[CaptainMorgantown]

Before a someone can start a faculty position at a research university, they have to earn a Ph.D. (typically 5-6 years), and in the sciences may have to work a couple of years as a ‘postdoctoral’ researcher. Then if they get get an appointment as an Assistant Professor, they are evaluated for tenure in their 6th year at most universities. So by that time, they have 10-12 years invested in their career.

Tenure for faculty members is an ‘up or out’ decision. So the decision that a faculty member won’t get tenure not only means that they won’t have a job for life, but also means that they will have to look for a new job, almost always at a smaller, less prestigious university.

Sadly, a lot of people who pursue academic careers invest their entire lives in their ‘research’ which consists of writing obscure papers that are read by a handful of people worldwide. They completely lose perspective that they what they are doing is just a job, or that the main point of the job is to teach students.

[EDINVA]

“They completely lose perspective that ... the main point of the job is to teach students.”

Ha! It doesn’t matter how good a teacher the person is. In academia it’s publish or perish .. their published writings are FAR more important, pretty much the deciding factor, in getting tenure.

I have the feeling this particular woman wasn’t a very good teacher; somehow I don’t see anyone who’s a gifted teacher pulling a gun and offing her colleagues. She was probably very strong on the research end. And, in the sciences, the deck is often stacked against women.

[Momto2]

Interesting to see what her students thought.... I was especially interested in the one that said “she didn’t talk about it in class, but she was a socialist”....

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=392617&page=2

[Houghton M.]

Yes, I spent 15 years on probation (graduate school, in non-tenure-track jobs) before I got a tenure-track job another 6 years on probation in TT—a total of 20 years from beginning of grad school to tenuring; almost all those years were at entry level wages, one year at no wages at all (one of three years in a row on the job market after a 10-years of non-TT jobs came to an end). Twenty years on probation and seeking to get established, no building of retirement savings, marginal wages.

But those who wish to can bitch away about it. Gives ‘em something to busy their mouths with.

[garbanzo]

They completely lose perspective that they what they are doing is just a job, or that the main point of the job is to teach students.

For researchers, the main point of the job is to do research. Teaching students is kind of a sideline in most cases.

[grey_whiskers]

Actually, at a lot of schools, their main job is to pull in grant money.

Students are a distant second.

Cheers!