Looking for work…

…is probably the most daunting task facing anyone who recently graduated from university. We are all well aware of this, but with this in mind, I thought that I’d post a link to this job. This is an employment opportunity from The Reason Foundation, a libertarian public policy research group. And, given the apparent political sympathies of many of this blog’s contributors, you all might want to consider applying.

Additionally, I’m on the mailing list of several policy groups and they usually advertise jobs in their newsletters. Signing up for these emails does clutter your inbox, and it takes time to go through all of them, but such a strategy could prove to be lucrative for recent grads who’d like to find a job outside of the academy that makes use of their philosophical training.

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Job Market Advice

Good advice for job seekers from a reader of Philosophers Anonymous:

Dear Job Seekers,

Your CV should be short and to the point. Your publications should be listed on the first page. Papers and books “in process” should not appear under the heading “Publications.” Neither should papers merely submitted to journals — it takes no philosophical skill to stuff an envelope and address it to Phil Review. A long list of stints as “chair” of sessions at small regional conferences probably should be left off the CV. A two-page dissertation abstract is at least one page too long. Do not make it difficult to discern whether you’re fully-degreed yet — that’s something else to be put up front on the first page.

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Something to Consider When Applying to Graduate Programs in the Humanities

The article I’ve posted below circulated among the grad students at my department last semester and I thought that you all might want to read it prior to deciding to apply to grad school. Prior attending grad school, a former professor gave me some not-so-nice information about the reality of life as a grad student and of an aspiring academic. I found this information very useful in evaluating my own reasons for applying to graduate programs in philosophy. While I cannot do for any of you what she did for me, I would like to share with all of you an article from the journal of higher education with (broadly speaking) the same aim. However,  I will warn the readers of this post that the content of this article is bleak, significantly bleaker than what I was told before I applied.  The take home message should NOT be don’t go to grad school, rather it should encourage readers to seriously consider why they want to attend grad school. Is it because you would like to be a professor, make some money, publish and change the world? Or is simply because grinding poverty might be worth it to have a chance to study and discuss philosophy at a significantly higher level? Both of these questions are clearly exaggerations, but I think that they give you the gist of the two options.

Here is one. I’ll post some others as comments, if anyone wants to read them. Before ending this brief post I just want to say again that this is not meant to dissuade anyone from going to grad school, but to instead provide students with some serious concerns that one ought to consider so that once a decision is made, it will be as informed as possible (if your professors have not done this already.)  Personally, I don’t agree with about have of what this author says but it is still worth reading.

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Philosophy Majors: Income Update

For those who like such statistics: according to a recent report, students who major in philosophy have a higher mid-career salary than students who major in advertising, biology, business management, criminal justice, education, human resources, medical technology, and nursing.

Those interested may also like the ranking of philosophy as a profession, which was mentioned on the blog previously. As a job, philosopher ranked ahead of psychologist (by 47), attorney (by 70), K-12 teacher (by 115), reporter (by 128), and nurse-licensed practitioner (by 172).

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Two-Year Post Doc

In the event that information about this Post Doc didn’t make it into the most recent Jobs for Philosophers, here it is:

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Career Advise for Philosophers

Here, compliments of Inside Higher Ed.

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Job Opening (Fall 2009)

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA, Jacksonville, FL. One-year Visiting Assistant Professor, beginning fall semester 2009. Rank/salary dependent on Ph.D. status. Ph.D. preferred. AOS and AOC open, but the program has teaching needs in gender/race theory, philosophy of science/epistemology, and Asian/comparative philosophy. 8 courses/year (4/semester), undergraduate, possible graduate instruction. The successful candidate will mostly teach lower division introductory courses with opportunity for select upper-level philosophy courses. Minimal non-teaching duties. Summer work available. We encourage applications from women and members of minorities. Mail complete dossier, including a letter of application, C.V., at least three letters of recommendation, graduate transcripts, a brief writing sample, and evidence of successful teaching experience, to: Philosophy Visiting Position, Department of Philosophy, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224-2665. Deadline for initial consideration of applications is June 10. The position will remain open until filled. Applicants must complete a one-page application form online at http://www.unfjobs.org and must mail all required documents to be considered for this position. Applicants who do not complete the one-page online application form and who do not mail all required documentation will not be considered for this position. “UNF is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access/Affirmative Action Institution.”

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How Can Non-Elite PhD Programs Help Their Students?

Should they encourage them to publish?

(HT: Leiter)

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Anonymous Application Dossiers

There’s a very interesting discussion at PEA Soup about the possibility of anonymous job applications to avoid, among other things, potential pedigree bias.

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Bad Job Market News

The scoop on the humanities at Inside Higher Ed.

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Academeology: A Book by Female Science Professor

An academic blogger, Female Science Professor, began blogging anonymously in 2006. Her blog postings have been collected in a book which might interest our readers who like reading and thinking about science, intersections of philosophy and science, the production of scientific knowledge and the workings of academia. Female Science Professor is, well, a female scientist who, as a female, is a member of an underrepresented group in her specialization. Here’s a review of her book, Academeology:

Pseudonymous blogger Female Science Professor (FSP) first introduced herself in May 2006: “I do not look my age, I do not look like a professor, I do not look like a scientist. My colleagues are, with a few exceptions, very kind and polite to me, and some (many? most?) even like me … but they do not take me seriously.”

That post set the tone for what has become a collection of more than 500 short essays describing her experiences as a scientist, a professor and one of the few women working in her field of science. […] FSP’s blog has steadily gained popularity, with her clear writing style, candid revelations and often humorous musings. The blog’s comment section allows her readers to share their own academic experiences.

(HT: Feminist Philosophers)

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Elon: An Exception to the Rule

Inside Higher Ed has an article about Elon University’s attempts to go against the grain and become less reliant on contingent faculty. Excerpt:

The percentage of faculty members who are off the tenure track keeps going up, and they are quite possibly in the majority in American higher education. Administrators have justified the hiring pattern — even before the current economic downturn — by saying that they gain flexibility and talent without tenure, and end up saving money as well.

Faculty groups have been pushing back hard against this trend, but with limited success. Even many professors view it as inevitable and argue for a focus on improving pay and benefits for adjuncts.

Elon University, a private institution in North Carolina, offers evidence that institutions can reverse the tide and build up their tenured and tenure-track ranks. In the 1990s, Elon’s faculty was split about evenly between adjuncts and those on the tenure track. Today, about 74 percent of professors are either tenured or tenure track. Even with the national economy in turmoil, Elon’s leaders say that they plan to continue in this direction until the faculty is about 85 percent tenure track.

Particularly notable, given the concerns of many adjuncts that shifts away from contingent labor will only cost them jobs, is the fact that Elon has hired some former adjuncts into tenure-track jobs, given them credit for their time as adjuncts, and in some cases tenured them. […]

John Sullivan, a professor emeritus of philosophy, is credited with putting the issue of the tenure track front and center when the discussion of “engaged learning” came up. “We were talking about producing a community of learners,” and the idea of community was central, he said.

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Thinking about Implicit Bias

The Feminist Philosophers have begun a series of posts on implicit bias and hiring practices. As readers may remember from discussions last year, women are only about twenty percent of philosophers, making philosophy among the worst in the humanities with regard to sex parity. Statistics are similarly dismal for racial and ethnic minorities.

There have been many important discussions about this in the philosophy blogging world over the past year, and one of the recurring themes is that of implicit biases and unconscious schemas. The Feminist Philosophers provide resources about implicit biases and strategies for overcoming them. Although none of the classic experiments on implicit bias (for example, gathering data from job application callbacks) have been re-run on the philosopher population, the Feminist Philosophers suggest it is reasonable to assume philosophers are not immune to implicit bias, which means, like we find elsewhere, implicit bias likely affects hiring.

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Upcoming Events and Calls for Papers

A Public Lecture at the University of North Florida

“Freewill and Neuroscience”

Al Mele
Florida State University

Thursday at 7:30 – 9:00 P.M., in Building 50/1202

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Skills to Pay the Bills

That’s right, kids! Philosophy students have skills to pay the bills.

UPDATE 11/24/07: The article linked to above is under discussion here, here and here.

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Speaking of Jobs for Philosophers…

Readers might like to check out this discussion over at Brian Leiter’s blog about how committees decide who gets interviewed for those jobs.

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So, I bet you think there aren’t any jobs for philosophers…

Although there are other job opportunities, here is an extensive list of open teaching positions in philosophy across the country.

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Some Interesting Discussions

…are going on around the blogosphere.

A fresh approach to a burning question at Prosblogion: Gratitude and the Existence of God.

A recent post at the Leiter Reports Group Blog discusses practical issues regarding Area of Specialization and Areas of Competence. Don’t miss this if you are interested in Philosophy careers or are creating your CV.

Also, don’t miss this new Ethics focused blog: Ethics Etc.

~Quincy

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Women in Philosophy

Brit Brogaard’s discussion of the APA report on the status of women in philosophy is worth a look. Check it out.

- Rico Vitz

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Congratulations

… to two more of my former UC-Riverside colleagues, Matt Talbert on his appointment at West Virginia University, and Jessica Ludescher on her appointment at Seattle University.

- Rico Vitz

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Congratulations …

… to my former UC-Riverside colleagues Dan Speak, on his appointment at Loyola Marymount University, and Josh Rust, on his appointment at Stetson University. 

- Rico Vitz

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