The Chicago Guide to Your Academic Career: A Portable Mentor for Scholars from Graduate School Through Tenure

by Goldsmith, John A.

• ISBN13: 9780226301518
• ISBN10: 0226301516
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Is a career as a professor the right choice for you? If you are a graduate student, how can you clear the hurdles successfully and position yourself for academic employment? What's the best way to prepare for a job interview, and how can you maximize your chances of landing a job that suits you? What happens if you don't receive an offer? How does the tenure process work, and how do faculty members cope with the multiple and conflicting day-to-day demands? With a perpetually tight job market in the traditional academic fields, the road to an academic career for many aspiring scholars will often be a rocky and frustrating one. Where can they turn for good, frank answers to their questions? Here, three distinguished scholars--with more than 75 years of combined experience--talk openly about what's good and what's not so good about academia, as a place to work and a way of life. Written as an informal conversation among colleagues, the book is packed with inside information--about finding a mentor, avoiding pitfalls when writing a dissertation, negotiating the job listings, and much more. The three authors' distinctive opinions and strategies offer the reader multiple perspectives on typical problems. With rare candor and insight, they talk about such tough issues as departmental politics, dual-career marriages, and sexual harassment. Rounding out the discussion are short essays that offer the "inside track" on financing graduate education, publishing the first book, and leaving academia for the corporate world. This helpful guide is for anyone who has ever wondered what the fascinating and challenging world of academia might hold in store. Part I - Becoming a Scholar * Deciding on an Academic Career * Entering Graduate School * The Mentor * Writing a Dissertation * Landing an Academic Job Part II - The Academic Profession * The Life of the Assistant Professor * Teaching and Research * Tenure * Competition in the University System and Outside Offers * The Personal Side of Academic Life

Author Biography

John A. Goldsmith is the Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor in, and former chair of, the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago.

John Komlos is a professor of economics, chair of the Institute of Economic History, and a former chair of the economics department at the University of Munich.

Penny Schine Gold is a professor of history at Knox college and past chair of the Women's Studies Program.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xix
Part One: Becoming a Scholar
Deciding on an Academic Career	3	(15)
The advantages and disadvantages of academic life
Academic salaries
Academic freedom
The personality traits of successful graduate students
Entering Graduate School	18	(26)
Differences between undergraduate and graduate training
Perconditions for a graduate education
Questions to ask yourself
Financial considerations
Picking the right school
Specialization
Knowing whether you've made the right career choice
The Inside Track: Financing Graduate Education	30	(14)
Tom Thuerer
The Mentor	44	(10)
The role of the mentor
Finding a mentor
The mentoring commitment
Writing a Dissertation	54	(12)
Prerequistes
The dissertation requirement
Choosing a topic
How long it takes to write a thesis
Becoming discouraged and persevering
Landing an Academic Job	66	(69)
Preparing to enter the academic job market
Presenting a paper at a conference
The job search
How to read job advertisements
Assembling the dossier
Application letters
Letters of reference
The C. V.
Interviews at national meetings
What should be avoided
Applying as a couple
The short list
The campus visit
The job talk
Rejections
How long to keep trying
Receiving and evaluating offers
Negotiating the terms of the appointment
The ``two-body'' problem
Multiple offers
The Inside Track: Leaving Academic for the Corporate World	126	(9)
Ami Kronfeld
Part Two: The Academic Profession
The Life of the Assistant Professor	135	(26)
Beginning the first job
Juggling responsibilities
Sorting out priorities
Committees and commitments
Keeping tenure in view
Getting along with colleagues
The institutional bureaucracy
Departmental politics
Getting involved in institutional change
Long-term goals
Family considerations
Job satisfaction
Teaching and Research	161	(49)
What teaching is all about
Expectations at research universities
Expectations at teaching institutions
Preparing a syllabus
Learning how to teach
Exams and writing assignments
The first day of class
Evaluating students' work
Evaluating your own teaching
Teaching at the graduate level
Plagiarism and other ethical issues
Making life easier on yourself
``Publish or perish''
Beginning to publish
Finding the right journal
Sumbitting the article
The editor's
decision
Referee reports
Coauthoring
Publishing a book
Getting grants
Surviving writer's block
The Inside Track: Publishing the First Book	205	(5)
Colin Day
Tenure	210	(15)
Why tenure exists
The tenure review process
Evaluation criteria
Attacks on tenure
Being denied tenure
Opportunities outside academia
Competition in the University System and Outside Offers	225	(11)
The forces of competition
Mobility and loyalty
Junior and senior hires
Outside offers as a way to move up
The Indise Track: Consulting and Intellectual Property	234	(2)
Pierre Laszlo
Family, Gender, and the Personal Side of Academic Life	236	(16)
Effects on family
Shared appointments
Discrimination in academic
Sexual harassment and consensual relationships
Conclusion	252	(5)
Appendix 1: The Administrative Structure of a University	257	(9)
Appendix 2: Policies on Parental Leave and Shared Positions	266	(6)
Appendix 3: Tables	272	(5)
Notes	277	(18)
Bibliography	295	(6)
About the Authors	301	(2)
Index	303