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[kurejara]

I was glad to hear that an asst prof at a SLAC can carve out enough time for their own research agenda.

However, many of the SLACs cited in the piece were highly ranked (i.e., top ten within their category). 

What are some thought of folks at SLACs outside of the USNWR top ten?  Not all SLACs offer a 2-2 load.  What are the experiences of those who work where the teaching load is greater and the internal support less lucrative?

-k 

[random]

It seems to me that the working conditions at Bowdoin are better than even a lot of research schools, particularly since Bowdoin offers the same load, the perks of a well-endowed school, generous sabbaticals, and don't have grad students, which can be a huge time suck.  Plus the author also won external fellowships, thus carving out a lot of free time.

I don't teach at a SLAC but have interviewed at a number and went to one.  My alma mater does have pretty generous sabbaticals (better than at the middling R1 where I'm employed) but a 3-3 load and very demanding students (I know since I was one of them), though I've no doubt Bowdoin students are equally demanding.  I don't think that many SLACs have 2-2 loads since my alma mater does not and yet is ranked in the top 50.

The dichotomy she posed in the article--between the liberal arts college and the research school--is a false one.  I suppose that's also her point.  The real divide is really between rich schools and poor ones.  But making the argument that a job at a rich school is better than a job at a poor one seems gratuitously mean in the current tight job market. 

I get that she's tired of the condescension from people at R1s that aren't getting nearly as good support as she at a SLAC.  Still, I didn't particularly enjoy somebody telling me how much richer she is than me.  Believe me, I tried to get jobs like hers--Williams, Swarthmore, etc--I would have love to have gotten one of those.  Instead I had to make do with my middling R1.  At least I'm not at one of those places that demand research but offer no support at all.

[sciprofmw]

I've taught at 3 SLAC and I'm done.  I'm moving up into a private medical college where I can actually get some research done.  I've been run into the ground trying to keep my research program afloat while teaching 3-3 (and more!), class sizes of 200+ in some instances and with little to NO startup, absolutely no support for the grant application process, whiny demanding students, deans who outright lie and colleagues who try to pull the rug out from under you because they are so insecure they try to sabotage jr faculty members who can run circles around them on scholarship.

On the upside I've a hand full of GREAT students who I got to know very well since those few bright, energetic students were my saving grace in keeping my research program going.  I still keep in touch with many of them now physicians, graduate students and scientists in their own right. 

[kurejara]

looks like someone already posted on this topic...  sorry.

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,49403.0.html