and in large

I think that this really shows off the orchids from my birthday much better than any of the earlier photos.

And doesn't this last one remind you of something?

It reminds me of the face of a little old man.

There are a few more that I didn't post here on Flickr. They are mainly there for posterity and safe-keeping, but you might take a look if you are interested.

Happy Friday! I hope you are doing something fun this weekend. I know that I'm finally going to get into some books that I got for my birthday now that I'm not preparing lectures or preparing for my interview.

Whoooooopeeeee! I'm looking forward to it.

Posted by danielle at 08:35 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

WEEEEEEEEEEEEELL,

My interview day went extremely well. So well, that they called me yesterday and offered me the job! I accepted with pleasure and excitement.

So, here's how it went down.
The position is available (it is a 1 year position), because one of their faculty members is leading a study abroad the spring semester. He normally teaches a molecular biology course and some intro bio. Also, they are perpetually short on teachers for intro bio. They can have about 500 students that take intro bio and since the classes are 25-30 students, they need a ton of teachers. So, a full work-load is 2 lecture sections and 3 labs. Fortunately, for the fall, my 2 lecture sessions will be intro bio - so I can do one prep. And the 3 labs are also intro bio - again, one prep. Which will be awesome. In the spring, I'd do the molecular biology class with 2 lab sections (12 people apiece), and then an intro bio session with 1 lab.

!!

The molecular bio class is _right_ up my alley. It is an excellent, excellent fit. I initially thought it was more of a genetics course, but that isn't the case at all.

So, the day - I found all of this out as we walked over to lunch. I had lunch with the guy I'd be replacing, the director of the intro bio course, and the department chair. I wasn't sure if it was time for me to ask _them_ questions, or if it was for them to ask _me_ questions - so I started asking them questions. After I got a feel for the coursework, the level of abilities of the students (which is quite varied in the intro course), teaching methods, that sort of thing - they asked me a few questions about my experiences. It was not nerve wracking at all and I was very comfortable talking about myself.

Then I spent some time being shown around the laboratories and seeing all of their equipment. It will be a change from being in a super well-stocked molecular biology lab, but it isn't like they are in the dark ages either. They've got more microscopes per student than the U of M has, where they have to share some of the time. The lecture rooms are all outfitted with digital projectors and podiums with computers, so they are all set for teaching via powerpoint and that sort of thing.

I met with the director of the intro bio course briefly. We were actually running out of time to talk. But he is the one that my mentor for whom I've been guest lecturing, called up and told him he should hire me. So, the wheels were greased for that one.

I then met with the Dean/Associate Provost. That was actually very easy as he was there to tell me about the school and doesn't make any hiring decisions, so there was no "interview-like" process. The only thing about it is that it went for a full hour and we had to rush back to the building where I was giving my talk.

For my talk, we basically walked in at the time it was supposed to start - plugged in my flash drive, waited for powerpoint to come up - it came up, and he introduced me and I started. It was a little fast, but worked out fine.

My talk was very well received. There were fewer faculty than I was expecting, and about 20-30 students (they are required to attend a certain number of seminars for class, I think). Everyone seemed to be following it and I appeared to hold their attention. I think it helps that I link what I do back to Parkinson's and drug addiction - which are more exciting than not mentioning them at all.

Then supper. The drive to supper was with the most senior and respected member of the department. The chair actually "warned" me that his word carries a lot of weight - which was extremely nice of her to tell me that. The other person had been dean of the school for 7 years, so was also more senior and was the one who asked the pointed questions. I won't go into all of the questions, but suffice to say that I didn't eat much of my soup, bread or salad. As we got into the main part of dinner, I was able to ask them some questions and have time to eat. ;-)
I kinda expected it to be like that. The questions were mostly telling them about my experience. Or at least, that is what I turned them into. My questions for them were mostly (again) hearing more opinions about styles of teaching, methods for helping the students stay on top of the material, expectations of the students, that sort of thing. And some about their feelings toward the school and students - which is just amazing.

I asked the chair about more permanent opportunities and she said 2 things 1) they always have a shortage of faculty to teach, so there will likely be positions in the future 2) they have a few people who are getting close to retiring, which would open up some tenure-track lines. SOOOOOOOOOO, very encouraging.

I have to commute pretty far. But it won't be any longer than what I did in MA. And if I get something more permanent, we'd move up that direction.

I couldn't believe they called me the very next day! At dinner, they told me that would be the case. So, I knew I didn't have long to wait. Which was awesome.

Oh, and evidently my letters of recommendation were (probably) what got me in the door. They asked me why "some other school hadn't snatched me up". And I basically told them that I thought it was because the other schools only asked for names to contact and were using CVs (resumes) as a way to weed out people - and that my letters were (probably) very strong. And they said "oh yes, very strong" with lots of nodding. That and my presentation were the key, I think.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO. All in all, I'm VERY excited! Pretty soon, I'll be "Professor Danielle X"! wooo hoooooo.

Posted by danielle at 09:42 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

and in large

I had never seen a double hibiscus like this one before. I thought it was very unusual.

As for my snorkeling trip on Saturday, it was fantastic! The waves were a lot smaller, so it was easier in general. The reefs had a lot more places with a bunch of fish. We went to 2 separate reefs for 1 hour each. The second reef was one where only 2 dive groups go to, so it was flourishing and is actually considered the healthiest reef in Key Largo. There were really a ton of fish.

I ended up being about an hour late to the conference and missed a talk about migraines, but it was worth it. I also ended up getting part of my back a little bit burnt, but a few days of aloe cleared that up.

All in all, it was a really terrific trip. I had a lot of good beach and pool time. Went in the hot tub a couple of times in the late evening and had some excellent fish and crab - not to mention that key lime pie. The talks were really interesting and informative. One session was particularly pertinent to what we do in the lab.

And now, I'm preparing for my interview. It is on Tuesday.
I gave my talk to a member of the lab on Thursday and I'm adjusting it from the things that we discussed. I'll give it to the whole lab at lab meeting on Monday. Hopefully, there won't be very many changes at that point, since it will be the day before I give my talk. But luckily, with powerpoint, you can make changes up until the last minute.
ugh. My heart is starting to race just thinking about it. Need to take deep breaths and think about flowers and Key Largo....

;-)

I'll be sure to post how it goes. I have to meet with the Dean, so think happy thoughts for me. Clarity and confidence, that is what I need to convey.

Posted by danielle at 10:04 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

So, those were all of the flower photos I took today while at my conference in Key Largo, FL. I took time out from hanging around the beach and pool in order to get those shots (wipes brow with the thought of the effort it took to stop laying around). ;-)

I specifically made sure I got this "sun" picture for Amber.

This next one is the conference building where we had our meetings.

Pretty nice, eh? Of course, like most conference rooms, we actually sit in an enclosed walled-off room. But at least during breakfast, we got to look out at the ocean.

Every time I walk out of the room, I sigh and just thank my lucky stars that I am fortunate enough to get to attend a conference here. It is just absolutely fantastic and gorgeous. The weather has been about 82 all week with a breeze that is just enough to keep you from getting over-heated.

The conference is set up so that we start early (7:30) and end late (7 pm), but we have a big chunk of time in the middle of the day that is free. The first day, I spent it on the beach and in the pool. The second day, we went snorkeling. And today it was back to the pool/beach.

As for the snorkeling, there are coral reefs a few miles off shore that basically extend up and down the entire Florida keys. The one we went to was really a good depth for me. I saw a lot of really beautiful fish - one eel - and one shark. The sharks always weird me out a little bit. Although I know they are nurse sharks and totally harmless, it still makes me nervours. I took a bunch of photos with an underwater disposable camera. Of course, they never turn out as beautifully as it is in person, but it is enough to spark my memory of the trip.

I actually decided that I'm going to go out snorkeling with a different group tomorrow. This trip will go to 2 sites and will get back later in the day - which means that I'll be a tiny bit late for the afternoon session. But I think that will be okay, considering the number of people who are missing/present at any one time. I just heard tonight from a guy who went out with them today that he thought it was really awesome. So, I'm cautiously looking forward to it.

And I had a couple of things happen tonight that really made my evening. The people from my lab that are here at the conference didn't want to eat at 7 pm when we got out for the night and wanted to drink instead. Well, seeing as how I don't drink, and am really tuned to having meals at regular times, I decided to go out to supper on my own. I started to go to the hotel restaurant and then decided, at the last minute, to walk to the restaurant we'd been to the night before. I'd gotten one type of fish there last night and decided that I wanted to get a different type of fish tonight. They seated me at a table and I got to watch a lovely sunset while eating my salad. And the 2 things of note are that 1) I saw a dolphin that was just off of the dock breaching itself about 6 times. It was really incredible. I've only ever seen dolphins and whales breach at aquariums/Sea World. It was amazing to see it in person, in the wild. and 2) Because I was a returning customer (it came up in the course of chatting to the waiter), I got to have a complimentary slice of key lime pie. Which was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.!
The tuna that I had blackened was amazing too. Just incredible.

And here I am, winding down my evening by looking at my photos and blogging. What a great way to end the day. :-)

I have one more full day here (Saturday) and then we fly back to the cold hinterland on Sunday.

- more later -

Posted by danielle at 09:12 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

I had the most amazing week! The orchids are going to have to go on hold for another week.

It started off by my getting to teach a lab of students how to extract DNA from their cheek cells so that they can do PCR, kind of like DNA fingerprinting. That was a lot of fun, and went well, I think. We won't really know for certain until they get their reactions back and run them on gels this coming week. Which, unfortunately, I won't be there for; I'll be at a conference in - get this - Key Largo, FL. A conference where I have from 10:30-4:30 free to sunbathe and generally soak in the southern Florida weather.

But back to my week. So, I lectured twice in introductory biology. The first was on DNA technology and the second was on HIV/AIDS. The first one on DNA technology seemed to go well. But I knew it went well when I got the reaction from the usual instructor. He came down from the back of the lecture hall all bright-eyed and smiling and told me it was "just great" and "wonderful". Wonderful! That was fantastic to hear. It was hard teaching an evening section. The students looked really worn out and not as interested as I was used to. But, in the end, that just made me try harder and get more animated and conversational with them, which was a good thing, I think. I will get more specific feedback when I am back from my conference.

The second one on HIV/AIDS was during the middle of the day and the students definitely looked more awake and interested. I think that more is expected of them in general, and they know to keep on top of the material. Again, I was pretty conversational, although there were parts where I was giving definitions that I was more formal. The feedback I got from the instructor is that during those times, with experience, I will get better at paraphrasing the definitions and not saying them word for word. I am actually a bit torn on this point, because when I was a student, I found it very hard for one set of words to be written or on a screen with the person saying a different set of words. However, this teacher has been teaching for over 20 years, and I trust his judgement.

So, here are a few key points of the HIV/AIDS lecture that were good.

1. I designed this in-class worksheet - handout - for them to do after I had lectured. I had them work in small groups without their notes first, to see what they could remember. Then I had them work with their notes. When we went through the "answers/pathway," I showed them this animation again that stepped through the pathway. It seemed to go over well. I actually had a student make a point of telling me after class that he really liked the handout activity and thought it reinforced the lecture really well.

2. They applauded for me at the end of class!!! I couldn't believe it! I've heard of professors getting applause, but mainly the ones who teach these really awesome classes that everyone talks about. I've never actually been in a course where we applauded. AND the instructor told me that he has Never gotten applause for this introductory bio course. So, I was bowled over and just completely excited. Evidently, the guy who teaches in the evening has never gotten applause either. HEEE!

And if that wasn't enough, NOW, for the best part!

On Friday around 11:00ish, I got a call from a school where I sent my application for teaching. They are "very interested" in me and wanted to know if I am still interested and can come for an interview! I was so excited, I actually used the word Cool on the phone at one point. oops. As soon as I said it, I wanted to reign it in and stuff it back in my mouth. However, I suppose it also communicated my interest. I will give a research talk for them. Which was a little surprising, since it is a teaching position, and I expected to be asked to teach a session. However, I obviously know my research better than any lesson I could generate (except for this HIV and DNA technology material), so it ought to work out well. I don't yet know exactly when I will do the day at the school. We have to coordinate our schedules. But it will likely be soon, since they want to get the position filled ASAP. Interestingly, it is a religiously affiliated school. Which is very attractive to me, as you might imagine. I really hope it all works out. I was starting to despair that I would not get a more permanent teaching position and that I would need to adjunct/teach course by course at various schools.

So, I have had an awesome week! And next week, I get to go Florida as part of my work. Incredible, eh?

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

And now, if you read this, please comment. Because I'm starting to think no one reads this anymore and have been getting discouraged. Even if it just to say "Hi, I stopped by".

Posted by danielle at 08:34 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack