>From the Chronicle of Higher Education. Maybe we should all just become
administrators?
http://chronicle.com/article/Administrator-Hiring-Drove-28-/144519/
(excerpt below!)
February 5, 2014
Administrator Hiring Drove 28% Boom in Higher-Ed Work Force, Report Says
By Scott Carlson
Thirty-four p
People from comfortable middle-class backgrounds don't know how to be poor.
In grad school, other students were complaining about their assistantships,
but it was more money than I had ever had. Since graduation, I've
alternated between temporary full-time and half-time positions (reasonably
well-p
Jason touches on my primary concern with this situation, other than having
a Ph.D. that might eventually enable me to do no better than tech position
in the field that I love. Ecology, evolution, and to a broader extent the
organismal sciences have been predominately white and middle-class fields
e
I was one of those who responded offline to the original post. Rather than
tell my story again here, I offer further thoughts.
Steven Schwartz wrote (in part) <>
My answer: more than I ever thought I would. But when my savings completely
dry up, I have to pay the bills somehow, and if a job c
Its so simple.
Professors with tenure are in place to protect the populace from dishonest
politicians, as is the press.
If you destroy the press (done) then that leaves the academics and other
"educated" individuals who are trained literally to tell who is spouting
BS. If you shut them up, and the
Yes, the lousy US job market as a whole is a problem, and has been since late
2008. This has been the slowest recovery on record since WWII.
But let's keep four things in mind re the topic at hand:
1. Attempts by anti-tax, libertarian and hard-right groups to cut investment in
education are su
Daniel -
As someone who recently started down the path of looking for government jobs -
one of the better routes into a science career in government is an NRC
post-doc. It’s sort of a ‘trial period’ for both you and the hiring agency. I
was headed that directly but unfortunately that program
It needs to be pointed out that PHD and MS advisors in general are not
culprits. Most of them I have known are interested in helping students
realize a future as a professor, researcher, or whatever direction it is
that a student is pursuing. The concerns many are voicing here are
representative
To contribute to the conversation of the difficulty of obtaining
non-academic employment, I offer an abridged version of my personal
experience.
I have over 11 years experience as a field biologist, mainly working as a
seasonal tech doing field work for universities, graduate students and
governme
Natural history studies in the classic sense can help you with writers
block, but will not ever get funded. The problem is that what is and is
not natural history is a hazy area. Modern natural history studies
encompass most research on life history ecology, evolution, biogeography
and behavioura
I've heard a few folks in this conversation allude to "they don't want to
hire someone with a Ph.D. because it'll cost more." That doesn't match my
own experience (pre-Ph.D.) being hired for a county-government job I was
distinctly overqualified for -- and pretty much everyone we were hiring was
al
-
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news
[mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Yijun Xu
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 10:24 AM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Recent PhDs on Food Stamps - Overwhelmed with Replies
I wonder if there is an optimal ratio
I don't think its being ignored.
EPA and other federal jobs are highly variable in availability. Right now
is a clear down turn, and with the cuts to the EPA in the recent budget,
don't count on much there. Highschool teaching is not a realistic option
for a PHD, it can be for a masters level cand
As someone who has worked in both academia and for a Federal government agency,
I can attest to
what Chris just posted. Getting a permanent position (at a Ph.D. Level) in a
science agency is possibly
as difficult as getting a tenure-track position at a university--maybe more so
in some cases.
: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Recent PhDs on Food Stamps - Overwhelmed with Replies
As a newly graduating PhD with a K12 teaching credential, I can attest that
there are not many jobs for new PhDs outside of academia. I am looking in all
sectors except consulting, but I'm not
As a newly graduating PhD with a K12 teaching credential, I can attest
that there are not many jobs for new PhDs outside of academia. I am
looking in all sectors except consulting, but I'm not qualified as a
consultant. My only interview so far has been with a non-profit, where
I was one of hun
There are obviously non-academic jobs for people, with the quantities and
opportunities depending on the field in which the PhD was obtained.
However, people need to realize that it is usually just as difficult, if
not more so, to get some of these non-academic jobs as it is a tt job. For
example,
The existence of many good and rewarding jobs outside academia - in
federal agencies (EPA, NOAA, FWS, USGS, FDA etc.) as well as in state
agencies, the private sector (e.g. consulting firms) and non-profits
(environmental groups) or for those who love teaching, teaching in K-12
seems to be ignored
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, budget
I do not agree with any intent to limit the aspirations of our
students. It is not our decision as academics to tell students "don't
bother, you're not going to ever get a job" any more than it is the job
of a coach to tell his athletes that they are not Olympic or "major
league" material. I
I’ll add my two cents. The scarcity of positions is absolutely nothing new.
In the 1980’s it was not unusual for there to be 300-400 applicants or more for
positions in any kind of organismal biology. It was during that decade that
doing a post-doc in ecology became the norm as a holding plac
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
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 i
Its more than a way to lower costs.
Its a way to weaken faculty governance.
On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 5:15 PM, David L. McNeely wrote:
> Well, the "adjunct" positions, a fancy word for part-time jobs, are the
> main problem at the Ph.D. level. A majority of credit hours at some
> institutions ar
McLenegan, ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU, Aaron T. Dossey, Ph.D.
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Fw: [ECOLOG-L] Recent PhDs on Food Stamps - Overwhelmed
with Replies
I definitely agree. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "In the end, it
is not the words of our enemies that we will remember,
Well, the "adjunct" positions, a fancy word for part-time jobs, are the main
problem at the Ph.D. level. A majority of credit hours at some institutions
are taught in that way. At community colleges there are often only a handful
of full-time faculty, with part-time teaching almost all the cou
Exactly! Unfortunately, the academic pyramid structure has made itself
far too dependent on cheap temporary labor of students and postdocs.
So, they continue to wave the career carrot out there, with no intention
to reform the system in a way that makes the carrot real.
In reality, the new P
One thing that would help a lot would be to get rid of the system of unpaid
and underpaid internships and make those real-paying jobs. Many graduates
at all levels of education find themselves in a position where the majority
of positions available are internships, more and more of which require
g
Kevin Klein 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 disciplin
an
B.S. Oceanography and not giving up!
- Original Message -
From: John A.
Sent: 02/09/14 10:20 AM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Recent PhDs on Food Stamps - Overwhelmed with Replies
I've already received many, many replies in the first 48 hours since I posted
my
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 i
This is a painful, poignant but necessary discussion that academic
biologists in general need to keep in mind. I would add another question:
how many retirees academic biology retirees are living (partially) on food
stamps as well..? I know a couple in just my own area. At first, to many
on this
The best solution imho, but trust the older administrative types to not
implement such a policy because it will affect them the most, just like
in our political scene. Well we can hope though !
On 9 February 2014 13:57, Aaron T. Dossey wrote:
> Rather than a rather arbritrary age-based cutoff,
Rather than a rather arbritrary age-based cutoff, why not allow
attrition based on lack of productivity? ie: if a department thinks
they can get a better crop of faculty, why not allow them to let some go
in favor of departmental improvement? (yes, this would probably mean an
end to, or at le
Wouldn't there be many more postdocs than adjuncts fitting this
description (and possibly on food stamps)?
https://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Postdoc-Union/275402225908673
On 2/9/2014 10:20 AM, John A. wrote:
-the invisible and disregarded of modern academia.
ATD of ATB and ISI
--
Aar
Since women generally live longer than men, what reason, aside from
discrimination, does China have for requiring them to retire 5 years
earlier?
> In China academics (at least ecologists) have a mandatory retirement
> age of 60 for men (can be extended to 65 if you're actively advising
> gradua
In China academics (at least ecologists) have a mandatory retirement
age of 60 for men (can be extended to 65 if you're actively advising
graduate students), and 55 for women. When I asked a female faculty
member about that in a visit to China 2 years ago, she seemed very
accepting of the idea
I've already received many, many replies in the first 48 hours since I
posted my request. I've heard from more people than I can easily count--recent
Ph.D.s, graduate students, even undergraduates with difficult stories of hard
work, perseverance, and increasing despair that they will ever
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