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[davidhacker]

With five current PhD students of my own and other assorted supervisions and committees, I think this article accurately notes that while an advisor may be at the centre of a student's professional universe, it doesn't work in reverse, and not all students realize this.

Some pop into my office and seem to start talking from where our last conversation a month ago left off, leaving me lost for a few minutes and looking for my notes from our last chat.  I'm sorry, but I have been up to a few other things since then.   

I think a lot of students erroneously conclude that because we share the same research interests, we have similar personalities and professional styles.  Not necessarily.

I find one of the biggest supervision challenges is the sheer variety of student work habits and the type of supervision and maintenance they want and/or need.  The same goes for advisors; we don't all think, work and communicate in the same way.  It takes a while to figure each other out.

[systeme_d_]

As the Director of Graduate Studies in my department, I think I am going to start distributing this article to the incoming grad students.

 I already run a departmental orientation that includes a "lecture" on how to be a successful graduate student, and touches on the need to communicate and to advocate for oneself, but I think this article might be a good handout.

[atalanta]

Here's the link:

http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/06/2008062401c.htm

[pyshnov]

The opinions differ. While davidhacker says: "we don't all think, work and communicate in the same way", systeme_d offers his way, "a "lecture" on how to be a successful graduate student".

I think, many supervisors don't fully realise just how much the success of research and the future of graduate students depend on the discretionary (i.e. not spelled out in any regulations) decisions of the supervisor. The main thing needed here is mutual trust founded in complete openness. The US court has ruled (2002) that supervisor of a graduate student owes him a fiduciary duty. Supervisor must simply dictate very important things. The trick is that this dictate must be absolutely honest. But, we don't have any monarchs truly loving their people anymore.

And don't ask me "Why Aren't You Talking"? I talk with my signature. Nobody listens. It's a democracy, one of the features of it being the right to remain silent; and also - silently dishonest. I wish it would be a monarchy. At least there would be one honest, disinterested guy to whom I could appeal.

[locutus]

As the Director of Graduate Studies in my department, I think I am going to start distributing this article to the incoming grad students.

 I already run a departmental orientation that includes a "lecture" on how to be a successful graduate student, and touches on the need to communicate and to advocate for oneself, but I think this article might be a good handout.

I'm designing a departmental orientation for graduates students and was thinking of doing the same.

[systeme_d_]

Locutus,

If you'd like to share ideas, please feel free to PM me.

And btw, my "lecture" on succeeding as a graduate student is only one part of a week-long informational workshop, in which most of our faculty participate.

[jane001]

I have read this article and it is of value.  However, I have to say that supervisors can and do behave in a nonprofessional manner.

For the past 18 months my supervisor has managed to make negative or critical statements (in a humorous way!) about my work in social contexts.  Yes, other people heard them.

My response has been to limit social interactions and communicate by email.  Recently I asked friends to read chapters of my diss.  Yes, I am behind in the schedule that I set up.  Their feedback was extremely useful.  My supervisor's comments indicated that she thought the chapter was very good.  My friends gave me feeback showing me where I needed to make major revisions.  Okay perhaps she was busy perhaps she didn't read it all the way through in one session. But some of the comments clearly showed she hadn't read the previous two or three pages.  What to do?

Okay, I reasoned that there is other stuff going on in her world and she simply doesn't have the time after all she is on sabbatical. 

Recently I was asked to help out at a conference celebrating a retired academic.  Fine, I was happy to help.  I made it clear that I would be on hand for registration, clean up etc. but that I would not be attending the whole conference.  However, my supervisor who was actively involved stated publicly during the conference that I should be attending the papers.  The person who organized the conference even came over to me at one point and quietly suggested I attend some of them.  I was expected to attend papers at a conference to which I was not actually invited.  Something about wanting it to look as if more students were attending than actually were. 

Several of the academics attending the conference made it clear that I had been dis-invited to work on their projects.  It seems that if I do not process data for free then I am not a team member.  Okay fine.  However, the data processing costs money and that is something they all know.  The analysis which I do, I was happy to do without compensation, in order to have some publications. 

So there I am sitting at the registration desk being told to attend papers on projects that I am no longer involved.  It wasn't fun.  I find this unreasonable.  It is one thing to participate if you a project member, it is entirely another to expect me to be a seat warmer.

I decided to focus on the diss.  Began a writing group to get regular feedback from other students.  This is working very well.  I sent an email to my supervisor to let her know I was now working more effectively with the text.  The response:  "I should  smack you in the head with a mackerel for stooping to the jargon of 'ownership'.  I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you wrote it irony."  This was in response to my comment, "It's taken a while but I now realize that I wasn't owning the text".  Perhaps it was naive on my part  but, I had hoped to get a positive response. 

So what to do.  As I say I have limited public interaction in order to avoid being publicly criticized. The comments are supposed to be funny but in fact they are presented in such a way that if I don't laugh then I am painted as being the neurotic grad student.  The supervisor does not request meetings, never has.  I have initiated all the meetings that have taken place.  In comparison to the feedback from other students, the supervisor's feedback is not that useful.

Your comments please.

Jane

[pyshnov]

Jane, get serious. No, you do not "own" the text, data or anything else. But, if the text was written by you, but it was signed, published by another, you say that this person(s) falsified the authorship of this text. Let them know that you understand what is going on correctly, because if you do not use the correct language, they will continue taking you for a child for a long, long time.

[kedves]

I have read this article and it is of value.  However, I have to say that supervisors can and do behave in a nonprofessional manner.

For the past 18 months my supervisor has managed to make negative or critical statements (in a humorous way!) about my work in social contexts.  Yes, other people heard them.

...

Your comments please.

Hi Jane - I'm not sure I understand the issue you are describing and I don't have any advice for you about it, but I suggest re-posting this in the Grad-School-Life forum where more people can respond to your questions.  Here, they mainly talk about the articles.