Butler Cain

One of the things I’m learning as a full-time prof is to keep track of everything I do that could be used for my tenure application a few years down the road. That includes the big things, like publications and conference papers, but it also includes things that I wasn’t really thinking about, like being a guest speaker in someone’s class. Those things count, too. I was even advised to keep e-mails thanking me for doing a good job at such-and-such and whatnot. Every little thing counts.

WT uses a web-based program to keep track of all of that CV stuff, so I’m trying to stay diligent and update it as things come along. Otherwise, I might lose something. My desk already resembles a paper explosion (which is typical for me), so the fewer scraps of yellow legal paper I have cluttering up my space, the better.

I’m also starting to get a taste of the committee process. I’m already serving on a couple of departmental committees, but I was placed on a university-level one earlier today called the Academic Appeals Committee. According to the Code of Student Life, the AAC “hears appeals involving disputes over final course grades.”

Sounds exciting.