It’s that time of the year again: receiving PhD applications and getting ready to assess them as a member of my department’s reviewing committee.
One more year I think about the fortress besieged effect: PhD applicants want to pursue a doctoral degree to get into academia, while tenured faculty want to get out of it.
Recent article on the former: Naomi Kanakia, Professors, Don’t Delude Yourselves: Your graduate students aren’t aiming for nonacademic jobs. Recent article on the latter: William Pannapacker, Tenured, Trapped, and Miserable in the Humanities: Why are so many tenured professors unhappy with their jobs yet unable to change careers?