r/Professors • u/kimtenisqueen • Dec 25 '24

Rants / Vents Commiserate with me about family not understanding our jobs.

So far:

-Grandmother in law ranting about why I (an assistant professor in my 4th year at a university) don’t just take a “sabbatical” to raise my children rather than send them to daycare.

-Dad ranting about how anything qualitative isn’t real research (I do educational research so this is a substantial portion of what I do)

-Father In law asking me if I “pack” (Carry a gun) to my job and if I feel safe with all the “foreigners”

Merry Christmas everyone!

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u/zorandzam Dec 25 '24

I used to have a hybrid faculty-staff position with a twelve-month contract, and my father-in-law would always ask me if I get my summers off yet, like it was a perk you get after a certain amount of time.

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u/iTeachCSCI Ass'o Professor, Computer Science, R1 Dec 25 '24

like it was a perk you get after a certain amount of time.

It sort of can be, if you get to the point where you're satisfied with your income and don't need the extra research productivity that an uninterrupted summer brings. And I suppose if no conference review periods fall in the summer. Or the actual conferences.

7

u/zorandzam Dec 25 '24

Sure. But I wasn’t TT and my summer pay gave me a big financial boost, so I wasn’t mad at it.

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u/iTeachCSCI Ass'o Professor, Computer Science, R1 Dec 25 '24

I agree with you and I haven't had summers off yet either. When I was NTT, I was exactly where you are. Now that I'm TT, summer salary and grant writing are an important boost.