April 5, 2006

The Gen X Professor

It may seem like just a few years ago that college professors were being told that they needed to understand the values of their Generation X students if they were going to reach them. With the student population now made up of Millennials, it’s time for colleges to recognize that some of those Gen Xers (you know, the ones people thought were destined for tenure only at the Gap) are now joining college faculties.

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Cathy A. Trower, co-principal investigator of the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education, a major Harvard University research project, outlined some of her findings on these Gen X professors Tuesday at the annual conference of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining, a research center of the City University of New York’s Hunter College.

On issue after issue — from workload, to how research should be conducted, to the preferred structure of tenure reviews — Gen X faculty members have radically different ideas about higher education should work, Trower said. And these younger faculty members are willing to give up both money and prestige to find institutions that provide “a good fit,” Trower said, potentially changing the way colleges recruit and strive to retain faculty talent.

Trower’s generation gap work is an outgrowth of her work on the push from younger faculty members for policies that are more “family friendly” and the anger many younger scholars feel over the way tenure standards have gotten so much tougher in recent years — and are frequently presided over by senior scholars who couldn’t meet those standards today. While looking at what she called “a culture clash of generations” doesn’t make those issues go away, it helps explain some of those tensions.

So what are the key ways that Gen X faculty members differ from their more senior counterparts? Trower’s research is based both on focus groups and surveys of professors in the older “boomer” generation and the Xers, for whom Trower uses birth years of 1965-1980.

On the pivotal issue of tenure, she found profound differences. The older generation (Trower says these professors have “embedded” views) thinks that strict confidentiality is the best way to get honest analyses of candidates, which in turn will result in only the best candidates getting tenure. Gen Xers (or as Trower calls them, “emergent” professors), however, are deeply skeptical of such procedures and tend to value transparency as the key to avoiding unfairness or bias.

Gen Xers see the process for getting tenure as something like “archery in the dark,” and want the process opened up.

Beyond questions of openness, the generations differ on how tenure should be granted, Trower said. Embedded professors see research as the key factor, value research done individually over group projects, and see an “almost Darwinian struggle” in the process in which the competition results in the best possible departments. The younger generation, in contrast, is more likely to value the teaching component of an academic career, perceives collaborative research as a good thing, and sees little gain in hypercompetitive departments. Trower stressed that the younger generation is not trying to avoid hard work, and will in fact embrace hard work, but on a new model.

Still there is the question of how much work should be required for tenure. Embedded faculty members believe that “serious scholars chose work over all else,” while emergent professors believe there is more to life than work. In some cases, this belief is because these scholars are more likely to be women, or to have young children.

But Trower stressed that this dichotomy was present even among Gen X professors without kids or partners. “They want to have a life,” she said. “This is not a gender or race issue. White men also want to have a balance.”

There are important implications from these differences on efforts to reform tenure and faculty life, Trower said. For example, her center at Harvard has for several years now been trying to push the idea of “tenure by objectives.” In such a system, faculty members would be informed as they move through their careers that they had, for example, demonstrated the level of teaching required or had a sufficient publishing record or were demonstrating a good level of service. Likewise, they would be informed of shortcomings, in time to do something about them.

Under such a system, a tenure candidate might know by year four that he or she was in good shape (or not), and know exactly where weaknesses existed. This would remove the subjectivity and mystery about the process, Trower said, adding that Gen X faculty members want “clarity” above all in the tenure process.

It’s not just administrators who need to pay attention to these demands, Trower said, but faculty unions as well. While the American Association of University Professors has indicated that it will be flexible about things like the tenure clock, Trower said “more flexibility” is needed. Even if faculty groups have good reasons for wanting tenure reviews done on a precise time frame, such rules are the sort of inflexibility that Gen Xers reject, she said.

While colleges have not rushed to institute “tenure by objectives,” Trower said that she thought tenure reforms being considered by the Modern Language Association — including a move away from using the traditional monograph as the main measure of research quality — demonstrated that academics were starting to take Gen X concerns seriously.

Trower noted that another key quality about Gen Xers generally, including those in the academy, is that they don’t have the patience of their elders. Gen X faculty members are less likely to see inherent value in staying at one institution for a long time, or to give administrators lots of time to work on reforms. As a result, she said, senior faculty members and administrators can’t assume they will hold on to their Gen X talent — unless they start to rethink policies that make no sense to the members of that generation.

— Scott Jaschik

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Comments

Hide the ball?

Engaging reading on well-meaning research. My two cents:

In an environment — so poorly led, organized, and managed that the four-year graduation rate averages 70% — is it any wonder, the “rules” seem to get “made up,” day to day? Any other organization run like that would go bankrupt in months.

How does one get “clarity” from chaos? Every day, the mistakes get buried in bureaucracy and paperwork. But, of course, everything is just perfect in the truth-seeking academy — just ask the college public relations departments.

As to a “good fit” — when, as noted recently in IHE, a TT philosophy position in San Diego drew more than 350 applicants — could anyone involved scientifically explain how the “winner” was selected? They could try — and a million social scientists could critique that finding, ad infinium.

Those who can leave, may leave. Those who can’t, will secretly thank their lucky stars that they won the “TT lottery” and attack the Spellings Commission on Higher Ed attempts at assessment for “lack of clarity.”

A.D., at 7:55 am EDT on April 5, 2006

“Having a life” may be fine for humanities faculty. It would be dangerous for our country if that culture became the norm in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering faculties. In those fields we have to compete against a world where that culture does not exist. We cannot afford to fall behind. We are already in trouble, barely keeping up while working to the max.An “embedded professor".

embedded professor, at 8:25 am EDT on April 5, 2006

With all respect to the embedded professor above, the problem with having fallen behind in math and sciences has nothing to do with the number of hours put in by math, science, and engineering faculty. It has everything to do with the culture in which kids are being raised today, in which being smart and having skill in math and science is seen as anathema, a social kiss of death. The best defense against this culture is not professors, but parents — active, involved parents who teach their kids to love learning and to value hard work starting when kids are young. Then we’ll have an army of young men and women really equipped to take up the scientific challenges of the next 100 years. Ironically, the suggestion that math/science professors shouldn’t have lives eliminates precisely this possibility with their (my) own kids.

Working an extra 20 hours per week and eschewing the raising of my kids isn’t going to solve the problem, embedded prof(s).

Robert, TT mathematics prof with a life, at 9:30 am EDT on April 5, 2006

Reaping the Harvest...

As a member of the “Silent Generation” who has the privilege of long term intuitive observation, we are now reaping the harvest of the protesting sixties generation whose value systems (or lack thereof) were implanted unconsciously in their children, the Gen Xer’s by role model and action.

These children, the Gen Xer’s, are now seeking the same lack of discipline in their chosen fields and want the “job” to be given to them without the effort expended.

Likewise, their pampered chldren, the “Net Generation” are seeking a value system with “structure and discipline” in their lives that a higher education offers, but not finding it. Therefore, they are casting about in all directions trying to find what their parents threw away. Given that the proper value system will emerge through their continued searching and with contact and collaboration with those dastardly “embedded” professors, there is hope for this country’s future. I have a lot of confidence in these “net gens” to turn things around.

Edward Winslow, A tired “Retired” BusinessProfessor, at 9:40 am EDT on April 5, 2006

Generations

Ever since the media of the 1960s defined generations as some sort of collective force, we’ve had to listen to decades of claptrap about boomers, Xers, and now Millennials. The search for a generational zeitgeist was a waste of time in the 1960s (when most kids opposed, or were indifferent to, the Vietnam protests and the hippie “movement"), the 1980s (when so-called “slackers” worked every bit as hard as their elders did at the same age), and today.

The complaints raised by “Generation X” in this article are simply the complaints common to all junior faculty. Young faculty have always resented the fact that they are held to higher standards than their senior peers (without understanding that this is generally a good thing). Assistant professors always talk about the importance of lifestyle issues over prestige, in part to deflect their fears about never achieving that prestige, and in part because young people with young families tend to think in those terms.

Once the 30-something generation earns tenure and the other benefits that come from seniority, they’ll become invested in the system and sing its praises. Just like everyone in preceding generations did. And in a few years, they’ll start wondering why their young “Millennial” colleagues are always whining about how tough the tenure and promotion standards have become.

Yawn, at 10:00 am EDT on April 5, 2006

Embedded Professor’s perspective is clearly representative of Trower’s argument, as is mine. I do not believe that the answer is for faculty in engineering and the “hard sciences” to be overworked. Rather, we need to make changes designed to increase the number of quality faculty in those areas, thus creating a more balanced work load for everyone. If being highly over-worked is the status quo, is there any reason that fewer people from Gen X are choosing those fields?

Gen X prof, at 10:00 am EDT on April 5, 2006

Amazing

On the comments by embed and Robert — amazing. Discussion about tangible achievement, not endless arguments about academic politics. Different!

There are cultural issues, yes. However, being a geek, I can say that it can be OK to be a geek. Especially if you can fix the homecoming court’s PCs. Then, you’re amazing.

Parents? Of course. Anyone who doesn’t think there is a correlation between a 40% divorce rate and personal problems in the U.S. is delusional. Being single without children, I see the problems of students without parents — they can be 2x, 3x of those with parents. Finances, for starters — there is very little disagreement, divorce negatively affects the finances of all family members (e.g., court costs).

This is not to say there should not be divorces. Just don’t think there can’t be big challenges for those who deal with the children of divorce. There is — I and a lot of others have dealt with them.

Long hours? Asians do them. In their cultures, you have fathers who work overseas for many years to support their families. They can be relentless. Perhaps not as creative — but they are very, very quick.

Math = long hours? Per Howard Gardner’s “multiple intelligences,” there are those who seem naturally good at math and get the work done quickly. Then, there are those colleges that seem to serve math up like food in a cafeteria, and non-math types flounder.

It is innovative methods, like statistics programs at Ohio State (six one-credit modules, instead of two three-credit modules), that have the best chance to reachnon-math types. These new approaches are perhaps the USA’s best hope for achieving tangible results.

A.D., at 10:10 am EDT on April 5, 2006

Post Script

[I know lazy, inconsiderate, angry, comical, intelligent, disciplined, and intuitive people of every age, and so do you.]

Gen-Xer, at 10:10 am EDT on April 5, 2006

“Fall Behind” Whom?

The concept of “falling behind” is rooted in competition, and the author points out that we value collaboration. If I can work with ANY high-quality scholar (from any country or region, discipline, or social, political or religious ideology—even one significantly older or younger), all of humanity “wins". Gen-Xers are redefining what it means to be “the best". (I imagine less than 1% of knowledge workers at all levels are actually studying items imperative to national security. Can anyone confirm?)

From my observation, those born in the first third of the twentieth century believed ingenuity would solve our problems, while the middle third favored education and research as that mechanism. The youngest third seems to think infusing humanitarianism will do the trick. None is incorrect, only incomplete.

Gen X-er, at 10:10 am EDT on April 5, 2006

STEM faculty isn’t any different

Agreeing with Robert, the problems with science are not at all related to number of hours worked, but the issue of family-friendliness makes a big impact on recruiting and retaining diverse populations to academe. Robert brings up one of many cultural issues that dissuade people from pursuing a career in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math. Another facet is the expectation of prolonged non-tenure-track positions as a stepping stone to a desired position. Not having a safety net for years in grad school or as a potdoc to feel comfortable to have a family or to care for their parents takes a toll on a school’s ability to recruit faculty for whom these issues are on the horizon.

This situation is further aggravated when the number of tt slots is relatively stagnant relative to the number of postdocs who are vying to fill them. Training has been so focused on academe that very few of these scientists are prepared for a career outside of academe. But they see that such a career offers not only more money but more sensitivity to family concerns.

Just because we have family concerns (whether it’s to take care of our ailing parents or family members or having to pick up the kids from childcare or school early) does not mean that we are not committed to high-quality research or to a career in academe. Besides, one reason why some of us were attracted to academe was the perceived amount of flexibility these careers offered (we don’t punch in a clock, but we measure our duties and tasks in terms of projects to complete). We don’t see why the unwritten rules do not allow for this flexibility.

Assistant Professor X, Aspiring professor and administrator, at 10:10 am EDT on April 5, 2006

having a life

I was a tenured “gen-x” professor at the older end of the spectrum (born 1967). I put in the long hours to get tenure, I neglected having a life to do so, and there was a lot of pressure from my university to continue “not having a life” indefinitely. The tenure gold proved to be gold-plated and incompatible with having a partner and a family. That is why I left academics. I make more money now then I did as a scholar, I have said partner and family, and my life is much better. I even still publish in academic journals, but now I do it for me, not to put a line on the c.v. for a tenure committee...much more satisfying that way. Supply-and-demand means there are more Ph.Ds than academic jobs, but as life in the academy gets more and more intolerable, let us hope grad students and Ph.Ds wake up and realize life outside the ivory tower can be a lot nicer than within it. I also hope the Gen-Xers make some changes in the academy to ensure its health and vitality.

Amber, at 10:25 am EDT on April 5, 2006

Can’t agree more

My husband (also a Gen X prof) and I were having this very discussion on our way to work today. I’m forwarding this article to everyone from my PhD program — and his. We thrive on hard work, as is evidenced by our willingness to pursue PhDs after comfortable — and cushy — corporate careers that paid a lot more. What we don’t respect is the “I had to deal with it, so you do, too” mentality. If we see the opportunity for positive change, let’s embrace it — for our benefit, but also for the benefit of our students and universities. Happy professors are good professors are stable professors.

Gen X prof, at 10:45 am EDT on April 5, 2006

Doctor, Heel Thyself

Professor Winslow’s “intuitions” about “Gen X” are no match for historical fact and logical rhetoric.

The young persons going to college these days were born after 1985. The children of the “protest generation” have mostly passed through the system. Let’s see, if I can offer the same kind of intuitive projection: maybe the college students we teach now have values stemming from the Reagan years, where business acumen—based in Me Generation self-interest, trickle-down economics, and talking the talk instead of walking the walk—has invaded the psyches of their children, making the new generation way too focused on getting their “slice of the pie,” and not on focusing on the difficult process of learning the skills that it takes to be a true professional.

And what were the one-in-five of us who comprised the “protest generation” protesting? Accountability from government, an unjust and immoral war, equality for black persons and women, corporate welfare. Imagine our country never having those protests—and never having the subsequent changes that they urged.

As for academic standards, if Prof. Winslow would take my very stringent writing course, he would be able to detect a dangling modifier (sentence one), generalizing beyond a point-of-view (about two groups), and considering personal “intuition” tantamount to responsible research. Maybe today’s students need more “structure and discipline” because the rhetoric and opinion of some professors lack such qualities?

Abby H, at 10:45 am EDT on April 5, 2006

One More Time

The alleged “Greatest Generation” made the same complaints about the Baby Boomers. I suspect this tradition goes back to Adam and Eve, or maybe even back to Lucy. In my experience, those talking the most about how hard they work are either disorganized or exaggerating how hard they work. Take it all with a grain of salt.

JD, at 11:25 am EDT on April 5, 2006

Fine for humanities professors?

Interesting cut on Humanities profs, who are busting butt correcting some of the crummiest writing assignments ever produced by (gulp!) math and science majors. Maybe if children weren’t so busy being couch potatoes watching TV and playing video games, but instead reading books and learning about the world around them, we would not be bringing up such self-centered little trites who have no work ethic whatsoever. There’s a reason for Humanities profs — to keep science in line with ethics. We would be a more dangerous loss, I am afraid.

Alysha Gray, Associate Professor, at 11:35 am EDT on April 5, 2006

The tenure process is the one area that the university has not banned hazing. The tenure process resembles nothing so much as it does the kind of hazing that fraternity and sorority pledges were placed through: a series of tasks required for membership by members who could not do those tasks themselves. Each generation, once they get the “pin” and are a member of the club, then adds their own little bit of torture for the next cohort or generation to accomplish.

Finally, our illiteracy in mathematics is due to the horrendous quality of math teaching, not due to researchers slacking off in their research for the sake of a “life". It is the incongruous idea that the solitary work in a lab translates into effective communication of a subject that is essentially symbolic logic that has left several generations mathematically and scientifically illiterate.

Mick, at 12:00 pm EDT on April 5, 2006

We Gen-X’ers are the children of the 80s—we grew up in the era of Potemkin prosperity and made for TV wars. Is it any wonder that many perceive us as cynical? We are also, overwhelmingly, the children of divorce, which may explain why so many of us place such emphasis on finding balance between work and family life. Finally, just because the market in many fields allows tenure standards to be ratcheted constantly upward doesn’t mean that this is in the interest of academe or society. Of course tenure standards should be demanding, but all work and no play makes for a dull professor, and one less likely to be able to relate to students.

Gen X Associate Prof, at 12:15 pm EDT on April 5, 2006

The Process of Socialization

As usual, this study adds nothing to my knowledge except to confirm what I have observed. Now, why has this generation developed the following values?

The younger generation, in contrast, is more likely to value the teaching component of an academic career, perceives collaborative research as a good thing, and sees little gain in hypercompetitive departments. Trower stressed that the younger generation is not trying to avoid hard work, and will in fact embrace hard work, but on a new model.

Given what many GenXer’s experienced in growing up (reduced influence of parents due to two working parents/divorce, daycare, more structured environments/less structured time, and lack of neighborhood communities. What I see is that the, “I” in public cannot exist unless there is the, “we” in private. GenXer’s did not have this to the extent that Baby boomers did. So that they seek the, “we’ in public is not surprising.

Hoosier, IUPUI, at 12:20 pm EDT on April 5, 2006

About the Hypercompetiveness

Being a “Boomer” — I can understand how the Gen “Xers” feel about what has happened — both in academia and in the business world. While I can’t speak for the academic world — being a former ad agency owner — what has happened to many of us that has focused completely on work at the sacrifice of family has been horrible.

Heck, working some 70-90 hours a week to keep my business going and growing cost me both health and nearly cost me my family. I re-thought my priorities and realized that the do everything for work just did not work. I agree with where the Gen “Xers” are going on this. Get a life is probably where we “Boomers” lost out on. Now I am back in school working towards my PhD. in clinical psychology and with several “Xers” as my professors.

Life is about balance — not one-sided. I can understand where some may think that we have to compete with the Asians and the rest of the world. We can still compete and have balance. While hard work is okay — it shouldn’t be at the expense of what life is really all about, don’t you think? My cousins in Japan (yes, I’m part Japanese) felt a ton of stress on having to compete throughout their whole lives just to get into the best schools (and this was at the K-12 levels). They really never felt a sense of accomplishment later in life. They never did anything for themselves — only for what their parents wanted.

Again, it’s about balance.

Any thoughts?

Bob

Bob Choat, at 4:25 pm EDT on April 5, 2006

Context is all

As an “in-betweener” (neither baby boomer nor Gen Xer) who has bounced from institution to institution, and whose personal life has suffered greatly, I see little value in discussing attitudinal changes in terms of generational cohorts. As Yawn and others have noted, one cannot compare the increased pressure, expectations and employment insecurities (e.g., tenured spots lost to contract and temporary positions) of academe today with its practice 20-40 years ago.

The past two decades enrolled more students than in the past, but they were often poorly prepared were college work. My humanistic discipline has fragmented into several niches in the brief time since I graduate (late 1990s). Standards and requirements for tenure shifted on a yearly basis at my last institution, and seemed to be tied directly to their rise and fall in the U.S. News and World Report rankings.

This is not to downplay the emphasis on collaborative work and the “healthy” lifestyle, but these too represent the result of academic research in mental and physical health, as well as underlying social factors.

The call for more transparency seems a historical inevitability in the post-Enron, etc., era; academia is no less corrupt than its more overtly commercial counterparts.

in-betweener, Assistant Professor, at 5:20 pm EDT on April 5, 2006

The Work-Life Balance

In contemporary society, argues Zygmunt Bauman “work is the normal state of all humans; not working is abnormal.” Life has come to mean: work. The notion of ‘having a life’ as something opposed or next to ‘work’ is an illusion. Especially for academic work, which does not necessarily stop at 5pm (nor does it start at 9am for that matter); new ideas or insights don’t mesh well with a neatly structured workday.

That said, ‘tenure’ is one of the last remainders of the solid modern factory system, more or less guaranteeing lifelong employment — which is for many if not most people a thing of the past. The mantra today is ‘workforce flexibility’, which seems nice (freedom of choice, career control in the hands of the worker), but adds a permanent element of uncertainty to one’s ‘work-style’ (as supplementing ‘lifestyle’).

This survey shows how among my fellow GenX (me = 1969) colleagues there is a huge buy-in to what Richard Sennett described as “the culture of the new capitalism", in which world the largest employers BY FAR are: temp agencies.

My point:

- As a GenX-er I do value cross-disciplinary & collaborative research — but find that the older generation has fortified itself in discipline-dogmatic ‘peer-reviewed’ journals blindly dismissing submissions that challenge the status quo.

- As a GenX-er I do value (publishing) research but find that university management is primarily interested in massifiying higher education to generate income for their Athletics Departments, so instead of building theory I am grading 300+ exams.

- As a GenX-er not from the U.S. I sincerely appreciate the TT system because it gives me something (like the ‘Habilitation’ in Germany) to focus on, but find myself lost in discussions with my elders about what counts as a ‘top-tier’ publication: in their mind, NOT the one published for free only thus read by tens of thousands and accessible by our colleagues in less fortunate areas of the world — they want me to submit to dogmatic, pastoral, iterative print publications affiliated with dusty Old White Males-dominated associations that have 500 subscribers, 490 of which are libraries.

Mark, at 7:15 pm EDT on April 5, 2006

I was born in 1970, and have always thought the Gen-Ex label to be too artificial to be useful. I am now a tenured Associate Professor, and felt the tenure process at my university—controlled by much older professors—to be clear and fair. This article, in addition to the other one on how unhappy professors are, leaves me mystified. I like the job, like the challenges and stimulation, but also spend a lot of time at home with my wife and two kids. Seeing my colleagues, I know I am not unusual in that regard.

GW, at 7:20 pm EDT on April 5, 2006

This piece described my first experience as a new Assistant Professor (b. 1965) perfectly. I left a more prestigious university for a family friendly one with a younger generation across the board. After five frustrating years of embedded professors who would not and could not listen to our ideas for change, I decided that I was the one who needed to change by leaving them to drool over their 20-25 year old models (for tenure, for teaching, for service, and for scholarship). And I was just one semester away from applying for tenure. I tried to explain, for example, that they did not have to labor over web pages, or grading programs, or WebCt/Blackboard, or all things technological when they were working towards tenure. Or that it now really does not matter how many libraries subscribe to the journal that just published my article because it’s available on-line anyway through portals like Project Muse. Or that on-line publishing is a valid research outlet. Or that perhaps we, as new Ph.D.’s, are actually much closer to the trends in our disciplines since we just took cutting edge courses with brilliant scholars at major research universities. And my pre-tenure reviews were so ridiculously secretive. One senior colleague would hide my materials in her office and then actually lose them for weeks on end because not even she could find them! And when we (there were four Gen X Profs. but two of us left) tried to suggest that we need to revise the tenure requirements to more accurately reflect the university’s employment contract and handbook, well, all hell broke loose. Evil smackdown with retaliatory behavoir, fists slamming on tables, threats, and secret meetings behind closed doors to plot our collective downfall. Please give me a break. I got a life and no longer work on the weekends. My husband and daughter are thrilled. And if I’m not mistaken, it’s been two years and the embedded profs. are still trying to find my replacement. Gee. I wonder why?

olivia, at 4:35 am EDT on April 6, 2006

Interesting article, good points, just doesn’t matter.

The Boomer professors over-produced PhD’s, making sure the vast majority of faculty will be “mini-mes,” unquestioning clones of the system.

OutofHigherEd, at 6:10 am EDT on April 6, 2006

some perspective

as someone who barely qualifies for the category of embedded prof (born 1964), my observation at my research university has been that assistant profs are probably held to somewhat higher standards than faculty who were tenured 10 or 15 years ago. yet, at the same time, they are treated better, as assistants, than we were. their teaching loads are lighter, they get more official feedback on their progress (a system put in place to avoid lawsuits over tenure, no doubt), they get pre-tenure semester sabbaticals to finish their books, we discourage them from doing any committee work and from prepping lots of new classes, and we protect them from grad student advising. none of this was in place during my pre-tenure period. so it does not feel to me as though we are hazing them—it feels as though we are trying to give them a better life than we had.

bonnie, at 10:07 am EDT on April 6, 2006

Expectations are outrageous with small rewards

My belief is that assistant professors have never worked harder (as pertains to engineering and science). When I first started, the expectations were 10 journal papers and 100K per year of grant money. Teaching should be adequate. Six years later, they want 15+ journal papers and 400-600K per year. Talking to embedded professors, they never had this type of expectation.

I worked in industry and the “real world” for 5 years and it was much easier. You knew the goals and you worked 5 days a week. In academia, I work 7 days a week and have chose it over my life. I counsel students to go to industry and not academia.

I am now bringing in 400K per year but on large collaborative grants. How else can you bring in this type of money? Half of which goes to the embedded bureacracy to grade the younger professors.

Academia has become a big business run by presidents who have no accountability. I suggest people should choose a teaching university that cares about students over a research 1 organization.

assistant professor, at 2:15 pm EDT on April 8, 2006

having a life?

Maybe too many of us got into academia and there are too many of us new phds or abds running around...but the fact is, we will have published more, presented more, and read and written more by the time we go on the job market than most of the “embedded” profs have completed in their whole careers. Seems that the older generations like to fault us for being slackers or whiners, but to be even remotely competitive in this market (especially the humanities)we have to be anything BUT slackers and whiners. I could also bring up the fact that most “embeds” are white males who, b/c of the generational differences, don’t even iron their own shirts. We “newbies"—of both genders—have to balance our “life” with our career. If this is “slacking", why am I so tired???

sucker for punishment, grad student, at 5:25 am EDT on August 14, 2006

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X-Ray Diffraction Facility Director
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina is seeking a director for our Macromolecular X-Ray Crystallography Facility (non-tenure ... see job