SamR's Schedule, Spring 2021, Term 1

This is a draft of my schedule for Term 1 of Spring 2021. As with all of my schedules, it is subject to frequent change and may only vaguely approximate my actual schedule. Many activities---such as grading, writing, and more class preparation---take place during the times marked as "Open".

Online signup for office hours is available at http://bit.ly/book-samr. If office hours don't work, suggest a meeting time via Outlook or drop me an email and I can probably find time during paperwork or class prep times.

For those who have to schedule meetings (and I do not envy you): I try to keep my Outlook calendar up to date. Beyond that, I prefer to be scheduled in the open slots (those with nothing indicated). If those do not work, try my paperwork times next, then class prep time, then scholarship time. Finally, if no other options are available, you can schedule during office hours.

Walking Office Hours are an idea borrowed from my colleague, Janet Davis. I try to reserve some wellness time a few days a week to walk, and invite students to join me on those walks. While we won't be able to do deep CS, we can certainly talk about other issues. I should have a sign-up sheet posted outside my door. (These office hours are currently on hiatus due to the pandemic.)

Teaching

I am teaching one course this term.

• CSC-151, _Functional Problem Solving_. CSC-151 is the first course in Grinnell's introductory sequence. It's also intended as a course for nonmajors.

I am teaching two courses next term.

• CSC-232, _Human-Computer Interaction_, a two-credit introduction to the ways in which we consider the human in the development of computing tools. This spring will be my first time teaching the course.
• CSC-282, _A Philosophy of C and Unix_. This one-credit course exposes students to some of the ways that C and Unix programmers think, grounding that thinking in shourt exercises.

As department chair, I am also likely to be spending time observing my colleagues' classes at other times.

Other Activities

• Class prep. Preparing for one of the classes that I teach. Experience shows that the typical one-hour class takes two to three hours of preparation, and the new version of 151 is likely to take longer, so not all class prep is shown on this schedule. (Feel free to come visit me for questions during these times, but realize that I may be too busy.)
• Community Time. A space in the schedule for community-wide events, such as town halls. There isn't always something in community time, but when there is, I try to attend. (When there isn't, I often schedule another meeting then.) (Community time was eliminated in the latest revision to the schedule of courses, but I keep an entry here in its memory.)
• Convocation. A campus-wide lecture, usually of general interest. Because of an unexpected vote of the faculty, we no longer have weekly convocation, but there are other talks scheduled at that time, so I try to be at those, too.
• CS Table. Weekly meetings of folks at Grinnell interested in computer science. We discuss articles of interest.
• Department Meeting. The Computer Science department meets every week on Tuesdays to discuss departmental issues.
• Division Meeting. The Science division meets on one Monday a month (usually the second).
• English 295: Lighting the Page. Sitting in on Erik Simpson's Digital Humanities course (as often as I can).
• Faculty Fridays. The Dean's Office sponsors weekly "faculty fridays" to discuss various issues related to teaching and scholarship.
• Faculty Meeting. The campus-wide faculty meeting, held the 1st and 3rd week of the month. I also have the Chairs' meeting on the 2nd week of the month.
• GSP. Meeting with the other directors of the Grinnell Science Project. (I think I just stepped down as co-director, so I may not be doing this any more.)
• Kids. Spending time with my kids, or so I hope. These days, the time is most likely used in transporation to my kids' events.
• Office Hours. Priority time for meeting with students. (I also have an open office policy -- if I'm in my office and not too busy, I'm happy to talk to my students.) This semester, I am following the lead of my former colleague, Janet Davis, and incorporating "Walking Office Hours" for thirty minutes.
• Open. Sorting through mail, doing a little scholarship or programming, catching up on class preparation, running errands, fixing Web pages, etc. etc.
• Organization. Attempting to organize the chaos that is my office and lab.
• Paperwork. Dealing with email and the mass of paperwork I seem to attract.
• Scheme Squad. The weekly meeting of the folks who work on CSC-151.
• Scholarship. When I hope to get some work done on one of many scholarship and writing projects. Unfortunately, usually time for me to catch up on my class prep and administrative responsibilities.
• Science Teaching. A discussion group on science teaching that meets at various times.
• SEPC. The CS department's Student Educational Policy Committee. We try to meet weekly to discuss the state of the department and future directions.
• Special Faculty Discussions. In the past, we've had special faculty discussion on Mondays (sometimes at noon, sometimes at 4:00).
• Thursday Extras (CS). Departmental talks, primarily aimed at undergraduates.
• Wilson, regular meetings of the Board of the Wilson Program.