Thursday, February 18, 2016

The Upside of Advising

I whine a lot about advising, like this recent post, but today and tomorrow remind me that it is actually one of the cooler parts of the job.  Today, I gave a talk at Laval University, and got to watch one of my former students, Jonathan Paquin, in action.  He has, like many folks, taken on more than he should but he is thriving in a place that is perfect for him.  I also bumped into another former McG student, who was not one of mine, but a student of a colleagues, and it was great to see her doing well, too.  Tomorrow, I present at Bishop's University, where another former student works--Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brûlé--is hosting me. 

Sure, I can lean on my old students to host me for book talks, but the real joy is watching these folks be the professors that they wanted to be--to attain good jobs and then do the stuff--teach, research, heaps of service and all that.  I have seen some of my other students in their prof-jobs, and each time I am kind of thrilled to see them succeed.  The road they travel is tough--and I tend to make it tougher by providing lots more questions than answers.  To see them thrive is just immensely satisfying, and I am very, very proud even as I know that their success has much, much, much more to do with them and not so much with me.  But I can take credit for their success anyway.

As always, I am most proud of Team Steve.  This book tour is not just chock full of skiing and good eating and fun book presentations, but of checking in with some members of the Team.  Glad to see they are doing well.

3 comments:

LFC said...

Why don't you mention some of your former students who have not been successful? Or have they all been successful?

Steve Saideman said...

All of my Phd students who defended their dissertation proposals completed their dissertations (there were a few that were going to be my advisees but never completed the first step if I remember correctly).

All of my Phd students except one got a tenure tenure position (another one got a job that is practically tenure track but is not quite and is now practically tenured). The one that did not has kept an administrative post. One of the ones that did get a tenure track position moved to a place without one as part of a two-body problem (married couple). Still figuring out that next step.

All of my Phd students who have been around long enough to get tenure have gotten tenure except one who had health problems which has led to a delay in the process.

I have no idea how the various MA students have done--more of them and their careers are not as visible to me since they are not in academia.

LFC said...

That's a good record. Thks for the reply.