Export thread

There's a job there at UW-Stout (no, it's not in Stout, WI. Stout is some dude's name, breaking the University system naming convention). I'm just curious if it's even worth applying to. Seems to be the middle of nowhere, which suits me. My wife would hate it, though.

Thanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menomonie,_Wisconsin

That page sucks.

http://www.menomonie-wi.gov/

Thanks. I found those, and some real estate listings. I was wondering if anyone could tell me more. Those sites are kind of low on info content.

I love this site:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Menomonie,_Wisconsin

Seems like there's a lot to do there. *ahem*

Maybe a little better.

http://www.americantowns.com/wi/menomonie-things-to-do

All I know is that you'll have to learn how to wear cheese on your head. Are you ready to be a cheese head?

It's Wisconsin. Do you really need to know any more?

As someone who lives in Madison, WI, Menomonie is kinda out in the middle of nowhere (easy to do in Wisconsin, though), UW System jobs are kinda hard to get (I've tried but could be my field) but supposed to be worth it. You are really not that far from Eau Claire, WI (east on Interstate 94) or the Twin Cities (west on Interstate 94), so there are things there as well.

All the houses seem to have screened porches? Is it really mosquitoey there? I mean, I'm in Louisiana right now, so "mosquitoey" is a relative term...

fade said:

All the houses seem to have screened porches? Is it really mosquitoey there? I mean, I'm in Louisiana right now, so "mosquitoey" is a relative term...

Click to expand...

In comparison to Louisiana? I wouldn't think it is that bad compared to what you are used to. The number of mosquitoes depends on how cold the winter was that year. The colder it is, the more likely the next years mosquito population will be lower.

What's the job that you're looking at out there?

Geology/Physics professor at UW-Stout.

I'm also someone who lives in Wisconsin, I live in Superior which is a few hours north of Menomonie. As far as weather and mosquitos go, winters aren't as bad in the lower parts of the state, but they are still honest to goodness winters with snowstorms and the like. In the summer, the mosquitoes aren't too bad. It all depends on where your property is located. There are a good deal of swampy/forested areas throughout wisconsin so there will be mosquitoes, but as someone said earlier, probably not at the scale you're used to. If you're going to be living near the university, I wouldn't worry too much about mosquitoes.

And yes, it is true, they are extremely proud of their cheese here. (it is damn good).

Really? I've had it in my mind forever that you're British. I read all your posts with an English accent. Oops.

Thanks for the info. I don't even know if I'll apply. It's just one of those things that popped up on the radar.

If it helps, by all accounts, the UW system is supposed to be a good system. They have a UW branch up here in my town and it comes pretty highly regarded by the local students.

Are you cool with the winters? Cool. Ha! But seriously dude.

I lived in Boston for a good while. I liked the winters there.

fade said:

I lived in Boston for a good while. I liked the winters there.

Click to expand...

fade's gonna be a cheese head. haha.

fade said:

Geology/Physics professor at UW-Stout.

Click to expand...

Ahh, okay well you should know that the politics with the tenure programs tend to be a bit brutal in the UW system. I'm a student at UWWC and work in the IT department there, so I tend to work a bit closer with the professors on campus than the other students. The consistent seems that if you do anything that gets the students approval while in the tenure process then the committee tries to get you booted out.

Fortunately, most of the time the hearings get overturned when they realize that the professors aren't doing anything wrong, though. For example, one of the Biology professors in the that made it through the whole process got complaints by his third year that he wasn't publishing enough scholar material but was able to get that hearing overturned when he showed up with a book case worth of books he had written chapters in.

However, sometimes decisions can get too far in the process though. An English professor over at the college, for example, is going through the process currently. He also was told that he wasn't publishing enough scholar material. He was able to get the English tenure committee's decision appealed on the third try, though, when the appeal was performed by the top brass in every other field. During the hearing, the English committee claimed the professor wasn't publishing enough, that they didn't have a requirement or expectation of how much they expected to be published, if they did have a requirement or expectation they wouldn't feel obligated to share that information with the professor, and that the professor wasn't fulling their expected requirements. The Math and Science fields immediately picked up on this and overturned the decision, giving the professor another year to publish more. However, the English committee is still harassing the professor and it's not looking good for him currently.

This isn't the experience that every professor has had with the tenure programs, and if you make it through you'll have a high paying job for life. However, expect to be treated like Eliza Doolittle only with out the added satisfaction of telling off professor Higgins in the end and opening a flower shop. I hope that helps.

I don't mean to argue, but that sounds like normal tenure process. I've been told much the same thing here at University of Louisiana (I'm already a 3rd year tenure-track professor). No specific requirements, but publishing is key. Three year review is fairly standard, too. It's usually required that you present your superiors with a book of published articles or books that have made it through the peer review process. Madison I know is a tough school for faculty. It's an R1. The geophysics department there is top notch--I would suspect their procedures are a lot stricter than UW-Stout. I think there's actually a very good reason that the process is not quantified. It's hard to define quality--not all journal articles, even in the same journal represent the same level of research.

Well I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it's the same there as it is here. I just wanted to make sure you were properly warned, especially since I'm in the UW system, and most of my experience is either first hand or second hand. Though UW-Madison and UW-Stout's tenure track program should be identical as tenure is handled from department to department over the whole UW system and not so much campus to campus here. I don't know if that's the same for you or not, but I do know that's what goes on here.