Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 06:08:13 -0600 (MDT)
Message-Id: <1.5.4.16.19971012080740.2f07f3d4@pop.uvm.edu>
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To: socgrad@csf.colorado.edu
From: TR Young <TR.Young@uvm.edu>
Subject: Re:  faculty expectations of grad students
In addition to all the good reasons why Tom Brown has opted 
to seek a job at 'podunk' university as someone from JH put
it, those of you who seek jobs at places other than Michigan,
Stanforn, Austin, or Johns Hopkins might like to remember that
you will be much more valuable to the students and to the life
of the university at a state college than in New York, LA, 
Chicago or Austin.  There are bright and beautiful students who
need what extra you might be able to bring to them from 'prestige'
schools.  And, in parts of Alabama, Idaho, Nevada and Arizona,
you may well find it much more rewarding in many ways than working
in a faculty and a town where your views, knowledges, and skills
are commonplace.

In a word, they need you there.  Go for it, Tom!

                                                        TR

At 12:18 AM 10/11/97 -0400, you wrote:
>>i am about to defend my dissertation in february and receive the phd in
>>may, so i am applying for academic positions right now.  what i have
>>found is that (with the exception of my diss. chair who has known my
>>career goals for quite some time) some of the faculty seem very
>>disappointed in my choices of schools.  briefly, i am primarily
>>interested in small four-year colleges/universities.  i prefer liberal
>>arts teaching universities with no big names.
>
>This sounds familiar. I will be searching next year for a job in a 
>nice place to live, and so will have to take the best of whatever's 
>available in those kind of desirable locations. My enjoyment of life
>precedes my career ambition. I don't need the pressure and insecurity 
>of being an untenured professor in a top school. Here, the pressure is 
>absolutely ridiculous. (It takes ten years and two major reviews to get 
>tenure here. It's up or out at each review. The unspoken rule of thumb 
>is that you need to publish two books to get tenure, plus all the other 
>usual expectations.) I intend to excel wherever I am at whatever I do, 
>but I also intend to be happy and relaxed in the process. 
>
>Although I've totally focused my grad career on research, I actually 
>like teaching just as much. So I just keep my mouth shut about my career 
>aspirations around the dept. There's no need to disappoint my mentors 
>prematurely. One of them once actually said to grad students gathered to hear 
>him speak: "No one from Johns Hopkins takes a position at Podunk Community 
>College!" A little pretentious, eh? In fact, there are a few such graduates,
>only no one ever talks about them around here. My guess is that
>they are happier than the people who are still taking short contracts
>while waiting out that Top 10 tenure-track offer.
>
>
>
TR Young
The Red Feather Institute
8085 Essex, Weidman, Mi.,
  48893--ph: [517] 644 3089
  Email: tr@tryoung.com
         TR.Young@uvm.edu