4 ms·
On that subject, from 24 years ago: > I need from you a few paragraphs describing your personal interests, > advising style or philosophy, background and p
by waterhouse 6y ago
On that subject, from 24 years ago:
> I need from you a few paragraphs describing your personal interests,
> advising style or philosophy, background and professional interests.
> ... I'm preparing a document to give the freshman for them to use to
> select an advisor. I need to receive your info by early next week.
I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, majored in mathematics and Computer
Science at Yale University, and I got my PhD in Computer Science at CMU. I've
lived in Paris, Hong Kong, Peking, and New Jersey.
I tend to look for weak, uncertain students and feed off of their
insecurities; by preying on their poor self-images, I manage to temporarily
assuage my own feelings of inadequacy and failure. I've also found
undergraduate advising to be a terrific vehicle for venting a lot
of my own pent-up rage and frustration.
I'm not sure if this counts as a philosophy, but it's the closest thing I've
got to an "advising style."
> Thanks again for volunteering to advise!
My pleasure.
- pavanky 6y agois there any more context to this? All I could find is this: https://www.ccs.neu.edu/~shivers/advisor-stmt-original.txt https://www.ccs.neu.edu/~shivers/advisor-stmt-original.txt
- jimhefferon 6y agoOS also has this: https://scsh.net/docu/html/man.html https://scsh.net/docu/html/man.html (I understand it to be intended as humorous, BTW.)
- VectorLock 6y agoMaybe we are a bit more "puritanical" but I think yes today even joking about pulling a gun would be seen as a "bad idea."
- mcguire 6y agoBack then, it was a "no one would do that" thing. Now it's more of a "would he really?" thing.
- waterhouse 6y agoThe page that used to link to it said, "At MIT, my students chose me after reading a [little thumbnail bio](link to just the first paragraph) published by the undergraduate office. But you can see the [original, pre-censored version](the link you posted) that I mailed in." Much of Shivers's (excellent) humor has been purged from his home page; that may unfortunately be necessary in today's more puritanical times.
- jasonjayr 6y agoIs this the same Dr. Shivers that's running for a Senate Seat in MA?
- waterhouse 6y agoGoogling a bit, all I see are a Dr. Shiva running for Senate in MA, and a Dr. Ayanna Shivers in Missouri. In either case, no, different person.
- costigan 6y agoJust to be completely clear, this was satire. The professor who wrote it is very well-regarded by his students.
- mcguire 6y agoOlin Shivers (https://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/shivers/ https://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/shivers/) is special.
- leetcrew 6y agodo people actually expect meaningful advising in undergrad? my adviser hardly even had a chance to "vent" at me (he didn't really seem like the type anyway). I met with him once each semester as a formality to get the key I needed to register for classes. aside from the one time he suggested I not take the three hardest courses in the major concurrently, he didn't really say much. I was usually in and out in fifteen minutes.