New Job: Moving Up & Teaching While Still Doing Research

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In summary: So many good ones to choose from!In summary, Moonbear has received a verbal offer for a new job, which involves moving to an office with a window and an improved HVAC system. This is a shift in her career direction towards education, where she will be teaching medical anatomy, occupational therapy, exercise physiology, nursing, and dental students. She is also looking forward to learning and teaching medical neuroanatomy. Her new position means she can focus more on teaching and collaboration, rather than struggling to balance research and teaching. Her colleagues are happy for her and she is excited for her new role.
  • #1
Moonbear
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I've got a new job! I'm moving up...to an office almost directly above the one I'm currently in. :biggrin: Contract isn't signed yet, but I have the verbal offer and permission to start moving into my new office...one with a window finally! Actually, even better than a window, it's newly renovated and in the part of the building that has the new, and actually functioning HVAC system, so I'll have AC in summer and heat in winter, not the other way around. :biggrin: Who knows, maybe I'll even have my own thermostat in my office.

This is actually a slight shift in career direction for me. This is primarily an education position. I'll still be doing some research, but it'll be the more minor aspect of my time commitment. Writing research grants went from being a challenge to beating my head against the wall...people far more senior than me are losing funding left and right. At the same time, as you all can probably tell from my interaction with folks here, I LOVE teaching, so why keep bashing my head against the wall going nowhere when I can be content collaborating with other people on their research projects, and focusing my energy on teaching? So, I'm quite ecstatic today that I was offered this new position. :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
 
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  • #2
Wonderful! Congrats, Moonie :cool: !

Will you be teaching anything different from what you do now?
 
  • #3
WOOHOO!
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/7555/flowerdancepleaseal7.gif

woohoo7usih7.gif
 
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  • #4
Congratulations!

Now when you tell your co-workers you look down on them, you can mean it in more ways than one! :devil:
 
  • #5
lisab said:
Wonderful! Congrats, Moonie :cool: !

Will you be teaching anything different from what you do now?

Not a lot different, just a lot more classes and students. I've already been teaching in the medical anatomy course, and this summer am teaching occupational therapy and exercise physiology students. This new position will add on teaching nursing and dental students too. And, without trying to juggle full-time research with teaching, I will be able to start learning the medical neuroanatomy course to pick up teaching that. I could teach parts of it already, but that's a course that I really want to learn and teach a lot more of. I tried to sit in on it a couple years ago, but their schedule is so intense, I couldn't get out of my research obligations enough to make it meaningful. Now I'll have time to dedicate to that class too.

The department also teaches the histology courses, but I don't think they need much help there. It's usually pretty easy to find people who can teach portions of histology. Though, if they need me to help there, I can come up to speed pretty quickly on that course.

Evo, I love those smilies. :biggrin: Woo hoo! One even has sparklers (I think that's what those are).
 
  • #6
Congrats - after months of heavy drinking, it's finally over!
 
  • #7
At least MoonBear doesn't have to do so many projects at the same time. I'm not sure if MoonBear wants to
 
  • #8
We will have to change your handle to Starbear.
 
  • #9
russ_watters said:
Congrats - after months of heavy drinking, it's finally over!

No kidding! I'm glad I had you to do some of the drinking for me. :biggrin: I didn't even realize how tense I was getting about it until I suddenly unwound after getting the news today (maybe that's why I bounced so high). At first, it was easy to just stay calm and patient, but I thought they were making decisions much earlier than they finally did, and when those dates passed, I thought I was passed over, then I'd run into someone who would let me know that decisions weren't made yet, maybe next week, then another week would pass, and still no news, etc. But, the wait is over! Phew!
 
  • #10
wolram said:
We will have to change your handle to Starbear.

LOL! Hmm...I will get to see more of that big yellow star that's out in the day time.
 
  • #11
Moonie, I am so happy for you! Congrats!
 
  • #12
That's great news! I'm excited for you!
 
  • #13
That is great news Moonbear! I'm sure you will love your new position, and the students will love it I am sure to, it is a rare treat to find a prof who really loves to teach! Having a window is exciting, windowless offices are so depressing. Some of the labs I work in have no windows and I hate it.
 
  • #14
Kudos to you, Moonbear. I can't think of anyone I know who's worked as hard as you have to accomplish what you have. I'm beyond happy for you!
 
  • #15
Is Nice! (Borat...)
 
  • #16
Evo took the original dance smiley I posted so I have to come up with a new one.
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/6785/pyrodancepleaseft2.gif

The original smiley is dancing with flowers.
 
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  • #17
Congrats!
 
  • #18
Thats wonderful news. And you get a window!
 
  • #19
Congrats. Moonbear, Now, about that window, are there three colored dots in the upper left corner? or is there an X in a red box in the upper right corner? :rolleyes:
 
  • #20
Great news for you, and great news for your school! You're a natural.
 
  • #21
Moonbear said:
I LOVE teaching, so why keep bashing my head against the wall going nowhere when I can be content (...) focusing my energy on teaching?

I always tought that teaching means just that - bashing your head against the wall. But I am known to be ocassionally wrong :wink:

Congratulations!
 
  • #22
Thanks again everyone. Christina, that's a really nifty dancing smiley! (Yes, Evo's been known to steal smilies...she hoards them.)

Andre said:
Congrats. Moonbear, Now, about that window, are there three colored dots in the upper left corner? or is there an X in a red box in the upper right corner? :rolleyes:

:smile: I'll move up my X in the corner windows with me, but maybe if I'm good, they'll let me buy a new one with colored dots in the corner.

But now I have to find a new Disney paper to cover the window on my door. My current office has a square window, and the new one has a long, skinny window, so I can't take my paper with me. :frown: (Since I wear scrubs for the classes, I need to be able to cover the windows to change into clean clothes in my office...oh, I better get blinds for the window too!)
 
  • #23
Congratulations! A window is great!

But now I have to find a new Disney paper to cover the window on my door. My current office has a square window, and the new one has a long, skinny window, so I can't take my paper with me. (Since I wear scrubs for the classes, I need to be able to cover the windows to change into clean clothes in my office...oh, I better get blinds for the window too!)

Cover your window with this. That way you'll have a mirror to check your appearance before leaving your office.
 
  • #24
~christina~ said:
Evo took the original dance smiley I posted so I have to come up with a new one.
[PLAIN]http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/6785/pyrodancepleaseft2.gif

The original smiley is dancing with flowers.
<steals christina's new smiley>

[PLAIN]http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/6785/pyrodancepleaseft2.gif

and adds one

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/766/cheerdx6.gif
 
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  • #25
Evo said:
<steals christina's new smiley>

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/6785/pyrodancepleaseft2.gif
What is that thing, anyway - a flaming frog?
 
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  • #26
BobG said:
Cover your window with this. That way you'll have a mirror to check your appearance before leaving your office.
Yikes, that's expensive stuff! I'm not sure I want a mirror to know what my appearance is on the days I'm headed to lab. Better make sure I put it on the right side of the window too (though, that would be nifty to have a one-way mirror on the door so I could see out and the students pacing in the hall wouldn't know I could watch them when they couldn't see in...would also mean I'd have privacy inside the office without having to block the window completely.

The paper I have over the window in the door now is perfect though. It's somewhat translucent, kind of like waxed paper, so it provides privacy, but still let's the light show through so people know if I'm around or not.
 
  • #27
Congrats Moonbear! Hope you'll be a lot happier. :smile:
 
  • #28
Moonbear said:
Yikes, that's expensive stuff! I'm not sure I want a mirror to know what my appearance is on the days I'm headed to lab. Better make sure I put it on the right side of the window too (though, that would be nifty to have a one-way mirror on the door so I could see out and the students pacing in the hall wouldn't know I could watch them when they couldn't see in...would also mean I'd have privacy inside the office without having to block the window completely.

The paper I have over the window in the door now is perfect though. It's somewhat translucent, kind of like waxed paper, so it provides privacy, but still let's the light show through so people know if I'm around or not.

When you get your new office set up, post a picture!
 
  • #29
Moonbear said:
Thanks again everyone. Christina, that's a really nifty dancing smiley! (Yes, Evo's been known to steal smilies...she hoards them.)



:smile: I'll move up my X in the corner windows with me, but maybe if I'm good, they'll let me buy a new one with colored dots in the corner.

But now I have to find a new Disney paper to cover the window on my door. My current office has a square window, and the new one has a long, skinny window, so I can't take my paper with me. :frown: (Since I wear scrubs for the classes, I need to be able to cover the windows to change into clean clothes in my office...oh, I better get blinds for the window too!)

congrats!

now your (avatar) cat has a window
 
  • #30
Woop!
 
  • #31
lisab said:
When you get your new office set up, post a picture!

I'll try. It's still a small office, but it's mine, has a window, and isn't shared! That's actually a very fortunate thing in that department. MANY of the faculty are packed like sardines into larger shared offices there, so I'm among the privileged there. :biggrin: (And maybe once some of the new buildings on campus are completed, some larger offices will open up for everyone, but I'd probably be back at the end of the line waiting behind all the people with shared offices.)

I'm still contemplating the furniture arrangement. I think it might seem bigger if I move a few pieces of furniture around. I remember my current office seeming somewhat like a broom closet when I first moved in, and then after a month of shuffling furniture around every week, I finally found a configuration that worked.
 
  • #32
Moonbear said:
I'm moving up...to an office almost directly above the one I'm currently in.
I'm glad to hear you got a raise. Have fun with your new job.
 
  • #33
jimmysnyder said:
I'm glad to hear you got a raise. Have fun with your new job.

LOL, though yes, there is a raise with this (and not just a few more feet above sea level). How much is still to be negotiated before a final contract is signed. I suppose I'll have a lot more leverage since classes will already be starting by the time that's done, and it's too late to find someone else on the list to teach all those classes. :biggrin: :smile:
 
  • #34
Moonbear said:
LOL, though yes, there is a raise with this (and not just a few more feet above sea level). How much is still to be negotiated before a final contract is signed. I suppose I'll have a lot more leverage since classes will already be starting by the time that's done, and it's too late to find someone else on the list to teach all those classes. :biggrin: :smile:
Ooh! Great timing! That's a wonderful extortion (er... bargaining) chip.
 
  • #35
Careful Moonbear, be aware of limits, a little generousity on the longer terms here may outweight a short term profit .

Also, if in the window, there are upper right colored dots or a red boxed X upper right, there is a chance that this window is merely artificial. :-p
 

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