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How I Got Here From There, Or How To Succeed in Academia Without Really Trying

How I Got Here From There, Or How To Succeed in Academia Without Really Trying. Ron Buckmire Occidental College Los Angeles, CA ron@oxy.edu. Outline. Goals of this talk Brief Biography Undergraduate Period Graduate Period Teaching Period Government Period Questions?. Goals of this Talk.

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How I Got Here From There, Or How To Succeed in Academia Without Really Trying

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  1. How I Got Here From There, Or How To Succeed in Academia Without Really Trying Ron Buckmire Occidental CollegeLos Angeles, CAron@oxy.edu

  2. Outline • Goals of this talk • Brief Biography • Undergraduate Period • Graduate Period • Teaching Period • Government Period • Questions? UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  3. Goals of this Talk • To provide you with information about one person’s career trajectory through academia. • To encourage you to bring your whole self to all your endeavors (academic and others) in order to succeed. • To dispel common misconceptions about how one becomes successful in academia. UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  4. Brief Biography • Born in Grenada (May 21, 1968) • Lived in U.S. 1970-1978 • Lived in Barbados 1978-1986 • Educated in Troy, NY 1986-1994 • Worked in Los Angeles, CA 1994-2011 • Worked in Arlington, VA 2011-2013 • Working in Los Angeles, CA Presently UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  5. The RPI Years: Undergraduate • Everyone who becomes a math professor must have been on an inexorable path in this direction from birth.Started as a Physics major but switched to Math after one semester (compromise with father). • Arrived in U.S. in Summer 1986 on B-1 visitor visa then changed to F-1 student visa when I got to Troy. • Did undergraduate research in summer 1987 (analyzing hypergeometric functions) and summer 1988 (visualization of irregular ship hulls). • Everyone who becomes a Math professor must have received A’s in every math course in college.My GPA was not 4.0 but I did graduate in 3 years. UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  6. The RPI Years: Graduate • You should go somewhere different for graduate school from your undergraduate institution.I had done summer undergraduate research with my potential thesis advisor as a freshman. • Two Ph.D. thesis advisors: Julian Cole and Don Schwendeman (pick someone famous!) • Everyone who gets in to graduate school does not need to take any more undergraduate courses.(I took abstract algebra and real analysis 2.) • Thesis topic in computational aerodynamics:“The Design of Shock-Free Transonic Slender Bodies” UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  7. The RPI Years: Graduate • The only thing you have time do while in graduate school is study and research. • Met my future husband in 2nd year of graduate school, January 1991. • Created first repository of “gay stuff” on the Internet, the Queer Resources Directory (qrd.org), in 1991. • Became involved in student life/co-curricular activities: • Elected to student senate as graduate representative • Co-founded feminist organization, Women Students Association • Became head of the LGBT student group (GLBA) • Co-founded an LGBT radio show, called HomoRadio UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  8. The Occidental Years: Teaching • Occidental College, Minority Postdoctoral Scholar in Residence, 1994-1996 • Getting a job is about who you know not what you know.Found out about the position from then-chair of the Oxy math department by attending a gay men’s movie night. • Everyone who becomes a professor has years of teaching experience before they begin.Had never taught a class myself before teaching at Occidental. • Have taught Calculus, Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Complex Analysis, Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Modeling, History of Mathematics and Differential Equations UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  9. The Occidental Years: Teaching • College professors are only interested in teaching classes in their specialty.In 1997, 1999, 2002 I co-taught “Race, Gender and Justice” (gay marriage and internet literacy first year writing seminar course) in Oxy’s Cultural Studies Program • I’ve also taught my own CSP course on LGBT History three times: • 2009: Gender, Race and Gay Rights in the Obama Era • 2010: LGBT Rights in the Era of Obama and Google • 2013: (Queer 2.0) LGBT Rights in the Internet Era • I taught subjects in American Studies course during Occidental College’s Multicultural Summer Institute (1999, 2003 and 2005) • Created Math, Education & Access To Power UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  10. The Occidental Years: Extra-Curricular • Professors are too busy to do anything more than teach.QRD was a successful plaintiff in 1997’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling ACLU et al v Reno striking down Communications Decency Act (“The internet is for porn!”--Avenue Q) • In 1994 co-founded Immigration Equality, the L.A. chapter of a national LGBT immigrant rights group. (permanent resident in 1998; U.S. citizenship in 2003) • In 2006 co-founded Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition (Black LGBT political advocacy group) • Served on Board of Directors of several non-profits (Center for Health Justice, Equality California, Immigration Equality, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission) • Blogging daily at MadProfessah.com since January 2005 UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  11. The NSF Years: Government Service • Program Officer, Division of Undergraduate Education of the National Science Foundation (2011-2013) • Made funding decisions on proposals to support excellence in STEM education around the country • March 2012: Co-founded NSF’s LGBT & Allies group • October 2012: Co-organized NSF’s first National Coming Out Day event • June 2013: Gave keynote speech at NSF’s 1st LGBT Pride event • Named 2011 LGBT Educator of the Year by National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP) UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  12. Conventional Wisdom Pop Quiz UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  13. Questions? Comments? Thanks! UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

  14. A Black, Gay NSF Program Officer? Or, How I Got Here From There A program officer in the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education will provide the details of his career trajectory. This involves being born in a small Caribbean island nation, going to school in a predominantly white and male engineering institution in upstate New York, being a faculty member at a small liberal arts college in California and working for the federal government. His entire career path was traversed while navigating the world as an openly gay, Black man who is also very interested and actively involved in multiple efforts that combine equity and excellence in various arenas, such as LGBT rights, criminal justice and educational access. UC LEADS Conference (UC Riverside March 22, 2013)

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