Dr. S applied for a number of jobs this year. One in particular, a teaching-heavy, medium sized Southern school, had a position he really wanted. It can be charitably described as Moderately Good And Moderatly Well-Known.
They posted their seminar schedule. The job candidates include 1) someone with three Nature papers and 2) someone from a Nobel lab, with a Science paper. These are people who apply for Snooty U-type jobs, not for teaching-heavy jobs in the South. ("But you just can't get good sushi there! And everyone drives pickup trucks! There are actually people named Bubba!"*) 'So unless they have personal reasons for wanting to be in central Beautiful Mountainous State, there is NO way they are taking these jobs.
Makes you wonder...
*I have heard real people voice these exact sentiments, along with "How can anyone get a good college education while working an actual job?"
I always wonder about the people who do not understand that "Bubba" came from kids not being able to say "Brother." In my mom's family, the girls called the boys "Brother" and the boys called the girls "Sis" most of the time, even as adults.
ReplyDeleteWe personally don't own a pickup truck, but my parents and brothers-in-law do - my dad uses his to haul firewood and pull his boat, one brother-in-law owns a lawn and garden/small engine repair store and uses his to haul equipment, and the other brother-in-law owns a construction company AND is a farmer, so he's either on construction sites, or hauling hay or pulling trailers with animals in them. God, I think the people who drive big trucks in the damn city (for no practical purposes) are the ones who should be made fun of there...
My adult sisters and I call each other Sis. And my dad has a pickup for hauling stuff! Those low-rider city pickup trucks? We laugh every time we see one.
DeleteSeriously, I hate seeing the fancy pickups in the city! Right now I'm hoping my sister-in-law will visit this spring, so I can borrow their pickup for my spring garden projects :) I hope your husband gets the job he really wants, though!
ReplyDeleteWe were just discussing last night a book that talks about how scientists are happiest at medium sized, medium good research universities. I'm not sure what teaching heavy is, but I know quite a few professors (including my husband) who had a number of nature and sciences during their PHD/postdoc years and ended up (quite happily) at such places. Not sure about the south part but then we moved somewhere where its regularly -40 in the winter for the sake of the job market.
ReplyDeleteHmm . . . I'm curious about the fact that you equate quality science with snooty-ness and a desire for sushi. I haven't seen the correlation, myself. Most of the most prominent scientists in my field are happily located in small towns.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm tired of people not taking my application seriously because they think they can divine my career intentions based on the graduate lab I picked when I was 21. I was lucky to get into a good lab, and I worked hard, but I didn't know that would close doors at institutions that were not R01. I'm sorry your husband didn't get an interview at the school he wanted, but I'm not sorry that the school is interviewing candidates that they think are high quality.
Yes, it's a little-known fact that all scientists are sushi-loving snobs. Why, just the other day, I referred to the state I live in as flyover country! And I've met many a large, intense research lab at primarily-undergrad-teaching-heavy schools.
DeleteI do think "I really want to teach, not run a big lab" is a perfectly good justification for wanting this kind of lab. I've also heard any number of people go into culture shock when moving to the South. But don't worry: I make fun of Southerners too. Bless their little hearts!
I've never met a scientist that didn't like sushi!
DeleteYeah, there ARE the jerks who try for the offer so they can use it as leverage for the job they really want (I mean, not that I actually think that makes someone a jerk, after all, we're TOLD to do it, but it is kinda mean to the department), but there's also the dreaaaaadful state of the current job market... Here at Mediocre U we managed to snag a number of Snooty-quality candidates in the past two cycles because there just aren't many jobs. It's a good time to be Mediocre U! I also have to say I've been surprised at the jobs my cohort ended up with. Several of them had multiple Science papers, yet ended up at non-snooty institutions. Not places with heavy teaching loads, mind you, but still. I think (despite the fact that I'd imagine your finger is a hell of a lot more on the pulse of job searches than mine is) there are a lot of factors. Anyway, sounds (based on use of past tense) like he's not on that list, which SUCKS. Those fools.
ReplyDeleteYes, part of what I wonder is what one always wonders: what's going on behind the scenes? (I should add, this *particular* position is specifically to do a LOT of a very specific kind of teaching (80%) to run a very small lab.) Is the search committee delusional? Do these people have actual teaching experience in between their Nature papers? (Unlikely.) Do they, in fact, have some reason they really want to live in the South? Will they be miserable? Not that it matters because, as you mention, they're not interviewing my spouse anyways.
DeleteI find it particularly bemusing because, though the quality of research at Snooty U was very good, the teaching averaged out at Severely Mediocre- a few good teachers, the rest were indifferent to terrible, because it's not selected for on the research track and all.
The "How can anyone get a good college education while working an actual job?" just raises the hair on my back. Yep, its near darn impossible, but some of us have no easier option. I wonder if the people making that comment are also the ones that say "How can anyone be working an actual job while being a mother?"
ReplyDelete