Seven days a week, my day begins at 8 a.m. with an hour of discipline-related reading. On weekends, this is followed by a writing session. Proofreading and major revisions are generally reserved for holiday periods and summer. I usually stop writing around 11:30 a.m.

 

Weekdays differ. I come to my office at 8:30 a.m. for my office hour. Today, for example, while writing this, I had two students come in. Mondays are catch-up days. Monday mornings are spent making phone calls and taking care of email correspondence. Monday afternoons (apart from a tennis break) are spent following up on morning tasks. For example, the department is currently hiring a new faculty member; such a search involves detailed analysis of more than 100 applications. We need to follow guidelines and keep the finalists informed. Toward the end, the process involves delicate negotiations. As I write, our department is in the final stages (we hope) of a search. But we will be doing another national search next year, the year after, and so on; and our department has only six full-time faculty and five part-time faculty.

 

Tuesdays are almost exclusively teaching days. I teach three classes: Introduction to Logic from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., Introduction to Philosophy from 12:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m., and an evening seminar on Contemporary Philosophy from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. There is a break for a few quick administrative tasks and lunch between the first two classes. The afternoon is generally reserved for meetings. Tuesdays are hectic.

 

Wednesdays are hectic for other reasons. I have a committee meeting every Wednesday at 9 a.m. The rest of the day is spent on administrative tasks (budget work, personnel issues, queries from other offices). I am on only three committees, which actually minimizes the time I spend at meetings. Many faculty members serve on numerous committees, requiring enormous time expenditures. I have known two people who served simultaneously on more than 20 committees.

 

Thursdays are much like Tuesdays, but without the evening seminar.

 

Fridays are spent desperately trying to finish items on my list that remain to be completed. But weekends are a bit more relaxed. After writing and lunch on weekends, I visit friends for a couple of hours, return home to work on house projects, and then drive to the office. I spend about three hours working in my office. After catching up on email, reviewing syllabi, and listing and prioritizing administrative tasks, I spend an hour at the gym. My weekend evenings end with about two hours of reading and writing; I proof what I wrote in the morning and go back over my research notes and original sources for accuracy.

 

This is my work week. It will get a lot worse in a couple of weeks, when I have to do the dreaded end-of-year evaluations for each member of the department. But this is good enough for now. Besides, I have some other things to do.