It Begins

The two statistics courses that I am teaching this semester began this last Tuesday. I was eager to start teaching and the courses went smoothly- better than I was expecting. I gave a basic introduction to the course and a brief tutorial in SPSS (the computer program we use for statistical analyses). Surprisingly, I noticed that my 8:00am section was far more lively and asked more questions than my 10:00am section. But so far, so good! We’ll see how I feel when the SPSS tutorials start to advance and the weekly homework and quiz grading for 60 students officially begins.

Unfortunately, the various budget cuts at the state university level has forced many students to be wait-listed for the core courses that are required for their majors- even graduating seniors. Even the lecture associated with the sections that I teach has been reduced to about half its usual capacity. I couldn’t help but empathize with students who begged the head professor and myself to add them to the course, but we simply could not. The course was already completely full. I was shocked when the head professor notified me of the latest news- in a desperate last effort to enroll in the course, it seems a student created a fake email account under the professor’s name, encrypted his signature, and sent a message to all enrolled students about the lecture hall’s fire code requiring a number of students to drop the course! At least that event left one opening. How sad.

In other news, I submitted the first revision of my IRB this week (IRB research protocols typically require a few revisions before they are accepted). My advisor and I are hopeful that it will be accepted with the changes that I’ve made thus far, but I’m nervous because the deadline for approval in order to graduate in time is quickly approaching. So, my fate of graduation in May is currently looming in the hands of the IRB board, who will hopefully get back to me quickly!


I also attended a job fair this past weekend- the California Community Colleges Registry Fair. I was hesitant to go, since I technically will not be eligible for any college teaching position until I’ve obtained my degree. But I figured that I could potentially make some good contacts for the future, at the very least. So, I spent the entire day beforehand preparing my Curriculum Vitae, or CV (a longer version of a resume that includes research and teaching experience) and writing cover letters for specific districts that I was interested in. Then I dressed up in my best professional attire and I was off to the city.

The hotel conference room where the event was being held was crowded and I was really nervous at first. My nerves started to calm once I observed a few other hopefuls who waited in line ahead of me, listening in on the questions that agents were asking. One thing I noticed immediately, however, was that I was one of very few young people there- the average age of all that attended must have been about 40 or 50 years old. Needless to say, I felt a little out of place. But, I made my rounds and talked with each district’s booth that I was interested in. Not every school that I spoke with had an opening that would suit my experience (child development, psychology, statistics, or technical writing), but I did come away with two solid contacts. The first was at one of my top choice districts- Contra Costa Community College District. They were looking for part-time psychology instructors for the upcoming summer and fall terms and gave me some contact information to send in my CV and hopefully arrange for an interview. The second, from Marin County Community College District, was interested in my statistics background and asked for my resume to forward to their mathematics department. If either option became a real possibility for me, I would be thrilled!