Home away from home

An increasing number of students are struggling to catch their professors in their offices due to the growing trend of professors commuting from out of state.

According to the Tufts 2002-2003 Factbook, 19 percent of the Tufts Medford/Somerville campus faculty lives outside of a "reasonable daily commuting distance." That number have been on the rise in recent years.

This increase comes after last year's Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience recommended more interaction between students and professors. While commuting professors may not spend as many hours on campus, they say that the hours they do spend on campus are devoted nearly entirely to their students.

Dr. Laura Baffoni-Licata, a senior lecturer in the Italian department, commutes from New Hampshire and is usually on campus only two days per week. During that time she teaches her two classes and attends meetings and events.

As a result, Baffoni-Licata said it is not unusual for her to be on campus until 8 p.m. or later on the days she is at Tufts. "Those two days are very concentrated on teaching and office hours, so very often it happens I may need to come down an extra day as well."

Similarly, Professor Carl Beckman, a lecturer in the English department, has commuted to Tufts from Maine "for all but three of the last seventeen years." On the three days he is on campus, he often meets with students into the later hours of the evening.

Both Baffoni-Licata and Beckman say having email both on campus and at home has made it possible to stay available to their students.

"Having e-mail access has been extremely helpful. When I am home I am constantly checking my e-mail," Baffoni-Licata said. "Through the Internet I can access the website and whatever I need whenever, and wherever I am."

Sophomore Talia Goodkin said that she believes living near the campus is an obligation for professors. "Teachers who teach here and live far just aren't really making enough of a commitment to their students," she said. But, Goodkin added that it was a compromise she could handle "because they were both really great professors and I felt privileged to have them at all."

Baffoni-Licata said that instead she sees certain advantages from being a commuter. "I feel I like the two different environments because when I come here I really appreciate students, the library, the collegiate atmosphere," she explained. "When I go home I refresh, and look with new eyes when I return. I like the distinction because when I am here, it is really about the students."

Beckman believes much the same thing. "Living in a rural area gives me a very different perspective on contemporary America than I would get living in suburban Boston," Beckman said. "I can bring some of that perspective to bear on issues we discuss in class. And, walking my dog in silence under stars that I can see helps me think."



Beckman stressed his availability by making clear to students that "they can contact me by phone at any hour -- and I mean it!" He also said he meets with students outside of his regular office hours on days he is on campus.

Sophomore Aristotle Kousakis, who took Beckman's class last semester, agreed that "he definitely let us know we could contact him whenever [we wanted to]. His absence from campus on other days was not a problem for me."

There can be communication problems with commuting professors, however.

"There were times when I wanted to talk about readings and [my professor] was never available," Goodkin said. "He taught all his classes on Mondays, so any other time of the week that I wanted to talk to him I couldn't."

She added that "a teacher's job is more than just teaching the class, it's also providing an outside framework for discussion."

Beckman agreed that it would be better to be able to spend more time on campus. He cited schedule conflicts, such as faculty workshops, that can spread over several consecutive days. "I'm afraid I also miss some campus events and have to work harder to keep up with student life on campus," he said.

Part-time professors, like those at the ExCollege, also rely on technological communication since most are not full-time professors on campus. Because ExCollege lecturers do not have offices at Tufts, they are not required to hold office hours.