<p>Wow! First paragraph: University of Pennsylvania students who were puzzled by a no-show professor later found out why he missed the first day of class: He died months ago</p>
<p>No-show</a> professor had excuse: He died in April - Yahoo! News</p>
<p>Wow… I saw the headline on Yahoo News and did not even click on it thinking it was some unknown Podunk U news.</p>
<p>Sounds like undergraduate education must be a real priority at Penn…</p>
<p>Publish or perish!</p>
<p>The late professor.</p>
<p>^^ROFL! Glad I’m drinking green tea and not red wine. The spray cleanup is much easier. :)</p>
<p>Since the course wasn’t dropped from the schedule, I suspect some serious intra-departmental infighting is to blame for the course remaining un-staffed at the last minute. There was plenty of time to either find an instructor, or drop it off the schedule between April and September. This one is not the fault of the registrar’s office.</p>
<p>Apparently he was a popular professor, and the course a popular course. But it’s not as if his death went unreported last spring. It was right near the end of the semester, though, probably after advance registration for fall courses, and apparently no one took responsibility for making certain his fall course was out of the registration system. It’s pretty clear no TAs were hired, or anything like that. Plenty of students knew he had died . . . just not the ones who showed up to the class.</p>
<p>Just goes to show how “undergrad-focused” some of these big research Unis are??? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>^^ You realize we’re talking about Penn and not Penn State???</p>
<p>Sent the link to my father, long time retired faculty at a large Uni. Not a professor or teaching staff. He sent me back an email: Professor was probably still on the payroll! At (his former Uni) he might even have been double dipping. Dad says a number of faculty who have retired and are getting a hefty salary are hired back for more good money to teach a class.<br>
He is a big contributor to his former employer but has been disgusted lately with the increase in Administrative payrolls while student tuition continues to go up and up.</p>
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<p>I have to admit that I think it is funny that it is Penn. I have a son at a cc where they sometimes don’t even have a “prof” listed for some of the sections when the students register (because they haven’t yet found an adjunct, I assume). But we are paying $156 a class …</p>
<p>I’ve never thought about this before but I would guess this is far from a unusual experience … I mean I can’t imagine the registration process is …
- Take initial class slots/staff assignments from departments
- Take initial registration requests from students
- Match to enrollment quota and highlight issues
- Work with department to adjust for over or under enrollment issues
- Check to make sure faculty and students from #1 and #2 are still alive</p>
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<p>And probably will be reported as a full-time faculty to the ranking agencies for another decade.</p>
<p>The department head should have taken care of this. Unless the professor WAS the department head, in which case the dean of the college dropped the ball.</p>
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<p>What makes you think UPenn is better than Penn State or other research universities in this regard? </p>
<p>From what I heard from high school classmates, colleagues, and alums regarding UPenn’s attentiveness to undergrads…it can really be hit or miss.</p>
<p>^^ A little sensitive, maybe?? Where is it I said I thought Penn was “better” than Penn State? </p>
<p>Penn is usually not described as a large research university and I thought the poster might have them mixed up. I wasn’t expressing opinions, although the two schools are quite different. </p>
<p>And, no, Penn is not perfect and I have been critical of it in the past, but as the t-shirts proclaim it is “not Penn State”. Penn served my son, my sister, my parents and my grandparents quite well, though.</p>
<p>^^ </p>
<p>Not sensitive so much as bewilderment as they’re both large research universities and from what I’ve seen and heard…differ only in a matter of degree. </p>
<p>As for those I knew who went to UPenn…it is evenly split among those who felt well-served…and those who felt they were just a number in a sea of undergrads ignored by Profs who prioritized their research/grad students. </p>
<p>Then again, this case is weird as no one from UPenn ever mentioned a bureaucracy that would drop the ball as badly as this incident.</p>
<p>I’m not going to argue with you. It’s old stuff. Just go cheer for the football team.</p>
<p>Chances are that Penn State would notice the lateness of their football coach within seconds. They must have had a response plan in place for a few decades. :)</p>