I think its 99% money at the department level. I have been last hired last fired scenario after budget issues three schools strait. First school, in my first year I had more grants than anyone in the department, two MS students. Second year, budgets hit the fan, I was let go. Second school, budgets were in really good shape from 2005 - 2009. I got promoted early to Assoc. Prof, published a pile of papers, including one in 2007 that is a highly cited manuscript, and as the only full faculty member in the department saw student performance rise every year. The average student scored below the 1%ile on the ETS major field exam for the entire time before I arrived, they had never had a student enter MD school, only one entered grad school. Scores rose every single year until by 2010, 55% of graduates who took my classes in those key areas were above the 70%ile nationwide, and in ecology, 33% were above the 90th%ile. I went up for early tenure in 2008, they "lost" my tenure portfolio in the middle of impending budgetary issues due to a new funding formula combined with restructuring of the administration, closing of our satellite program. During this mess, the biology program accrued ex-admin and a tenured prof from the other campus to give us twice the faculty the program's enrollment would support. So they let me go. Not much else they could do! So, then I find a NTT at-will position at school # 3. This place was a great place to work. I had unofficial offer letters through Aug. 2014. In April, a financial audit took place, and the dumped at least 6 faculty lines from what I can tell, re-hired 2, and the chair retired. This was in May 2013. By Aug 2013, I got lucky, and found an adjunct position, and that morphed into a Temporary Assistant Professor position for the spring. But, its 100% temporary. So, now comes Fall 2014. Who knows what happens next. But, the time line from Katrina through the housing bubble and the Bush Wars, through the Great Recession really hurt academia. In fact, you can see a peak in job ads immediately after the end of the GR. To add to this, the people who would have retired, had their accounts killed by this series of events, and they are suffering too. I dont' hold any grudges, really. The chairs, and admin did what they had to do when faced with difficult decisions. When you see every staff member released, and departments sharing secretaries to save $$, you know they are hurting. I was just hoping my last post would last 1 year longer so my spouse could finisher her MS. Well, that kind of transpired in that I snagged the temp position. So here I am, I just got pub #100 this month, with 3 out of my last 4 papers in top tier conservation and ecotoxicology journals, a decent grant record, heck I used to be a director of grants at a not-for-profit, and I'm trying to find a job! this is not a sob story. Its just the way things are. I'm still way better off now than before I got my PHD, and as a rule, I'm pretty darn happy. I would be a lot happier if I did not have to redesign my life every 2-5 years!!! :)
On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 9:34 PM, Michael Garvin <mrgar...@alaska.edu> wrote: > Has anyone established that the reduction in open positions is due to a > lack of funds? It seems to me that Universities are fairly flush given the > increases in tuition and the overhead charges to grants (over 50% in most > cases). That alone has been an eye opener as I've been writing grants to > try and secure my own funding. Where is that money going? > > As to some of the other comments: > > Academia is not the only option. There are jobs at government agencies > (although that sector is dead now as well), biotech, non-profits, etc, so > getting a Ph.D. in ecology (or genetics in my case) is not a waste of time > if you don't end up in academia. > > I think the limiting of graduate students produced by professors is > already happening - because the grants are drying up to fund the graduate > students. > > It would seem to me to be a more efficient system if you have two tracks - > teaching and research, or at least reduce teaching loads for those who's > passion is research. But I'm guessing that has been a topic of discussion > in the past. > > My two cents. > > > > > > > Michael Garvin, PhD > University of Alaska Fairbanks > School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences > 17101 Point Lena Loop Road > Juneau, AK 99801 > 907-796-5455 > mrgar...@alaska.edu > > > > On Feb 9, 2014, at 5:51 PM, David Duffy <ddu...@hawaii.edu> wrote: > > > If we agree that jobs for ecologists are resource limited, and > > If we agree that resources are not increasing, > > then it follows that ecologists who wish to produce intellectual > offspring > > (MS and PhD) should produce such offspring in a way that maximizes the > > probability that they will be represented in the next generation's career > > 'gene pool'. > > > > If ecologists believe the current job market is competitive, they should > > reproduce like albatrosses, maximizing their investment in a very few > > highly competitive offspring with a wide array of attractive skills > > (K-slection). > > If they believe the current job market is essentially a crap shoot, then > > they should spawn like salmon, investing little or nothing, with > subsequent > > massive mortality, and only a few offspring surviving (r-selection) > > > > The present situation seems to be more salmonid in an albatross > environment > > with considerable human carnage. What can be done? > > > > Individuals can look into other fields but that means giving up a dream > and > > acquiring more debt if they go back to school to retrain. If they stay, > > they risk remaining on the outside of academic/professional leks, > > opportunistically exploiting irregular and marginal rewards. They can > > teach, becoming contingent faculty, a growing national scandal where > > untenured faculty with precarious teaching positions may rely on food > > stamps to get by. If they have a large debt from student loans, they will > > end up taking just about any job that allows them to make their monthly > > repayments. > > > > The long term solution is a ZPG for ecologists: professors should > > essentially only reproduce themselves. Some may reply that they need > > 'excess' grad students as teaching assistants. In reality these positions > > could be filled and better taught by what are now contingent faculty. > Make > > these better paid, give them a heavier load than one or two classes a > > semester and provide five-year contracts that would give them with more > > security. Faculty should not admit grad students unless they can be > fully > > supported by fellowships. > > > > With fewer degrees each year, agencies might consider increasing the > number > > of independent post docs that are long enough to be useful (5 years?) to > > allow people to develop. Funders should be prepared, if they fund > projects > > with interns, to fund them at a living wage. Funding agencies should also > > support programs that support those in overcrowded fields who wish to > > retrain for teaching or health fields. We make a big point of wanting > more > > people to enter the STEM fields, maybe we need to think more about how to > > retain them. > > > > > > > > David Duffy > > > > > > > > > > On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 10:57 AM, David L. McNeely <mcnee...@cox.net> > wrote: > > > >> ---- Kevin Klein <kkl...@mail.ic.edu> wrote: > >>> I haven't been able to follow the entire thread but one thing I draw > from > >>> what I have read is that it is incumbent on those of us who work with > >>> students at all stages in their academic careers to also advise them to > >>> consider the job market in their chosen disciplines. In so doing, they > >>> make more informed decision and they study with eyes open wide on the > >>> possibilities open to them at the next stage in their life and career > >>> journey. Much easier said than done. It reminds me of two PhD markets > >> in > >>> recent years. One, where hundreds of applicants vied for the reported > 2 > >> or > >>> 3 job openings that year and second the hundreds of positions open for > >> the > >>> 2 or 3 PhD candidates graduating each year. Hopefully we advise our > >>> students of the job market realities. One place a student might look > for > >>> this information can be found here. > >>> http://www.bls.gov/ooh/occupation-finder.htm > >>> > >>> > >> Hmmm.... . I was an academic biologist for 35+ years, after the time > >> spent preparing. I cannot recall a time when there were "hundreds of > >> positions open for 2 or 3 Ph.D. candidates graduating each year." I do > >> recall a good many times when the opposite was true. > >> > >> David McNeely > >> > > > > > > > > -- > > > > Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit > > Botany > > University of Hawaii > > 3190 Maile Way > > Honolulu Hawaii 96822 USA > > 1-808-956-8218 > -- Malcolm L. McCallum Department of Environmental Studies University of Illinois at Springfield Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology "Nothing is more priceless and worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share as Americans." -President Richard Nixon upon signing the Endangered Species Act of 1973 into law. "Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - Allan Nation 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. 2022: Soylent Green is People! 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