Bruce, Thanks for sharing that! It is thought provoking - and I have just skimmed through your excerpts - so I will refrain from commenting just yet. Instead, let me share another article - interview actually - about what's wrong with the American University System, which comes from a somewhat different angle:
http://is.gd/dTIL2 I'll be curious to hear what Ecologgers think of both of these. Madhu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Madhusudan Katti Assistant Professor of Vertebrate Biology Department of Biology, M/S SB73 California State University, Fresno Fresno, CA 93740-8034 Email: [email protected] Tel: 559.278.1460 Fax: 559.278.3963 Web: http://www.reconciliationecology.org/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Jul 30, 2010, at 3:03 PM, Bruce Robertson wrote: > All, > > I"m a postdoc searching for a faculty position in ecology. I just read the > article below, which recently appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education. > It paints a grim picture of academia, now and for the foreseeable future. I'm > highly productive, love research and teaching and feel that academia is where > I belong. Yet, I find myself very disheartened by many aspects of the current > academic environment and this article seems to bear some of my perspectives > out. I would really appreciate if any faculty would comment on this article > as it relates to their experience....though, if this article is correct, they > will be far too busy to read this. :) > > Cheers, and article below-- > > Bruce Robertson > Postdoctoral Fellow > Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center > Current mailing address: > 3310 West Main Street #101 > Kalamazoo, MI 49006 > 206-718-9172 > [email protected] > Homepage: www.msu.edu/~roberba1/Index.html/ > > > _____________________________________________________ > The *Chronicle of Higher Education* includes an article: "The Ivory > Sweatshop: Academe Is No Longer a Convivial Refuge" by Sarah Kiewel. > > Here are some excerpts: > > [begin excerpts] > > With standards for tenure at major research universities rising year by > year, professors say academe has become such a pressure-cooker > environment that faculty jobs barely resemble those of a generation ago. > > Gone are the days when academe was considered a convivial refuge from > the corporate world, a place where scholars had ample time to debate > ideas--often during lunch or over drinks after class. > > Professors, particularly those at research universities, are simply > working much more and much harder these days. > > They are competing for scarcer grant money, turning out more articles > and books, coping with the speedup in communications afforded by better > technology, and traveling the globe to establish the kind of > international reputation that's now necessary to thrive. > > "What I'm seeing now is junior faculty really just putting their noses > to the grindstone," says Frank Donoghue, an associate professor of > English at Ohio State University, who earned his Ph.D. in 1986. > > "It's had the effect of transforming the culture of the academy into one > that is much more businesslike." > > "Assistant professors are producing article after article and research > study after research study," says David D. Perlmutter, who directs the > School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa. > > "Then they're looking at the promotion-and-tenure committee and they're > going, Wow, I've actually published more in the last six years than all > of them combined." > > <snip> > > John B. Conway, chairman of mathematics at George Washington University, > certainly remembers a time when getting through graduate school and > finding a faculty job was much simpler. > > He earned his Ph.D. in 1965 after just four years and never completed a > postdoctoral fellowship--a virtual requirement these days for scholars > who want to work at a research university like his. > > Mr. Conway secured his first academic job, at Indiana University, > without even applying for a position. His adviser put out some calls to > department chairmen, and the deal was done. > > <snip> > > Robert G. Bergman, who holds a distinguished professorship in chemistry > at the University of California at Berkeley, agrees that times have changed. > > "This job has gotten a thousand percent harder than when I started out," > says Mr. Bergman, who began teaching in 1967. > > It takes a lot more time now, he says, for scholars to keep current with > advances in their discipline. > > "When I was starting out, one of the premier journals in my field, the > Journal of the American Chemical Society, came out once a month, and it > was relatively thin," he says. > > "Now it comes out once a week, and it's much thicker." > > Because of declining state and federal funds, professors also spend more > time trying to raise money for their own research. > > In fact, Mr. Bergman recalls a time during the late 1960s when someone > from a federal agency called a chemistry professor at the California > Institute of Technology, where he was teaching, and said, "Please submit > a grant. We want to give you money." > > Now, if something like that happened, everyone would think it was a joke. > > "We have people submitting a large number of proposals just so one or > two will hit," says Mr. Bergman. > > "That means a massive amount more work." > > Scholars also routinely spend much more time away from their campuses > now than they ever did in the past, he says. > > They travel to present their work at far-flung seminars where they might > meet luminaries who could give their work a nod come tenure time. > > "There used to be much more confidence that just in publishing stuff, > your work would be known." > > A study of work-life issues conducted by Harvard University's Graduate > School of Education found that Generation X professors value efficiency > over face time. > > The study, which consisted of conversations with about a dozen research- > university professors born between 1964 and 1980, found that younger > professors didn't want to become workaholics. > > But none of the young scholars who spoke with The Chronicle about > faculty workload seemed to believe that dialing down was an option. > > Luis Ponjuan, an assistant professor at the University of Florida, > refers to himself as an "intellectual entrepreneur," even though he > studies higher-education administration, not business. > > He doesn't think of his job as affording him time to ponder big ideas > with interesting colleagues and students. > > "I identify pockets of opportunity that other people will buy into, > support, and fund --to lessen the state's responsibility," he says of his > research. > > <snip> > > The more calculated approach is the result of heightened competition, he > says. > > "There's a finite number of faculty positions, a finite number of > grants, and a finite number of journals." > > Scholars like Mr. Ponjuan who have been on the job for only a few years > have already noticed an upward creep in standards since they were hired. > > "There's been a major escalation in terms of what CV's look like for > people being considered for a position," says Greta R. Krippner. By the > time she finished her doctorate in sociology, > > in 2003, she had completed four publications, none of them in the > field's two flagship journals: the American Journal of Sociology and the > American Sociological Review. > > Her work was good enough, though, to get her a starting job at the > University of California at Los Angeles. > > Since then she has moved to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, > where she is up for tenure next year. > > "Now it's kind of normal that you see a graduate student with a paper in > one of those top journals," she says. > > "Just last year, we looked at someone who already had a book out, plus a > handful of articles." > > In fact, that job candidate--who hadn't even finished his Ph.D.--had > already completed what at Michigan would now be a very respectable > tenure file, says Ms. Krippner. > > Indeed, the tight job market has given top universities the luxury of > choosing candidates who have already demonstrated an ability to attract > grants and churn out papers. > > Particularly in the sciences, universities invest so much in start-up > packages for young scholars that no department any longer wants to take > a chance on an untested hire. > > "Departments can afford to hire people who already have what they need > to do to pass at least their third-year review," says Diana B. Carlin, a > professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas who was > dean of the graduate school until 2007. > > That third-year review has also become a much more formal evaluation > process than it was 10 to 20 years ago. > > Jennifer Ng, who just earned tenure in the School of Education at > Kansas, says one of her older colleagues told her that his own third- > year review had consisted of the department chairman's pulling him aside > and saying, "You're looking good." > > Ms. Ng, on the other hand, had to document her work in a package that > resembled a miniature tenure file. > > Young professors are reluctant to complain publicly about how much > harder they may be working than their senior colleagues did when they > were starting out. > > But professors who are in midcareer hear the comments. > > "My younger colleagues feel they don't have the same opportunity as > previous generations to sit and really think and let ideas germinate," > says Gregory M. Colon Semenza, an associate professor of English at the > University of Connecticut. > > "What used to be a truly enjoyable intellectual process has become a > very professionalized model of efficiency." > > Meanwhile, experienced scholars say their own workload has increased as well. > > The pace doesn't necessarily slow down anymore once a scholar gains tenure. > > Young professors are typically protected from committee assignments and > departmental duties while they are on the tenure track, but then those > burdens get dumped on them, too. > > "People are freaked out about the amount of work they have--there's just > no time," says William A. Pannapacker, an associate professor of English > at Hope College. > > "Once you're tenured, suddenly you're given way more administrative > responsibility really fast, and you have no training for it, and you > have no idea what you're doing." > > <snip> > > Nora Berrah, a distinguished professor of physics at Western Michigan > University, has worked in academe since 1987. She still devotes most of > her waking hours to her research, and spends about half of her time > traveling to national laboratories, where she collaborates on projects. > Back in her office at Western Michigan, she usually keeps the door closed. > > "Sometimes I avoid my colleagues in the hallway," she says, "because I'm > afraid it's going to take awhile to say, 'Hello, how are you doing?'" > > Campus social life does seem to be a casualty of the work speedup in > higher education. > > A couple of decades ago, it wasn't unusual for faculty members to have > lunch together during the workweek and attend parties in one another's > homes on the weekends. > > <snip> > > Mr. Menand, who is now an English professor at Harvard University, has > been back to Princeton several times in the last few years, and notes > that things have changed. For one, "half the faculty live in New York." > And even in a college town like Cambridge, he says, the culture has changed. > > "You make a lunch date two weeks in advance, but you just don't all > gather at noon and head off." > > Many research universities have cut teaching loads to help their faculty > members make time for increased demands in research and publishing. > > <snip> > > Mr. Bergman says the breakdown of social relationships among professors > is more important than people might think. > > "You're less willing to get into conflict with people if they are part > of your social circle as well as your professional circle." > > And Mr. Menand says faculty work looks a lot less attractive to > prospective academics than it used to. > > "I think the demands have come to be experienced as all-consuming, > 24/7," he says. > > "That's bad because of the quality of life and because it discourages > other people from getting into academe." > > He adds: "You don't want smart college students taking one look at what > we have to do to keep our jobs and saying, That's not how I want to > spend my life." > > [end excerpts] > > The article is online at: > <http://bit.ly/8XKENPope> > > Ken Pope > > THE THERAPIST AS A PERSON: > <http://kspope.com/therapistas/index.php> > > "Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what > the world needs is people who have come alive." > -- Howard Thurman (1900-1981)
