Dr. Rhett Allain
1. What is the name of your school?
Southeastern Louisiana University
2. How many faculty members are in your department?
Well, there are 6 physics faculty, but we are the department of chemistry and physics. All together, there are 30 faculty.
3. Do you consider your department to be more teaching oriented or research oriented?
This is a tough one. I guess we are more teaching oriented since we have such a large teaching load.
4. Are you more interested in teaching classes or conducting research?
I am more interested in teaching because I think it's awesome.
5. Does your school have a graduate program in physics?
No.
6. Does your department focus more on undergraduate students or graduate students?
We focus more on undergraduate students.
7. What percentage of your time do you spend:
- Teaching? 50%
- Doing research? 20%
- Other? (please explain what "other" entails) 30% - blogging, committee work and stuff.
8. Describe your standard week.
I have 12 contact hours of teaching. Usually this means that there is a significant portion devoted to preparing for classes and labs (the faculty teach all the labs), grading tests, answering student questions. I usually get to my office around 7:00 am and work until 11:30 ish. On most days I will go home for lunch and then come back around 12:30 and stay until like 4:30. At night I will usually do something related to blogging or answering emails.
9. Do you have any TAs or graders?
No.
10. Do you collaborate with any other faculty regarding teaching? If so, in what ways do you collaborate?
We always have informal discussions among faculty about teaching.
11. Do you collaborate with any other faculty regarding research? If so, in what ways do you collaborate?
I work with a couple of faculty in the implementation of new courses (which I consider research since my area of research is physics education).
12. To what extent are you able to teach what you want to teach? (Both in terms of choosing the courses you wish to teach and in structuring the courses you teach.)
I usually get to teach what I want. The physics faculty meet every semester to choose courses, and we are all reasonable. Really, there are only a couple of courses I don't like to teach.
13. How are teaching, research and "other" weighted when hiring and promotion decisions are made in your department?
It is variable. Each faculty member can choose how to weight their evaluation within certain limits. I think my last one was 60% teaching, 30% research and 10% service.
14. What kind of experience does your department expect when considering hiring new professors? (postdoc, previous professorship, visiting professorship, etc.)
We don't really have any standard expectations. We could hire someone with no experience if we felt they were a good fit for our department.
15. What do you know now about teaching that you didn't know when you first finished graduate school?
I think when I finished grad school, I knew quite a bit about teaching. Somewhat because of my field and also because my adviser made sure all his students had opportunities to teach. Of course, after teaching for 8 years, you learn a whole bunch of little things that are difficult to put down. Well, I am sure I could put down some stuff, but it would take a while.
Oh - also, I had a teaching position in between getting my M.S. and Ph.D.
16. What do you know now about life in academia that you didn't know when you first finished graduate school?
You have to learn to get along with other people. Every department has a wide range of individuals that won't always think about things the same way you do. That is OK. You don't have to convince people that your way is right, just learn to get along.
17. Do you have any advice for students currently pursuing PhDs in physics with a strong interest in teaching?
Teach a course if you can. Talk to other students and faculty about teaching. Read some books about teaching. Go to the American Association of Physics Teachers conference. If you can't go to the national meeting, at least go to a section meeting. Check out your institution's resources for teaching, they usually have a bunch of programs that can be very helpful.