They like me?

I know my posts lately have been pretty lame.  But, I have an excuse.  Not a good one, but it's an excuse nonetheless.  You see, as an administrator I have made a concerted effort to remain a faculty member as well.  That means I am trying to keep up with research and outreach while I attend mind numbing meetings and argue over pennies.  And it means that I continue to teach. 

This past semester I taught two classes: An honors section of Principles of Microeconomics to 17 of Ohio State's best and brightest undergraduates, and a PhD course in Applied Econometrics to 32 1st and 2nd year PhD students.  Two ends of the spectrum. 

And apparently I did OK.

Exhibit A: One of my PhD students stopped by yesterday and told me that each semester she gives a gift to her favorite professor from that semester (get your mind out of the gutter).  Here's a picture of the gift:

I was flattered.  Then I threw the apple away.  I'm flattered, but cautious.  What if she was really a disgruntled nutjob?  I've seen stories.

Exhibit B:  Anonymous Student Evaluation of Instruction from my Principles class.  Overall effectiveness score 4.8 out of 5.  Here are all of the open-ended comments:

1. Great job if teaching! And great personality. Thanks, Dr. Haab!
2. I really enjoyed this class. You kept pushing us like you said you would which made the class tough but also interesting.  You're a great professor, if I have the chance to take another one of your classes I most definitely will. Thanks for everything.
3. Dr. Haab has a complete knowledge of the subject material and is able to explain it well to help solidify the students' understanding of microeconomics.  The only downfall he has is his tendency to get sidetracked (not that it places us off schedule) and he mumbles.  Otherwise, he's a great teacher.
4. i really liked this class, the professor was knowledgeable and   fun.
5. Dr. Haab truly encouraged us to think critically about economics rather than just memorizing the material, which I believe helped us to understand the course material much better.
6. Dr. Haab is a professor who knows his stuff and makes you work, but also is very reasonable in the workload. Would highly recommend to anyone having to take micro.

Exhibit C: Anonymous Student Evaluation of Instruction from my PhD Applied Econometrics class.  Overall effectiveness score 4.6 out of 5. Here are all of the comments:

1. I really liked the instructor's approach in the class. It had more examples about the practical applications of concepts we had learnt before. I think it would be much better to have a similar method for both the sessions instead of just one. I think the class could get better with better organization of the content.
2. Funny :)
3. I was disappointed that he canceled classes. I learned very well from his lectures and wanted him to lecture more.

In my defense, I cancelled one class because I was sick (damn kids!) and one because of adminstrative meetings.  As for organizations--I am a disorganized person.  I came to accept that long ago.  Your barbs don't hurt me.  I'm actually impressed I remember to show up most of the time.

And some of you have been wondering about the outcome of the audible I called halfway through the semester to try to get my 32 PhD's to solve my econometrics problem for me. 

Well, it was a complete bust. 

Idiots!

I'm kidding.

Actually, they had some good ideas.  Interestingly, one large group organized (20 or so students) and turned in a single response.  The remainder of the class splintered into smaller groups presumably because they thought they were smarter than the big group. 

Or someone in the big group had B.O.   

Who knows. 

Anyway, I still haven't solved the problem, but I have a few new insights/leads to follow. 

Now that the semester is over, I can get back to the important stuff.

Blogging more.

And watching 24. (I missed it last night, but I DVR'd it, so no spoilers please--although I'm pretty sure Jack's in trouble already).