Mary C. Henry

Luna Lovegood's first Christmas at our house. I have been saying for years (since I was hired at Miami U) that I would love a couple more weeks between the Fall and Spring semesters and wouldn't miss a week or two less in the summer. This year, I finally got my wish! January 2014 will be the first winter term at Miami. It is three weeks long and we don't start Spring semester until January 27th. I am not teaching during winter session this year, so I can spend those three weeks doing research, getting ready for next semester, and any other work that's hard to get done during the semester. I'm hoping that three weeks is short enough that I don't have my summer problem of squandering my time.  My daughter will be back in school on January 7th, so that will add structure to my day (driving her to school and picking her up). My strategy will be to set a schedule for myself each day to help stay focused. I also have a specific project to work on since I need to g...

The semester has just ended and I have received emails from several students inquiring about their grades.  Most of these emails have asked me to reconsider the grades that I reported to the university registrar and are now released to students.  These emails have become increasingly more common and also more brazen in their requests/demands.  I would like students to think long and hard before sending these end-of-semester emails and consider a few questions: Did you attend this class? If you answer "yes", but you missed more than 10% of class meetings (in my classes this would amount to missing more than three out of our 27 class meetings), how many classes did you miss?  Did you miss them for a family emergency? Due to illness? Or because you overslept or had more important things to do? Most of us have policies that allow flexibility for illness and family emergencies.  It is also good to learn what university offices can assist you with these matters. At...

I'm at a workshop at Google Headquarters this week and testing out this map tool:

Is it really the middle the summer of already?? Well, by official seasons it isn't since we only had the June Solstice nine days ago, but Miami had graduation on Mother's Day weekend (May 11-12), which was seven weeks ago. We start classes again in eight weeks, so we're just about half way through summer break. This year is a little longer because of the calendar change happening next year- we are adding a winter term during January and shortening each semester by a week or two. We start classes about a week later in August than we have been and finish about a week later in May (hooray for no more final exam grading on Mother's Day!!!) That means this summer probably has an extra week (with the early spring graduation + late fall start date). Wow, that makes me feel better, actually! I've fallen deep into my usual summer wanderings, feeling like I have no focus- especially since I spent the last two weeks around downtown Cincinnati while my daughter did a theater ca...

Luna Lovegood joined our family on Star Wars Day! My sabbatical (or Assigned Research Leave as Miami likes to call them) officially ended when the semester did (graduation was Mother's Day weekend), but faculty are on 9-month appointments and I am not teaching this summer. So I have the summer off, right? Well, things have quieted down considerably since most of the grad students are out doing field work and have finished up with qualifying & comprehensive exams for the year. I was also asked to fill in on a PhD oral exam since a committee member is leaving the country* (need to go read the written exam ASAP!), but otherwise I don't have any formal grad student work going on right now, either. Since we're not doing a family trip to Kenya this year (too expensive!) I did volunteer to mentor a student in Miami's Ecology Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. I also have a grad student doing local field work this year. My plan is to have my REU ...

Well, I thought I would get back to this blog a bit more this semester since I have not been teaching, but that did not happen- and now the semester is almost over! Even without teaching, I have been very busy- I am advising four graduate students, submitted a NASA research proposal with colleagues, went on a few work trips, and am now finally trying to settle in to work on learning some new software before next fall. It's been a productive semester for me, but not as relaxing as I'd hoped. I'll see if I can muster enough energy to write a more detailed post about some of my recent busy-ness. Any topics that interest anyone? It's been a lovely spring so far- nice and cool (my favorite!) I hope that means this summer won't be too hot!

I have not been good about updating this blog, but plan to change that this year. I am on research leave (sabbatical) Spring 2013 and hope to share updates about my research here. Check back in the coming weeks!