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402 votes
Accepted

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

No. This is completely unacceptable. Sometimes faculty rant on social media and email lists where they do not think students will see the comments. Even this is frowned upon if the student could ...
StrongBad's user avatar
  • 104k
220 votes

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

In addition to StrongBad's answer, this kind of behavior would also discourage students from asking questions in fear of finding themselves on the “stupid questions and answers” list. Given that “...
Marv's user avatar
  • 1,449
135 votes
Accepted

I insulted a professor by using an anti-Semitic slur in a department seminar. How bad is this?

That is very bad. Not because of how anti-Semitism is viewed in the west, or because this person is a professor, but because that is a disrespectful thing to say to anyone. From the career side (which,...
Andrew's user avatar
  • 8,105
91 votes

Word choice for salutation in a formal email to your PhD adviser, Is *Dear Boss* appropriate?

In my view, in academia, the word "Boss" carries a large amount of semantic baggage that you probably don't want to invoke. Although you mean it to be polite and respectful, it also has an ironic ...
Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩's user avatar
83 votes

How to build healthy working relationships with my male colleagues as a young-ish, attractive-ish woman?

I will answer here because it may help to have a female perspective. I will note that most of my points are covered by the male answers. The thing that is missing is a firsthand perspective, which I ...
Dawn's user avatar
  • 15.2k
82 votes

How to build healthy working relationships with my male colleagues as a young-ish, attractive-ish woman?

If there are any female faculty that you trust, I would go and talk with them about the situation. This would accomplish a few things. Documents your concerns if anything ever escalates. Allows for ...
Vladhagen's user avatar
  • 18.7k
78 votes

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

It's not only that such ridiculing is absolutely unacceptable and counterproductive (as others mentioned already) but it also puts the academic themselves in a kind of bad light as a lecturer/teacher. ...
ayorgo's user avatar
  • 1,470
75 votes

I insulted a professor by using an anti-Semitic slur in a department seminar. How bad is this?

We can’t say how it will affect your career, but it does sound pretty bad, and not the sort of behavior that will be allowed to pass without any consequences in an academic workplace in France or ...
Dan Romik's user avatar
  • 181k
74 votes
Accepted

How should I follow up with this professor?

You don't. That email is a clear rejection, and any attempt at a follow-up will only waste everyone's time. If the professor were open to get to know you and to be convinced that you are a top-level ...
Arno's user avatar
  • 40.7k
53 votes

I insulted a professor by using an anti-Semitic slur in a department seminar. How bad is this?

Most of the other answers have focussed specifically on the anti-semitism. I want to highlight a wider point. A key skill for an academic is to be able to handle criticism in a calm and professional ...
avid's user avatar
  • 16.8k
45 votes

I insulted a professor by using an anti-Semitic slur in a department seminar. How bad is this?

At that moment that you realized that you need to leave the seminar, I believe your instinct told you that it is very bad and it is going to affect you and your career. The most important thing, which ...
Mithridates the Great's user avatar
44 votes

Word choice for salutation in a formal email to your PhD adviser, Is *Dear Boss* appropriate?

"Dear Professor X" is still probably still appropriate. Even if they are a full-time researcher and aren't teaching, their official position is probably some variant of "Professor." If their job title ...
Roger Fan's user avatar
  • 2,908
44 votes

Word choice for salutation in a formal email to your PhD adviser, Is *Dear Boss* appropriate?

The first thing to do is to ask your supervisor what she wants to be called. Does she want to keep things formal? Does she want to be called by name? Whatever she tells you is the appropriate ...
JoErNanO's user avatar
  • 2,351
42 votes

I insulted a professor by using an anti-Semitic slur in a department seminar. How bad is this?

I live in Israel, am probably older than you are and maybe older than the professor. We are used to those exchanges and conflicts, online and face to face. From your description of the way the ...
Hanan Cohen's user avatar
38 votes

Upon my request prior to a faculty application in France, I was invited to give a talk. Should I travel at their expense or better give it online?

I see no reason not to travel, ahead of making a decision, to a place where you might decide to live and work for decades. An on-site visit will reveal so much more about the collegiality of the work ...
ZeroTheHero's user avatar
  • 26.3k
32 votes

How should I follow up with this professor?

I agree with Arno that this is a clear rejection. I work at a university in Germany, but I suppose the situation in France is similar. The problem is that professors get such e-mails all the time, ...
sisee's user avatar
  • 1,143
31 votes

Word choice for salutation in a formal email to your PhD adviser, Is *Dear Boss* appropriate?

Personally I cannot think of any context where 'Dear Boss' is appropriate. You also note that it is not customary to refer to ones advisor as 'boss' at all. There's a good reason for that: generally ...
Jessica B's user avatar
  • 15.8k
28 votes

Word choice for salutation in a formal email to your PhD adviser, Is *Dear Boss* appropriate?

As a PhD student in France, I think using word "boss" would be probably taken as an inappropriate expression. If you speak in English with your professor, it is appropriate to say "Dear professor" as ...
optimal control's user avatar
28 votes

What is the most elegant way to let the recruiting committee know what the applicant has done to make it to the interview?

To be honest, I would avoid mentioning it at all, especially if you're going to use the word 'sacrifice'. It may not demonstrate commitment and enthusiasm so much as complaining about what you had to ...
Meelah's user avatar
  • 416
26 votes

What is the most elegant way to let the recruiting committee know what the applicant has done to make it to the interview?

I wouldn't mention it. I sit on these interview committees, and I really couldn't care less whether you came from 5 minutes down the road or another continent to get there. (Indeed, if I found you'd ...
rhialto's user avatar
  • 1,646
26 votes

Why would a post-graduate interviewer care about my knowledge regarding their school?

I can't see any reasonable basis for "frustration" on the part of the interviewer unless the application process provided all introductory info on the Department and advised applicants to ...
Trunk's user avatar
  • 3,391
24 votes

Should I address a "Charge de Recherche" or "Directeur de recherche" in France as "Prof."?

French academia is not big on titles. Whether it's by students, colleagues, or the administration, people are rarely if ever addressed by their titles. I'm a "maître de conférences" myself, ...
user135767's user avatar
22 votes
Accepted

What are CNRS research units and how are they staffed

Wikipedia is your friend. Read the CNRS wikipage, and look at CNRS official website. CNRS is the largest public pure research organization in France, with a staff exceeding 31000 persons, located in ...
Basile Starynkevitch's user avatar
22 votes
Accepted

Why would a post-graduate interviewer care about my knowledge regarding their school?

If you apply for any position in any institution, you're expected to be prepared, i.e. to know about the basics of the institution and the position/program. The examples you mentioned fit well into ...
Ralf Kleberhoff's user avatar
21 votes

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

This is a bad taste, for sure (IMHO), but since there are plenty of websites where students are more than welcome to tell anything they want about their professors with full names etc., I guess this ...
fedja's user avatar
  • 9,992
19 votes

What is the most elegant way to let the recruiting committee know what the applicant has done to make it to the interview?

I realize I'm joining a chorus of similar answers, but I want to word it in a way that directly answers the question (at least as worded in the title), The most elegant way to let the recruiting ...
virmaior's user avatar
  • 5,111
17 votes

How to build healthy working relationships with my male colleagues as a young-ish, attractive-ish woman?

The reality is that as an Asian female in a European research group, you can't avoid being "different" from the typical member of the group you are in. You physically look different, you probably ...
alephzero's user avatar
  • 4,250
16 votes
Accepted

What does "masters 2 level" mean?

At least at the universities in Paris where I took courses, there is a strong distinction between the first and second master year. In the first year you still take general courses in a variety of ...
pbelmans's user avatar
  • 276
16 votes

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

Not only the ethic behind this is very doubtful as StrongBad said, but this is also probably illegal under the loi informatique et liberté & the GDPR because it falls under the definition of "...
Maeln's user avatar
  • 261

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