Kevin Welch

A little past peak autumn colors here but if you like fall foliage and teaching biochemistry, check out the position below.

The position is part of the Academic General Faculty at UVA and is a non-tenure track with a rank of assistant professor with the opportunity for promotion with an initial 3-year term.

If you have any questions reach out to the search chair (that's me!) here or by email (in the link above).

Do you enjoy teaching biochemistry? The University of Virginia Department of Chemistry is hiring a teaching-track assistant professor to teach lecture and/or laboratory biochemistry courses. #chemjobs #facultychemjobs

More details in the link below:
apply.interfolio.com/175929

Me playing soccer in the yard after exactly 2.5 hard seltzers

What in the hell is happening at UVA

UVA Alert: Armed attacker reported on Grounds The University of Virginia Department of Emergency Management says there is an active attacker armed with a knife on Grounds.

Run Hide Fight alert issued for an armed attacker on Grounds. Suspect believed to have a knife.
www.cbs19news.com/news/uva-ale...

Yeah, I'm glad nobody was hurt and happy that the school put caution first, but I'm super exhausted for seemingly very little reason.

And I found out doing nothing for most of four hours can be exhausting.

It was not the way I wanted to spend my Tuesday, but everyone handled the situation as well as could be imagined, given the situation.

Here's hoping Wednesday is less noteworthy.

But, gloriously, the students didn't get to watch all of the movie, as after four and a half hours the order was lifted.

There was much rejoicing.

We were all hungry. Everyone was a little on edge.

By the time the second movie started, there were double the number of students in the room, probably around 300 or so.

The students and TAs for the lab courses, who were sheltering in the storage areas for the labs, had moved to the auditorium as well.

After Tangled, the students chose another movie. It was a very tight vote between The Incredibles and Pirates of the Caribbean... Pirates squeaked out a victory.

One student near me knew every single line from the movie. Not just the songs, but every single line.

We watched Tangled and passed the time. Every update alert that came in had every student's attention but there was no change. Just continue to shelter in place.

About half an hour after I was done teaching a student suggested we watch a movie.

I put it up to the students. They wanted to.

I let them pick any movie on Disney Plus (because I knew the password for Disney Plus) and they voted for Tangled.

I checked to make sure the room was completely secure. All the doors were locked.

We waited.

Students texted. They did their homework. They played games on their phones and computers.

Classes ended and we were still sheltering in place. The classroom I was in – the Chemistry Building auditorium – had no windows.

A student came to me concerned about the doors to the outside. Could someone get in?

At around 10:20 we got the alert that classes were cancelled. I had 25 minutes left in class. I told the students they didn't have to listen anymore but I would still teach.

I also told they didn't have to listen ever in class so that wasn't really a change in the situation.

The students and I laughed at the message that said "Suspect on foot last seen off Grounds [campus] near Alderman Rd and McCormick Rd."

The intersection of Alderman and McCormick is right smack dab in the middle of campus.

I told my students that if new information came up, let me know. Some of my colleagues were texting me.

We got updates about the suspect involved. At first they were 6'4". Later they shrunk to 6'1".

So I started my lecture on frontier molecular orbital theory.

As lectures go it was pretty terrible. I was distracted. Alerts came up on phones, computers, and in the classroom every 10 minutes or so.

Probably around a little over 100 out of 339 of the students in my class were in the room at this point.

I told them we were stuck in the room together, so I was going to teach them chemistry.

So at around 9:20 this morning, I was in my classroom preparing for class – getting my slides ready and setting up the recording – and my phone buzzed.

We were told to shelter in place.

Lockdown over. Alas, the students didn't get to finish Pirates of the Caribbean.

A movie projected on a screen in a lecture hall. The scene is of a man in a colonial wig standing in front of a window with a tropical island view outside.

On lockdown. We're on the second movie.

It was my students' idea. I held class first (9:30-10:45).

It was the students' idea to be fair. I'd probably still be talking chemistry.

UVA ALERT LATEST: Academic classes at UVA are canceled until further notice. Continue to shelter in place where you are.

A lecture hall with the movie Tangled projecting on the screen.

My students wanted a movie. They picked the movie.

The Lawn at the University of Virginia, covered in snow, looking towards the Rotunda.

I had class at 8:30 on Wednesday morning. It led to a good photo op at least.

I guess teaching a class that ends at 7:45 in the evening has its perks.

We've had over a week of significant rain, public K-12 schools have been closed since Friday, and last week we had power outages, trees down, and area roads flooded.

Today, as the rains finally end, we finally got an email from the university about inclement weather. Seems timely.