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[larryc]

TT folks on 9 and 10 month contracts, what are the expectations at your institution for work and availability over the summer? Not just contractual requirements, but rather what are the cultural expectations?

Inspired by the discussion on this thread: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,84800.msg2043958.html#msg2043958

[larryc]

At my current and previous institutions they ask little or nothing from us. It would be thought odd if we never answered our email during the whole summer, but I am pretty sure that is what some of my colleagues do. Many of us will come in for an MA defense for a student who did not make it across the finish line in the spring and wants to be on the job market, and I often (loosely) oversee and internship. We can teach summer if we want and if our course gets a minimum number of students enrolled, but there is no pressure to teach summers.

Summer committee meetings are unheard of, except when one of our faculty resigned suddenly and we had to run a fast search for a replacement. Every summer our distance ed folks run a technology boot camp, I usually agree to do a presentation but no one would object if I didn't do it.

How about the rest of you?

[shrek]

We usually answer e-mail and sometimes supervise an MA student thesis-- who may not have quite finished in spring. Other than that, unless we have grant appointments or are the chair or graduate studies director there's not much else. People are expected to respond to e-mail.

[imawakenow]

Officially, if we aren't on summer salary from a grant, we aren't expected to be available for anything. And as I posted on the other thread, I can't remember a meeting being scheduled for TT faculty much less felt to be compelled to attend.

Summer teaching has been available, but I haven't felt pressure to teach.

Culturally, the one expectation concerns grad students. No one has ever said anything explicitly, but there definitely is an expectation that you will be available for your grad students in the summer. For me, that has meant reading drafts of a dissertation proposal and at least one dissertation committee meeting.

Edited to add: I'm kind of an email freak, so I couldn't imagine not answering email for the whole summer. I have responded to undergrads that they should set up a meeting in the fall, but unless I'm traveling, I answer email at least once a day.

[voxprincipalis]

Can there be an "other" option? My campus has expectations that are not covered by the current list,

VP

[larryc]

Can there be an "other" option? My campus has expectations that are not covered by the current list,

VP

I can deny you nothing.

[systeme_d_]

When I was DGS at my old job, I pretty much created the expectation that I would be communicating with incoming and current grad students via email and phone over the summer.   This included encouraging incoming grad students to visit and find an apartment, and I often met with them as well.  I held that position for 7 years, and so I sort of set the expectations for myself.  There was also one day-long mandatory summer meeting run by the Graduate School administrators that I had to attend.

In my new job, which has no grad program, the expectations are close to nil.  One can volunteer to teach summer classes, help with the advising of incoming students, etc., but the only real expectation is that one will answer email, and keep in contact with the chair while one is doing research.  That's what summers are: research time.

[pathogen]

I have a laboratory, so I will pretty much be going with my students (those who have summer RA's) year round. Summer teaching is available if you need summer salary, and there is some expectation that we will try to offer those courses that are part of the core over the summer in some type of rotation. I am available for students pretty much all the time. Not too many students defend in summer but I would certainly do so. I guess since I have the lab going I have a feeling of well, if I'm here I'm here, but some of my colleagues certainly disappear to work on their research.

[voxprincipalis]

Can there be an "other" option? My campus has expectations that are not covered by the current list,

VP

I can deny you nothing.

Aw, gee, shucks, Larry.

I am expected to doing some sort of scholarly, artistic, or teaching work (which in my field blur over each other pretty seamlessly), whether on campus or (more likely) elsewhere. This work goes to increasing my reputation, which in turn improves our ability to recruit and retain students. So what the work looks like may vary from one summer to another, or from one professor to another in my department, but we are all expected to be doing something. Last year I taught at two summer programs, one in the US and one abroad. This year, probably one, and next year, at least two and maybe three, depending.

The work that we do during summers and breaks is counted toward tenure and promotion, even though it is not necessarily work carried out under the school's name. So what you do isn't necessarily dictated, but you had darn well be doing something. Of course, this isn't written down anywhere and is as much a matter of culture as contractual requirement. We are on a 9-month contract; the pay is spread over 12 months merely for our convenience.

VP

[seniorscholar]

We're expected to be on campus at least three or four days during the two weeks before classes start -- to meet the new grad students and appear at the TA boot camp ("learn to teach in five days! fun for all!") to check in with the undergraduate director and comp director about new sections that are being opened: in a big city, many of us will have a neighbor with a MA whose baby is old enough for day care and would like to teach first year comp or know someone at the book store who might be interested (I've found a couple of good adjuncts at the dog park, for that matter) -- though my own motive in this "help with last-minute staffing" expectation is mostly my desire to grab some plum courses for my own grad students and thus, I fear, leave the comp director in a bigger hole. But generally it's necessary to be there some of those days anyhow, to turn in things that need photocopying, look at the book store to see if the books are on the shelf and be able to tell undergrads "if the shelf is empty, there's a big stack of the books on the floor at the end of the aisle," be sure the things you've requested have been put on reserve and the new student worker knows where to find them.

I can't remember ever being asked to come to a meeting during the summer, although people do volunteer (or maybe be strongarmed) for curriculum revision projects for which they get paid either in $$$ or in a course release during the following year.  I can't imagine not coming in for doctoral students -- to read a chapter, look over job-hunting materials, and (at the two ends of the summer) participate in a defense. And it's certainly true that internet access everywhere in the past ten years has made those 10-week research trips to distant archives more interruptable than they once were, though I do feel free to ignore requests from undergraduates and delay a few days answering grad students unless it sounds urgent.

I just read vox's message on the "a new message. . ." warning and echo that of course we're expected to be doing something other than swimming and reading romance novels during the summer; that's so obvious I don't even include it as "university work" since it's what I do: research, write, edit, and spend the time on professional concerns that are in my own mind "my work" rather than "the university's work" though of course it does increase my reputation and earn promotions and merit raises as well as some royalties (and, if I may say so, opportunities for my doctoral students).

[glowdart]

It depends.  Faculty are on 9-month contracts.

There are a couple of committees which meet over breaks.  For a couple, that's about the only time those committees meet because of the nature of their content and purview; this work can only be done over breaks, but it also lasts a couple of days, max.  You can turn down a nomination to these particular committees with no harm or retribution.  There are a couple of other committees which have one or two meetings in the summer, again because of the nature of the work and again, you can choose to not serve; I'm on one of these, and the "summer" meeting is usually the week after finals.  For another committee, the "fall" meeting is usually the week before classes start.  Three hours right before or after the semester isn't too much to ask for a stake in faculty governance, imo.         

Answering email in a timely (if slower) fashion is expected; helping your undergrad advisees is expected, although often the summer help amounts to "you need to call the registrar's office and ask for So-and-So." 

Except for the committees noted above where you need data or documents that are only available over breaks, summer meetings are usually verboten unless the s*** has hit the fan in the department or on your committee or you got stuck on one of the rare big time-suck committees (Provost Search Committee, Strategic Plan Committee, Other "You're a Full Professor" Bonus Committees, etc.)  Otherwise, if you're "working" over the summer on a project for an admin, then you usually volunteered and are getting paid a small stipend to do it; portfolio assessment comes to mind immediately, here.   

Also, there are a couple of short service tasks that faculty have to staff which are spread out through the faculty; no one specific person is ever required to do them, but I'd guess 3-5% of the total faculty is needed to participate for a few hours on a summer day in one or another of these tasks.  We spread it around, but TT people who need a short but prominent "above and beyond the call of duty" service credit often pick up some of the spots.

[galactic_hedgehog]

I'm at a CC, so we have the option of teaching summer courses if we want, and most people in my dept do.  Other than that, you don't have to show up if you don't want to (and don't want the extra moolah), though I'm sure there are some who take the opportunity to work on their courses or try to do some sort of research.

[totoro]

At my former US R1 the faculty handbook actually had a suggestion saying it was a good idea to go on vacation sometimes :)

[marfa]

I'm on a 9-month contract and I have to say that my willingness to do anything over the summer has decreased in direct relationship to

1) the mandated furlough days we had for two years
2) the lack of pay increase (even cost of living adjustments) for several years
3) the decrease of my compensation due to the changes in the state's retirement contribution and health insurance contribution
4) the unannounced "disappearance" of collegial coverage  (No longer can we ask a colleague to cover our classes if we are sick for a day or two.  Ok, that's not correct, but even if we have a colleague cover for us for a day or two, we will be required to take sick leave.)
 
I don't know if the administration understands the connection or not. 

[oatmeal]

Interesting question. I have noticed the "creep" over the summer with several administrators and even some faculty members arguing that faculty on 9 or 10 month contracts should come in for meetings, task-force meetings, student events (recruitment and registration), or other such things. There is a lot of pressure on those on the TT. I have found the creep especially noticeable when institutions pay over 12 months for a 9 or 10 month contract. I have also noticed that when faculty members are teaching summer school, many are "expected" to do other things. I have also noticed that many faculty members have reduced the amount of time on campus in the summer, in part due to stagnant salaries, increased expectations for research and publications, and because the amount of busy work in the regular year, especially with assessment and more meetings than ever, and thus many faculty are exhausted when summer arrives. As a chair, I have protected my faculty from summer obligations, which means I do more over the summer, but it is part of the "delights" of being a chair.