Tuesday, January 29, 2013

There is a hierarchy

A recent article in the journal Science, Technology, & Human Values has this gem, a response about teaching at an R-1 university:
"Those who are in chemical education are looked down upon . . . by those who do hard core research. There is a hierarchy. We're beneath them somehow. You could talk to most chemical educators across the country and it's going to be that way. The hard core research faculty see you as something the department needs to train and teach all these undergrads, but 'as long as I I don’t have to go in there and teach and I can do my research, fine.'" [1]

Dr. Chemist, you are not alone.  This is true in meteorology, atmospheric science, geography, geology, physics, mathematics, and probably a blitz-ton of other departments too.

This caste system, however, isn't just perception.  It's institutional.  Those who would prefer their careers to be more balanced--contributions to both education and to the scientific research of our field--struggle to find a comfy home at R-1 universities.  For example, at Indiana University:
"A candidate for promotion [or tenure] should normally excel in at least one of the above  categories (either research or teaching) and be at least satisfactory in the others. In exceptional cases, a candidate may present evidence of balanced strengths that promise excellent overall performance of comparable benefit to the university." [2, my emphasis added]

I find it unfortunate that a balanced career should be considered exceptional, but this is the nature of the beast.  And it happens not just at the professorial ranks, but in graduate school also.  As a graduate student, if you dare utter the words "I like teaching" scorn will rain down like those frogs from the sky in Magnolia.

Whither the teacher-scholar?  Sigh.

References

[1] Article title:  Technological Change and Professional Control in the Professoriate
http://sth.sagepub.com/content/38/1/126.full.pdf+html

[2] http://www.iu.edu/~ufc/docs/policies/BalancedCase.pdf

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Bridge washout in Maine

"Scour: When Bridges Fail to Withstand Nature"

Collapse of a bridge in Freeport, Maine, on 8 August 2008.  The power of water.

http://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/scour-when-bridges-fail-to-withstand-nature/