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Re: Science Lab Staff



I hired a work study student to do some of my 'grunt work'. He ceratinly has
his own responsibilities and projects of which he can take ownership. He's an
engineering undergrad, and I bounce ideas off him all the time. I'm in trouble
when this guy graduates, not because of his 'grunt', but because of his
intellectual input.

Sam

Alex Azima wrote:

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