Ph.D.s Facing The Unexpected

By: Leroy A. Binns Ph.D.

 

The Crisis

Supply and demand is presently affecting the ability of scores of Ph.D.s to find teaching assignments within academia. According to the Association of American Universities, a consortium of 62 leading tertiary institutions the output of scholars outweighs the need at a time when the number of faculty positions are declining amidst a peak in Ph.D. production.

Tenure, which is a permanent status awarded to assistant professors who are successful at academic achievement reviews granted by their superiors following 6 to 7 years of continuous service at a college or university is becoming a rare phenomenon. While some academics such as Dr Eve Riskin, an electrical engineer at the University of Washington have been promoted to the rank of associate professor, others the likes of microbiologist Dr Ruthann Kibler formerly of the University of Arizonia lost teaching positions due to philosophical differences and/or lack of research. In some cases many particularly minorities and Arts and Humanities specialists including Dr Annalee Newitz, a distinguished graduate of the Department of English at the University of California-Berkeley are underemployed with sparse benefits or unemployed.

 Problems have culminated with an influx of terminal degree recipients in recent decades. A 1997 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education and a 1998 report by the National Research Council have concurred that academe is unable to absorb the growing number of Ph.D.s in any field. Although between 1970 and 1993 the total number of doctorate degrees awarded by US institutions rose from 29,500 to 39,750, placement proved to be disturbing. Reference by the NRC concludes that in 1970 68% of newly minted Ph.D.s found teaching assignments but ten years later there was a 17% decline. By specific classification Ph.D.s in the Social and Behavioral Sciences showed a drop from 80% in 1970 to 53% in 1993 whereas graduates in the areas of Life Science and Education experience a 26% decline over the same period. In addition while post doctoral positions in Sciences and Engineering rose by 32% between 1988 and 1995 to 26,000 it has been officially stated by the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology that 18% serve in such capacity 5 to 6 years following graduation. Also astonishing is the fact that in 1995 42% of college professors functioned as part-timers – an increase of 20% since 1970. In fact only approximately one-third of all college and university faculty members are tenured.

 Solutions

Employment Perspectives

Sensing the need to address a formidable challenge voiced by many including RAND Institute for Education and Training, a staunch opponent of the substitution of “gypsy scholars” (e.g., teaching and research assistants) for permanent lecturers, many tertiary institutions are on the hunt for solutions. With the possibility of increased state funding some large state universities are expecting to accommodate new academic employees. For the record Dr Graham Spanier the president of Pennsylvania State University has plans to hire 75 new tenure track faculty members by fall, with an additional 150 over the next 3 years. In the West the University of California has began to grant authorization to fill 2,000 vacant slots made possible by early retirement incentives whereas the State University of New York-Buffalo is considering bringing aboard 32 new scholars.

Other approaches have been introduced to stem the tide. Boston University’s School of Management allows its professors the option of tenure or a ten year contract with 8% to 10% premium. In contrast to the abovementioned alternative but in accordance with a choice to tenure the nation’s latest university Florida Gulf Coast University along with historically black colleges such as Albany State University and private schools which includes the Union Institute have utilized multi-year contracts.

Alliances At Work

“The nationwide discussion of Ph.D.s being awarded by American universities has in some cases become very narrow minded and myopic,” said Brown University’s professor and executive director of the Leadership Alliance, an association of 27 colleges and universities Dr James Wyche. “The challenge facing academic is not to produce fewer Ph.D.s. The major challenge for US universities and their graduate education and research divisions is to create Ph.D. programs that are responsive to the market demands for a different, more interdisciplinary Ph.D. product for the new millennium.”

To this end the Modern Language Association, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists among others are suggesting some fundamental changes. The MLA upon witnessing the failure of 55% of 1990 to 1995 Ph.D. recipients in English and Foreign Languages to procure tenure track positions the year following graduation advised language departments to examine their programs. The organization has also alluded to the introduction of extended masters degree programs in an effort to emphasize cross disciplinarity. A venture is showcased through the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where Dr Deborah Carlin director of the graduate program in English is advancing expansive training through internships for Ph.D.s in local historical societies, film companies and theaters groups.

In response to an acceleration of 11,684 graduates in the Social Sciences and Humanities between 1980 and 1995 many of whom are faced with frustration and despair the  Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation at Princeton University is spearheading a new project entitled “Unleashing the Humanities: The Doctorate Beyond the Academy.” Under the leadership of its president Dr Robert Weisbush, a former English professor at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor it plans to award 3 grants worth $10,000 to academic departments that adopt an extended worldly perspective as an integral part of graduate training. Moreover the offer entails a maximum of 30 awards valued at $1,500 each to doctoral students who are involved in non academic undertakings. The organization will also match talented candidates with institutions that will offer attractive assignments.

In accordance with the above establishments the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the Group on Graduate Education and Training have endorsed diverse training in an attempt to consume such human resource wherever necessary. In essence they too have stressed the necessity for competent candidates who are multi-talented for academe and industry. Furthermore the Alfred P. Sloan Corporation, a scientific society highly critical of industry’s unwillingness to commit to appropriate salaries and contracts challenges particularly computing enterprises to act responsibly by hiring Ph.D.s.

Conclusion

With an ever increasing backlog of Ph.D.s awaiting assignments within the ivory towers and a climate that is slow in adopting change, graduates must remain vigilant but also flexible to the rising tides that lie ahead.