Over the past few years, a number of women in my lab group have welcomed children to the world, the most recent being just a month ago. And, it got me to thinking just how much things have changed through the years regarding how pregnancy is viewed and especially how admin wants to spread theContinue reading “A tale of two kiddies”
Tag Archives: University of Not-Bielefeld
Acute advertising
Right. An e-mail came around from my Faculty here at the University of Not-Bielefeld this past week that I still have no idea what to really make of. Apparently the question was raised at a recent faculty committee meeting as to what rights the teaching staff have to deal with “acute disruptions” during their classes.Continue reading “Acute advertising”
Assisting student assistants
Just before Christmas last year, some well meaning, unionized elves (so, not Santa’s) wanted to put a little something extra in the stockings of the students that we hire to help with all our teaching. Instead of being able to hire them purely on a course-for-course basis as before, the new framework dictates that weContinue reading “Assisting student assistants”
Corporate resign
Some time ago, I wrote how admin here at the University of Not-Bielefeld (if not admin types the world over) like to send chain e-mails, where some e-mail from central admin is successively forwarded down the chain of responsibility (central admin to faculty to department to …) with no one bothering to clean up allContinue reading “Corporate resign”
Passing the b*ck
With Northern Germany’s annual attempt at winter being upon us again (dark, drizzly, not really cold, definitely not snowy), my thoughts at this time of year always turn not to Christmas (which to this Canadian requires snow), but to how the chain of responsibility inevitably seems to be tied to the ankle of the averageContinue reading “Passing the b*ck”
Killing time
I’ve mentioned before how time in Academia doesn’t really flow the way it does in the rest of the world. And not just for students in the middle of a death-defyingly boring lecture either. It gets worse … At a recent meeting of the profs in my department, it was revealed to us that, onContinue reading “Killing time”
Belabelling a point
Every time that I start to worry that I’m running out of material for this blog, admin comes through for me. I suppose that means that I should be grateful somehow … … but definitely not in this case. We all know the drill. Once we set up an e-mail account, the very first andContinue reading “Belabelling a point”
A question of form
Forms are synonymous with admin. And forms are simply awful. Period. (Although most people would agree with each of these sentiments, I strongly suspect that they have never contemplated the logical consequence of linking them together.) There is, of course, the pain inherent to any form in and of itself. However, there’s whole bunches ofContinue reading “A question of form”
Working the chain gang
Remember the good ol’ days of the internet? The days before endless numbers of spam e-mails about penis enlargements or from Nigerian princes? (Or about penis enlargements for Nigerian princes? I mean, they have to invest those millions somewhere, right?) When life was simpler and people were so unsavvy that you actually had to explainContinue reading “Working the chain gang”
Leerevaluations
First off, I should probably explain that title … Despite their stunning underdog victory to claim the title as the funniest nation in Europe in 2001 (sorry for the repetition, but I still can’t wrap my head around that one), most people who don’t speak German don’t realize that it’s actually possible to make punsContinue reading “Leerevaluations”
The Blog About Fog 