Questions tagged [professionalism]

Concerning standards of professional conduct, primarily by people in academia. This is distinct from ethical conduct.

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How to go about a career in academia when professional work is under a pseudonym? (Art Professor)

I'm an artist currently getting my MFA, current a TA, I will begin adjuncting next semester and hope to pursue tenure track/stay in academia in the future. I've hit a bit of a road block in terms of ...
kitchenloan6's user avatar
0 votes
7 answers
921 views

Unprofessional hiring committee?

I recently interviewed for a permanent/TT position and had a mostly positive campus experience. At the end of my interview, when it was my turn to pose questions to the hiring committee, I asked what ...
Cookie Mueller's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
230 views

A top German professor practises scientific misconduct according to his own institute's guidelines. What should be done about this?

There is a person who is a very big name in a certain field of a certain science subject. He is a professor at a top German university and also runs a research institution. He gets his postdocs and ...
Blah000's user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
3k views

What steps should I take when contacting another researcher after finding possible errors in their work?

The story starts on April 2, when I found a critical mistake in a semi-famous recent applied math paper with 100 citations. I admire the paper and I find a very simple counterexample that high-...
High GPA's user avatar
  • 4,300
4 votes
0 answers
125 views

How to proceed with a problem with a professor and class structure as a whole

I am a teaching assistant for an introductory summer term class. I have not previously been a TA for this specific course, but have worked within this department and typically teach an accelerated ...
Pleiades's user avatar
  • 141
24 votes
2 answers
5k views

Citational nationalism: citing only groups within the same country

This is a trend that I have noticed more and more over the years as a reviewer for a number of journals: a group of authors from country X submits a manuscript, where the vast majority (if not all) of ...
GioMott's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
299 views

Virtual conference speaker made it awkward due to the small number of attendees. Should I (the organizer) send them an email apologizing?

Organized a virtual conference and invited lots of top-tier speakers. The number of registrants was around 115, and the event got lots of attention on social media. The strange thing is that the ...
Nadine's user avatar
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21 votes
12 answers
9k views

Can I suggest that my professor use slides instead of writing everything on the board?

I got a newly hired professor this semester. He is a good teacher but sometimes gets in trouble explaining a new topic since he writes the big formulae on the board and misses a lot of things in the ...
Anmol Gupta's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
402 views

Did our class do wrong or is the professor being odd?

I'm a master's student at a world-wide top business school. In one subject (a subject that related to my undergraduate specialization) I had a very good professor. He researches in the same field I ...
maria_k's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
367 views

Two professors agreed to be my supervisor

I did my research for masters degree under an aged professor. He was a very good guide. From a Ph. D. research student under the same professor, I came to know that my guide has only 2-3 years left ...
Madam Curie's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
4k views

How to politely ask a professor if you can work under them as a contingency plan?

I'm applying to graduate school as a senior in my undergraduate studies. I know there's a good chance I won't get in, so I was hoping to ask the professor I am working under if I can research under ...
Relativisticcucumber's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
309 views

What is the appropriate form of address for a university professor to a student member of a royal family? [closed]

In the Netherlands, Crown Princess Amalia is attending the University of Amsterdam. I'm curious about the proper etiquette for social interactions between staff and her on and off campus. What is the ...
Cameron Brick's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
295 views

Is it rude to fix a date of appointment with a professor after one week?

I am undergraduate student and am applying for internships to professors in the United States. One professor replied to my email and said - "Thanks for your email! Lets have a zoom call" to ...
Harmonic's user avatar
  • 141
0 votes
2 answers
373 views

I accidentally had a reference request sent to a professor without having asked him first. Can I still ask him to recommend me?

I am an undergraduate studying engineering in the USA. I took classes with a professor, 3 undergraduate, and got A in all of them. I applied for graduate studies last Summer for September admission ...
user4434's user avatar
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14 votes
4 answers
4k views

How can you handle your professor not doing his job (as a postdoc)?

For the past two years, I have been working as a postdoc under a new German professor with what I consider to be an atrocious work ethic: His presence on campus is limited only to when in-person ...
Chim3ra's user avatar
  • 399
0 votes
3 answers
253 views

Emailing to have a discussion

I am an undergraduate student in physics who has been self-studying certain subjects in humanities/social sciences due to the pandemic. I'd like to gain more perspective on the subjects, but have been ...
user152372's user avatar
30 votes
3 answers
9k views

Is it a good idea to respond at all if a person I never heard of is asking for a reference letter?

I received an email from a person that is completely unknown to me, who claims that they were in an online master's program provided by my university department. They are asking for a recommendation ...
Jake's user avatar
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0 answers
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How to start working independently in a project?

It has been two months since I joined in this new project. I have put to work along with another postdoc researcher. Now we both have been asked to set a pipeline for sequencing analysis. This person ...
Priya's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
2k views

Should Thank You Cards be Written After an Acceptance or After an Educational Experience's Conclusion?

Circumstance: Recently, I received acceptance to a Certified Nursing Assistant training program and I plan on writing thank-you cards to the program director as well as each faculty member. Question: ...
Joe's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
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Funny 5th option in multiple choice exam?

I came across a multiple choice exam paper where the professor had included a funny fifth option in almost every question. There was also a bonus question at the end, where students can earn 0.5 extra ...
hb20007's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
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Can reviewers ask questions of or communicate with the author outside of the formal review process?

It's typical in my field that after we post to the arxiv, people from the community reach out to the authors to ask questions about the paper. Every time this has happened to me, I've responded with ...
Well...'s user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
719 views

When did it become inappropriate for a professor to smoke during lectures?

Sidney Coleman smoked during lectures he gave. Was this universally acceptable behavior at the time? When did smoking during lectures become inappropriate?
Count Iblis's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
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Is it appropriate to informally address my supervisor in the thesis acknowledgements?

All of the acknowledgment examples I have read online address the supervisor with formal title and full name (i.e. Prof WhatNot). In my case, I'd rather use the first name only ("nickname" ...
cwbrd's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
186 views

Would it be appropriate to send your CV to a researcher who gave you their business card a few years ago?

When I was presenting a paper at a conference ~3years ago, a researcher (who also happens to be a professor) gave me her business card after discussing with her after my presentation. Now that I’m ...
user5093249's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
186 views

Reusing previous review for similar paper

Some months ago, I reviewed a paper for a conference (with a joint submission to a journal). I rejected the paper with a list of points that were missing and suggestions for improving the manuscript. ...
GioMott's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
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What's the consensus on sharing raw data? [closed]

Let's say I authored a paper or a study - published either in an academic journal or release just on a website. The study is well received, but I've received some requests from "colleagues" who want ...
CJ Cornell's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
765 views

Is it appropriate for a lecturer to invite the course to dinner before grading?

This semester, I attended a seminar where the grade will be based on work turned in by attendees in about a month. The lecturer has set up a 'get-together' of all students in his home, where he will ...
Jonas Schwarz's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
448 views

Faculty member brought sick (feverish) child to class - is this unethical? [closed]

A faculty member recently brought their young child to a graduate seminar. The child had a fever -- and therefore was deemed not healthy enough to be at school. The faculty member did not ask the ...
Anonymous Otter's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
292 views

How to handle a case of unpublished plagiarism?

I am a Master's student in a field of the humanities. Half a year ago I was invited to an informal colloquium of mostly doctorands and post-docs who work at the institute I'm studying at. One ...
303's user avatar
  • 193
85 votes
9 answers
19k views

Is there any problem with students seeing faculty naked in university gym?

This is a strange one. I have been going to the gym 2-3 times per week for stress management. Before summer, our university made some nice offer for staff to register to the on-campus gym. So, I ...
electrique's user avatar
  • 7,494
90 votes
17 answers
19k views

Is it acceptable for a professor to tell male students to not think that they are smarter than female students?

The situation occurred in the first lecture of an undergraduate course in a STEM field at an university. The professor said that there are less than 20% female students in the class, while the usual ...
B.Swan's user avatar
  • 663
54 votes
6 answers
13k views

How to deal with a cynical class?

I am dealing with this class that somehow became very cynical. We have constant complaints about the pace of the class, people asking literally the same questions over and over, blatant plagiarism, ...
Layman's user avatar
  • 1,190
171 votes
7 answers
44k views

Is it acceptable to publish student names with the label 'stupid question', on a publicly-visible website?

While I was browsing faculty websites, I came across this page (new link: http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/~iaroslav/teaching.php?screen_check=done&Width=360&Height=640). Near the bottom there is a ...
SomeOne's user avatar
  • 1,255
51 votes
6 answers
26k views

Friendship with Professor okay?

My professor and I walk to and from for every class I have with her, I am a female senior student and my professor is in her 30's. I've gotten to know her really well, we even had a random dinner ...
student_1997's user avatar