>Andrew Grebneff wrote,
>> I have plenty of Far Side cartoons tacked up in my paleo lab... despite
>this I remain a "temporary" employee (research assistant ie fossil
>preparator) after 19 years in my geology department...
>
>> Perhaps this is why I have one Dilbert up too (just in case).
>
>Ha! I'll bet it's tacked up where no pointy-haired managers can see.
>
>Andrew, you have my sympathy! I have never known a preparator or other
>technician who was treated as a true equal by other department members, and
>there also seems to be an ungodly number of permanently "temporary"
>instructors out there. The winning strategy seems to be (a) to collaborate
>on grants and publications with faculty members, (b) to earn a doctoral
>degree, and (c) to enjoy the best that the area has to offer before (d)
>escaping with improved credentials while your salary is still less than an
>entry-level faculty member's. However, let's be realistic. After nineteen
>years, your best strategy may be to write a great book, enjoy the shock and
>envy of other department members without letting on that you've noticed it,
>and save your best energies for family and shell friends (while keeping that
>vita updated, just in case). Come on, guy, we all know you're ready to write
>that definitive work on New Zealand mollusks!
>
>Andrew K. Rindsberg
>Geological Survey of Alabama
Actually, all in all, I'm pretty fortunate. As far as my department
is concerned, it's a good place, with good people; there's not one
managerial type (all nontechnical staff are geologists), and I am
treated fully as an equal, including by the HOD. The problem is the
characters in the Registry, with their seemingly oxymoronic
tightfistedness AND profligate wastage of money. Oh, and the safgety
Naziz (Naderites?), who are busy making the running of labs just
about impossible...
I also get full credit for my work; my boss is diligent in this.
Unlike quite a few credit-grabbers I can think of...
I work, basically, when my boss Ewan Fordyce, paleocetologist (fossil
whales) comes up with funding; this has meant the odd enforced break
between stints of work, but so far has never amounted to more than a
month ot two of unemployment in any given year.
Funding has come from National Geographic, NSF, university research
grants, a small country museum/visitors' center, the Otago Museum
and, just finishing-up now, casting of a large Eocene whale skull
from Antarctica, commissioned by the National Science Museum display
in Tokyo.
I am not in a position to solicit funding myself...
At least my salary is better than average. And I get perks (molluscs
& prep facilities)!!
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin, New Zealand
64 (3) 453-4436
<[log in to unmask]>
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut
--------------------------------------
A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
Q: Why is top posting frowned upon?
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