Well. Here I am - officially no longer a researcher, but a full-time instructor.
Thoughts?
First, the Good: I love it. I really, really, REALLY love teaching. I love writing lectures, planning what I'll say in class, thinking of examples / anecdotes / analogies to make the material more palatable. I love my students and the courses I'm teaching. I love that students come up after class and say how the material relates to their own life. I love how two students approached me after class yesterday, giggling and shy, to tell me how they had re-enacted the "Elevator Experiment" (I teach Intro Psych).
I love having my own office, a place of solitude. I love being surrounded (finally!) by all my textbooks and pop psychology texts that I can reference or lend to students. The light filtering in through my windows and the view of the river. That I already have friends on campus: my brother-in-law (BIL); an exboyfriend of my best friend; a neighbour; the handful of departmental faculty that have taken me out for drinks or lunch, or invited me for beer.
I love no longer having to have someone to report to, who might monitor when I'm at work and how productive I'm being. Being able to walk to work (I commuted on the bus 1h each way back in Vancouver) - a half hour stroll through a beautiful neighborhood and park. Time to think about my day and reflect on the tasks I need to get done. Making my own hours.
The Bad: I don't know if I miss doing research, per se, although it is early days. I'm still writing up manuscripts (one paper just got accepted, another rejected - the Yin and the Yang of research) and having some discourse with colleagues back at UBC. But what I do miss is being someone who is respected for their knowledge on a particular subject. As a PhD and academic researcher, you are the 'go-to' person for any questions related to your field. "Oh, Dr H? Yeah, go see her if you want to know more about X". Here, I slip through the cracks. My colleagues don't know anything about my research past, my expertise in a specific subject area, that I've won awards and published in good journals, been a respected and valued member of a research team. I'm just the one who teaches Intro Psych and Addictions. Is it ego? Sure. Will I eventually get used to my identity not being tied to my expertise as a researcher? Perhaps.
The Ugly: I met with a colleague for lunch yesterday, and, after I proclaimed enthusiastically, "I'm so happy here!", he replied, with a shake of his head and a downcast turn to his voice, "this worries me." He reminded me that my position here is temporary. It's a year-long contract that may not be renewed. By the end of our conversation, completely dispirited and disheartened, I remembered that teaching faculty are few and far between, they are generally not respected or valued, and I am an expensive hire (b/c I have a PhD). I am no doubt regarded as dispensible, particularly if there is someone else (e.g., tenured faculty) qualified enough to teach my course-load. I remembered why I agonized over the decision to pursue a teaching career in lieu other options - because University teaching is all about tenured faculty, and it's very rare to make a career out of it without doing "at least a little bit" of research on the side.
I find myself constantly defending why I left research; having to make explanations for why I abandoned a thriving research career to pursue a temporary and unstable position for which I know not what lies beyond it.
Next post: Why I left research. Because, if anything, right now I need to remind myself of those reasons.
