I 'm a second year ph.d student at School of Education from Beijing Normal University. I am extremely interested in your research. In fact, I want to conduct a comparative research on faculty senates between U.S. and China. After reading some chapters of your thesis on The creation of faculty senates in American higher education, you can't imagine how excited I was. Because it is one of the most in-depth studies I ever read.Anyone who has written a dissertation knows that I don't need to explain why such an email would make your day. My dissertation didn't win any awards but it's nice to know that someone, anyone, read it! (And even enjoyed it, or said he did!)
The second "make my day" email came over the weekend:
...An important goal of our group [USC chapter of The Roosevelt Institution, a non-partisan nationwide student think tank] is to keep students politically informed and to allow them to begin participating in public policy-making. In order to reach this goal, we have created a class: Effecting Change Through Public Policy, which will be taught by Dr. Charles Finocchiaro. A preliminary copy of the syllabus is attached. …We plan to have 7 different faculty members speak on their area of expertise as it relates to current issues in public policy (Healthcare, Energy/Environment, National Security, etc.)….Part of being a professor is becoming some sort of "expert" on something. It's one thing to submit something and have it accepted. But it's another to be sought out to do something related to your work. I've been invited to give a couple of other talks this year and each time it's gratifying to think you actually know something that someone else might want to hear. (I put "expert" in scare quotes because I must admit I don't quite feel like an "expert.")
We are contacting you in order to request that you participate as our visiting lecturer in the area of Education Policy… We simply ask that you attend a class (we are targeting Monday, March 16) and deliver a 45 minute to 1 hour lecture, followed by a brief Q&A, on your topic of interest. Furthermore, we ask that you provide at least 1 article related to your topic prior to your lecture. This article would provide students with the background necessary to better understand your topic and allow them to ask informed questions.
But in this case it is particularly gratifying to be sought out by students. It reminds me of the earliest Medieval universities, such as the University of Bologna (founded 1088), where students ran the show, electing the rector (who was a student!), picking the professors and creating the curriculum. Under their system the professor was beholden to the students for his pay, for permission to marry, or even to leave town for the weekend!
