All Questions
Tagged with professorship career-path
90
questions
90
votes
12
answers
17k
views
Why do researchers need universities?
This is a follow-up question to How are junior professors evaluated for promotion? and probably an even more naive question. If I'm understanding the answer correct, professors need funding to do ...
81
votes
3
answers
26k
views
Life as a math professor
I am currently an undergraduate math major in my 3rd year (in America). I have taken lots of pure math courses, and anything I put in my resume tells potential employers I'm probably going to be an ...
71
votes
5
answers
42k
views
What ratio of PhD graduates in STEM fields ultimately end up as (tenured) professors?
I recently saw this infogram circling around various social networks:
It appeared in this Tweet with the following claim:
Got a PhD? Your chance of becoming a Professor is 0.45%. Good luck.
Being ...
56
votes
6
answers
6k
views
Is it normal to feel dread before starting a faculty position?
I need some advice. After several months of interviews and work, I secured a faculty position at a good business school, which was a relief since jobs are so hard to get around here. Everyone tells me ...
55
votes
6
answers
11k
views
What kind of career path might be possible for a professor following a plagiarism scandal?
Prior to transferring to another university, I attended a college in a different state with a renown reputation for integrity and academic rigor. The year before I left, I enrolled in a course that ...
49
votes
7
answers
7k
views
What's the point of maintaining a CV after tenure?
Once you have tenure, presumably you're never going to have to search for a job again. However almost all professors have a CV on their website, and fairly recent ones. Why? They already made it.
42
votes
9
answers
18k
views
What happens to unproductive professors?
I notice that past a certain age (sometimes as early as 50), some professors tend to be significantly less productive, to the point that they essentially do not publish or have graduate students and ...
39
votes
3
answers
10k
views
How should a student deal with personal criticisms from an assistant professor?
I am a PhD student. In the past I have met with an assistant professor for some general advice about my research, both times he has made off the cuff comments on my lack of competence as a researcher ...
39
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How is Google Scholar changing academic evaluation?
Google Scholar is making it very easy to track (their measure of) citation counts, h-index, etc. for individual researchers. Is this changing how academics are evaluated? Do tenure committees now ...
36
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Should I email old supervisor about my progress?
I might collaborate with an old supervisor in the future and would like to keep in touch. Is it a good idea to send an email to him about the progress I've made in my career? Also, what's the best ...
33
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Why do some individuals who are productive PhD students at leading Western institutions, then publish infrequently as faculty in their home country?
I am a computer science student from Turkey. While I was checking the websites and publications of various CS Professors in Turkey for my future studies, I noticed a strange trend. (Excluding minor ...
32
votes
3
answers
142k
views
What academic functions does a Professor Emeritus usually serve?
I for one have never understood the distinction between a regular prof with a prof Emeritus/Emerita aside from the obvious fact that a Prof. Emeritus is someone who is usually fairly elderly and has ...
31
votes
5
answers
26k
views
Why is a professorship sometimes called a chair?
Why is a professorship sometimes called a chair? Are chairs only the correct term when the professorship has been endowed? (I don't think so, because endowed professorships are rare in the UK, but ...
27
votes
13
answers
33k
views
What is the advantage of becoming a full professor if you already have tenure as an associate professor?
What is the advantage of becoming a full professor if you are already an associate professor with tenure? Why not just stay an associate professor for life? What is the key difference between an ...
27
votes
6
answers
5k
views
Why do research faculty pursue administrative positions, such as dean, provost, president, etc. ? Do such positions spell the end of one's research?
At a recent seminar talk, I was amazed to note that one of the two coauthors (not the presenter) was the president of a large and well-known university, since I had always assumed that taking on such ...