Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Where do you get this idea? The professors I know work during those breaks. They are expected to bring in several times their pay in funding. When th hey agent teaching they are developing proposals and funded research. 8
Let me expand on that now that I'm not on my phone. One of my jobs is to review grant proposals. The professors at the universities I work with are expected to bring in roughly 5 times their annual salary in grant income. Grants can be from many sources -- gov, industry, foundations, etc. Most of those sources don't just give the money away, but expect some product back in return. So for a lot of professors, esp the ones who don't have tenure, much of their research is in response to a grant. They aren't really working on what they want to work on but on what some business or foundation is paying them to work on with due dates and deliverables just like industry. The grants I've administered all had interim and final deliverable dates and typically quarterly interim reports.
Esp if they work for an R1 major research university (universities are labeled in different classes based on the amount of research they do, with R1 being the most research and R3 the lowest for doctoral universities). Tenure track faculty at the major R1s are under a lot of pressure to publish.
I think "tenure" in general is not a coveted designation across the board. It means next to nothing (or doesn't exist) at some schools, whereas in others it may grant distinct benefits, pay, and esteem in others.
All tenure means is that you can't be fired from the job unlike in the private sector and you have the job for life, unless they do something drastic like close your department or the school goes out of business. Or you do something extremely serious of a criminal nature. They don't fire you for lack of performance. Until you have tenure they can not renew your annual contract. I know there have been exceptions to this, but they end up being a huge legal battle in the articles written about it.
I have a friend of a friend who is a tenured college professor. He was complaining to us at lunch that he has not gotten a raise in six years. Not even cost of living. His gross pay is exactly what it was six years ago he said. Is this normal in academia? Man, so much for chasing a tenured job. Meanwhile college tuition costs have been going up, but no raise for this guy.
I know nothing about working in academia and teaching, but it seems to me if you have not gotten a raise in six years, they aren't interested in keeping you there at all. Or is this just something those who teach in college have to put up with? They have such a huge pool of talent to select from so the colleges don't care?
No company would do this and expect employees to stay there. I guess with a college, they have few options. It isn't like there are thousands of colleges in a single town for you to find a job elsewhere like in other industries.
He must be making money off of other ways though, right? Patents, research, speaking engagements, etc.
Generally, raises of significance for tenured professors are tied to published and referenced work, as well as grant awards and patents. It should be easy to make a case for a raise as long as he's done his job...
I am not sure what a “Monday Holiday†is. Faculty jobs in higher ed are similar to teacher jobs in K12, where they do have this fixed times off, but they also do not get flexible vacation time. They are also expected to revise curriculum constantly, which tends to happen during breaks, as well as publish in their field, which again often happens during breaks.
As a non-academic employee I do not get spring break, Christmas break or summers off, instead I have typical vacation time.
I think the public has this misconception that if a teacher isn't in front of a class of students, they aren't doing any work and the rest is free time.
Where do you get this idea? The professors I know work during those breaks. They are expected to bring in several times their pay in funding. When th hey agent teaching they are developing proposals and funded research. 8
Yes, they spend time working on grant proposals which no one sees them do. This is why we see college job postings for staff they say it is a "1 year appointment" because they don't know if they will have funding for anything past that. Unlike the private sector where management has to approve funding, in academia they have to actually go out there and find it.
He must be making money off of other ways though, right? Patents, research, speaking engagements, etc.
Generally, raises of significance for tenured professors are tied to published and referenced work, as well as grant awards and patents. It should be easy to make a case for a raise as long as he's done his job...
Not that I'm aware of. It isn't clear if this is his failure to make them happy or just the circumstances of the market place and that they know he is trapped by tenure.
I had a friend who had taught at our university, but was denied tenure because of department politics. The other professors didn't want any more positions to be taken by someone with his specialty. However, he was very well-known in his field and had published several major books and research papers. Although he was no longer a faculty member, large amounts of research funding still came to him and the university, because they wisely gave him an office and secretarial services. He spent his entire career there and was a whole research institute, all by himself, with greater earnings from his sponsors, than any regular professor.
There was also another friend there, who came from a foreign country (one of our major enemies) and although they wouldn't give him tenure as a professor, he was so knowledgeable about his homeland and had so many sources and contacts there, he also was given office space, research assistants, etc. He published a lot in his field and brought big grant money to the school. He and my first friend became close friends, even though they were on opposite sides of a religious/cultural feud that had lasted over a thousand years.
I think that most universities have a collection of semi-invisible, resident scholars like those two, who are an important part of academia, although they get little public acknowledgement for it. They typically give their research activities the names of independent institutes, to enable the receipt of grants and to have an official status.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
