{"id":2394,"date":"2008-03-19T09:37:44","date_gmt":"2008-03-19T09:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/principles\/2008\/03\/19\/uncomfortable-questions-resear\/"},"modified":"2008-03-19T09:37:44","modified_gmt":"2008-03-19T09:37:44","slug":"uncomfortable-questions-resear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/2008\/03\/19\/uncomfortable-questions-resear\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncomfortable Questions: Research University"},"content":{"rendered":"

“A” asks<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Given the chance, would you take a job at a major research-university, or do you enjoy teaching a lot and doing some research at your small liberal arts college?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

My first answer is “no,” though I guess it would depend on the terms of the offer. In general terms, though, I’m very happy with my job.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I went to a small liberal arts college<\/a>, and really enjoyed the experience, so I actually went to grad school with the idea of getting a Ph.D. and then teaching at a small college. I’ve ended up pretty much exactly where I wanted to be– well, OK, I’d probably be even happier at a certain school just across the Massachusetts border, but I like where I am and what I’m doing just fine.<\/p>\n

I think that liberal arts colleges really have a lot to offer, especially in the sciences. We may not have the same resources as a large research institution, but the small classes and close contact between students and faculty mean that there are opportunities there for students who might easily slip below the radar.<\/p>\n

The best thesis student I’ve had so far did well in classes his first two years, but didn’t get into research until I offered him a summer job after my NSF grant came through. The idea of doing research in the department had never really occurred to him (despite a bunch of announcement emails), so he wasn’t putting himself forward looking for jobs. He did great work in my lab, though, and is in physics grad school now, which probably wouldn’t’ve happened had he not been at a small college. In a class of 200, with recitations handled by graduate TA’s, he wouldn’t’ve stood out that much, but at a small school, we know our students well enough to spot people who might not realize their potential, and give them a boost.<\/p>\n

The same thing happened in my own career, actually. My first two years in college, I spent a lot more time drinking and playing rugby than I did hitting the books. My grades weren’t exactly stellar, but a professor in the department gave me a shot at a summer research job, and that’s what put me on the path to where I am today. Because of that job, I got interested in doing physics research, buckled down in my junior year, and did more work from there on out. At a bigger place, I don’t know that I would’ve gotten that chance, and without that, I never would’ve gotten into grad school or ended up at NIST, or any of the rest.<\/p>\n

That kind of personal attention and support is a huge advantage of the small college atmosphere, and I wanted to be a part of that. That’s why, when I applied for jobs, I only applied to small colleges, and it’s why I’m happy where I am.<\/p>\n

Which is not to say that I don’t miss some aspects of the high-power research world. Visiting NIST and UMD recently reminded me of that– they’re able to take on projects that I couldn’t dream of doing here, because they have funding, and grad students, and lab facilities that we just don’t have. Being out on the cutting edge of the research world is a huge kick, no doubt about it, and there are times when I really miss it.<\/p>\n

So, if I were offered a tenured position at a large research university, with a huge start-up budget and continuing funding, It’d be awfully tempting. That’s not too likely to happen, though, so I’ll stick with “no” as the answer to the original question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“A” asks: Given the chance, would you take a job at a major research-university, or do you enjoy teaching a lot and doing some research at your small liberal arts college? My first answer is “no,” though I guess it would depend on the terms of the offer. In general terms, though, I’m very happy… Continue reading Uncomfortable Questions: Research University<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13,7,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-education","category-physics","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}