A. Susana Ramírez, PhD, MPH

Senior academics of BSKY, please help a rising Full Prof (everybody pls 🤞sooner than later) with strategies to protect your time when you're responsible for running a department, trying to be a leader in the field, and also helping jr folks out? #AcademicSky
8/8

I am failing at protecting my time! I'm not cooking, my family doesn't see me (teens don't care tbh but I DO!), worries about admin keep me up at night (also, the state of the world).

Sharing for transparency about #academiclife + humility AND ALSO as a cry for help:
7/

BUT. Sometime in the last 5 years, my ability to protect my time slipped away from me. WHAT.THE.HELL?

I find myself w meetings on my calendar 📆 every single day.

I don't want to be in meetings.

I want to be WRITING! THINKING! PROFESSING! #LifeofanAcademic #ProfessorLife
6/

I felt good about my research, teaching, & contributions to dept & profession. And my family still saw me, I cooked some days, read novels, & slept 8h/night. It was awesome.

Junior academics: You, too, can protect your time: Say no! Have a #NoCommittee! Focus on what matters for tenure: WRITING.
5/

In my first 10 years as a professor, I said NO a lot, and I did NOT feel guilty about it!

I knew what my purpose was, and I focused on it.

It helped (so much, it helped!) to have a K01 that institutionally protected my time.

I WAS productive, AND I had a life. #AcademicDream
4/

OK, I realized (eventually. I'm not great at hidden meanings) that maybe saying "protective of their time" was not in fact a compliment on their #TimeManagement skills.

Nonetheless, for years (I said I was slow), I took being protective of my time as my own personal guide to #productivity.
3/

"Protective of their time" meant:
✉️ No emails ever returned.
⌛ No office hours posted (!).
👩‍🏫 Once, they guest lectured in a class: showed up 30 sec early, LITERALLY READ FROM A PAPER, & left before Qs. 😱

Meanwhile, they published like crazy, articles and books. #Productivity #AcademicChatter
2/

I'm feeling overwhelmed with life as a mid-career academic, A Story.

When I started grad school, I wanted to meet with a senior faculty member.

Advisor stammered: "oh, uh...they're very protective of their time." Naïvely, I thought it a compliment & didn't read between the lines. #AcademicSky
1/

There is an official free filing website, but this one has a really easy to use interface and you can always see the actual forms. This year I did it alongside my usual big company & tho I've used the other for >10y, FreeTaxUSA was easier. Results were the same.

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🇺🇸 friends who have to file #taxes: Sharing a tip! In my quest to divest from the billionaires, I found FreeTaxUSA this year (recom from Reddit) & endorse it 💯. Fed taxes free; CA $20.

[Not a sponsored post! Unlike the competitors, they don't have $$$ ad & lobbying spend.]

www.freetaxusa.com

Last month i visited a National Historical Park with signs advising visitors to report any information they were given (& obv the giver) that told a negative story about the country.

I asked a ranger about the sign…they said, defensively, “for now, I’m still allowed to tell facts.”

After I noted
how a century ago
there was a pandemic
followed by fascism
and a world war,
the historian called me
and explained
that a century ago
there was a pandemic
followed by fascism
and a world war
and also by
nuclear explosions,
so let us hope
history stops repeating.

Writing a book chapter & journal article on BUR-EAU-CRACY and I must have typed it hundreds of times in the last 6 months, never, ever correctly.

But for real: why hasn’t MS Word learned all my different misspellings yet? #academicsky #writing

The Case for War, by Someone Whose Kids Won’t Die Fighting in It “The next days will be decisive. The best course for the United States is to spell out clearly to Iran what the paths of escalation — and de-escala...

"As someone whose kids won’t die fighting in the war, it’s important that you understand the flimsy, morally bankrupt justifications for war, and why it’s vital for you to throw more of your children's lives at this one."
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...

America’s sons and daughters were just shipped to the Middle East to fight in a war without a plan, nor enough missiles, and told by their commanders that the pedophile, sociopath, convicted felon in the White House was sent by God to start this war resulting in the second coming of Christ.

I’ve been thinking critically about my bibliographies lately & recognizing the power of citations. This has not necessarily CUT my references but it makes me happy to be citing certain folks and dropping others.

Also have to post this video. Never gotten so close to one of these beauties before!

Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed

It’s so disheartening, isn’t it?

Whatever it takes, man. Grading is the worst; good luck

Peace is a climate solution. Energy efficiency, renewables & walkability are peace building in that they weaken one excuse for war.

OR...send me your templates or well-done graphics for inspiration?

Currently it's a 5-column table, with Column 1 the year and Columns 2-4 geographies.

The rows (years) mark milestones in policy issues. Mostly words but also a few images in some of the cells.

I have a table that is ugly & clunky and would be better as a graphic. But I lack visualization skills & PPT is killing me.

Where can I get professional help (a graphic designer?) someone that I can pay directly ideally without going thru univ procurement? #GraphicDesign #AcademicSky

tigger from winnie the pooh is dancing with the words `` so excited '' . ALT: tigger from winnie the pooh is dancing with the words `` so excited '' .

I just got minor R&R back for a paper that had major issues and that I spent ALL of the fall revising.

It was honestly the hardest revision I've ever had but also the most fun and intellectually rewarding, and....

I might cry bc the reviewers validated my hard work. #AcademicSky #Reviewer2

Omg SAME

I guess this seals it for me: back to paper syllabi and notebooks alone.

All I teach is critical thinking….none of the facts students learn in my classes actually matter; it’s the process of getting to them that counts. #academicsky

South Africa’s advertising regulator is funded by industry. Should it be allowed to curtail public health messaging? A pending court complaint alleges bias, raising questions about the power of regulators with industry ties to restrict public health messaging.

A South African regulator partially funded by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and KFC blocked an ad warning about sugar’s health risks. Now, a court may decide whether that ruling was fair.

Our latest investigation with @bhekisisa.org ⬇️

This Valentine’s Day, spread love for all and support access to care for everyone. ❤️🩺 #HealthPolicyValentines

Roses are red
Vaccines are effective
More kids get to grow old
When we share this perspective

#healthpolicyvalentines

It was standing room only for @sarahgollust.bsky.social talk @ucmerced.bsky.social on community narratives for belief change #healthcommunication

It was our inaugural Social Sciences Colloquium & a hit.

Thanks for making the trek!