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Earlier, I focused on the faith and work movement in churches, and I plan to add to that post over coming weeks. In this post, I will start aggregating information on faith and work in universities. I plan to list university initiatives, scholarly articles and books, and professor presentations.

University Initiatives

Articles and Books

Presentations

JLSE

The Journal of Legal Studies Education (“JLSE“) is accepting article and case study submissions. The JLSE is a peer-reviewed legal journal focused on pedagogy. In 2015, I published a case study with the JLSE, had an excellent experience, and received helpful comments from the reviewers. The announcement is below:

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The Journal of Legal Studies Education is seeking submissions of manuscripts. The JLSE publishes refereed articles, teaching tips, and review of books.  Manuscripts must relate to teaching, research, or related disciplines such as business ethics, business and society, public policy and individual areas of business law related specialties. The Editorial Board selects high quality manuscripts that are of interest to a substantial portion of its readers. 

The JLSE is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal.

Please submit directly to Stephanie Greene, JLSE Editor-in-Chief, at stephanie.greene@bc.edu.

Stephanie M. Greene

Chair, Business Law Department

Professor, Business Law

Carroll School of Management

Boston College

Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

In January 2015, I wrote about a resolution to take a break from e-mails on Saturdays.

That resolution failed, quickly.

Since then, I have been thinking a lot about my relationship with e-mail.

On one hand, I get a lot of positive feedback from students and colleagues about my responsiveness. On the other hand, constantly checking and responding to e-mails seems to cut against productivity on other (often more important) tasks.

Five or six weeks ago, I started drafting this post, hoping to share it after at least one week of only checking my e-mail two times a day (11am and 4pm). Then I changed the goal to three times a day (11am, 4pm, and 9pm and then 5am, 11am, 4pm). Efforts to limit e-mail in that rigid way failed, even though very little of what I do requires a response in less than 24 hours. On the positive side, I have been relatively good, recently, at not checking my e-mail when I am at home and my children are awake. 

A few days ago, I read Andrew Sullivan’s Piece in the New York Magazine on “Distraction Sickness.” His piece is long, but worth reading. A short excerpt…

For the fourth straight year, I plan to present at the Southeastern Academy of Legal Studies in Business (“SEALSB”) Annual Conference, and I am on the SEALSB executive committee.  SEALSB is one of eight regional associations under the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB), and ALSB is the national organization for legal studies professors in business schools.

More information about the conference can be found here and deadlines are included below. Today is the deadline for early bird registration, best paper submissions, and award nominations. 

Friday, September 16: 

Friday, September 30: 

  • Abstract submission deadline to be a conference presenter

Tuesday, October 11:

  • Hotel cutoff date for group rate (subject to room block availability)

Friday, October 14:

  • Submission of papers (not for award consideration) to be included on USB flash drive. (Otherwise, bring 25 copies to the conference.)

Last year, on the suggestion of an ALSB colleague, I did a post on promotion, tenure, and administrative appointment news for legal studies professors in business schools. I continue that series this year, below. I am happy to add to this list, as I am sure it is incomplete. Congrats to all!

Robert Bird (UConn) – promoted to full professor

De Vee Dykstra (South Dakota) – appointed associate dean of Beacom School of Business

Marc Edelman (CUNY) – promoted to full professor and awarded tenure

Josh Perry (Indiana-Kelley School of Business) – appointed to Dean of Undergraduate Affairs

Jamie Prenkert (Indiana-Kelley (Bloomington Campus)) – appointed Associate Vice Provost

Scott Shackelford (Indiana-Kelley) – promoted to associate professor and awarded tenure

During the past few days, I have participated in a lot of meetings.

This has led to some thinking on what makes a good meeting.

To me, a useful meeting is one that accomplishes things that could not be handled appropriately by an e-mail. Some meetings are held, I am convinced, because those calling the meetings are not sure that participants read and pay attention to e-mails. This worry could be best addressed, in my opinion, by making expectations regarding e-mail management clear, perhaps coupled with consequences for those who ignore the contents.

That said, e-mail is not appropriate in all cases and here are four categories where in-person meetings can work better than e-mail:

  1. Inspire. Perhaps some can be inspired over e-mail, but it seems much easier to inspire in person. As such, I think some good meetings can be used to inspire participants to achieve organizational goals. But inspiring others, especially sometimes cynical professors, can be difficult to do.
  2. Build Relationships. Sometimes the only times you see certain colleagues are at faculty meetings, so meetings can be a good way to build relationships, especially if folks hang around before and after meetings or if significant time is

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Belmont University starts classes on Wednesday. Below I share a few tips for new students. Josh posted a good list earlier this week, but my list is a bit different, perhaps because I teach primarily undergraduate and graduate business students. None of these is new or earthshattering, but, like many simple things, they remain difficult to put into action.

  1. Be Professional. As I often tell my students, you start building your reputation in school. I have declined business opportunities from former classmates because I remembered how they conducted themselves in school. Be on time, be prepared, be thoughtful, and be honest. We should recognize that people change over time and be open to giving second chances, but, unfortunately, not everyone will be quick to change an opinion they form of you while you are in school.
  2. Get to Know Your Classmates and Your Professors. Building relationships is an important aspect of personal and professional life. It is tempting to just put your head down in school and not spend time trying to form strong bonds. An incredible number of students never meet with their professors or only meet with them right before a project or an exam. Professors and classmates are

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As in past years, I will maintain lists of law professor openings in the business areas (excluding commercial law-only posts) and legal studies professor openings outside of law schools. If your school has an opening that you would like posted, feel free to contact me. 

The law professor openings list uses the PrawfsBlawg spreadsheet, if an alternate link is not provided. Positions added after today will include the date added.

Law School Professor Positions (Business Law Areas)

Legal Studies Professor Positions (Outside of Law Schools, Mostly in Business Schools)

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Following on Joan’s excellent post about networking letters, I wanted to share a few words about thank you letters.

Attorney Kyle Westaway organizes “thank yous” into four levels:

  • Level 1 — Email saying thanks for the time and insight.
  • Level 2 — Level 1 + this is how your insight impacted my life.
  • Level 3 — Handwritten thank you note.
  • Level 4 — Level 3 + a small gift.

This seems right, and Kyle’s entire post is well worth reading at the link above.

A mere thank you e-mail usually isn’t worth much, but it is better than nothing (unless the thank you is typo-riddled, and then it might be worse than nothing). The e-mail is worth more if the author recounts meaningful specifics from your conversation or picks up on a way that he/she might be of assistance.

The handwritten note has made a comeback after interviews, but I don’t think it has had the same resurgence after networking/advice meetings. This is a shame because generally the interviewer is just doing his or her job, while the person who is honoring your networking/advice request is usually the one bestowing a true gift. Due to the relative rarity, I think handwritten notes are even more appreciated after a networking/advice meeting than after an…