La Profesora Abstraída

It has been 540 days since my last blog post

2010-04-30T12:23:00.001-04:00

Once upon a time, I had a blog. The last post was a subdued celebration of the election of Barack Obama. A lot has happened in the world since then. A lot has changed in my life, too. Consider this both my last post on Profesora Abstraida and my first post here. I can't promise regular updates, and I won't promise the same level of scrutiny of Mexican politics as before, but I will try to do more than short Tweets. In the meantime, here's an abbreviated update of what I've been doing for the last 540 days.

In November 2008, I interviewed for a faculty position in the Political Science Department at McMaster University. Everyone was very welcoming and nice, and I enjoyed my visit. Neither Brian nor I had never really been to Canada before, so he flew up after the interview for a weekend in Toronto. Though it was abnormally cold (according to my hosts), we enjoyed the Annex, the AGO, and Queen Street West.

January 2009 was a busy month. I heard that my tenure file had passed through the Institute-level committee, so things were looking pretty solid for promotion and tenure at Tech. I was also invited to interview at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. I was also offered the position at McMaster. Though I enjoyed my campus visit at Texas State, I had to respond to McMaster before their interviews were going to be concluded. McMaster, though far from 'home' in Austin, seemed like a better fit for me, and Toronto seemed like a better fit for Brian. So, we decided to make the move. I accepted the position (though we didn't tell anyone for several weeks).

In February, I received the official letter confirming that I had been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at Tech.

In March, we used spring break to move several things to a storage unit in Austin and to tell Brian's family in person that we were moving to Toronto during the summer.

In April, we packed up the house and said goodbye, though things were so rushed that we didn't get to say goodbye to everyone personally. That made me a little sad. I also started a new website to chronicle all the great things Brian says.

In May and part of June, we stayed with my mom in Austin and visited Toronto to sign a lease.

In late June, we packed up the Jetta with our 3 cats and 80lb dog for the drive to Toronto. Most of July was spent Craigslisting and unpacking. August, more of the same. Brian's parents came to visit for 5 days in mid-August. Brian helped my grandparents move from Corpus Christi, TX to Flint, MI.

Classes started at McMaster in September. For the first time, I was teaching a graduate class in my area of research interest. So far, so good.

Over the holidays, I visited in Flint, while Brian went to Austin.

Spring semester, I taught intro graduate statistics and an undergraduate senior seminar in the politics of public policy.

In late January, my grandma passed away in her home in Flint. She left me a voicemail singing me happy birthday the night before.

In February, my book was published, and we went to Austin during reading week to visit and help my grandpa get everything settled.

In April, I received notice that my SSHRC Standard Research Grant was funded for the next three years.

...which brings me to now. I am happy in my new Department and University. We are happy in our new city.

And, I am looking forward to my second summer since graduate school in which I have not either:

a) moved our household internationally;
b) ran or participated in a summer study abroad program for at least 6 weeks; or
c) taught two courses during summer school.

I have lots of old projects to wrap up and new ones to begin. In the meantime, I'll try to post here periodically.

2008-11-06T21:48:00.002-05:00

Presidential endorsements

2008-10-29T21:39:00.002-04:00

I thought these lists were interesting, if not exactly surprising. Perhaps most Wikipedia contributors are democrats, and that's why Obama's list is so much longer?

At the same time, just like I don't care who Joe the Plumber endorses, I also don't really care who Christie Brinkley is likely to vote for.

Why do we care about Joe the Plumber's opinion

2008-10-28T20:46:00.000-04:00

Really.

Obama first to record entire campaign ad in Spanish

2008-10-23T21:52:00.001-04:00

Also, the Obama campaign site has debate 3 'traducido al español'.

Opie, Sherriff Taylor, and the Fonz for Obama

2008-10-23T18:24:00.002-04:00

Only in the U.S.

2008-10-19T13:23:00.002-04:00

...would this headline make any sense:

McCain Assails Obama's Plans as Socialist
GOP Nominee Recasts Campaign in Bid to Court Working-Class Voters

Otherwise, shouldn't working-class voters want 'socialism' (at least of the democratic variety)?

Tell it, Ann

2008-09-25T12:32:00.002-04:00

Wow. Brian told me this morning about reading Ann Richards's DNC speech from 1988. It could have been given at this year's convention.

I had the opportunity to hear Ann Richards speak twice while in high school. She could have you giggling one minute and crying the next. I'll never forget her pointing out that its the same company that makes Sara Lee desserts and uncomfortable girdles and other undergarments to keep women 'slender.'

In any case, if you are too young or too senile to remember her address, I highly recommend revisiting it. She was a great Texan.

Professors and time

2008-09-23T12:33:00.002-04:00

Given the Georgia (state) budget crisis, higher ed institutions are cutting costs everywhere. At UGA, they are limiting professor travel, even if paid for out of pocket (not that I'm sure how professors can afford to do this with potential raise freezes and rising health & parking premiums, which result in a net pay cut), due to the perceptions that professors should be on campus, focused on teaching. Note, no one is really talking about how course offerings (fewer electives, no summer school, few sections and larger classes) are likely to affect students. I have at least one student who is now worried about being able to graduate on time if particular courses aren't offered. But, I digress... I really just wanted to share this:

Original context.

...to which should be added, how legislators and the public (to the extent they pay attention) think professors should spend their time: 95% teaching, 5% service, unless of course its sponsored research which accounts for about 36-37% of GT revenue.

Thank you, Brian!

2008-09-15T11:10:00.008-04:00

Brian just bought me a new ~~toy~~ productivity tool!

img from Gizmodo.com

Action Hero!

2008-09-09T22:48:00.000-04:00

Professor fantasies

2008-08-30T10:19:00.000-04:00

Are pretty G-rated.

Johnston HS to reopen as Eastside Memorial

2008-08-14T19:26:00.001-04:00

My alma mater was closed in June and will be reopening as a 'new' school in the fall.

Thinking about data

2008-08-14T15:52:00.004-04:00

The following observation in Grant McCracken's musing on the qual/quant debate in business echoes an uneasiness of my students in globalization class:

The numbers people sneer at the hopeless imprecision of a world without numbers. The concept people believe that anyone who waits for the world to manifest its intentions in numbers will have waited too late.

In class, it wasn't just that sometimes the data we analyze or use to measure the extent or impact of globalization are sometimes several years old, but also that much of our academic writing on the subject is outdated by the time it reaches press.

Nevermind the implications for a field like political science, which seems to be creeping ever more steadily toward the quantitative end of the qual/quant spectrum.

Students today

2008-08-11T14:12:00.000-04:00

This is a nice video about today's college students.

Do you hold your breath?

2008-08-11T09:59:00.004-04:00

When you get ready to read your course evaluations? I do. Even if I think a class went well and am happy with my students' overall performance, I'm still oddly affected by even one harsh or cruel comment--like a punch in the stomach. I don't get them often (and usually have a good guess as to which student made the comment, especially if they make the same grammatical errors that I've seen all term in their papers), but they still are like a right hook out of left field. (How's that for mixing metaphors?)

Anyway, just read my comments from summer school, and there were no sour grapes or right hooks. Instead, I got:

Great teacher. I really enjoyed the structure of class. Being able to discussed what we read was a big help in understanding the material. I think that I also learned more critical reading skills in understanding complex material.

and

Professor Dion was an amazingly effective teacher and really helped explain complex material that I never would have understood on my own. I felt like I was really learning beneficial and pertinent material in this class that would help me in the ''real world.'' This course was challenging but also very rewarding!

and

I felt like I learned a lot in the course without the addition of unnecessary stress. In other words, though the material was challenging and the reading was time consuming, it seemed very proportional to what I was actually getting out of the class.

That just goes to show that students sometimes do want to learn and like to be challenged, at least at Tech anyway.

I'm just relieved because these will be my last set of course eval scores to be added to my tenure packet.

Cool funk

2008-08-02T18:46:00.001-04:00

You should check out my buddy's mp3 blog. He also has a record store in Austin that I have yet to visit.

Eerie parallels

2008-08-01T18:25:00.003-04:00

My mom really likes watching The Golden Girls. She leaves it on late at night. Having sat through a number of episodes over the last couple of years, I have come to realize that the Golden Girls were really just the women from Sex and the City in their retirement years.

Samantha Jones becomes Blanche Devereaux.
Charlotte York becomes Rose Nylund.
Miranda Hobbes becomes Dorothy Zbornak.
And finally, Sophia Petrillo becomes Carrie Bradshaw.

I could go through several specific similarities, but sitting and watching a couple episodes of each would probably provide more compelling evidence.

Happy dance

2008-07-29T14:03:00.001-04:00

Have just had this paper accepted for publication in Comparative Politics.

Wordling away the time

2008-07-22T09:15:00.002-04:00

Inspired by Chris, I thought I'd share.

My book

My delicious

Couldn't agree more...

2008-07-16T17:08:00.002-04:00

...with this advice from Google:

And then keep on challenging yourself, because learning doesn't end with graduation. In fact, in the real world, while the answers to the odd-numbered problems are not in the back of the textbook, the tests are all open book, and your success is inexorably determined by the lessons you glean from the free market. Learning, it turns out, is a lifelong major.

Reformed Pride of the East Side

2008-06-21T15:02:00.002-04:00

The plans to reopen Johnston H.S. as a new school have been approved.

Happy coincidences

2008-06-13T14:51:00.004-04:00

Today I am turning in the last pieces of my tenure file to be sent to external reviewers. (I am burning *8* CD copies of my file as I write this.)

And, I received a UPS box filled with cookies and a thank you note from one of my best and brightest undergrads from the last two years.

I know who is going to go home and have celebratory homemade cookies and milk!

Update: The cookies are personalized!!!! She's going to UGA for law school--hence the black and red, but I'm not sure about the shape. Bulldog maybe?

Update2: It's the head of a gavel. The handle broke off.

Holding me back

2008-06-07T00:20:00.003-04:00

I'm scheduled to get a new GT laptop this fall. Given the spyware that OIT installs on machines that log into the domain, I started thinking about getting one of these or these (back when there was a Linux option--WHERE DID IT GO!?!?!?!?!). Since I get lost without a right click and am baffled every time I'm forced to interact with a Mac, I was leaning toward the Linux option (which has now apparently disappeared!).

The only thing keeping me from Linux was the lack of a PDF editor. Perhaps by the time there's another small PC option that comes with all the drivers preloaded for Linux, there will also be a PDF editor.

Really unfortunate Post title

2008-06-06T13:19:00.000-04:00

Really?