The Little Professor

On the plate for this semester

Once again, what is a full professor at a regional comprehensive doing this semester?

Teaching:

  • British Literature II (40+ students).  I haven't taught this in three years or so; as always, I made some minor tweaks  to the syllabus (e.g., adding in The Good Soldier at the end). 
  • Introduction to Literary Analysis (about to be 15 students). The required introduction to the major, which I usually teach at least once per year.  The second half of the semester is entirely new, as I decided to change up my alternating Hamlet/King Lear segments by doing Macbeth instead.  (Which proved to be a bit of a headache, as almost every single literary response to Macbeth proved to be a) out of print, b) not yet in print, c) not available in the USA.  Nevertheless, I did finally manage to round up a few things, plus, of course, Throne of Blood.) 
  • Curious Case of the Adapted Detective (17 students): The Sherlock Holmes seminar, a.k.a. the research capstone.  Mostly the same as the last time I taught it, with the minor addition of Stephen King's uncharacteristically charming "The Doctor's Case."

Service:

  • The department's Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, which will have at least one major undertaking that I know of (possibly two), plus various things having to do with assessment.  I...may be chairing this committee? Not sure yet.  (If I'm the chair, I'll also be on the department's Executive Committee.)
  • An ad hoc department committee, for this semester only. 
  • Service, of course, is one of those things that tends to expand unexpectedly.

Scholarship:

  • Hey, I'm back to working on my book again (aka Book 3 1/2).  Right now, I'm knocking an article into shape, parts of which will later be used for a book chapter.  I'd like to have two chapters cleanly drafted by the end of the school year.  (We'll see if writing that sentence will get me sufficiently energized.) 
  • I didn't do any conferencing last year, due to over-committing myself to articles + delivering an invited lecture.  I'm working on a conference proposal for the spring. 
  • I have to decide the fate of an article in a collection that doesn't seem to be finding a home (perhaps this sentence will magically cause something to occur...). 
  • It's possible that I'll need to revise an article that is in a collection that has found a home, but that's more likely to happen next semester.
academic teaching