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[comp prof]

Because I work with both grad students and freshmen, both of which are always under stress, I keep a Gund  teddy bear in my office. I had brought him in one day to use as a prop during a lecture and never took him home. Now, when I have students with tales of woe, I say "you look like you need a hug," and hand them the bear to hold on for a while. They're usually a little surprised, but he gets a pretty tight squeeze nonetheless while they discuss what's bothering them-- clinging parents, recalcitrant theses.... He's spent his time comforting 18-year-old girls, 30-something men, and even nearly 60-year-old colleagues. He's the best addition to my office I ever came up with.

[Teddy]

Gunds are pretty expensive, no?  Watching some of the Law and Order shows on TV, I have wondered about their representation of the people who have to hear the news of some horrible crime that has injured or killed spouses, children, sisters, etc.  I have imagined that my response in such circumstances would be to fold up around the mid-section and cry or gasp for air.  Perhaps a teddy to hug might be helpful in that situation.   I know that in the city where I live the police and also the hospitals have teddy bears available for child victims of crimes.  I think the hospitals have stuffed animals available for adult victims, too.

A person who has been the victim of a violent crime or who has just heard news of a shocking loss, it seems to me, would certainly be quite vulnerable, and hugging a teddy bear (or even a pillow) might help the person get through the immediate situation in a hospital or police station.  In an academic office, I would be afraid that a teddy bear might provoke feelings of vulnerability and perhaps cause inappropriate regression.  But that is just an opinion.

[%sig%]

[comp prof]

Interestingly, I've observed that holding the teddy bear seems to defuse the emotions and allow the upset person to focus on the problem as they're talking. (Incidently, I don't remember him being very expensive, as I believe I bought him at an after-Christmas sale.) He's a very soft, fuzzy bear so  there's sheer tactile pleasure from holding him (Frankly, there are days when I need him too). But it's as though holding the bear gives them a place to put their emotions so that they can talk to me more practically about the situation they're in.  I also keep a baby doll for when I lecture on Lacan's mirror stage, but she only comes out of the file cabinet on Lacan day. :-)

[Teddy]

Thanks.  Good reasoning.  Teddy bear as container.

[%sig%]

[Big State School]

On a semi-related note, how can one prevent colleagues from taking over our office hours? A regular situation that I face is a colleague who sees my open door, plops himself down in my office and proceeds with his daily monolog. For those who enjoy Dilbert cartoons, think of the character "Camping Carl."

What is the kindest way to convey that these are office hours and are reserved for students? I've seen students hovering outside the door, too shy to enter when they see someone else inside. Equally awkward, how can I extricate myself when there are NO students waiting, therefore no handy excuse available to get Carl out of my office? And for an additional plot twist, Carl is a senior colleague who prefers a young, female audience, perceives himself to be "mentoring" me, and I don't come up for tenure for a couple of years yet.

As discussed in this thread, a closed door during office hours scares away shy students. I prefer to keep my door open during office hours.

Any advice?

[mathematician]

When I was an undergraduate in Europe office hours did not exist, we were not expected to contact our professors outside of class. Of course then and there professors were Gods, and everything was peachy as long as the students physically survived their courses, no matter what psychological damage they incurred. We did fine, though, learned to be independent very fast.

Here and now things are different (they have also changed in Europe). I have three office hours per week, I think that's more than enough (students also have my email and can request appointments). If a student comes outside of my posted office hour without a valid excuse, I will tolerate it once; but the second time I will refuse to see him or her.

Students do come to my office hours, I must stay, most with reasonable questions and requests. Once in a while I get an unreasonable student; but being tenured at a big state R1 school, and scientifically very active, I can afford to be a little harsh, and make the problem go away (I can be quite intimidating). I have only had one complaint, so far (apart from the evaluation forms, of course).

Things may be quite different for untenured people, and for those at teaching-oriented institutions.

[xanthophyllippa]

After many semesters of setting office hours before the semester according to my schedule and then finding at the end of the semester that I'd inadvertently scheduled them at a time none of my students could come, I set one one-hour block at the start and then (in my smaller classes) send around a timetable and ask folks to block out times they CANNOT come.  This gives me at least some likelihood of being available when the greatest number of students can come, and I've found that drop-ins still happen.  Perhaps not as often as in the past, but I bring some reading or even some fun reading to do so in the event anyone drops by they don't feel like they're interrupting something massive.

In addition, I offer online office hours - two hours every week when I promise to be online and answering email.  I've found that students LOVE this - they can drop me one-line questions when they're doing the course reading or writing a paper in their rooms, and get a quick answer or suggestion. A lot of students don't come to office hours because they think it's for serious stuff, not how to interpret a certain paragraph in the reading or to ask a question about something I said in class.  I've just recently set up iChat on my Mac and am looking forward to seeing how students use their AIM accounts to reach me!

On the off-campus point, however, I offer this: as someone at a large R-1 university that has as its eastern boundary a pedestrian commercial area, there are plenty of coffee-shops that are within 5 minutes of the main library and easily accessible.  On the occasion I've considered holding meetings off-campus, I've called the manager of the shop, explained that I'd like to hold office hours there but, aside from my own consumption of iced tea, can't guarantee that my students will buy anything.  Most managers appreciate the concern but aren't worried that students will take space from paying customers (perhaps because the coffeehouse style is to nurse the same coffee for six hours while reading or writing).  And for grad TAs who are often crammed into a dismal office with 5 of their colleagues, going off-campus is the only way to relieve that congestion.

[Sally Starr]

My department requires us to have office hours on at least more than one day a week, and that is fine with me. I agree with the other posters that students rarely come during the "actual" office hours, unless it is advisement time and then they all want to come at the same time and say things like "I just have a quick question." (There may be quick questions but the answers are always long as I have to figure out if The History of Ceramics is a gen. ed or not.)

My problem was getting work done outside my office hours allotted time. I actually prefer to do work at WORK as opposed to home. But with my door open, all kinds of people kept sticking their heads in. With my students, that was fine, but staff members on the way to the rest room for the 9th time, that is annoying.

So I started shutting my door. THAT was hard to do, because I felt sneaky or something. THEN what started happening is that even WITH the door closed, my students would peer through the frosted glass and start pounding on my door. POUNDING. (This is outside of office hours and when I was on a roll writing something.) After a few too many times of hollering "WHAT????" I came up with a solution: I taped black construction paper on the frosted pane.

Now, students can't tell if I am in there or not. Although sometimes they do jiggle the handle. So I have to remember to lock the door. But at least I can do some work in peace!!

[%sig%]

[Karen]

You can also put a sign on your office door, if you're lurking in there working:

"DO NOT DISTURB--GENIUS AT WORK. PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB UNLESS THE BUILDING IS ON FIRE."

[%sig%]

[Another Anon]

That's a tough problem, Big State School.
Hopefully you can just say, "I'm sorry, I have a student I need to speak with," if in fact there is one waiting in the hall. Tell them in class to step in the door and make sure you know they're there waiting.
And without a student waiting, you can ask the colleague camping in your office to "give you a minute" because you have to make some phone calls, picking up the phone and clearly waiting for him to leave.
Any move that asks the person to leave while you're still in the office is a difficult one, however. Best bet is to have a "quick errand" to do--getting a drink of water, using the bathroom, using the copier, picking up some office supplies, asking another colleague a quick question, whatever. You can be very sorry, but you've just got to step out for a minute, and you don't want to leave your office door open when you're not there. If he doesn't get up to leave too, you can ask him to close the door if he steps out, and then take more than "just a minute." Keep repeating these monologue interruptions and he'll get tired of coming by.
You could also actually schedule a time to hang out with him--regular Thursday lunches or something. This could assuage his desire to mentor you, and you might actually get some useful information and networking from it.
Good luck.

[%sig%]

[dealing with camping carl]

Another idea is to run out to do an "errand" and then ask a trusted colleague to call your office a few minutes.  Then you return where camping carl is waiting, answer the phone and tell carl that you have an important phone call. Faculty in our department did this regularly with a guy who wandered the halls and wasted everyone's time.