Hello, Tina,

I can offer a complementary scenario. I came to my institution in a 
60/40 split appointment (3 courses/year, 40% lab). I opted to move into 
full-time teaching when that became an option, and I must say that I 
find f/t teaching to be easier than the split appointment. But, I was 
not especially trained to run a "language lab." I enjoyed it, but it was 
a steep learning curve for me, more time-consuming than my courses, and 
I always felt like I gave nothing 100%. It's hard to bridge 19th c. 
French Studies with researching hardware & software, or helping a 
student get initiated with Chinese software. My husband now runs the lab 
(as interim director) and teaches several Italian courses (as an 
adjunct) each year. He is the only faculty member in the lab and runs a 
student staff of about 7. The lab is not as vital as it could be because 
it is run with a director only 16 hrs/week (although he typically spends 
much more time there). He is able to handle so much because he does not 
advise students and does not serve on committees. Moreover, he has 
taught all of his courses at least twice, and only adds new ones as he 
wishes (as an adjunct, he has flexibility that others may not). The lab 
remains attached to a tenure line in French, so once my sabbatical is 
over, a tenure-track colleague in French will be at the helm in the lab. 
I can see the administrative wisdom in splitting a line in order to 
preserve it (a line in the languages will not be cut because we will 
always need a director for the center). However, it is a fairly 
untenable situation, given how much is expected of a new faculty member. 
I would be very circumspect about accepting this scenario, especially as 
it may become a norm. Of course, feel free to contact me off-list if you 
have other questions. [log in to unmask]

Best wishes,
Tammy

Tammy Berberi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of French
U Minnesota, Morris
http://www.morris.umn.edu/academic/french

Office: Humanities 216
[log in to unmask]
tel 320.589.6264
fax 320.589.6253

Mailing address:
Division of Humanities
600 East Fourth Street
Morris, MN 56267


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