deconstructing January...

Life is becoming forcibly a little more productive this month. Not only are we beginning to move into a higher gear of preparation for the incoming bambino, but somehow work is moving into a higher gear too (new challenges are great, but sometimes it would be nice to trade some of the old workload for the new). This is the month that my third-year review package is due. The third-year review is basically a pre-tenure check-up. I have to pull together all the materials that will go into my tenure package in 2.5 years that I have at this point. That includes: an up-to-date CV (resume that has all my jobs, papers, talks, grants), statements about my original scientific contributions, my service contributions to the University and beyond, my teaching portfolio (all of my syllabi, course descriptions, homeworks, exams, assignments, as well as all of my numerical and written evaluations by students), a list of my peer-reviewed papers with how many times they have been cited, as well as a sampling of my papers for good measure. This package will go to the tenured faculty in my department for discussion and then forwarded on with their comments to a committee from my College, to the Dean, and the Provost too if memory serves (gotta go back and look at all the details before doing the final polish). Basically they will look for weaknesses in my package and hopefully provide a constructive window as to any additional expectations that need to be met and preferably exceeded before going up for tenure in 2.5 years. Pulling this all together is a detail job - I have all of the info I need, I just have to pull it all together and polish it up appropriately.

On top of that I have a paper that I am about finished revising and will send to the journal. Then I have two new classes to prepare - classes start next week. Hopefully this will be the last semester for a while where my classes are completely new to me, and I can start refining them to work better. The courses are relatively small as things go, and one of them is actually for graduate students, which is kind of a treat - so hopefully it will be a good semester. Finally, by the end of the month I have some progress reports due for some grants. The research has been going well, so those will be a matter of just sitting down and writing.

Of course, I am not the only busy one in the family.. Danette has a bunch of projects going and is even doing a there-and-back trip for work trip today; she was up at some early hour like 4 or something to get ready and get to the airport in time for her flight.

Nevertheless, we seem to be on-track at the moment, and that is a feeling I will take any day of the week.