.
They promote you to dean?
1
13,949
2.333333
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idl2xuw
idkiu67
1,656,092,323
1,656,084,780
7
2
I lived with an alcoholic professor (back in the 80s, when I was a grad student) whose problem was so bad that she'd black out for weeks and just disappear off the grid. Her classes were never removed; she was never sanctioned. She had tenure. She had ten years or so to go until retirement at that point, but they let her coast along, getting progressively worse. She worked until she retired, and then moved out of the country, and never got any better (I know from people who were mutual friends, and she continued this pattern until her death). Another professor at the same university around the same time recounted how there was a faculty association initiative to discuss drinking and addiction issues among the faculty, that then got watered down in the proposal after administration got wind of it to be more generally applicable to the university community as a whole (in other words, deflect the problem by mostly looking at students and other non-faculty), and even then, when it finally got implemented, it was broadened to be issues in community and the state. In other words, barely any mention of the original problem. I'm guessing that the issues of decline for non-addiction purposes will be handled in a similar fashion. Unless they really hate said faculty member, they'll keep them on and going. But if you're out of favour politically, they'll use it as an excuse to get rid of you, sometimes with a buy-out, sometimes not.
poorly
1
7,543
3.5
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idk4zbe
idl3ml2
1,656,079,219
1,656,092,587
3
6
Not much, unless waiting for mandatory retirement counts.
From unis I have been at, they get shuffled into intro classes for non-majors where they can do the least damage. There was a well documented case of an absolute lunatic who was a university medical professor, and when she finally ‘retired’ it turned out she had been teaching only medical ethics to first years for quite a while- no actual medicine classes.
0
13,368
2
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idl3ml2
idk35ac
1,656,092,587
1,656,078,374
6
3
From unis I have been at, they get shuffled into intro classes for non-majors where they can do the least damage. There was a well documented case of an absolute lunatic who was a university medical professor, and when she finally ‘retired’ it turned out she had been teaching only medical ethics to first years for quite a while- no actual medicine classes.
They promote you to dean?
1
14,213
2
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idkiu67
idl3ml2
1,656,084,780
1,656,092,587
2
6
poorly
From unis I have been at, they get shuffled into intro classes for non-majors where they can do the least damage. There was a well documented case of an absolute lunatic who was a university medical professor, and when she finally ‘retired’ it turned out she had been teaching only medical ethics to first years for quite a while- no actual medicine classes.
0
7,807
3
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idlkshx
idkiu67
1,656,099,366
1,656,084,780
3
2
We have a system of periodic review of all faculty, even tenured faculty, tied with our rank and step system of merit advancement. Every two years for assistant and associate professors, every three years for full professors, and every four years for distinguished professors. We also have a pension system, which removes any financial incentive to continue working at our institution once we have 40 years of service (2.5% of average of high-three salary per year of service).
poorly
1
14,586
1.5
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idlpr28
idkiu67
1,656,101,362
1,656,084,780
3
2
In a word: poorly. I was in a grad program that had this happen not once, but twice in the span of a few years. The first was a professor who had dementia. It took years for them to take any action, and I think his retirement finally came about when someone reached out to his family for help, but that was *really* late coming. It was fairly shocking to learn there was no other route they felt was available when he hadn’t been able to work for quite some time, and he clearly needed more support than he was getting. Lots of people turning a blind eye, for sure. His office was apparently a disaster, well beyond the normal academia clutter. The other was a professor who disappeared for literally years. Faculty were concerned enough to do wellness checks because they didn’t even know if she was still alive, but she remained in her position. She was only physically present for one semester I was there, and I was her TA. She tried to convince me I should give all her lectures for her, in addition to all the grading and stuff I was already handling. It was deeply uncomfortable to have to push back, she really pressured me. She disappeared again after that, and eventually left the department under circumstances I don’t fully know (and shouldn’t, frankly). Her grad students either left the program or switched to other advisors; very few successfully graduated with her at the helm. And that’s the span of a few years in one department. It was strange, sad, and awful to see.
poorly
1
16,582
1.5
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idn4pud
idkiu67
1,656,124,577
1,656,084,780
3
2
Most universities will give you an additional year of salary if you agree to retire once you reach a certain age.
poorly
1
39,797
1.5
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idmjcsq
idn4pud
1,656,114,154
1,656,124,577
2
3
I have an instructor on my team who is showing signs. Doesn’t retain in between meetings. Confuses some obvious stuff. I document everything and honestly tried to make it as shameless as possible for him to ask for help anytime. Sometimes it’s a quick zoom to remind him of a process. I’m taking it term by term and keeping an eye out. In addition we are trying to find a position with fewer and easier to instruct courses that he can do remotely but it’s a long process.
Most universities will give you an additional year of salary if you agree to retire once you reach a certain age.
0
10,423
1.5
vjlvea
askacademia_train
0.98
How do institutions handle cognitive decline in faculty? To elaborate on the question, I'm wondering what measures are (or historically have been) used to address situations where an individual has lost their ability to do intellectual work (research, teaching, admin, etc). For example, someone becoming senile, or suffering a mental breakdown which they never fully recover from, putting them in a state where they can no longer work at the level they were qualified for, and are possibly incapable of self regulating/assessing. I'm also curious about the effectiveness of different measures (pros, cons, personal experience). For background, I am a graduate student in STEM who has some professional experience working for the university. My university has a system where professors will review one another, which includes auditing lectures, and provide a report to the university. I have been told that they usually write two versions, one for the university, and an off-the-books version for the person being reviewed. They usually reserve their criticism for the latter report, I believe to limit the influence of an overly financially-motivated administration. We also have some faculty who seem to be in the state I described, which has me wondering why situations like this occur, and how they can be prevented.
idmsimz
idn4pud
1,656,118,576
1,656,124,577
2
3
We elect them to the highest offices in the land
Most universities will give you an additional year of salary if you agree to retire once you reach a certain age.
0
6,001
1.5
rayche
askacademia_train
0.97
What is the best scientific article you have ever read purely based on it’s readability, taxonomic levels, structure and overall design? I’m looking for some good inspiration on how to structure my own article.
hnlkzu5
hnltmiy
1,638,889,001
1,638,892,747
2
32
!RemindMe 1 week
Miller's 1956 classic on working memory capacity "The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two" is one of my favorites (although just a heads up, our understanding of working memory has advanced a bit since then).
0
3,746
16
rayche
askacademia_train
0.97
What is the best scientific article you have ever read purely based on it’s readability, taxonomic levels, structure and overall design? I’m looking for some good inspiration on how to structure my own article.
hnmeedx
hnm7m8v
1,638,901,889
1,638,898,971
18
7
Hutchinson's Homage to Santa Rosalia, or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals? It's like prose.
> good inspiration on how to structure my own article Can you tell us a little more about what you're writing? You would want to structure a review differently to a research paper, and there would be an obvious difference in readability and structure between them too. It's far easier to be readable and well structured in a review since you're speaking more generally and synthesizing and summarizing material in a way that is understandable rather than creating it anew.
1
2,918
2.571429
rayche
askacademia_train
0.97
What is the best scientific article you have ever read purely based on it’s readability, taxonomic levels, structure and overall design? I’m looking for some good inspiration on how to structure my own article.
hnmeedx
hnlkzu5
1,638,901,889
1,638,889,001
18
2
Hutchinson's Homage to Santa Rosalia, or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals? It's like prose.
!RemindMe 1 week
1
12,888
9
rayche
askacademia_train
0.97
What is the best scientific article you have ever read purely based on it’s readability, taxonomic levels, structure and overall design? I’m looking for some good inspiration on how to structure my own article.
hnm7m8v
hnmpsve
1,638,898,971
1,638,906,817
7
15
> good inspiration on how to structure my own article Can you tell us a little more about what you're writing? You would want to structure a review differently to a research paper, and there would be an obvious difference in readability and structure between them too. It's far easier to be readable and well structured in a review since you're speaking more generally and synthesizing and summarizing material in a way that is understandable rather than creating it anew.
I think for rigour and pure intellectual stimulation you can't go past the teaspoon study. https://www.bmj.com/content/331/7531/1498
0
7,846
2.142857
rayche
askacademia_train
0.97
What is the best scientific article you have ever read purely based on it’s readability, taxonomic levels, structure and overall design? I’m looking for some good inspiration on how to structure my own article.
hnmpsve
hnmk7s3
1,638,906,817
1,638,904,350
15
3
I think for rigour and pure intellectual stimulation you can't go past the teaspoon study. https://www.bmj.com/content/331/7531/1498
Perhaps I've just become cynical, but keep in mind that what the ivy league elite are allowed to publish is not necessarily what *you're* allowed to publish. Peer review works very differently for the high prestige scholars; if you used simple language it might get rejected for not showing sufficient sophistication. But when a big name does it, it's celebrated as a show of clarity.
1
2,467
5
rayche
askacademia_train
0.97
What is the best scientific article you have ever read purely based on it’s readability, taxonomic levels, structure and overall design? I’m looking for some good inspiration on how to structure my own article.
hnlkzu5
hnmpsve
1,638,889,001
1,638,906,817
2
15
!RemindMe 1 week
I think for rigour and pure intellectual stimulation you can't go past the teaspoon study. https://www.bmj.com/content/331/7531/1498
0
17,816
7.5
rayche
askacademia_train
0.97
What is the best scientific article you have ever read purely based on it’s readability, taxonomic levels, structure and overall design? I’m looking for some good inspiration on how to structure my own article.
hnmw8ol
hnm7m8v
1,638,909,570
1,638,898,971
8
7
The paper for the Girvan Newman algorithm, which for a time was the state-of-the-art algorithm for finding clusters in networks (for example, close groups of friends on Facebook).
> good inspiration on how to structure my own article Can you tell us a little more about what you're writing? You would want to structure a review differently to a research paper, and there would be an obvious difference in readability and structure between them too. It's far easier to be readable and well structured in a review since you're speaking more generally and synthesizing and summarizing material in a way that is understandable rather than creating it anew.
1
10,599
1.142857