Letter to the Editor: "Rollins Professor Earns National Appointment"
Issue date: 2/11/05 Section: Opinions
- Page 1 of 1
There seems to be an important misperception in the minds of Rollins students about the faculty here. I think it is crucial that faculty and students know each other reasonably well in the hope that familiarity does not breed contempt ;-).
In an otherwise good article about an excellent person, Erica Tibbetts wrote: "Do you ever wonder how good the Rollins faculty is, what skills they have besides being teachers, or what they do with their free time?" (Feb 4, 2005, p.1)
I must say that I was somewhat shocked that students do not have a clue that we (faculty) are active scholars who write articles and books, give interviews and specialist-advice, and share our work with other scholars in national and international conferences. These activities (in which we sometimes even mingle with Ivy League professors; oh my!), are often more like a whole second job complementing our teaching work. Is this our hobby? Perhaps, given that we hardly make any money directly from scholarship. HOWEVER, junior faculty such as myself have already had to demonstrate our scholarly abilities (usually with publications) before being offered a job at Rollins, and to put it bluntly, if we do not show actual significant research during our 6-year tenure-track, we will effectively be fired!
As the Rollins Community strives to take our college to the next level (national recognition?), the pressure to be both good teachers and recognized scholars is rising. We can and will do it; but we need our students to know what we do and to give us their support.
So let me finish with a question: do you feel closer to your professor now that you know that beyond teaching-related work, s/he has several long papers due and probably a couple of conference presentations to deliver during the semester? A professor's life is remarkably similar to a student's life. That is perhaps the #1 perk of the job... but that's another matter.
Benjamin Balak, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics
Department of Economics
In an otherwise good article about an excellent person, Erica Tibbetts wrote: "Do you ever wonder how good the Rollins faculty is, what skills they have besides being teachers, or what they do with their free time?" (Feb 4, 2005, p.1)
I must say that I was somewhat shocked that students do not have a clue that we (faculty) are active scholars who write articles and books, give interviews and specialist-advice, and share our work with other scholars in national and international conferences. These activities (in which we sometimes even mingle with Ivy League professors; oh my!), are often more like a whole second job complementing our teaching work. Is this our hobby? Perhaps, given that we hardly make any money directly from scholarship. HOWEVER, junior faculty such as myself have already had to demonstrate our scholarly abilities (usually with publications) before being offered a job at Rollins, and to put it bluntly, if we do not show actual significant research during our 6-year tenure-track, we will effectively be fired!
As the Rollins Community strives to take our college to the next level (national recognition?), the pressure to be both good teachers and recognized scholars is rising. We can and will do it; but we need our students to know what we do and to give us their support.
So let me finish with a question: do you feel closer to your professor now that you know that beyond teaching-related work, s/he has several long papers due and probably a couple of conference presentations to deliver during the semester? A professor's life is remarkably similar to a student's life. That is perhaps the #1 perk of the job... but that's another matter.
Benjamin Balak, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics
Department of Economics