What They Don't Teach You in Grad School - Part III
By Paul Gray and David E. Drew
In our first two lists of tips for an academic career, we covered
finishing the dissertation and finding a first job, and then offered
an overview of various academic responsibilities. In this piece, we
turn to the career path - tenure, academic ranks, and department chairs.
Related stories
" The Evolving (Eroding?) Faculty Job, May 1
" Doing Hard Time, Full Time, Jan. 12
" Longing for the Chili Pepper, Dec. 16, 2005
" Is Your Husband a Worse Problem Than Larry Summers?, Dec. 9,
2005
" 9 University Presidents Issue Statement on Gender Equity, Dec.
7, 2005
I. Tenure
1. The most dreaded experience for an academic is the tenure process.
Without tenure, you cannot stay permanently at an institution as a
professor and must go job hunting in an uncertain market. Some colleges
may consider it as a stain on your record if you tried and failed.
On the other hand, colleges that rank lower than the one you are at
may want to hire you because that gives them bragging rights. We know
of at least two universities, for example, that hired ex-Harvard and
MIT professors. With tenure, of course, you remove uncertainty.
2. Things are changing, but it is still true that tenure is the prize
in academia. There are many exciting non-tenure track jobs in higher
education and in research organizations (Both of us worked full-time
for think tanks after our Ph.D.'s prior to our university positions).
But most new Ph.D.'s seeking academic careers will want to become
tenured professors.
3. Understand why tenure is such a hurdle. Consider the cost of a
positive tenure decision to your institution. Assume for simplicity
that you are making $66,666 per year and will serve the university
30 years after tenure. Assume your academic raises only cover cost
of living (the worst case from your point of view, the best from the
university's); that is, your salary is nearly the same in real terms
for the rest of your career. From your point of view, you certainly
think of yourself as worth the $2 million dollar the university must
make. But think of it from administrators' view. If they give tenure
when they shouldn't, they made a bad $2 million dollar bet. If they
deny tenure to someone and that person many years later wins a Nobel
Prize, everyone will conclude "Old Siwash was stupid." However,
they will say it only for a few days and it will blow over. Although
it will cost something to hire your replacement, with any luck that
person will work for even less than you do. Any statistician will
tell you that, given these upside and downside risks, universities
are absolutely rational to err on the no side, not on the yes side.
4. The tenure clock is really four and a half years, not seven. Remember
that the rule is that the seventh contract is forever. Thus, the latest
the decision can be made is in year six. Your dossier will have to
be completed for the powers-that-be by the beginning of year. Although
you can count publications that have been accepted, journal (or book
publisher) review time averages over a year in most fields. Thus,
you have to submit your work for publication by the beginning of year
five. It will take you six months to write up your results. Ergo,
four and a half years!
5. Tenure committees look almost exclusively at publications that
appear in peer-reviewed journals or in scholarly books. It is, in
a sense, a tragedy that you get much more credit for what appears
in a "write only" journal (i.e., a journal with minute circulation)
than what appears in a high circulation, widely read popular magazine.
But that is the way the game is played.
6. If, by chance, you have tenure, never take another appointment
without it. The people who promise it "real soon" may not
be there when the crunch comes.
7. Like research support, tenure can be negotiated on the way in.
Nobody tells you (and nobody admits it) but tenure is, in effect,
transferable. Be firm in your position that since you have tenure,
you wouldn't think of moving without it.
8. New cross-discipline fields are tougher to get tenure in because
you are judged by the standards of people who made their mark in a
single, well-established discipline. For example, the field of Information
Systems, which is taught in business schools, combines a hard science
(computer science) and two soft sciences (organizational behavior
and management). People in this field publish at the intersection
of disciplines. However, they are judged by people in the pure disciplines
and are expected to contribute to these pure disciplines. Research
that combines existing ideas from several disciplines is discounted
by the purists even though it is the essence of the field.
9. Tenure as we know it today may not be here forever. The problem
stems from changes in the retirement law and in public attitudes.
Beginning in 1992, you could not be forced to retire because you had
reached a mandatory retirement age. Thus, colleges that grant tenure
are stuck with you as long as you want to work - whether you perform
or not. The teaching life is fulfilling and the paycheck is better
than your retirement income (Your income even gets better if you reach
70 because you can then take out of your tax-deferred retirement nest
egg and can still collect your paycheck as well as your social security.)
Beside which, what would you do with yourself in retirement? When
our late colleague, Peter Drucker (who was still teaching at 92) was
asked why he didn't retire, replied, "Why retire at 65? I can't
see myself driving a Winnebago for 25 years."
10. Universities have a different objective than you do. They want
to avoid deadwood and take age as prima facie evidence of your being
past it. They certainly want you out of there before Alzheimer's strikes.
If the number of positions is constricted, they prefer to take your
slot and give it to a bright young person who is more current, may
work for less, and who revitalizes your department. Tenure forces
them to hold on to you because firing you for age would be discrimination.
They are joined in this view by the younger faculty who want new opportunities.
As a result, some universities already introduced a "rolling"
tenure arrangement where people are reviewed every five years, and
may be encouraged to leave after poor performance.
11. The number of tenured slots in some universities may decrease.
Jack Schuster and Martin Finkelstein, in a forthcoming book on the
American professoriate, report data that show that the number of part-time
and full-time hires who are off the tenure track increased significantly
in the last several years, from a few percent in the late 1970's to
over 50 percent today. It is not clear whether this change is the
result of universities hedging their bets because they fear enrollments
will go down in some areas, or whether it is a deliberate move to
reduce the size (and with it, the power) of the tenured faculty, or
whether they simply want to reduce their payroll. Our advice is not
to accept a position off the tenure track because your chances of
ever getting back on could be between zero and nil.
II. Academic Rank
1. Just as there has been grade inflation, so has there been rank
inflation. It used to be that people with new Ph.D.'s were hired as
instructors and there were four ranks. Today there are only three,
assistant, associate, and full professor. Tenure usually is the transition
to associate. Full professor is, of course, the desired state.
2. Being a tenured full professor in a research university is as close
to freedom as you can come in American society. Yes, you must meet
your classes. However, when you walk into your office in the morning,
it is you who decides what you should be working on, not someone else.
You can decide to continue what you've done previously or delve into
something new. You are limited only by your imagination. It is a state
much desired by others and one you have achieved.
3. When you reach the exalted state of tenured associate professor,
the time has come to see the big picture and undertake large, long-term
research projects so that you can become a full professor. Unfortunately,
you have spent the previous six years (and your thesis time) doing
small, short-term research projects, each designed to earn you a publication
or two so that you can achieve tenure. The system never taught you
how to conduct a large project. You are therefore put back into a
learning situation. Merely doing more of what you did as an assistant
professor doesn't hack it in major institutions because the promotion
committees ask different questions. Having survived the tenure hurdle,
everyone knows you can do research. But, to be a full professor, you
have to be known for something.
4. Avoid becoming the dreaded "permanent associate professor."
It is a dead end. You are given all the committee assignments that
no one else wants. Although people are nice to permanent associate
professors, behind their back they cluck about "poor Smith."
It is important for you to remember that if you stay as an associate
professor for too long, the time for promotion passes you by. This
interval varies from institution to institution. However, while still
an assistant professor, it will pay you to gauge how long it takes
people in your college or department to be promoted from associate
to full professor. Try to be in the middle or earlier. Remember, too,
that you have to have done something to merit promotion.
5. Promotion to associate professor, or from associate to full professor,
provides a unique opportunity to request a substantial pay increase.
Most colleges provide minimal raises for faculty each year. Many make
exceptions for a promotion.
III. Department Chairs
1. Department chairs will seem to be lofty people to you, having a
job to which you will think you should aspire. It's not quite all
roses and wine.
2. Never, never become a department chair, even an acting department
chair, unless you are a tenured full professor. Yes, it will reduce
your teaching load. Yes, it will give you visibility. Yes, you will
be the first person contacted by an outside firm seeking a consultant.
No, it will not confer power on you. The job carries with it some
onerous burdens. First and foremost is that most department chairs
do less research and publish less while in that position than they
would as a faculty member. Thus, you are producing less portable wealth
per year and you are reducing your chances for tenure or for promotion.
The service you perform does not get you tenure. Don't feel flattered
if the job is offered and you are pressured by the dean to accept
it. What is really going on is that there is no other viable candidate
who is willing to do it. If you must accept, realize that you are
in the same bargaining position as a new hire. The dean wants you
badly. Use the opportunity to obtain something in return. If you are
untenured, accept the job subject to the condition that tenure is
granted in the next academic year; if an associate professor, insist
on a promotion to full. Be clear beforehand that you will resign the
chair's job if the agreement is broken and, if it is (as is often
the case!) follow through. As the advertisement says, deans operate
on the principle "promise them anything but give them¡."
3. Be aware that the powers of a department chair are few. One of
us wrote down the seven absolute powers he had at a particular university.
The list was as follows:
" The right to attend meetings of the department chairs with
the dean.
" The right to chair meetings of the department.
" The right to interview candidates for department secretary.
" The right (subject to a few side conditions) to select which
classes he/she would teach personally and at which times.
" The right to approve (or disapprove) student petitions.
" The right to greet outside visitors to the department.
" The right to resign as chair.
4. You will spend a considerable amount of your time solving problems
given to you by your faculty colleagues. he faculty will want you
to obtain goodies for them (space, computers, research money, reduced
teaching loads, and on and on). On the other hand, the dean will want
you to act as a first line manager whose main role is to keep the
bastards down so they cause no trouble. The job is best characterized
by a line from Gilbert and Sullivan's Gondoliers: "But the privilege
and pleasure that we treasure beyond measure is to run a little errand
for the Ministers of State!"
5. You will learn a lot about bad management by observing the various
chairs, deans, and higher administrators. You will feel that any dolt
could do better than they do and you will often be right. At some
point, however, management may become real for you as you are asked
to become a department chair or an assistant dean. Now you have to
provide leadership and avoid the traps that your predecessors fell
into. Management is a discipline that you can study and learn. Those
people in the business school really do know something and what they
know about is leadership. Like teaching, leadership is a learnable
art.
6. If you do become chair, recognize that most students who come into
your office do so while in crisis. They are unhappy about a grade.
They want to be exempted from a course or an examination. They need
to explain to you that they did not cheat even though their term paper
was word for word identical to one submitted by another student last
year. You are the end of the line for them. You cannot throw them
out. You have to listen and be firm while at the same time being sympathetic.
It takes a strong stomach and a feeling for people.
7. Despite the foregoing caveats, being a department chair does have
some redeeming social values. If you have a vision of where you think
the future of the department lies, you have the ability as chair to
use moral suasion to move people in the direction you believe right.
Notice we use the term moral suasion, not power. You have to develop
a constituency for your ideas. In academia, Theory X management (I
tell, you do) does not apply. Japanese Theory Z management (nothing
happens until there is consensus) is the appropriate model.
8. If you are department chair, don't stay in the job too long. You
become a victim of your past decisions. You become locked into doing
what you have done before, whether that is still the appropriate thing
to do or not. Fortunately, unlike industry, you can keep pace if you
step down and work for someone who previously worked for you. When
you step down, don't second guess your successor(s) on every little
point. They, like you before them, need all the help they can get.
David Drew and Paul Gray are professors, respectively, of education
and information science at Claremont Graduate University.
Comments
All useful stuff, but it assumes the readership is American, or educated
there, and wants a job there. But readership of this site is international.
Tenure is not available in non-US universities, and this really needs
saying. Some of the changes mentioned in the article have already
happened in other countries - no bad thing. It is therefore unfortunate
that the recommendation is to not seek non tt jobs - that all there
is in other countries, and very sasisfying they can be.
Schuster and Finkelstein's data, if drawn from the national higher
ed. stats in the US, will indeed show erosion of tenure, last time
I calculated the percentages for 2004 - most interesting however is
to compare data with similar surveys in other countries, and particularly
with the more flexible arrangements found in Europe. SHows where the
US is heading - more flexibility but retention of employment rights
and long contracts.
SP, at 4:24 am EST on December 30, 2005
Advice, cont.
This sort of article is useful, but again, looks at research universities
only, not at small colleges/liberal arts institutions. Realities there
are very different. After 23 years of full-time teaching, I'm not
making $66,000- who is as an assistant professor??? The trouble with
having part-timers/adjuncts is that the tenured/tenure-track people
do all the work then, committee attendance, filling out the myriads
of bureaucratic busywork sent our way by administrators, etc. And
with any promotion, you receive a letter saying that they now expect
more of you! There are lots of good things too- esprit de corps, etc.,
but no more room here. Someone should look at a broader range of institutions.
What They Don't Teach You in Graduate School - Part IV
By David E. Drew and Paul Gray
In our first three lists of tips for an academic career, we covered
finishing the dissertation and finding the first job, offered an overview
of various academic responsibilities, and described career paths. In
our final installment, we turn to life an academic.
Related stories
" Hartnell College Strike Continues, Oct. 24
" The Aging Academic, Oct. 11
" Part Timers Say No to Union, Oct. 6
" Strike at Eastern Michigan, Sept. 5
" Prior Restraint on Speech?, July 26
Life as an Academic
1. Bad Deans can make your life miserable. Don't assume that because
the half-life of a dean is five years, you can outlast them. Get out
your r¨¦sum¨¦.
2. Never, ever choose sides in department politics. The side you are
on expects your support because they know they are right. They will
give you no reward for it. The side(s) you are not on remembers forever.
3. Never take a joint appointment, particularly as your initial appointment.
The chair of each department will assume that the other chair will take
care of you. Furthermore, at raise, promotion, and tenure times, each
department will judge you only on the papers or books in its own discipline.
4. Secretaries are a scarce resource. Treat them as such. Most universities
pay secretaries below market wages and expect them to gain psychic income
from the academic environment. They often work in physical space you
would not accept even as a graduate student. (We estimate the chance
that a secretary works in an office with a window is approximately one
in three.) By any standard, they are an exploited class. If you develop
a good relationship with them, they will work miracles for you. They
know every arcane administrative procedure needed to get things done.
They can say nice things about you to people who matter in the department.
If they don't like you, they can kill your reputation.
5. After years of being one, you know that research assistants and graders
are perceived as the sherpas of academe. Their role is to be as inconspicuous
as possible and carry the burdens as their professors climb the mountain
of knowledge. It is unfortunately true that many young professors rapidly
adopt the same attitude. Doing so is actually a mistake. Your students
learn from the feedback they receive, and graded papers are an important
feedback tool. Thus, you need to pay attention to which answers are
considered correct and what criteria are used for grading. In the case
of examinations, you should grade papers personally rather than delegating
the job. The examination is a form of communication, of feedback, between
the student and you. You find out what the students really know and
what principles and concepts did not get through to them. Similarly,
your research assistants require supervision. Having them take data
for your key experiment or survey instrument is appropriate but the
final responsibility for their output is yours. You have to know what
they are doing and how well they are doing it. Treat them with respect
and show them that they are valued. One way to do this is to be generous
in sharing authorship with them when they make contributions to your
research. In short, you have to teach them the research art. Remember
that a disgruntled grader or research assistant need not get mad at
you; they can easily get even.
6. Learn the idiosyncrasies of your institution's computer center. You
have a high probability of having to deal with the computer center,
even if you are in the humanities. Although a computer center is a service
organization, it is usually staffed by people who are not service oriented.
This attitude is particularly true of computer center directors. Treasure
the director who is service oriented. If not, your frustration level
will be high every time you approach the center. Some directors are
super security conscious. Like the librarian who believes that the best
place for a book is on the shelf, such a director wants to keep you
from actually using the center because you might not follow their arbitrary
rules.
7. Like the computer center, you have to deal with physical plant. They
are the people who create the services that you take for granted, be
they moving furniture or heating or changing light bulbs. Your first
contact will typically come when you move into your office. In our experience
in a number of universities, we have found three typical characteristics:
" Many people in physical plant are highly skilled craftspeople
who can do wondrous mechanical and electrical things. They know about
things you never learned.
" Physical plant is working on many jobs simultaneously. Although
your job is the one that you think is most important, it is only one
of many, some of which are emergencies.
" Physical plant charges departments for their services. Often
they need to charge quite a lot because the job is much more complex
than you realize. Be sure you have a big departmental budget available
before you call them in.
8. Join the faculty club, if you have one. You will usually be taken
there at some time during the interview process. If it is at all typical,
it will seem like a cross between your undergraduate dining hall and
the stuffy clubs you see on BBC mysteries. If you look around, it may
seem that it is the haven for the superannuated. Don't be deceived.
The faculty club can be one of your most important assets. It is a place
where you can meet with colleagues without interruptions of telephone
or students. People always feel better when they eat and will often
tell you things they would not otherwise reveal. In other words, it
is a good place to keep up with what is going on. Being seen there by
the older faculty in your department can be a plus since it shows you
want to fit in. You will be surprised to find that you can actually
have occasional intellectual discussions with people from other disciplines.
It is also a good place to impress visitors and students. The food,
of course, will rapidly become tedious.
9. At some institutions, office hours are sacred. You MUST be there
at the times you promise. At others, they are merely advisory. Know
what the situation is at your institution and follow local custom. In
general, you have to provide times certain for students when they can
contact you. Making appointments is one way. If you do make an appointment,
be sure to keep it. A reputation of not keeping appointments is as bad
as one of not returning e-mails.
10. The best fringe benefit that a professor receives is the sabbatical.
It is not, repeat not, a vacation. Here are some hints on what you should
do on your sabbatical:
" Do productive work.
" Use the time for reflection and for getting into new things.
" If at all feasible, leave town and never show your face at the
institution during the sabbatical. If you appear, you will be put to
work.
" Stay in touch with your dissertation students (you can do this
by e-mail or by meeting the students off campus).
" When your sabbatical is over, write a good report on what you
did so the administration will give you another one the next time you
are eligible.
And, of course, always apply for a sabbatical as soon as you are eligible.
Most institutions do not allow you to accumulate the time for future
use. If you wait an extra semester or two, you will never get the accumulated
time back.
11. Maintain collegiality. Collegiality is a difficult term to define.
It involves maintaining good social relations with the people in your
department and in related departments. If everyone in your department
has coffee in the lounge at 10 each morning, be there even if you only
drink mineral water. If someone asks you to cover a class for them or
review a draft of their latest paper or serve on a doctoral committee
they chair, do it. The web of obligations is two-sided and you will
receive reciprocal favors over time. Collegiality is one case where
the commitments, even though they take away from your research time,
have positive results. Don't be perceived as a loner or a misanthrope,
particularly by the senior faculty.
12. Be aware that as an academic you are a public person. Your students
spend 40 hours or more a semester doing nothing but looking at you while
you talk. This makes an indelible impression on them. You will find
that several years later when they approach you by name at a gathering
or in a public place they will expect you to remember them. You, of
course, usually will not. They will have changed in appearance and dress.
Some of them were lost in the crowd while in your classroom. The important
point is that your behavior is noticed when you least expect it.
13. We firmly believe that people should be free to express their views
on public issues, whether the views are mainstream or not. But, understand
that there are associated career risks. The conventional wisdom that
academics are free to say what they please may well have been a reason
why you chose your career. However, our observations of what really
goes on leads to a different "take" for untenured faculty.
No matter what your position on an issue, be it popular or unpopular,
for or against the environment, for or against gun control, once it
becomes known there are inevitably people who are on the other side
of that issue. They will consider your position a form of bad judgment
and they will hold it against you. Remember that people in academia
have long memories. Even if everyone in the department publicly espouses
the same cause you cannot be certain what position they take privately.
Consider something as seemingly safe as excoriating the oil company
whose tanker caused the latest oil spill. There will be people who consult
with the company or who are writing a corporate history or whose nephew
works for the company or who own 3000 shares of the company's stock.
Of course, once you achieve tenured full professor, the situation changes.
14. Get to know the people in development and support them. Most institutions
have one or more people on their staff whose job it is to obtain endowments
and other gifts, maintain relations with alumni, etc. Skilled, interactive
development offices can help in obtaining outside funding for you, for
your department, and for students, all of which improves your quality
of life. Be careful, however: Many development offices are horribly
inept. Their people are usually underpaid and in this world you get
what you pay for. They are fund raisers who know nothing about the academic
enterprise or what you do. You will have to educate them over and over.
You may have to work with colleagues to get them replaced if they are
extremely bad.
15. A corollary to working with development is to be responsive to your
alumni office. For most alumni, their college experience is the highlight
of their life and the old school tie is one of the few things they can
flaunt. They like to hear good things about their college because it
makes their degree more valuable. So, if you are asked to write something
for the alumni bulletin or give a speech, do it. Alumni can support
their old department in a variety of ways. If they know you, they can
support you from the outside at moments of crunch.
16. When you do something noteworthy let your college's public relations
department know and have them publicize it. When you publish a book,
win a prize, get elected to a professional society office, or do something
in the community, get them into the act. It has value to you because
it is one way for a lot of your colleagues across campus to find out
what a wonderful person you are. (They may even remember it at promotion
time!). It lets you brag to your chair and to the people in your department
without being obnoxious about it.
17. You may, at some point in your academic career become involved in
a student grievance. We are a litigious society, fueled in part by a
supply of lawyers and in part by demand for equal treatment under the
law. Fortunately, most universities and colleges set up grievance procedures
to handle disputes. We estimate that there is a 50 percent chance of
your being involved in a student grievance sometime during your academic
career. Typically these disputes are over grades, results of examinations,
acts of cheating, and the like. Sometimes they are the results of behavior
on your part that a student perceives as insulting or demeaning.
18. The last several years have seen the growth of sexual harassment
as a basis for complaint. You may wind up as the originator or the recipient
of such a complaint. The source may be a student, a staff member, or
another faculty member. Remember that harassment complaints can lead
to litigation in court. Your institution may or may not be supportive.
If it isn't, you can wind up spending large amounts on lawyers and court
fees. The best strategy is preventive. Here are a few things you can
do to protect yourself:
" Know and obey your institutions rules on harassment.
" Know what the procedures are for the offended party.
" Never meet with a student or faculty member of the opposite gender
behind a closed door.
" Never use language or examples that are sexually offensive.
19. You may become the grievant against your institution. Disputes can
arise over such issues as tenure, sabbatical entitlements, teaching
loads, outrageous treatment by department chairs or deans, salaries,
discrimination because of age, gender, or race, and more. The good news
is that most institutions have a grievance procedure. The bad news is
that people will remember the incident even when you are in the right
Some Final Thoughts
1. "The rich get richer" holds in academia as well as in society
in general. Once you establish a reputation, people will pursue you
to do things such as write papers, make presentations at prestigious
places, consult, etc. To reach this position you have to earn your reputation.
If you do reach it, remember that fame is transitory. You have to keep
running, doing new things, to keep the demand going. Those who read
these Hints will want your place!
2. A colleague of ours once told us: "Treat students as though
they are guests in your home." It is simple, sound advice. If you
carry nothing else away from these hints, remember this one.
David Drew and Paul Gray are professors, respectively, of education
and information science at Claremont Graduate University.
Comments
Getting Along
Great advice.
I think a lot of the separate pieces of advice can be summed up as "lear
how to get along with the other kids in the sandbox". In academia,
there are a lot of us who can use a bit more interpersonal fiber in
our diets. As a result, many of us tend to ignore the interpersonal
side of things. It's been my experience that good people skills can
make a huge impact on career advancement (whether in getting tenure
or in having mobility from school to school), while poor interpersonal
skills can kill you.
Also, read Boice's book, "Advice for New Faculty Members"
- it mentions many of these points, and should be an essential part
of every budding academic's bookshelf.
The Unknown Professor, at 8:27 am EST on January 13, 2006
I disagree with the first comment. Good interpersonal skills include
interest in others and openness toward and respect for others' opinions.
I haven't seen much value attributed to that in academia. Instead, it
seems more like what the authors imply: colleagues are frequently judgmental
and envious, and you need to be cautious, noncommittal, and on guard
to get ahead professionally. Where's the reward?
Friendly and untenured, at 9:42 am EST on January 13, 2006
Four Things
First, not that I have seen a secretary in years - they have all been
replaced by administrative assistants - Drew's and Gray's advice is
excellent. A well managed department will be run by administrative assistants
who "answer to" a chair who knows better than to meddle. For
assistance and, more important, for information - but not gossip - the
AA is likely to be your most reliable source.
Second, over the years I have had five different joint appointments
and I wouldn't have it any other way. My first post-Ph.D. position was
a joint appointment between Statistics and Political Science. Although
everything stated by D&G is true, ignore their advice. Go for it.
You may add to their caveats the fact that both departments will believe
- or at least act as though - they own three-fourths of your time ...
so don't even think of a joint appointment unless you're confident you're
one-and-a-half times "better" than your typical colleague.
Over the years I learned to negotiate joint appointments in which my
primary assignment was in one department - and everyone knew it - and
I spent my time and energy as I pleased. There is no rule that says
joint appointments must be 50-50. Of course you will have members of
both departments on any committee that makes decisions related to your
promotion and tenure.
Third - and this may be more important than anything in the D&G
article - get it on paper ... and save that paper forever.
You will discover that academic presidents, vice presidents for academic
affairs, and department chairs and heads will promise you the sun and
the stars, but once you're on the scene their memories are likely to
be as deficient as those of Enron executives. They can't remember a
damned thing ... "Oh, I'm sorry, that must have been a (your) misunderstanding"
A very professional and reliable colleague of mine described a former
dean of ours as a pathological liar ... and there was a queue of disgruntled
faculty more than pleased to affirm that assessment.
Oh, did I say GET IT ON PAPER!!!
Finally, and, above all else, relish every minute you get to interact
with your students. And have fun. If teaching - if education - can't
be fun, what's the point? You might as well go to work for Ford Motor
Company.
RWH, at 10:03 am EST on January 13, 2006
"Never meet with a student or faculty member of the opposite gender
behind a closed door."
Yes, this is a way to protect yourself. But it's also deeply problematic.
If you meet with same-gender but not opposite-gender students behind
a closed door, you're defining your teaching and advising differently
for men and women. And whether you have a gender-differentiated rule
or an open-door-always rule, you're denying [at least some] students
the ability to ask confidential questions or to admit emotional difficulty
with their dissertations or... or... or... . What are you really going
to say when a distraught or discreet opposite-gender advisee appears
at your office door and asks whether he or she can talk to you in private?
Finally, note that, since most faculty in most disciplines are men,
it specifically disadvantages women students if they are effectively
barred from having fully confidential conversations with faculty advisors.
anonymous, at 11:43 am EST on January 13, 2006
anonymous said, "What are you really going to say when a distraught
or discreet opposite-gender advisee appears at your office door and
asks whether he or she can talk to you in private?"
I tell them the same thing I tell students of the same gender - I never
meet with students behind closed doors. Period.
If they come in and close the door, I tell them to open it, and reiterate
my policy.
That way, if there ever was a complaint, one of my defenses is that
it is well known that this is my policy.
Unfortunately, this causes a problem with the student who has a sensitive
manner to discuss. So, I tell them to speak softly and, if there are
other students waitning outside my door, I tell them to give us some
space (and to come back in 10 minutes.
It's not a perfect solution, but it's a trade-off that's sadly necessary
in todays litigious world. IMO, I think it's worth it.
The Unknown Professor, at 12:06 pm EST on January 13, 2006
Closed Doors
I strongly oppose the idea that a professor should only meet with an
opposite-gender student (or any student) with doors open. Not only is
it sexist, but it's nonsensical. Yes, we are a litigious society, but
I don't know of any professor individually sued for sexual harassment.
Some professors have faced hearings or punishment for sexual harassment,
but rarely does it involve a conversation behind closed doors of a "he
said, she said" variety-because there is insufficient evidence
to prove it. If a student wants to invent false charges, he/she can
also invent a closed door. On the other, a professor may be more vulnerable
to harassment by having an open door and saying something that gets
heard by a passerby out of context. So, whether you like closed or open
doors, do what you want, and pay absolutely no attention to fears about
sexual harassment.
John K. Wilson, at 2:15 pm EST on January 13, 2006
Closed doors
Oooooo, shudder.
I have mediated with several same gender individuals: student/faculty,
staff/faculty, junior faculty/senior faculty. Do NOT listen to John
Wilson about doing what you want.
Always work with individuals as a professional, caring but cautious.
A tape recording of one interview with a mad student saved me a lot
of grief.
If you are concerned about confidentiality, inform your "client"
that no names will be used during the interview, but that you have no
AA/secretary/student worker/etc. for clerical assistance, you ALWAYS
tape interviews to help you type up interview notes at a later time.
PS If you hug clients/students/colleagues, hug 'em all.
Dr. F. Gump, Muckraking Provost at Upper Midwest Mental Institute, at
2:54 pm EST on January 13, 2006
All Talk??
Wow!! I bet that class is boring--here the professor ramble. What is
teaching?
mike, at 5:02 am EST on January 14, 2006
open doors bug other professors
I never leave doors open when talking with students or faculty of either
gender, because doing so would cause us to annoy all the other people
on our floor with our loud voices. And even when the conversation is
not about particularly sensitive matters, I don't think students or
faculty members enjoy having the whole department listen in. I can see
how open doors might be safer, but it's really not worth the inconvenience.
I haven't had problems so far (knock on the wood of my closed door).
female professor, at 2:43 pm EST on January 16, 2006
If other folks are bothered they can shut their doors. The key reason
to keep doors open is that it reassures students that they're 100% safe,
and that may sound like a silly worry but there's a lot of abuse out
there in the society at large. A secondary reason is to protect yourself.
This should apply to students of any gender - I wouldn't make the distinction
the main article does. If a student requests a closed door you can decide
whether that's a good idea or not.
careful, at 2:02 pm EST on January 17, 2006
Join the faculty club?
C'mon. Join the faculty union. If there isn't one, organize one. Then
you won't have to worry as much about bad deans, deciding whether to
leave your door open on the basis of both your penislessness and that
of the person who wants to talk to you, or the desirability and/or safety
of expressing your own opinion about anything at all.
Sheeesh.
Being nice to the secretaries IS good advice, though.
Philip, at 10:57 am EST on January 18, 2006
As a graduate student I thoroughly appreciate the advice. I found out
very quickly that the secretaries run the office. By creating a friendly
relationship with them my life on campus has been very smooth. They
know everyone and everything!
Graduate Instuctor, at 4:21 am EST on January 23, 2006
Male Professors Are in a Different Position
Many great pieces of advice in the column. I wish I'd heard some before
I learned on-the-job.
Regarding the "female professor" who hasn't had complaints:
no kidding. Is she aware of the difference between the numbers of cases
brought against males vs. females? Grounded or not, it would seem that
a mere accusation, whether or not it goes to court, would certainly
be reputation-damaging, expensive, and disheartening. I leave the door
open, and if students have "intimate" matters to discuss,
I direct them toward the counselors who are trained to discuss and assist
with sensitive matters.
Jeff Grieneisen, Instructor, at 3:55 pm EST on January 27, 2006
Communications and PR
In addition to establishing good relationships with the alumni and development
office, don't forget the communications or PR office. While you may
be "too noble" for publicity, letting the communications office
know about stellar research, "big" papers, or potential controversies
concerning work may not only help you but your department, school, or
university. Plus, learning how to be media savvy and how to translate
your work to a broad audience will help you in other areas. When well
done, media attention celebrates the contributions of academics (and
students) to the wider world - excellent for fostering relationships
with the local community and for raising the profile of the institution.
Most important, let the communications folks know if media contact you
(it's rarely a good idea to go it alone unless you have worked with
reporters, etc. before). Finally, if you see a problem brewing (controversial
work, etc.) that might "get out" to the local paper and beyond
... tell someone in communications ASAP. It is about more than spin
control, especially when the public face of an institution is at stake.
Finally, while I have no doubt that administrators are good and bad
at every university, keep in mind, that to some extent they keep the
place running - that means everyone from the facilities crew chief to
the VP of development. They work hard - not all the lights on past 7PM
are those of faculty members.
Michael Patrick Rutter, Communications Manager at Harvard, at 12:25
pm EST on January 31, 2006
To the person who wrote "get it on paper", where were you
before I signed my contract in June?? OMG, deans and dept. chairs are
*pathological* liars; it seems to be a requirement for the job. So,
if you're promised a special start-up package and certain promises don't
make it into the written contract, either do not sign it or accept that
you will not get what you were promised. Period. I wouldn't believe
my dean or dept. chair if either told me the sun was shining, until
I checked for myself.
Never in a million years, Get in on paper at Large Underfunded University
(LUU), at 5:00 pm EST on January 31, 2006
|