Research

A student came to my office to ask me some questions about the homework and then she told me that she liked my class and asked if I was teaching it next semester. I said no, we only teach during one semester. She seemed really surprised (s stands for student):

s: but I told all of my friends that they should take this class from you.

me: thanks, but I'm only teaching during the fall this year.

s: what do you mean?

me: well, I teach this semester and then next semester I can focus on doing research.

s: are they sending you back to stanford?

me: no, I have a full-time job here.

s: so why don't you teach next semester?

me: because a big part of my job is doing research. and I don't get much done when I'm teaching. that's what I'll be doing next semester. all of the professors only teach for one semester every year so that we can do research.

s: it must be nice to get the summers off

me: actually, I'll be doing research. RESEARCH.

I know it's hard to fathom what accounting professors might research. If you watched me all day, you might mistakenly think I must be researching web surfing. But really, I'm thinking up brilliant research ideas.