151–160 of 215 posts
I work in industry, but the key to getting stuff done in a hierarchical organization is tact . I think he is a poor politician, and is clearly very unhappy about being denied tenure. I think putting out feelers and going about a new job more quietly would be more effective. Hypothetically, let's say you (the person reading this comment) want to make a big change in your organization. You identified a problem, and hon…
I work in industry, but the key to getting stuff done in a hierarchical organization is tact . I think he is a poor politician, and is clearly very unhappy about being denied tenure. I think putting out feelers and going about a new job more quietly would be more effective. Hypothetically, let's say you (the person reading this comment) want to make a big change in your organization. You identified a problem, and hon…
Never ask a question of decision maker type people when you don't know the answer already.
I work in industry, but the key to getting stuff done in a hierarchical organization is tact . I think he is a poor politician, and is clearly very unhappy about being denied tenure. I think putting out feelers and going about a new job more quietly would be more effective. Hypothetically, let's say you (the person reading this comment) want to make a big change in your organization. You identified a problem, and hon…
> the key to getting stuff done in a hierarchical organization is tact. I think he was a poor politician > Rocking the boat publicly (as this post clearly shows he is OK with) is not the mark of good political skills . You're not wrong. However shouldn't we be asking ourselves why we are requiring such skills? The truth is that being a good politician has an inverse relationship with being a geek. Peter Thiel has bee…
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1626392
A common criticism seems to be that he has a huge ego.
Tenure is a big commitment by the department and the university to your career. No matter how successful you are on the objective criteria behind the selection, you also need to be someone the faculty can envision being glad to work with for the next few decades, and who they think can be effective in improving the department in the future. If we believe the author's own evidence, then I would have been inclined to vote nay as well.
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No, you are right, I was perhaps too harsh. But it takes some modesty and humility to pause and consider why the system ended up the way it has, and why the elder's are resistant to change. The author shows no sign of modesty or humility, so it isn't at all clear to me that the elders were snitty or tutting and hissing. In fact, it sounds like there were other issues the author was deliberately ignoring. Finite resou…
As a student who has participated in some decisions regarding changing courses at my institution, I think classes here are usually bad because no one really cares. It requires tact to say "this course is garbage and you don't care about it anyway; let me handle it" without bruising egos. But I think it's bullshit to say that not bruising egos is an important skill, especially in science. The kinds of scientists whose…
Maybe. Or maybe they care and simply have a different perspective on what is the best approach. Or maybe they have different priorities. Optimizing for one variable (e.g. making one specific course awesome) at the expense of all others (hedging against future enrollment trends, pleasing the board of directors & alumni, limited faculty resources, ....) is simply not how universities work.
So I agree with you, somewhat, in some circumstances. In the science side of thing, maybe. But we're also talking about the college's dog policy here. The author seems to think it is completely obvious that he should be free to bring his dog to his campus lab, and shows no awareness that there may be good reasons there is a no dog policy. Maybe there are students with allergies? Or maybe UB has been sued for this in the past? Or maybe its a state law? I don't know.
So reading your comment carefully, it isn't actually obvious if you think it was the author's colleagues who had the big egos and won't listen to criticism, or the author himself.
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As a student who has participated in some decisions regarding changing courses at my institution, I think classes here are usually bad because no one really cares. It requires tact to say "this course is garbage and you don't care about it anyway; let me handle it" without bruising egos. But I think it's bullshit to say that not bruising egos is an important skill, especially in science. The kinds of scientists whose…
> no one really cares Maybe. Or maybe they care and simply have a different perspective on what is the best approach. Or maybe they have different priorities. Optimizing for one variable (e.g. making one specific course awesome) at the expense of all others (hedging against future enrollment trends, pleasing the board of directors & alumni, limited faculty resources, ....) is simply not how universities work. So I ag…
Here’s a (albeit small) sample of his students’ opinion of Geoffery. http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1626392 A common criticism seems to be that he has a huge ego.
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> people who disagree with me [...] aren't doing so out of spite, stupidity, or carelessness, they often just have different priorities than I do This is an interesting perspective that I'd like to try. Thanks for sharing.
It't a really powerful perspective, but when you do it, make sure that you actually do respect the people around you. And that you can remain true to yourself in the process. Empathy changes a person (if you're doing it right); make sure that you're changing in a way that you want to change.
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I agree with this. But research isn't everything. And there are at least some hints and signs that this person doesn't know how to get along with colleagues. > I worked really hard to bring an exciting and rigorous operating systems class to UB. Why did this effort require working "really hard"? Was it because of obstructionist, jealous, or stupid colleagues? Or people who wanted a boring and unrigourous course inste…
Some people are extremely allergic to dogs, and not just when the dog is in the room; dog dander sticks around in a room for a very long time. Policies to keep pets out of certain spaces isn't because of a lack of a fun environment, but looking out for some people's sensitivities.