Mama PhD

The Calculus book I use sometimes uses intricate algebra to find very involved ways to present an answer in the simplest form. Although I encourage students to manipulate terms to see how they arrived at the given answers, I sometimes find myself telling my students that “the meaning of life is not to match the answer in the back of the book.” This, of course, avoids the question of exactly what the meaning of life is. I thought of this recently as I spent a lovely afternoon with a friend and her daughter watching a production

When I was pregnant, I listened to rapper 50 Cent’s song “P.I.M.P.” so often that my husband worried our daughter’s...

Riddle: How can you attract a roomful of academic parents from all fields together for two hours starting at 7 pm on a weeknight (without food)?

The first week of classes is always a bit of a blur for me. I love meeting my new students, getting my syllabi in order, catching up with colleagues — but, really, it’s so busy I can barely breathe.

I have been following with morbid fascination the recent online controversy surrounding Hugo Schwyzer, who teaches history and gender studies at Pasadena City College.

In Economics, we say that the prevailing price is the one that allows the amount of a good that is willingly provided to be equal to the amount of that good that is demanded at that price. This means that, in an economy such as ours, prices are determined by market forces and not by some centralized planner. I recalled this lesson from the first days of any class in a Principles of Microeconomics as I checked out of a grocery store the other day.

Aeron Haynie suggested that I start my column by admitting that my partner and I are trying to spend more personal, intimate time together rather that working so many late evenings. Unfortunately, my column is not about sex with my supportive partner, but about my heavier workload for this spring semester.

My cell phone chirps to announce a text message. The print on the little screen is big enough to read, but when I try to type back a message, my troubles begin. Never mind that I’m all thumbs typing with my thumbs and that I’m stymied by the irrepressible need to text using proper spelling and punctuation.