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Visiting Associate Professor
Office:
713 Evans Hall
Department of Mathematics
University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-3840
Tel: 510-642-3768
Fax: 510-642-8204
Email: stankova@math.berkeley.edu
Webpage:
http://math.berkeley.edu/~stankova
Job opportunity: work with Professor Stankova next year on the Berkeley Math Circle
Administrative Assistant position open for the Berkeley Math Circle (BMC)
through the Math Department, for the spring 2010 semester, to start
training in early December 2009. Applicants should be motivated, organized
individuals with the ability to communicate well between children,
parents, instructors, and various administrators. Tasks include weekly
email reminders to students, parents, and instructors, keeping organized
applications files to the program, answering questions about the program,
and updating the website.
The year 2009-2010 will be the 12th year of the BMC. You will find more
information about the BMC on its website at http://mathcircle.berkeley.edu
If interested in the position, please include your resume, contact
information, what year you will be at UC Berkeley (freshman, sophomore,
junior, senior, etc), whether or not you have work-study funding during
the 2009-2010 school year, and a paragraph explaining your previous
experience that would help in your work on the Berkeley Math Circle.
Applications will be considered in the order received until the position
is filled. The earliest interviews with applicants will be conducted this
June/July in summer '09.
Qualifications
Prior knowledge of HTML and CSS is highly recommended, along with Adobe
Dreamweaver. Skill with Microsoft Office, good communication skills and
writing skills, ability to work independently and multi-tasking are
essential. This position is open mainly for work-study students and it is
possible to get some assistance with work-study funds.
Notes after the Final Exam. Final Scores and Grades
Several students already blatantly ignored the rules below and
bothered me and their GSIs with pleas that "they received A's on their
midterms" and "how come they received a final grade of C+ or B, when
they should be getting a final grade of A"? As it turned out, their
midterms were by far not A's and their finals were below the class
median. In one case, the final exam was so poor -- 50 points below the
class median! -- that it would have deserved a letter grade F if I
were to give grades to the final exams alone! Yet, this student still
e-mailed me to ask how come he didn't get a final grade of B-?? In
another case, the student just assigned himself letter grades A to
both of his midterms (by what rule, I do not know, since we never
assigned letter grades to midterms) and asked why he didn't get a
final grade of A-? As it turned out, this student's midterms certainly
wouldn't have received A's if I were to assign letter grades to the
midterms, and the final exam was below the class median. In any case,
all final grades were computed using the exams scores (not
some fictious letter grades that students wished they had
received on the exams). All final grades were calculated correctly and I
just wasted my time re-calculating in vein all such students'
grades. I shall not respond to any such e-mails anymore: first go
check your finals in the Math Dept office, and if you have
disputes on points on the final then you can see me; keep in mind that
when I open your final exam, I will regrade the WHOLE exam, so your
score can go up as well as down. AND FOLLOW THE RULES BELOW!
I am not going to bother re-opening student files and
recalculating grades just because someone hopes we did it wrong: the
assumption is that all grades were calculated correctly. Be fair: let
me and the GSIs have our summer break after working so hard non-stop
the last few days on finishing the grading in time!!
1. As a rule, the instructor and the GSI's do NOT
mail, e-mail or communicate in any way the final grades to
the students. The final grades are distributed to the students through
the regular university channels. There will be NO exceptions
to this rule regardless of how anxious you are to see your grade,
regardless of students' computer problems accessing bearfacts,
regardless of students' delinquency in paying bills and hence
postponing the posting of their grades on bearfacts, regardless of the
fact that students may be registered through UCB Extension and may
receive their grades later. Please, do NOT e-mail the
instructor or the GSIs asking for your grade: the GSIs are instructed
not to communicate any grades, and any such e-mails will be
ignored by the instructor.
2. If a student wishes to dispute the final grade, he/she has
to e-mail the instructor before June 30, 2009.
However, the student must be aware that
(a) the final scores are calculated by the percentages
announced in the course syllabus, and they are calculated for
everyone in the same way: just like in the syllabus. Do NOT
ask for exceptions to "twitch your score a bit" so as to give you a
higher grade: this won't happen. The grading system is created so that
it is fair to everyone. And it will stay that way.
(b) a final grade case will be reopened only if a student has
a convincing reason that his/her final grade was miscalculated. Final
grade cases will NOT be reopened just to check if the final
grade was calculated correctly. The assumption is that all final
grades are calculated correctly, unless a convincing evidence to the
contrary is brought forward.
(c) a final grade case, once opened, will be fully reviewed,
and the final score and final grade will be fully recalculated. This
means that, if there is an error, the final grade could go down as
well as up. If the final grade calculation reduces the grade, I
will have no choice but to change the final grade to the new lower
grade and there will be no turning back.
3. If a student wishes to know facts about the final exam
(e.g. median, etc): this is internal information and we do NOT
communicate it to the students. I can only tell you that the
final exam was fairly easy with a high median; thus, doing well on the
final exam alone is NO guarantee of an increased final grade. No further
questions about statistics, level of difficulty and other info about
final exam will be distributed, so don't ask for such.
4. If a student wishes to view his/her final exam: the final
exams are out of our hands and into the hands of the main office on
the 9th floor in Evans Hall. The student must go there and follow the
rules for viewing the final exams within the allowed viewing
period. The student must also be aware that if he/she wishes to
contest the final exam score, the student CANNOT leave the
main office with the final exam under any circumstances: the student
can view the final only in the presence of the main office
staff. Then, if the student wants to contest the final exam score, the
student must e-mail the instructor before June 30, 2009, and I
will pull the final exam from the main office. A student
CANNOT take the exam from the office and bring it to me: if
by any chance this happens, the student will be disqualified from the
right to contest his final exam score. No exceptions.
5. If a student didn't take the final exam, he/she gets an
automatic F, as announced in the syllabus. If the student has a
documented medical or family emergency and wishes to petition for an
incomplete, all such petitions will be considered before
June 15, 2009.
There is no need to send me e-mails during summer break and ask
me for your grades, final exams, etc. To such e-mails, I shall reply
only after the fall classes start at UCB. Please, be reasonable and
let us have our summer break, just like you want to have a summer
break.
All e-mails on questions addressed above shall be ignored.
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