Author: MANNING@neu.edu
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 1994 22:22:59 -0500
Loved David Meier's posting of the Baker Historian Glut piece. But I would suggest one other very useful employment over the past decades for some of those "extra" historians: we have been talking about the other half of humankind - women - who never used to get included in history!
Author: MANNING@neu.edu
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 18:22:42 -0500
> Loved David Meier's posting of the Baker Historian Glut piece. But I
> would suggest one other very useful employment over the past
decades for
> some of those "extra" historians: we have been talking about the other
> half of humankind - women - who never used to get included in
history!
>
> * Sara W. Tucker e-mail: zztuck@acc.wuacc.edu *
Does anybody know what happened to the boom in academic -- historical included -- jobs that was predicted for the 90's? Aside from gross misunderstandings of the historical profession, of the sorts exhibited in numerous op ed pieces like the Baker one, why are academics suddenly every unhappy 90s soul's favorite whipping boys and girls? I submit that whatever is behind all this is a better explanation for the (perceived) historian "glut" than any real overproduction of new Ph.D's in History -- or English, or Philosophy, or French, or........ of either gender.
Randall L. Pouwels
University of Central Arkansas
RANDYP@cc1.uca.edu
Author: MANNING@neu.edu
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 08:25:23 -0500
Quick answer to Randy's question: The recession happened. Professors are retiring in droves, but they are either not being replaced, or else being replaced by freeway flyers (such as yours truly). Speaking as one who was taken in by all the optimistic predictions, I am somewhat cynical about the new predictions that the glut will now occur by the end of the century. Anyway, even if it's true, I for one will have long since fled, alas. Much as I love this life, $1000 a month without benefits, certainty from term to term, or hope of advancement is too much to bear for long. :-)
Annette Laing
San Diego State University
ASLAING@UCRAC1.UCR.edu
Author: MANNING@neu.edu
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 1994 13:44:31 -0500
Annette:
Worst of all is the administrator's desire to hire retired people to teach their courses which cuts out the striving grad students. I know one person in your category who teaches at three universities for peanuts and without benefits. The early retirement option is another ploy used by administrators to cut costs. This means you officially retire and then teach half time for half salary. You are expected to be on the merit pay system but without travel benefits etc. to make it possible. We seem to live in a mean spirited world. College administrators are not the only mean spirited sobs in the world but it does seem to be a prerequisite for the job.
Sorry about getting on my soapbox, but not too sorry.
Ray
SOSLEWIS@AKS.EKU.edu
Author: MANNING@neu.edu
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 1994 13:33:15 -0500
> Quick answer to Randy's question: The recession happened. Professors are retiring in droves, but they are either not being replaced, or else being replaced by freeway flyers (such as yours truly). Speaking as one who was taken in by all the optimistic predictions, I am somewhat cynical about the new predictions that the glut will now occur by the end of the century. Anyway, even if it's true, I for one will have long since fled, alas. Much as I love this life, $1000 a month without benefits, certainty from term to term, or hope of advancement is too much to bear for long. :-)
> Annette Laing > San Diego State University > ASLAING@UCRAC1.UCR.edu
All very true, especially the part about part-time replacements. At the U. where I am, the student population has increased by 50% over the last seven years -- with no addition of full-time personnel. In addition, "traditional" fields of history still seem to be producing the majority of new PhDs, while when traditional-field people retire, they are as likely as not to be replaced by people operating in the "newer" fields (hopefully this will continue to push students towards these areas)
"T"
Terrance Lewis
tlewis@new-orleans.NeoSoft.com
(PS to Annette Lang -- go luck on the market, and say hello to your
colleague, Besty Colwill, for me).
Author: MANNING@neu.edu
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 1994 13:37:12 -0500
> Quick answer to Randy's question: The recession happened.
Professors are
> retiring in droves, but they are either not being replaced, or else
> being replaced by freeway flyers (such as yours truly). Speaking as
one who was taken in by all the optimistic predictions, I am somewhat
> cynical about the new predictions that the glut will now occur by the
> end of the century. Anyway, even if it's true, I for one will have long
> since fled, alas. Much as I love this life, $1000 a month without
> benefits, certainty from term to term, or hope of advancement is too
> much to bear for long. :-)
> Annette Laing > San Diego State University > ASLAING@UCRAC1.UCR.edu
>
The recession happened and a whole lot else! Like downsizing. And the growing public pressures on universities to provide "relevant" educations, hence attacks on gen ed courses which often are the bread and butter courses of many humanities departments in the so-called teaching universities. What makes me wonder about the Russell Bakers of this world, though, is why do they pick on historians? (There is some very good reading about these issues in the current issue of the AAUP _Footnotes_, in case anyone's interested.)
Randall L Pouwels
University of Central Arkansas
RANDYP@cc1.uca.edu
Author: MANNING@neu.edu
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 1994 13:39:46 -0500
When a professor of history retires, and his department colleagues
replace him or her with two or three part-timers (easily done with a
so-called surplus of underemployed Ph.D.s), please do not blame the
dean or the president. It is our responsibility.
Peter Holloran, Pine Manor College
pch@WORLD.STD.COM
Author: THOMASSON_G@sunybroome.edu
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 15:11:35 PCT
Date sent: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 15:46:49 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: the historian glut To: H-WORLD@msu.edu
Organization: Broome Community College, Binghamton, NY, USA
Peter Holloran suggests it is the faculty's fault when a retiring full-timer is replaced by part-timers. Where we stand it was an administrative decision, 100%--cancelling a completed search. And either that or no search being authorized in the first place has been my experience with a number of institutions. Don't blame the victims (our work-load increases in non-teaching assignments the more part-timers are hired).
Gordon C. Thomasson
World History Faculty
THOMASSON_G@SUNYBROOME.EDU
Author: "DANIEL A. SEGAL"
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 1994 10:40:59 PCT
"Do not permit deans and presidents to destroy our professional lives."
Spoken like someone with a secure tenure system and some degree of influence over the budget. Which I'm not. But let's not waste any more net time on this thread.
Author: "DANIEL A. SEGAL"
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 1994 10:05:57 PCT
In reply to Gordon Thomasson's response to my posting (about replacing tenured history professors with part-time faculty), I think the members of most history departments are much too timid and too easily blame the problem on administrative decision-making. If we agree that it is unwise to depend on too many adjunct faculty, then speak up and do not permit deans and presidents to destroy our professional lives. Refuse to condone it by your silence and cooperation.
Peter Holloran
pch@world.std.com
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