Comments for Departmental Goings-On

Comment on Respond to This Important Grad Student Survey! by Andrea

Andrea — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:42:26 +0000

Just so you know, anonymity in this survey is NOT compromised, as the surveymonkey account I have does not allow me to see individual responses at all — the only information I receive is aggregate data, thus I have no way of associating year in program with interest area or with specific responses.

Comment on leave a comment! by dik

dik — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:23:43 +0000

Very nice work, admin Good luck!i

Comment on leave a comment! by sara

sara — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:27:55 +0000

Very effective. Thanx.!

Comment on print more at infocommons! by Balz

Balz — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 06:08:12 +0000

plus there is virtually no chance of getting cornered and stuck in a long conversation with the person who runs the lab at the Infocommons. It’s win-win.

Comment on dec. 20 COGS by not nonymous

not nonymous — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:35:04 +0000

When Eat One (2007) said “FUCK,” do you think he/she was specifically expressing profound disappointment in the lack of attention this site has been getting of late, or the larger ennui of the graduate student experience? Either way, I think it will be a valuable contribution to the extant literature on anonymous posting and likely be relevant for years to come.

Comment on dec. 20 COGS by Eat One

Eat One — Thu, 24 May 2007 04:46:22 +0000

FUCK

Comment on dec. 20 COGS by KOK Ring McGee

KOK Ring McGee — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 01:25:56 +0000

While a contract sounds good in theory for keeping students on track—I don’t think it is good in practice—for reason already stated above. The goal shouldn’t be finishing quickly—but rather, doing good work. Some people work well with deadlines—and that is cool…and could be worked out with any committee. However, I don’t think it is a good idea for the department in general.

Comment on dec. 20 COGS by Peter Cassino

Peter Cassino — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:45:57 +0000

A dissertation contract is a great idea. I am nearing the end of my dissertation process and while mine has been relatively timely, I can see the benefits of a contract, as long as both faculty and students are held equally responsible. The terms should be written based on the needs of specific dissertations, students and faculty, but once agreed to should be adhered to. I set deadlines with my most active committee members on several occasions and those times things worked well. When deadlines were not set there were more than one instance when my end of the work was done but faculty delayed progress by taking a longer than anticipated time period to read and comment on what I produced. The short of it is that I feel dissertation contracts would benefit students by creating a more direct rout to graduation and they will benefit the department by producing more PHDs

Comment on dec. 20 COGS by lauren

lauren — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 04:28:27 +0000

I don’t think a contract like that is a good idea. Quality above all else should be the goal with a dissertation, and if the student goes off in a fruitful direction that takes a few extra months, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Also, more importantly, this would be an unenforcible rule. So what, someone gets into financial difficulty as they are writing everything up, has to take an adjunct position or 3 and misses the deadline — what are they going to do, refuse to let the person defend? Seems like a waste of energy to make a rule like that.

Comment on dec. 20 COGS by Phyllis

Phyllis — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:47:31 +0000

If there’s some kind of contract, faculty should have to sign one too, agreeing to read chapters in a timely manner (this should be specified) - don’t know what’s reasonable - 2 or 3 weeks per chapter maybe.

I personally don’t mind deadlines but I absolutely detest the way in which faculty abdicate all responsibility on their end for getting us through in a timely manner.

My guess is that they won’t want to do that and would back off from making students do that. But students shouldn’t have to live up to crazy contracts without similar responsibilities written in for faculty. They have to step up if they want people to finish according to their rules & process. Hell they should step up regardless.