I know we have a handful of professors on this list, and hopefully at least
one of you can give me some input! Please feel free to take any responses
off-list.
The husband, Thomas, has decided that his ideal career is that of an
electrical engineering or math professor. Right now, he's only got his
masters (or will have at the end of the summer), and since he's been working
full-time as an ee while also attending classes at WUSTL for his masters,
he's a bit reluctant to go straight into getting his PhD. (I, too, am a bit
reluctant to spend who knows how many more years of only seeing him on
weekends.) However, most community colleges and a few 4-year institutions
are willing to hire instructors with only a masters, especially when the
potential instructor also has some non-academic work experience in the field
he wants to teach. The husband likes the idea of teaching at a community
college for a while rather than waiting to get his PhD, though he would
prefer to wind up as a tenured PhD at a 4-year institution. As a first
step, he hopes to be a part-time instructor at a local college, while still
working full-time at the job he has now.
Those few acquaintances I have who have become professors got into it by
basically becoming professional students, and that's not a path Thomas is
likely to take. (If nothing else, I'm no longer capable of putting him
through school! And oy, we're almost done paying off the last batch of
student loans...) So, we're trying to figure out a plan of attack for
Operation Become A Professor In Montana Or Wyoming.
So much for the background. My questions are very general: what path did
you take to become a professor? What other paths have you seen successfully
navigated? What would you advise Thomas to do, and what would you advise
him NOT to do? How important is it to get your PhD from the
college/university where you hope to teach? Who should he talk to--for
example, would it be a waste of time for him to call up some HR departments
and ask them these sorts of questions, while he's still in the planning
stage? Is it a good idea for him to get a bit of teaching experience in
wherever possible, as with the part-time instructor plan? And so on, and so
forth, and the like, etcetera.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!
-E House
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