Personal News

This one really has nothing to do with New Zealand, but I'm assuming some readers might be interested in a bit of personal news on my front.

My girlfriend Sally is pregnant!

No, just kidding! I have no girlfriend, nor, as far as I know, do I have any children.

The real personal news is that I've received both tenure and promotion to Senior Lecturer.

Okay, well actually that gives me another opportunity to note a difference between the US and NZ: academic ranks.

Firstly, we don't actually call it "tenure" here. Rather, we're on probation for a few years (accelerated in my case), and then we apply to go off probation. That's the equivalent of tenure.

Secondly, we basically have the same academic ranks as in the US, but with slight unalignment (is that a word?). Here's a rough translation guide:

US = NZ
Assistant Professor = Lecturer
Associate Professor = Senior Lecturer
Professor = Associate Professor (or Reader)
Chair of Excellence = Professor

In terms of formal address, in NZ only Associate Professors and Professors are addressed as "Professor So-and-So." Anyone below that rank is formally addressed "Doctor So-and-So."

But things are pretty informal for the most part.

So I prefer "Josh."

Or "Your Grand and Omni-Superior Excellency."