I had a little chat with my professor yesterday. We talked about this recuitment of our new faculty. I asked her about the chalk talk since it's not open to the public. I originally thought it was like a test to see if they could teach. In fact it was something totally different.
Basically only the literally 'chalk talk' part is as what I expected. The candidates were given a dry erase pen and a whiteboard. They were asked questions as if they were in the qualifying exam or thesis defense. They were also asked about their 5-year plans and proposals if there were to be one of our faculty members. I told my professor it was way more scary than I thought.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
meeting faculty candidates
Our department is recruiting a new assistant professor. We have 6 candidates this time. Of course we students have no power deciding which candidate is to stay. We are, however, privileged to meet with each candidate at lunch time.
So we have one candidate coming to campus every 3 to 4 days. This candidate talks to (or I should put 'is interviewed by') our faculty members for 30 minutes each. Then we take him to lunch. After lunch, he continues his interview session, and then gives a seminar by the end of the day. There's also a chalk talk the next day, but it's not open to the public.
We have had 5 candidates so far. I was actually pretty struggling whether or not I should go to the lunch meeting. I know it's a great opportunity for me to meet with the candidates, to learn how these postdocs or young researchers think about their own career, since I'm close to getting my degree. The only problem was that I was still a bit too timid to talk to new people, especially faculties, and well, in English. I also knew not a lot of students would be interested, so there would be maybe, 3 or 4 going. Then I would have to speak a lot, I mean, A LOT. Anyway I still went, and now I'm really glad I did.
So far I managed to go meet 4 of them. The only one I didn't go was the one when I had to go to the Canadian Consulate to get my visa. We had one American, one Dutch, two Chinese and one German (of course they had at least their PhD degree or postdoc experiences in the US). The meetings were very casual. You didn't even have to talk science or ask difficult questions. In fact, all our candidates are immunologists or neuroscientists, and I know nothing but the knowledge on the immunology textbook. The conversations were partly about our work and the candidates' work, but most of the time we talked about other stuff like food, Southern California, traveling experiences. One time I even mentioned my recent failure on making desserts.
I was very thrilled by the whole process. The candidates had very distinct but amazing personalities. Most of them were very friendly and outgoing. I was also glad that my fellow students, J and R, went almost every time. They could just easily mingle and talk to people about whatever was brought up. That's the kind of quality I don't have but should really have. I kinda realized if one day I happen to be at the position, how knowledgeable and enthusiastic I should be.
I'm still very far from that point.
So we have one candidate coming to campus every 3 to 4 days. This candidate talks to (or I should put 'is interviewed by') our faculty members for 30 minutes each. Then we take him to lunch. After lunch, he continues his interview session, and then gives a seminar by the end of the day. There's also a chalk talk the next day, but it's not open to the public.
We have had 5 candidates so far. I was actually pretty struggling whether or not I should go to the lunch meeting. I know it's a great opportunity for me to meet with the candidates, to learn how these postdocs or young researchers think about their own career, since I'm close to getting my degree. The only problem was that I was still a bit too timid to talk to new people, especially faculties, and well, in English. I also knew not a lot of students would be interested, so there would be maybe, 3 or 4 going. Then I would have to speak a lot, I mean, A LOT. Anyway I still went, and now I'm really glad I did.
So far I managed to go meet 4 of them. The only one I didn't go was the one when I had to go to the Canadian Consulate to get my visa. We had one American, one Dutch, two Chinese and one German (of course they had at least their PhD degree or postdoc experiences in the US). The meetings were very casual. You didn't even have to talk science or ask difficult questions. In fact, all our candidates are immunologists or neuroscientists, and I know nothing but the knowledge on the immunology textbook. The conversations were partly about our work and the candidates' work, but most of the time we talked about other stuff like food, Southern California, traveling experiences. One time I even mentioned my recent failure on making desserts.
I was very thrilled by the whole process. The candidates had very distinct but amazing personalities. Most of them were very friendly and outgoing. I was also glad that my fellow students, J and R, went almost every time. They could just easily mingle and talk to people about whatever was brought up. That's the kind of quality I don't have but should really have. I kinda realized if one day I happen to be at the position, how knowledgeable and enthusiastic I should be.
I'm still very far from that point.
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