A little academic reality?

How much of the academy is like this:

Yesterday I got an e-mail inviting people in the department to submit to the National Communication Association conference 2006. The conference is this coming fall. The e-mail asked people to submit if they had a research piece about teaching and being an international student teaching in America. I replied and asked if I could submit an abstract to their pannel as an American who taught in Northern Ireland. I got no reply.

Today I ran into the sender of the e-mail, Sandy. I asked her if it would be ok if I joined their pannel. She said it would be fine and that I could just e-mail her the abstract tonight. The problem comes in that I don't actually HAVE any research on being an American teaching in Northern Ireland.

The thing I'm wondering is: Is it common for pannels to be put together the night before the deadline (Feb. 14)? And, on top of that, how many abstracts are being submitted for papers that don't even exist (like mine)?

Just to recap: The most important academic conference is next fall. The deadline to submit research for presentation at this conference is tomorrow. Tonight, I'm going to submit an abstract for a paper that does not yet exist. So, is this the way academia really works?

February in Ohio

I really shouldn't complain about winter coming two months, but it's here regardless. Both December and January were pretty mild here in N.West Ohio for your friendly neighborhood Doctoral Student.

Regarding the grant, I had a meeting with Brit last week and we talked about where it could be improved and changed and re-written. The thing is, the grant reviewers seemed most keen on the parts I was most willing to remove. For example, the grant we proposed suggested that we do an after-school program and a restorative justice project. I really feel that the after-school component was the stronger piece, requiring a LOT more money and materials and time. The RJ project was mainly for me to have a forum to start my dissertation research while learning from BGHS (Bowling Green High School) disciplinary policy and procedure. And when it was all over, the committee (I picture hoods, robes, black candles, and goblets of human blood) said the after-school component was the one we should cut. Additionally, it was clear from some of the reviewers' comments that the proposal wasn't read through very clearly. There were some questions left for Seamus and I that, had the person actually read through our project, would have been painfully clear. I guess doing a thorough job reviewing grants wasn't really high on that particular person's list of activities that day.

In a flashback to last year, I spoke to the Tiffin Lion's Club last night. I drove down after I taught my class and had dinner with the men (a fair number of them from First Christian, the church I went to growing up). I got to speak to them for about 20 minutes about the program I did, what Irish and Northern Irish history is like (very briefly), and what my weekly routine was like. In retrospect, I should have picked some pictures, projected them in a little slide show, and talked about them. The pictures were a big hit.

On the docket this week for the M.D.S. is a take-home exam for quant. methods, a draft of a letter for stats, readings for sociology of law (which has a paper I need to start next week), and my independent readings. I must admit that class, my independent readings in education is the toughest one I have to keep up with. I find that days go by without me even thinking about it. I need to discipline myself into a reading schedule for that course and then figure out how to direct my semester's research for that class so that I don't stagnate and neglect working on that stuff.

Speaking of research, I had a paper accepted at the Central States Communication Association. It's good news I get to go and present one piece of my M.A. thesis in a couple of months. But, there's a lot of work and crime-fighting between now and then.

-M.D.S.