Monday, January 29, 2007

A new semester!

A new semester is upon me; as always, I could use a few more weeks to get ready for it.

This semester is going to be busier than most (don't I say that every semester?), as I'm teaching the exact same classes I had last semester, but in addition I have two new preps, including one entirely new course (though the new course is only one unit). All said, I'll be in the classroom seven hours a week more this semester than last (if anyone's counting that's about 23 hours a week total)1.

Add to these extra classes that the fight for our field program will likely come to a head in March, that a committee I chair will likely restart major work this semester, that I'll be serving on a hiring committee, that I'll be trying to get work done on my new online class for fall 2007, and that I'll be doing lots of other miscellaneous tasks, and you've got one busy Radagast on your hands. Probably the saddest effect of all this (besides not seeing my SO until the end of May) is that even if we do miraculously manage to save our field program, I won't be teaching a course for it this summer; I just don't have the time to prep for it.

1 Regular readers may recall my low enrollment and cancelled class from last fall; my heavy load this semester is a direct result of those two occurrences. Thankfully it doesn't look like I'll have to worry about low enrollment in most of my courses this semester, though the course that got cancelled last semester is at risk of being cancelled again, sadly.

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