Game On. The job hunt has begun.

(Guest post from anonymous blogger. YMMV.)

It’s appropriate that my first post is written today as it is also the day that I am submitting my very first academic job application. It would have been better if I could have written a post prior to this to introduce myself a bit, you know, provide a little context, but like so many of you out there, I am a procrastinator.

I suppose I should be more clear: I am incredibly busy with professional and personal projects; I stay up late, get up early, get distracted, and yes also find myself watching videos of baby goats for hours. Sometimes it is hard to get it all done in advance.  So now you know.  Considering that I am blogging anonymously, I suppose the less you know about me the better.

Here’s what you should know about me: First, I am on the job market this year. It’s my first year out there and I am scared. I think this is pretty typical and I hope to talk about this more in a future post. Second, this is a test year on the market. What does that mean? Well, I guess it means that I am getting my feet wet, testing the waters if you will. I could finish my dissertation this year and dive into a postdoc or swim off after the sparkly narwhal that is a job right out of the gates, but I have my water wings on. If it doesn’t work out, I can float around in my university’s pool until kids’ swim is over about a year and a half from now. Why does this matter? Because it changes the way I apply for jobs. Only being ABD and not having my PhD in hand means I can shoot for the moon but I’ll probably just land on that smelly hunk of cheese in the dumpster behind the department.

Taking a test year on the market is a contentious topic in the academic blogosphere and seems to depend a lot on your field (for some links to what’s out there scroll on down to the bottom). There are good points on both sides, which I will summarize as such:

Cons:

• Committees sometimes summarily dismiss all ABD candidates so you don’t stand a chance. This seems more common in the humanities and less so in the social sciences and bioanth in particular but it is something to keep in mind.
• A trial run can be demoralizing (since you may not be at your most competitive).
• You are taking valuable time and energy away from finishing your dissertation and your post-doc and write up applications (things which you may have a better shot at getting).
• You might get a job that isn’t quite what you wanted, isn’t in a place that you wanted, or maybe isn’t as good as you wanted and take it because . . . well it’s a job.

Pros:

• You will gain valuable experience in preparing an application.
• You may even generate some buzz about yourself and get experience with a job talk.
• It will force you to think about your research in a package-able and ultimately more manageable way.
• You have a chance to gain important insights into the weaknesses of your application and can address them for your second go at the market the following year.
• You may actually get a job . . . I hear this is great motivation to finish.
• You can avoid getting steamrolled by student loans without a real salary and the adjunct death trap altogether.

This last point for me is pretty critical. Not because it is my situation just yet, but because it is a pretty dire one that a lot of academics are finding themselves in today. By taking a test year, you give yourself a greater shot at getting a job. You maintain the benefits of your institution while applying (library, research, and professionalization resources) and you still have your affiliation with your graduate university, making you a better candidate. AND you get two years to find something!!!

I am going for it. I have already decided to make a go of the trial by fire year. My reasons for doing so are both structural and personal. My program has provided me with floaties but I am pretty ready to swim on my own. My publication record is okay but it could be better. My dissertation is in good shape and I could finish it in a few months if I had to (this is a must if you want to go on the market). I have a lot of support from my adviser and department to apply (another must as your adviser and committee will be vouching for your capability to finish the dissertation in time to start the job you are applying for. If they aren’t on board, don’t do it). But most importantly, there are a lot of great jobs out there right now for bioanthros, especially for a biocultural like me (we can save this discussion for another day). I just feel like I can’t afford to not try for them.

My parting words to you today are these: If you are taking a trial year, go big or go home. Find your dream jobs and apply for those. Don’t apply for a job that you don’t really want but would be tempted to take just because you think nothing else will come along.  Just don’t put your self in the position where you have to make that choice. Think about what you want from your career and go after it (Think about what this really means to you. It might be more than just getting a tenure track job). Your chances of getting the job might be less but the trial year provides you a safety net. If you shoot for the moon, you might just get it. If you land on the dumpster cheese . . . well . . . there is always next year.

Links to relevant articles about going on the job market ABD:

https://chroniclevitae.com/news/629-the-professor-is-in-i-m-still-an-abd-should-i-go-on-the-market

https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2014/09/10/essay-how-tell-if-grad-students-are-ready-full-academic-job-search

https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2014/09/24/essay-argues-going-market-you-are-done-dissertation-may-be-wise-move

Not where I want to be

(Thanks to an anonymous contributor for this new BANDIT blog post!)

I was one of the lucky ones. I got a tenure-track position before I had my PhD in hand. When I got the offer I should have been ecstatic, and part of me was. The other part of me was terrified and dejected. Terrified because I would have to be a professor and I didn’t know how. Dejected because this was not the job I wanted. It was neither the institution nor the department I would have liked. Teaching is the first and foremost focus at my institution, with research being a distant second. Though I was also assured that there would be room for research, I knew that this job would not be able to support my goals. But, I was in a damn good position that others would trade me for in a heartbeat, and yes, I realize how much of an asshole I sound like complaining about this. However, I am not where I want to be, and that is a situation we can all relate to. I accepted the offer and girded myself for the challenges ahead.

I, like everyone starting a new job, hit the ground running. I wanted to do all I could to make myself an asset. It has been a lot of work…A LOT OF WORK! I had to prep courses I had never taught before, crank out manuscripts from previous research, attempt to establish my own research program with little to no support and space, and throw in a few service things as well.

I was chugging along surprisingly well. I received excellent teaching evaluations after my first semester, I managed to submit a manuscript fairly fast, developed a community science outreach program, and took part in an exciting, new research project. I started to feel like I belonged, and that maybe this was a job I could see myself at long-term. I was hitting all the marks I needed to hit and establish my research program. I was silly to be upset by this job early on! I was riding high on thoughts of the future. I was starting to make plans! Big plans for research and community outreach! Then the whispers started. I was starting to hear talk that other faculty members thought I was conducting too much research and attending too many conferences, which must come at the expense of my teaching quality. This lead to several contradictory criticisms about my teaching style. This devastated me, probably more than it should have, and it completely popped that bubble of hope I had just formed.

All my original feelings came back...this is not the place for me. This place does not provide an environment that actively supports research and dissemination as well as teaching. However, that was quickly displaced by the fear and self-loathing that so many academics face. “Maybe my teaching is suffering.” “Maybe I am doing too much research.” “Is this going to affect my contract renewal or tenure and promotion?” “Perhaps this is the best job I can hope for.” “But, wait, I don’t even deserve this job!”

I had a rough winter. I wanted to give up, and even considered leaving academia. As I often do, I wallowed in self-pity for about a week, but eventually pulled myself out of it. I decided to turn the sadness into anger, and let that anger fuel me. 

I used that anger to write a couple of internal grants that would support my research and dissemination. I worked hard on them and had a number of colleagues review them for me. I was awarded those grants. I then decided to get my research in my institution’s media outlets, to make the university, students, faculty, and administration aware of the work I was conducting. I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get faculty, administration, and students outside of my department interested in my research.

Riding off of that, I developed two brand new research projects. One will be an internationally collaborative project, which will take a ridiculous amount of time to get off the ground. The other includes an army of undergraduate research assistants, promoting a more hands on educational opportunity. Both may be pooh-poohed by members of my department, but both will be highly regarded by others at my university and hopefully other universities as well.

So I couldn’t be accused of neglecting my teaching, I completely redesigned how one of my courses is taught based on student feedback. Granted, I had to go through a number of different channels to do so since my institution does not afford a great deal of intellectual freedom in teaching. However, the class will be taught this semester in a manner to make the information more accessible and enjoyable for students.

Eventually, the anger fizzled out. And when it did, I realized something.  I accomplished a lot in my first year. Having to fight for work to be valued by my colleagues has made me work harder. Am I where I want to be yet? No, but where I am now has made me a better academic. The desire to be in a different position motivated me to do things and inspired me to take risks I would not have done or taken before. These struggles have made me stronger, and that bubble of hope is slowly growing again leaving me with this mentality…

Employment Roundtable at AAPA 2011

BIG MAJOR HUGE props to my friend Teague O'Mara who attended the Primate Interest Group meeting at AAPA and graciously wrote this guest post. The PIG meeting focused on how best to prepare for and stand out in the current job market, a topic near and dear to the BANDIT blog. Thanks Teague!!

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Employment Roundtable -- The 2011 Primate Interest Group discussion

The job market is tough, and with the still-soft economy and cuts across the US to academic departments, finding a job is on the mind of more and more of us. Hence the topic for this year's Primate Behavior Interest Group's discussion. This was also the topic of a lunchtime discussion at the 2010 ASP meeting, organized by Katie Hinde (link to her summaries are below).

There was a great panel organized by AAPA-PIG jefe Gary Aronsen as well as some key discussion from the room that represented a cross section of tenured faculty (old and new) from both research universities and teaching-oriented colleges, post-docs, the freeway flier teaching adjunct, administrators, and zoo professionals. Paul Garber, Agusti­n Fuentes, Erin Vogel, Jason Kamilar, Gary Aronsen, Laurie Kauffman, and Jessica Westin were the panel with some great additional discussion from Suzette Tardiff, Russ Tuttle, Karen Strier, Christina Campbell and Tara Harris.

Academic, tenure-track position:
The main point from the panel really was about persistence and tenacity. For those of us interested in academic careers the point was made that the position of a tenured faculty member is the most sought-after, wonderful, and honored position you can have. The consensus is that it's pretty great and at least according to the panel, worth the wait. But it often takes a long time to get a job, and being persistent can really pay off. There were a couple of suggestions to help tailor your application to the university to which you're applying as well as how to work the on-campus interview.

Two of the biggest points about academic job search were:

Curriculum Vitae -- Line item everything and avoid narration. Be concise and ruthlessly edit for extraneous information, typos and anything that distracts from your application. This is super important and many people fail to proof their CVs adequately or keep them from wandering. This can open or close the door to the first cut.

Letters
Your letters of recommendation need to be great. Not good, but great. Choose your writers appropriately and give them all of the information that they will need to create the best letter possible for you. This means a current copy of your CV, the job announcement and description, and as much of your application (research, teaching statements, etc) as you have prepared. You also need to leave your letter writers plenty of time to do this. Giving some direction to your writers can help too. Is there something great that you have done that you don't feel comfortable putting in your application directly? Your letter writers can address this and help create a more rounded image of what you are like as a scholar and colleague.

Customize, customize, customize. Really focus your application for how you fit into the department and the university. If you are lucky enough to land an interview, be prepared to ask each faculty member at least one question about their research. They essentially are looking for a new member that could be there for the rest of their academic careers, so they want someone who both fits and will make it through the tenure process. It does them little good to find someone who either won't make tenure or will leave immediately since they will have to run another search.

Post-doctoral research work:
The current and former post-docs on the panel really made it clear that most of these jobs aren't advertised -- you have to find them, making those networking skills you perfect at conferences even more important. Don't be shy. Get to know the other researcher in your area of interest.

For all of these positions
One of the things that I was most impressed with and hadn't really considered was the response to an audience question. Is it better to take a poorly paid teaching position in a city where your partner/family doesn't live, or take another, slightly better paying but decidely non-academic job near your partner as to have an income and a family all in one place at the same time while you search for your job?

The answer. Teach. Do something. There should be zero gaps in your CV. Minimally, wherever you are you should seek out an affiliation with a university or zoo or research institute to maintain consistency in the academic career. Affiliations cost departments nothing, and continuing to have an academic address is a big plus when sending out applications. Try to have it all and keep an active affiliation while working on that job that pays the bills until you land the position you want.

Other options:
Other options to teaching careers were also brought up. Administration within a laboratory or research setting allows you to continue to collaborate on research, innovate new ideas, and contribute to a research program. While that research program may not always be your own, it does allow you to stay active in research and hopefully continue to do what you enjoy. Zoos are another great option, and the skill set that primatologists develop typically contributes well to zoo research and outreach. You may not end up working with primates, but the skills that primatologists transfer well to positions in zoos and other captive environments.

This brings up another point about the skills that primatologists have and don't have. Often we work internationally and have extensive skills in inter-cultural relations, languages, and navigating the intricacies of foreign research. Not to say that other disciplines don't often bring these skills together -- they do. These are great skills that can be translated into field schools and international exposure for both undergraduate and graduate students. Highlighting experiences and transdisciplinary collaborations are always a plus.

We were also reminded to consider the biomedical implications for the types of research that we do. While it may not be the primary focus, questions can be framed that can directly impact human health. These research questions often come with more generous funding options as well as potential post-doc and faculty collaborations with biomedically-focused labs. Recently the NIH put out new calls for programs that primatology and anthropologically focused research fits nicely into. It's always worth considering. Some BANDIT Tips on NIH proposals and recent calls are found Here, Here, and Here. Deadlines may have passed or changed, but it's worth a look through the NIH programs to see if your research fits.

A final note. If you are a primatologist or primate behavior/biology/conservation oriented person and at the AAPA annual meeting then please come to the Primate Interest Group discussions. It's a great place to meet everyone and keeps getting bigger each year.


Here are some useful BANDIT links on the job search that include some gems from the Chronicle for Higher Education:

How to Get An Academic Job: Tips from Katie Hinde and the 2010 ASP workshop

Vintage AAPA Job advice

Keeping Track of the Job Search

The Elevator Talk

Expectations, Meet Reality

Got a Job Interview? Don't Screw It Up!

The Teaching Philosophy

Tailoring To A Small College

Waiting Is The Hardest Part

The Pot of Gold

And Rejection:
The Thin Envelope

You've been rejected: What Now?

Other useful links:
Physical Anthropology Job Wiki

Biology Job Wiki

Job Postings on the AAPA website

Get Anthropology Jobs (@GetAnthropoJobs) on Twitter

The Chicago Guide to Landing a Job in Academic Biology

Anthropology without doctorates

I missed this when it came out (thanks to @AnthroDoula on Twitter for pointing out the InsideHigherEd report): the AAA recently released a study of the career paths of 833 Masters graduates in Anthropology. Among the many interesting findings:
"Among MAs working in non-academic jobs, nearly 30% have jobs that require education and training in anthropology (e.g., cultural resources specialist, ethnographer)."

"Among workplace preparation skills, over three-fourths of respondents ranked technical writing for proposals and grants as the most important skill for MA curricula, followed by project design, development and management."

"Overall, Masters graduates expressed high satisfaction with the quality, depth, breadth and relevance of their education and skill sets. Only 9% were somewhat or very dissatisfied."

From the Inside Higher Ed piece:
"People really felt that their degree was pretty central to their career," said (Shirley)Fiske (one of three co-authors). She added that respondents seemed to identify more strongly with being an anthropologist the further away they were from receiving their degree. It was, she said, evidence of the discipline's particular training and molding. "Anthropology, even more than some of social sciences, creates a distinctive worldview," she said.


It's wonderful the AAA is engaged in this kind of research. It's interesting that so many folks with terminal masters view themselves as anthropologists. Wouldn't it be fascinating for a similar study to find out how many anthropologists view themselves as scientists? Surveys of the membership, while tedious, could provide a more solid foundation for crafting long range plan and mission statements in the future.

Supporting future faculty - Mizzou postdoctoral program

A few weeks ago I wrote about the disparity between graduate trainees' job expectations and the realities of a shrinking academic job market. Drawing from a Chronicle of Higher Ed essay , I made some suggestions that could help reconcile that gap. The University of Missouri has recently launched a postdoctoral program that I think provides a useful template for the student-->professional transition. The university is funding postdoctoral positions for five of its own recent PhDs to develop courses in five areas identified by the Mizzou Advantage as core strengths of the university:
•Food for the Future
•Media of the Future
•One Health, One Medicine: The Convergence of Human and Animal Health
•Sustainable Energy
•Understanding and Managing Disruptive and Transformational Technologies
•Educational Programs

The university benefits from having non-faculty in teaching positions, but the postdocs also benefit from participating directly in innovative course development (not just teaching established courses) at a higher wage and greater stability than would be likely as an adjunct. The hope is that opportunities like this might help get grad students to finish their degrees rather than languish in the hopes the job market will improve. Obviously, 5 postdoc slots are inadequate to the size of that task, but if the program is a success (i.e. the chancellor keeps funding it and the postdocs themselves are able to land decent jobs afterwards) then maybe postdoctoral career support will catch on.

Expectations, meet reality.

A powerful essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education traces the evolution of the career expectations engendered by studying at an R1 institution, trained by faculty who themselves come from R1 and elite institutions, and the dangers of having no career development training in the meantime. Most doctoral students are exposed only to that research intensive setting and their primary models are faculty who have experienced only that research intensive setting.

"Virtually all graduate students receive their Ph.D.'s from a research university. They get their first classroom experience there, and their dissertations are mainly guided by professors whose research occupies a prominent place in their work lives. We should hardly be surprised that dissertation advisers become the first role models for graduate students....
But most academic jobs aren't at research universities, and those other jobs look jarringly different to graduate students than the positions held by their role models."

So the die is cast - that's the culturally appropriate career path. The reality is that there are far fewer of these R1 positions available then there are new PhDs to fill them. There are of course many other models of higher education careers. Many doctoral students envision a life as a teaching-focused professor at a liberal arts college, perhaps like the one they attended as an undergraduate. But we don't learn how to pursue that and other options (community colleges, private high schools, industry, NGOs, etc.) while we're still in graduate school, largely because our mentors are incapable or unwilling to teach us about them (how many advisors do you know have talked their students out of applying for certain jobs because "they could do better"? I've seen it done, and have seen students just accept this as "wisdom." It gives me a pretty big sad.) We start applying for jobs with a model in mind and create heirarchies of acceptable positions, and many of us are caught blinking when we're left with a list of crossed-off job applications and no job. I've been called out by blog readers before as being a pessimist for pointing out that it's tough to make the transition from lecturer to tenure-track, but that really is the general reality. Why are we not discussing this WHILE we're still in school, before we hit the market and find out how hard the market hits back?

"It amounts to this: Graduate school is professional school, but most Ph.D programs badly neglect graduate students' professional development. We spend years of their training ignoring that development, and then, only at the last moment when students are about to hit the job market, do we attend to their immediate professional needs. By neglecting their career goals, we allow their desires to coalesce from their immediate surroundings—the research university—and to harden over time. We teach graduate students to want the kinds of jobs that most of them won't ever get."

A potential solution is to develop professional development seminars as integrated requirements for a doctoral degree. They exist in some places:

"For example, the University of Michigan's "Introduction to Graduate Studies" requires that beginning graduate students in English and modern languages interview a senior professor in the department, thereby offering a look upward at a role model's career. But the course also requires an outward-looking "Alternative Careers Workshop."

Graduate students in a seminar offered by the geography department at the University of Minnesota are visited by a series of professors who discuss not only conferences, research, and publishing but also the choice of a career path, as well as gender and class issues that occur in some workplaces and family circumstances that affect students' progress to the degree and often past it."

These programs sound like a great idea and I would have jumped at the chance to take a seminar like this when I was a student just as new faculty I go to workshops on grant writing, teaching, tenure, and publishing tips whenever I can. However, I think graduate students need to empower themselves now, rather than wait for their departments or advisors to initiate this kind of change. You should research job prospects in your discipline, even if you are years from entering the market. Talk to senior students and postdocs and find out what they've experienced - how many jobs have they applied for? Do they know how many people applied for each job? Were they open to lots of different kinds of jobs or were only R1 slots "acceptable", and why? How and why did they rank positions in a certain way? You should interview your advisors to get their take on hiring trends over the years. If you have an active graduate association, you could organize a series of symposia with alums who have landed tenure-track and other teaching and administrative positions to find out how they did it. Contact local community colleges to find out if they have faculty in your research area and ask to visit them, or invite them to speak to the grad students in your department.*

As I've said on this blog and as I myself seem to learn over and over again, grad school does feel like it takes forever and the dissertation feels like the end-all, be-all, but you just might be at this academic thing the rest of your life. It is how you hope to earn your living. Preparing for a full career, not just doing research, is essential to your well-being.

*Full disclosure: I didn't do any of this, but I really wish I had. But now that I have a PhD and a job, I've earned the right to tell you to do as I say, not as I do. Hurray!

AAA & Coalition on the Academic Workforce launch survey of contingent & part-time faculty

Are you a contingent or part-time faculty member? Know someone who is??? The AAA and the Coalition on the Academic Workforce want to hear from YOU!

AAA and CAW invite all members of the contingent academic workforce in U.S. colleges and universities to participate in a survey about course assignments, salaries, benefits, and general working conditions as members of the contingent academic workforce experience them at the institutional level. We invite participation from all instructional and research staff members employed off the tenure track, including faculty members employed either full- or part-time, graduate students remunerated as teaching assistants or employed in other roles, and researchers and post-doctoral fellows.

Individuals who wish to be entered in a drawing for one of several $50 book gift cards may include contact information at the end of the questionnaire, but this information will not be used to connect survey data with specific persons.

Please visit the following URL:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VNNNRVS

The survey closes November 30, 2010. Winners of gift cards will be notified the following week. Contact ksharp@aaanet.org with questions!

Jumping from the Adjunct Track to Tenure Track - can it be done?

Given that many anthropology ABD's and newly-minted PhD's will be hired as adjuncts and visiting assistant professors (some even at their PhD institution) but have a tenure track position set as their primary goal, it seems worth exploring whether/how this transition occurs. This recent thread in the Chronicle of Higher Ed forum is a good place to start since it is largely first-person. A great variety of experiences and opinions abound, but there seems to be general agreement that those adjuncts hoping or assuming that at some point they will be offered a tenure-track position in their current department (or hell, even just an interview!) may be hoping in vain:

"I fear that a lot of adjuncts think that there is some sort of implicit understanding that they are on the track to get on the tenure track at the institution where they are teaching. Fairly or not, the opposite is more often the case."

"Community colleges, I understand, are more flexible. We're simply not. At our R-1, there is a handbook clause forbidding "inbreeding," i. e., hiring (tenure track) our own graduates. We can't do it. Further, since we're a research uni, we can't hire on the tenure track anyone who won't get tenure--i. e., anyone who hasn't published. We hire with nationwide ads, and we sometimes hire on the TT people who already have published books (yes, the humanities job market is horrendous)."

"By the way, we shouldn't just blame adjuncts about this. All too often, they get vague suggestions and hints that there is the possibility they'd get hired to TT jobs. Sometimes "promises," which are subsequently broken. So deans, chairs, and TT faculty share some of the blame. I actually had a higher level admin say something like, "Wouldn't it be nice to hire some of our own doctoral grads?" I disappointed that admin when I suggested it would be scandalous. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if said admin had dropped a few vague hints to a past grad or two."

What is considered one of the biggest obstacles (barring not yet finishing the PhD) is that the job requirements for adjuncting are quite different from those for TT faculty. The service and research requirements, even at teaching-focused colleges, are significantly greater for TT faculty than for adjuncts. And departments hire folks for TT jobs because they've decided the odds for tenure are high enough to take the risk. They make that determination on the basis of a number of things, including research productivity, grants, and publications, areas that are tough - though absolutely not impossible - to beef up as an adjunct. And even if you are able to do this as an adjunct, it may not make it easier for you to lobby for a pay increase as long as you remain an adjunct. I think this sums that calculus up well:

"While it makes sense for adjuncts to continue research and publishing in order to remain competitive for tenure-track positions, it is important to remember that research is not part of the expectations or responsibilities of an adjunct, and as such they will not be paid for such activities while they remain adjuncts...
In the same way, simply being overqualified for your current job is not an adequate reason to advocate for more pay, it simply provides you with the opportunity to move into a job with a higher rate of pay for which you are qualified.
In other words, it doesn't matter one bit to your university if you do research and are capable of performing service while an adjunct if that is not part of the job description, since the university is not asking you to do this as a condition for your continued employment."

Several posters on the thread have made that transition from adjunct to TT in their current department, so it's not something that NEVER happens, but it seems reasonable to temper expectations by focusing on productivity outside the classroom as much as is humanly possible to beef up the CV as though you were only applying to external positions. Perhaps if you can demonstrate to your current institution that in addition to being the stellar instructor you've been as an adjunct, you have published, organized symposia, published, achieved external funding, acted as mentor for a PhD candidate elsewhere, um, published - all the things they look for as hallmarks of tenureability - you can be that person who makes the transition. The reality is that for most R1 and liberal arts programs (even the ones who seem happy with your adjuncting self), those criteria will matter more than simply having great teaching evaluations and an impressive roster of classes you can teach.*


*I do not intend to trivialize excellence in teaching - we all know how much work and passion and time go into that. This is about what is valued by the programs looking to add to their tenure track rosters.

Sending out an SOS...

Liz Stillwaggon Swan, PhD 2008, recounts her job search saga, using The Police song Message in a Bottle as a heuristic device:

"Perhaps the only glimmer of hope offered by the song comes in the last verse, which recounts the castaway's discovery one morning, upon waking and finding "a hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore." That discovery affords him the comforting realization that "I'm not alone at being alone"; he's just one of the "hundred billion castaways, looking for a home."

If those of us on the academic market cannot be assured that someone will find our message and secure our rescue, we can at least take comfort in the fact that we're not alone. Here's to hoping that this year, more of us will find an academic home after the long search from that lonely island."

I love this woman. (Plus, her research sounds super cool: "My research incorporates philosophy and natural science; specifically, I'm interested in the biological origins of the mammalian mind.")

Goodbye to Those Overpaid Professors in Their Cushy Jobs

Look, I don't post these kinds of articles to depress you. I think the issue of tensions among members of the academy regarding teaching loads and the public perception of the tenured life is fascinating, and will only grow more fraught as the economic downturn continues and as the business model of higher education becomes more focused on the bottom line. The article reports that some academics are growing more vocal in their disdain for colleagues who eschew taking on additional courses or administrative duties when the overall economic picture on most campuses is bleaker by the semester:

"Last September some professors at the University of California decided that not working on days they were supposed to teach might actually help the university win more support from the Legislature. The professors called for a walkout of classes—to demonstrate how budget decisions were affecting students—even though the president's office had prohibited them from taking furloughs on teaching days.
James Hamilton, a tenured professor of economics on the San Diego campus, called out his fellow professors on his blog. "If some of my colleagues perceive that they now have better opportunities than teaching at the University of California, I'd encourage them to resign so that they can take advantage of those opportunities," he wrote. "If not, they need to stop whining and do their jobs. And perhaps even be thankful that, unlike many other Americans, they still have one.""


Public perception is the another target of the article:
"The professoriate may be policing its own perceived slackers, and there may not be as much grumbling from legislators as there once was about professors out mowing their lawns on Friday mornings. But what about professors' pay—does it qualify as cushy?
For those people lucky enough to land full-time jobs at universities, the pay can be good, although, of course, it's all relative. For example, a mathematician at a college or university makes an average salary of $72,320 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (An annual survey by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources provides a more detailed breakdown: A full professor in mathematics and statistics at a four-year institution makes $84,32; an associate professor, $66,012; an assistant professor, $55,765; a new assistant professor, $55,186; and an instructor, $42,782.) That compares with an average salary of $67,430 for an accountant or auditor, according to BLS figures, and $75,22 for a statistician.
The average annual salary for English instructors at a college or university, meanwhile, is $65,570, according to the bureau. That's about $10,000 per year more than high-school teachers make ($55,150), but high-school teachers probably started earning real wages at least six years earlier, and have a better shot at tenure."


I think the article obscures some issues, particularly those regarding faculty unionization and work-life balance, but I find this to be a really compelling piece. What's your take?

For-profit colleges and the threat of a new bubble

Please read Sen. Tom Harkin's essay in the LA times on the growing concerns over for-profit college loan defaults.

Some thoughts on this issue from BANDIT member Sean Dougherty (who sent me the above link):
"There is some concern that the for-profit "schools" practice of acquiring loans for students with little hope of recovering from the debt will lead to a credit crisis akin to the subprime loan crisis. On a more personal level, since I teach at a technical college that serves urban, non-traditional students, I have seen several casualties of the for-profit system. They make their way through the for-profit program only to discover one or all of the following: their degree is unaccredited and worthless; their credits won't transfer to any accredited school; the classes did not prepare them; the per class cost was actually more than the state university that they thought was "too expensive"; they've acquired enough debt to prohibit or limit further student loans for another school. And, unfortunately, these students who are single mothers at the poverty level have very few options for getting out of debt, or affording educational alternatives. So, the hope for socio-economic mobility that they had invested in their for-profit education just becomes another contributing factor of their downward spiral.

I just wish people would realize that if the school is in a strip mall, it's probably not a school."

Vintage job info from AAPA

Thanks to Katie Hinde for bringing to my attention the Fall 2000 AAPA newsletter which was devoted to the job search. One thing you might notice is the large number of job postings advertised that year. Try not to cry. The other thing is that the tips provided by Steve Leigh and Peter Ungar are really worth tucking away in your job search folder.

You'd be happy too if you invented Legos...

Fascinating new study from Nature on job contentment and equity among scientists from around the world. The Danes are doing damn well for themselves...women overall, not so much.

You've been rejected. What now? (Hint: Ice cream isn't the solution)

Just came across this really thoughtful piece on coping with job rejection by David Perlmutter, whose columns I generally enjoy. He contextualizes the timelessly awful feeling of being rejected for a job within this particularly bad era of the academic job search, making the suggestions he offers all the more realistic for our generation of scholars. He doesn't shy away from the possible strategy of leaving academe altogether. There is also some cringeworthy humor, as he describes the well-meaning but often clueless "support" offered by our non-academic loved ones:

"At least fellow academics understand the realities of a job hunt in higher education, so they tend not to overplay their confidence in you. Outsiders may be less sensitive, even though they mean well. A doctoral student recounted a dreadful campus visit from which he returned home certain of not getting the job only to find, to his horror, that his nonacademic parents and relatives had arranged a big party featuring posters with inspiring slogans like "We believe in you, Tony!" When the predictably thin letter arrived months later, informing him that he had not been chosen, his embarrassment was amplified."

Hold on to your hats: the economy is really bad

It's hard out there for a pimp, yes, but it's no picnic for a professor, given the dismal state of salary increases this past year, as reported in a recent AAUP faculty salary survey.

One fun excerpt from the Chronicle of Higher Ed article:
"In 2009-10, the average salary of a full-time faculty member rose only 1.2 percent. That's the lowest year-to-year increase recorded by the association in the 50-year history of its salary survey. To make matters worse, an inflation rate of 2.7 percent meant that many professors actually had less buying power than the year before. In fact, two-thirds of the 1,141 institutions surveyed over two years gave their faculty members either a pay cut, no raise, or an increase of less than 2 percent, on average."

Adjunct association organizing for unemployment benefits

Many of us are working as adjuncts, a position that can leave us open to a great deal of employment insecurity. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on the New Faculty Majority, an adjunct faculty advocacy group that is encouraging "more out-of-work adjuncts to file for unemployment insurance between academic terms and during summer breaks. The organization's goal, ultimately, is to change a federal law that some colleges routinely invoke to keep adjuncts from receiving unemployment benefits during those interims."

Check out the comments to read (mostly) thought-provoking discussion on the current state of adjuncting.

The pot of gold at the end of a loooooooong rainbow...

Some of the best content in the Chronicle of Higher Education are the first-person stories about life in academe. Considering how tough the job market has been in biological anthropology the last few seasons, I thought this story, about a humanities PhD who recently landed a tenure track job after 4 years and 10 campus visits, might foster a little optimism, or at least make you crack a smile.

10th Time's the Charm

The Academic Job Wiki

This doesn't need a lot of introduction from me, but if you are or have been on the market recently, check this link out for up-to-date info on the job search in our field.

Memorandum to Graduate Departments: Send Your Pearls to Us - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Really interesting piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education about careers at community colleges. This is a sector we don't talk much about, as most of us don't have a lot of personal experience and none of us got our PhDs from one. Our advisors, if they mention them at all, get queasy about it. But market realities are just that - realities - so learning about the full range of options, and the good and bad experiences academics have as professors at community colleges, is an important part of preparing our graduate students and ourselves for a career in biological anthropology.
Memorandum to Graduate Departments: Send Your Pearls to Us - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education

(If you can't access the full article, consider looking it up online through your university library.)