Re: Science Lab Staff/Profesional Concern

[trappe@physics.utexas.edu (Karl Trappe)]

Alex:  I am not personally offended.  And, yes, I do see your dilema.
However, I am dismayed that faculty continue to be oblivious to their
"attitude posture" when staffing (what should be) professional staff
positions.

As long as your "assistant" is to do the "grunt work", the worker will be
treated by you as a "grunt" rather than as a professional.  If you go into
this hiring activity with your attitude, you will get (at best) what you
are looking for, a grunt.  Sadly, for the staff person you will hire, you
will always view this person as a grunt, rather than as a professional and
neither the staff person nor the department will grow from the
relationship.  That is what my response was about.  It is a professional
concern.  Your staffperson is unlikely to surprise you by exceeding the
standards you are posturing.

Please reread your statements:   (1)"...our technicians are not allowed to
teach", and (2) "...we were criticized for putting in what should be
faculty's responsibilities."
I find it disconcerting that your college/personnel office is dictating
what you need. As long as you "see their point", they will not see yours!
Regrettably, most departments find more important battles to wage than to
take the time to sit down with the bureaucrats about what is needed to do a
good job of educating the students.  Instead, the tail continues wagging
the dog. And we remain oblivious to our own culpability.

My suggestion:  Have an "attitude adjustment".  View this position as being
every bit as important as any other one in the Department.  Cop *that*
attitude, and follow through with your conviction. If you need to rework
the job structure to get a faculty/staff position, do so.  If the "rules"
prevent a professional approach, question the rules.  The words which flow
from your mouth are the feelings you convey to all who hear.  If you don't
respect the quality improvement that this person can bring to the
department, noone else will either.  As long as you enjoy a caste system,
the subservient will perform poorly.

Karl, member, AAPT Professional Concerns Committee, PIRA Professional Concerns


> Dear Sam, Karl, and others with similar concerns:
>
> Let me first apologize if anyone has been offended.  The intention, as you
> have both recognized, was not to belittle anyone.  I'm afraid that you have
> completely misunderstood our situation here.  Perhaps once I explain our
> situation, you'll understand the reasons and the necessity for the kind of
> job description that we have drawn up.
>
> First, you must understand that we cannot hire a full-time person, even if
> we have over 40 hours of work to be done!  The college only allows us to
> hire part-time individuals, at low wages, to cover the hours.  This limits
> our ability to hire knowledgeable and talented individuals with appropriate
> experience and expertise.  Generally, we are only able to hire as
> technician our own students who have very little knowledge and experience.
>
> Second, by contract, our technicians are not allowed to teach.  And, the
> people we are able to hire generally do not have a lot experience and need
> a lot of guidance.  These are the reasons for using the word "assist"
> throughout the job description.
>
> Third, you must agree that someone must do the grunt work!  It would
> obviously be ideal if we could hire talented and experienced individuals,
> such as yourselves, who would perform the high level tasks and would
> supervise others who do the grunt work, but we are just not able do that in
> our case.  As it is, we were criticized for putting in what should be
> faculty's responsibilities.  That is another reason for using the word
> "assist."
>
> I sure hope that you can see our dilemma.  Any suggestions you might have
> would be GREATLY appreciated.
>
> Regards,
>
> Alex

Dr. Karl I. Trappe                              Desk Phone:  (512) 471-4152
Physics Dept, Mail Stop C-1600                  Demo Office: (512) 471-5411
The University of Texas at Austin               Home Phone:  (512) 264-1616
Austin, Texas 78712-1081