Tag Archives: Working conditions

Tenure Flashpoint in Kentucky

Posted on March 13, 2009 by | Comments Off on Tenure Flashpoint in Kentucky

Inside Higher Ed: Tenure Flashpoint in Kentucky

After three months of debate, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System’s Board of Regents is scheduled to vote today on whether or not to get rid of tenure for all new faculty hires.

The proposed revision of the system’s employment policy would grandfather in individuals who have already been granted tenure and those who are in tenure track positions before July 1, 2009. If the revision passes, all full-time faculty members hired on or after this date would be offered term contracts that lengthen as instructors work for the system.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion

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Lab Affiliated With MIT Tops Ranking of Best Places to Work for Postdocs

Posted on February 25, 2009 by | Comments Off on Lab Affiliated With MIT Tops Ranking of Best Places to Work for Postdocs

The Chronicle News Blog: Lab Affiliated With MIT Tops Ranking of Best Places to Work for Postdocs

The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, an independent lab affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, topped The Scientist’s latest list of the best American job destinations for postdoctoral researchers in the life sciences.

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Posted in Working conditions

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U of Florida prof fights increase in teaching load

Posted on February 24, 2009 by | Comments Off on U of Florida prof fights increase in teaching load

Inside Higher Ed: One Too Many
February 24, 2009

At a moment when the University of Florida is slashing its budget and laying off faculty and staff, administrators thought it was reasonable to ask Florence Babb to increase her teaching load to three courses a year. She doesn’t agree.

Babb, an endowed professor and graduate coordinator of UF’s Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research, has entered into arbitration proceedings to challenge the increased teaching load. Babb was given an appointment letter in 2004 that said her teaching load would be limited to one course each semester, and now says the university isn’t upholding its written agreement.

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Posted in Working conditions

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Ohio: Kent State drops sabbaticals for next year

Posted on February 23, 2009 by | Comments Off on Ohio: Kent State drops sabbaticals for next year

Daily Kent Stater: Provost cancels 60 sabbaticals next year
$500K estimated to be saved as a result

Faculty professional improvement leaves, better known as faculty sabbaticals, have been canceled for the 2009-2010 academic year as a cost reduction initiative.

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Posted in Budgets & Funding

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When Are Cancer Cases More Than Coincidence?

Posted on February 17, 2009 by | Comments Off on When Are Cancer Cases More Than Coincidence?

Inside Higher Ed: When Are Cancer Cases More Than Coincidence?

Since 2000, eight professors and staff members have been diagnosed with breast cancer in the literature building at the University of California at San Diego, and two of the women have died. About 130 women worked in the building during the time period when the diagnoses started. A UCSD medical report last year found odds of 1 in 333 that chance alone could explain the incidence of breast cancer in the building.

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Posted in Working conditions

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Crucifixes in the Classroom

Posted on February 16, 2009 by | Comments Off on Crucifixes in the Classroom

Inside Higher Ed: Crucifixes in the Classroom

At Boston College, the placement of Christian art, including crucifixes, in classrooms over winter break has stirred some intense discussions over that particular expression of the Roman Catholic (and catholic) university’s identity. And over whether it’s undergoing an identity crisis.

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Posted in Campus Life

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Notoriety Yields Tragedy in Iowa Sexual-Harassment Cases

Posted on February 16, 2009 by | Comments Off on Notoriety Yields Tragedy in Iowa Sexual-Harassment Cases

The Chronicle: Notoriety Yields Tragedy in Iowa Sexual-Harassment Cases

After 2 suicides, colleagues question university’s role

Mark O. Weiger was a star oboe professor who had traveled the globe as an artistic ambassador for the U.S. government. But he was also known as the king of raunchy puns. Even when he performed for schoolchildren, the music professor from the University of Iowa couldn’t resist slipping in some fart jokes.

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Posted in Faculty

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Grad-School Blues

Posted on February 16, 2009 by | Comments Off on Grad-School Blues

The Chronicle: Grad-School Blues

Students fighting depression and anxiety are not alone

By PIPER FOGG
The Academic Life

Graduate school is gaining a reputation as an incubator for anxiety and depression.

Social isolation, financial burdens, lack of structure, and the pressure to produce groundbreaking work can wear heavily on graduate students, especially those already vulnerable to mental-health disorders.

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Posted in Students, Uncategorized

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