What does a professor's life look like?

Because some students, particularly Illinois students, may end up reading this blog, I think it is important to share what it's like to be a faculty member at a large research university. I have had a number of experiences in my first year here, as well as plenty of memories as a college student, that suggest that most undergrads have no idea what we do on a daily basis. Current experiences include:

• Requests for extra credit work after the semester is over
  
• Requests for meetings on evenings or weekends
  
• Surprise that I am in my office even when it's not officially office hours
  
• Jealousy that I am "only" teaching two classes
  
• Surprise that I do not know the entire course catalog and cannot provide advice on courses to take

I make these points without irony or anger -- given media and fictional portrayals of academic life, as well as students' high school experiences, it makes sense for students to misunderstand our role and job description. In a field like anthropology, we do a ton of service teaching, meaning we teach large courses with a high proportion of non-majors, and yet in particular in biological anthropology there is pressure to publish, obtain grant money, and do research. Unlike in high school and college, a lot of our work has to be intrinsically motivated (or one could say motivated by the quest for tenure), and our colleagues expect much higher quality writing out of us than is expected in college, so we cannot pull an all-nighter to write a grant or paper. On top of all of this are the service obligations, in our departments and across the university, that make this place run and make important policy decisions.

What this means is that the number of hours students see us is a tiny portion of the total work we do. Course preparation takes hours, as does lab work and writing for grants and publications. Mentoring and meeting with students, and service meetings also comprise a significant portion of our day (not to mention prepping for said meetings).

The other issue that undergraduates tend not to know is that that small amount of face time we have with them is one of the smaller components of our tenure package. Most of the time they do not see us, when we are locked in our offices or labs or homes, writing or pipetting or analyzing data, is what will make or break our tenure package. Teaching, mentoring and service are less valued, perhaps undervalued, particularly in a research university.

So I will offer two days in my life, a teaching day and a non-teaching day, in order to make faculty life a bit more transparent. Should other members of the lab want to share their lives too, this will become an ongoing series to share all elements of academic life.

Teaching day
6am My daughter Joan wakes me by poking me in the eye. We practice learning where eyes, ears, mouth and nose are, until my husband is awake enough for us to get up for the morning.
6:15am We start our morning ritual: showers, diaper and outfit change for Joanie, the making of coffee, lunch, food and bottles for Joan, breakfast, and then one of us (let's say my husband today) walks Joan to daycare while the other (me) bikes to work.
8:15am Drink coffee while reading and answering email
9am Open my powerpoint made the night before to tinker.
10am Meet with TA to discuss plans for the week and to put together a lab section.
10:30am Finish revising powerpoint, run through it once or twice, save it and try to ignore it to get other work done.
11am Pump breastmilk.
11:15am Read over comments from previous grant, put together an action plan to revise and resubmit. Eat lunch cold while working.
1pm Lecture.
2pm Office hours.
3pm Pump breastmilk.
3:15pm Answer emails, talk to colleagues. Work on grant.
4:45pm Bike home, then walk to daycare to pick up my daughter.
5:15pm Family run.
6pm Make dinner.
6:45pm Eat dinner.
7:15 Change Joan for bed.
8pm Nurse Joan and hold her until she falls asleep.
8:30pm Try to put her in crib to work; she wakes. End up positioning her on chest, laptop on lap. Work on grant for evening.
10:30pm Go to bed.
Total number of hours of possible face time with students: 2.5
Hours spent on teaching (includes time with students): 4
Hours spent on research: 5.25
Hours spent on service: 0
Hours spent on email: Too many

Non-teaching day
6am My daughter Joan wakes me by head-butting my chest. We play with my watch and some tissues from the bedside table, until Joan is too antsy to stay in bed.
6:15am We start our morning ritual: showers, diaper and outfit change for Joanie, the making of coffee, lunch, food and bottles for Joan, breakfast, and then one of us (let's say me today) walks Joan to daycare while the other (my husband) bikes to work.
9:30am Drink coffee while reading and answering email.
10:15am Read student posts on course blog; comment where warranted.
11am Pump breastmilk.
11:15am Fill out paperwork for laboratory: safety committee, human subjects committee, ordering of supplies depending on the day.
12pm Dare to use microwave to heat up lunch; get to enjoy slightly warm lunch today.
12:10pm Sort and arrange data from a colleague. Don't even have time to analyze it because it takes so long to organize it.
2:45pm Pump breastmilk.
3pm Committee meeting.
4:30 Answer some emails, save all my work from organizing data.
5pm Go home.
5:15pm Play with Joan and next door neighbor.
6pm Make dinner.
6:45pm Eat dinner.
7:15 Change Joan for bed.
8pm Nurse Joan and hold her until she falls asleep.
8:30pm Try to put her in crib to work; she wakes. End up positioning her on chest, laptop on lap. Work on powerpoint for class for the next day.
11pm Go to bed.
Total number of hours of possible face time with students: .75 online, 2 minutes in lounge to microwave lunch
Hours spent on teaching (includes time with students): 3.25
Hours spent on research: 3.5
Hours spent on service: 1.5
Hours spent on email: Too many