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Whoa, I'm pretty sure I didn't criticize any of these courses. I wondered about something, and asked a question. I'll rephrase as a two-parter: 1) Is the professoriate in our field concerned about the future of doctoral students who don't become faculty members? 2a) If yes, how do we manifest that concern? 2b) If no, should we? I liked being a librarian. I liked being a professor. I like being an editor. If I knew at each stage what I know now, I'd still have liked 'em. I'm curious, is all. Anyone who reads the Chronicle of Higher Education regularly knows this question comes up *a lot* all across the disciplinary spectrum. Sue ------------------------- On 22 Jan 2010 at 21:29, Suzanne Stauffer wrote: > > I'm not sure I understand.It's quite true that some who want to > become faculty members will not > be offered jobs, and some who are offered positions will fail to > earn tenure. I don't understand > why that means that we on this list should not discuss the need to > inform doctoral students about > the realities of faculty life.Given that none of us can predict the > future, I would imagine that those > who desire to become faculty members would want to take such a > seminar in order to be > prepared for the eventuality. > > That in no way suggests that the professoriate is immune or that > everyone who wants a faculty > job will find one and earn tenure. It does not suggest that doctoral > students should not be > informed about other career options, if they are interested. It does > suggest that some who think > that they want faculty positions might change their minds if they > really understood what is > involved, and that they would do better to find that out as graduate > students than as second- or > third-year tenure-track faculty.As the cliche has it, to fail to > plan is to plan to fail. > > The fact that a person might hold up to five positions in a working > life does not mean that the > individual should do nothing to prepare for those five positions. It > means just the opposite. It > means that we will prepare ourselves for new careers as many asfive > different times in our lives. > Tenure-track faculty member is stillone of those career options. > > > Suzanne M. Stauffer, Ph.D. > Assistant Professor > School of Library and Information Science > Louisiana State University > 275 Coates Hall > Baton Rouge, LA 70803 > (225)578-1461 > Fax: (225)578-4581 > [log in to unmask] > > Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? > Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? > --T.S. Eliot, "Choruses from The Rock" > > > > > > > > > From: Open Lib/Info Sci Education Forum on behalf of Sue Easun > Sent: Thu 1/21/2010 8:37 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: On learning about how to be a faculty member > > Suzanne, your point may be true for those who aren't planning to > become faculty > members. But what about those who would like to but don't get to be > faculty > members, for any number of reasons. > > I absolutely agree that anyone intent on becoming a faculty member > would do well > to know what (s)he is getting into. (During my days at Berkeley, we > doctoral > students created our own noncredit course, and it was pretty darned > cuttin' edge.) > But neither did we include a segment on life outside the academy. > > If the rest of the world is expected to hold up to five different > positions over the > course of a working life, what makes us think the professoriate is > immune? Or that > tenure is going to be granted, never mind achievable, even ten years > from now? > > This is the time to discuss things like the possibility of running > an institution like > IMLS, or taking an entrepreneurial spin, or the various other > positions in which we > often find ourselves, wondering how we got there :-) > > Sue > > ---------------------------------------- > > On 21 Jan 2010 at 8:52, Suzanne Stauffer wrote: > > > > > Well, I would imagine that they wouldn't register for the seminar > if > > they had not interest in become > > faculty. > > > > Given that this list is called "Lib/Info Sci Education Forum" > and > > that most of said education is > > provided by academic faculty members who were once doctoral > > students, I don't see why it > > wouldn't be appropriate.LIS education -- and higher education in > > general -- is not served bya > > succession of tenure-track faculty members whofail to advance to > > tenure because they did not > > understand what was expected of them until too late in the game. > > > > Doctoral students who are considering a career as tenured > faculty > > should understand what that > > means early in their program, so that they can decide whether it > > really is fo