His work and focus seemed very interesting; however, his lecture presentation was not the the best: he read from his notes and barely made eye contact with his audience. He could have been more enthusiastic while talking, and his overall posture was very causal and informal; there were a couple times where he leaned over the table and read from his laptop, instead of standing up straight with confidence. To me, he seemed too comfortable, and when he talked, it was a little quiet at times; it made me wonder if the people in the back could hear him at all.
Overall, I see Alex Lee with potential, he just needs to concentrate on how he presents himself as well as having to speak up. I feel that he needs to prioritize what he talks about, because he wasn't able to cover everything in his lecture.
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| Selfie with Alex Lee |
I liked that you were so candid with your comments about the lecturer. I like to see someone stand up straight and look me in the eyes at least once when they are giving a presentation. At least your found his work interesting. Nice write up.
ReplyDeleteI realized before I read your article that this was going to be an event that I could afford to miss. The New Media program here at Sac State has some major issues anyways, not to mention the whole "poison of tenure" dynamic, which resists change and habitually chooses more of the same. The last round of New Media interviews (was it last year? or the year before?) was a complete waste of time, and new interviews this year likely won't be any different, given that (to my knowledge) the decision-makers haven't changed. I can sympathize with the speaker for being less than wholehearted about the lecture on those grounds, even though I don't approve of halfheartedness as a rule.
ReplyDeleteSetting that aside, I think you summed the event up well. Sparse words suit a meaningless event. However, I would hesitate to accept your assumption that someone applying for an art professorship needs to be an entertainer, or even a good speaker. I think even a little change from "the typical" in that program would be in its best interest. I hate "more rather than less" reasoning, but given the outlook, wouldn't you want to see steps taken in a direction (ANY direction different than the current one would be fine!) even if you have to put up with a less-than-stellar stage presence? Don't content and heart count for anything? (I am, of course, going with the wild and wildly unwise assumption that Alex Lee was substantially, culturally and intellectually different from the overly-conditioned swill that tends to apply for professorships. I don’t know this to be true. Although, in that case that it is, I doubt Mr. Lee would ever get the job, no matter how he fared in the lecture.)
For the record, the best professor I have ever had (the one I learned the most from) was only adjunct faculty, and the class he taught no longer exists . . . the replacement is more of the same academicism (not in a philosophical sense!) that represents Western enculturation. Again, a change of outcome begins with a change of mind, and (in this case) fundamental changes in conditioning.
IMAO ~
Striking critique, Jonathan. It was painful to read, but I'm glad you aired it and glad to have something of substance to think about from blog responses. Do you realize how much students can do and have done to improve their educations and the educations of all of us here? Have you considered, for example, getting an ASI grant to bring an artist you admire to campus? Shake things up? Students have done that many times in the past. One amazing art history student got ASI funding and brought four Bay Area women artists of color to campus in one semester. She was angry that there were (around 8 years ago) no women of color on the faculty or invited as guests. Those artist lectures were standing room only and started a big conversation here. That student has completed her Ph.D. in Latin American art at UTexas Austin and is currently applying for a full-time position.
DeleteObviously you didn't mean "only" adjunct faculty. All of us ("swill"?) full-time professors would agree with you that excellent part-time profs are the rule rather than the exception. That's evident. Many scholars and artists at CSUS prefer to teach one or two courses rather than bear a full time teaching load, hold office hours, create new courses and develop a program, run galleries and all the endless functions required to run a university program. Part time professors don't do anything except teach. Many, however, do want full time jobs because the pay for part time work is scandalously low. That inequity is not the fault of their full-time colleagues. That's the system-wide corporate-model administration. And there's the rub. A full time job at Sac State is so time consuming (and only half that time is teaching) that there's not enough time left to think deeply about the art you are making or (for me) keeping up with the new research in my field, researching, and writing. Still, I love (almost) every minute of it.