I had a phone conference with my supervisor Thursday night. Although my grades have been fine so far this year, I have been feeling like I should be doing more. I have only just started to compile my list of annotated suggestions for my field comp exam (coming up only 16 months from now), and I have not started my language requirement proposal due in August (German, Modern Hebrew, Yiddish, or just stick to French…?). Further, I had yet to get any ground gained in my quest for a special readings course, and, although I have guest lectured, I have not published or presented anything yet. Nor have I applied for any professional association memberships or worked on any round tables. Aside from some irons in the fire for some publishing or conference projects down the road, my professional development has been, pardon the French, shite.
So, Dr. S. called me at home to discuss all this. It turns out that she is a lot less concerned about my progress than I am. She laid it out flat: My grades are excellent, and the buzz around the department about me is positive, so that’s all I need right now. That’s more important than anything else. She wants me to focus on presenting at one of the national professional conferences at the end of next year, on my dissertation research, but that should come only after the comps, so I am well prepared to handle questions. I should only go to small regional or student-based conferences if I want to, as they don’t count for CV credits, anyway.
Her motto: Better to wait until you feel that it’s time. (Further, don’t waste your “cherry” on conferences that don’t net you any gain, as they suck time from your more important tasks: teaching and getting good grades.)
Besides, as I have already started working on my dissertation’s methodology, I am ahead of the game anyway.
I must say, although I was already seeing it roughly that way, it is nice to hear this from her. It syncs up with what my adviser at Mac told me, as well as what my other prof from last term explained. However, it is more relieving that Dr. S isn’t too concerned about my future in the job market. Nor does she secretly feel that I am failing to pull my own weight. I asked her if she was envious of the other faculty members that had students presenting elsewhere, and she said no, so I am satisfied.
And now I must return to my comp reading list… Anyone got 25 to 30 suggestions for books on the sociology of Jews in North America that I can add to this thing?
And, alas, no: TV Guide doesn’t count.
2 comments:
presenting at professional conferences is always fun... as long as you don't get too nervous. if you do a good job, it's a really great boost for your ego. i did sort of a practice gig before my first "real" oral presentation at huge international meeting... it (the practice run) was a students-only conference at georgia tech, and doing that one first made me feel a whole lot less nervous about presenting in front of all the big names in my field.
I may do the same with a small conference here in the spring. It's just nice that I don't have to go and make an ass of myself at a "real" conf before I am ready (i.e. before I have legitimate and original research to share).
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