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[educator1]

First, define full time professor. In my mind, this is someone who focuses on teaching first, research last. Undergrads outweigh grad students, and going off on sabbaticals is intended to improve teaching, not get new publications. that stated up front, my bent is clear.

If by this you are advocating separating teaching faculty from research faculty, I might be with you. If you intend for research to be last for ALL faculty, you have lost me big time. Research is not focused on grad students, but on the advancement of knowledge. In medicine, the sciences, engineering, and many social science fields, this would be the death knell of our advancement as a society and an economy.  To be trite, a cure for cancer is not accomplished by putting research last for all full-time faculty.

[concordancia]

First, define full time professor. In my mind, this is someone who focuses on teaching first, research last. Undergrads outweigh grad students, and going off on sabbaticals is intended to improve teaching, not get new publications. that stated up front, my bent is clear.

If by this you are advocating separating teaching faculty from research faculty, I might be with you. If you intend for research to be last for ALL faculty, you have lost me big time. Research is not focused on grad students, but on the advancement of knowledge. In medicine, the sciences, engineering, and many social science fields, this would be the death knell of our advancement as a society and an economy.  To be trite, a cure for cancer is not accomplished by putting research last for all full-time faculty.

I didn't sign on to be a teacher nor an instructor. As a professor, both teaching and research are integral to my position and part of the job is to make one relevant to the other. And I like it that way.

[categorical]

The mind reels at this new type of economy . . .

It's as it is in much of the arts... a gift economy.

[esselle_]

The regional university for which I work currently demands a minimum of 20 to make. I have, though, had them transfer (what I call 'dump') 20 students from/for an online class into an online class that has already made. Other than honors classes, I never start with less than 30-35 as a rule...

>>>Having under-subscribed courses and a 10:1 ratio are the same problem. Most places need 10 or 12 students in a class to have it "make"; exceptions are usually made for specific, isolated situations. For example, my CC-turned-state-college had a 25:1 ratio. Every spring we ran Calc III with 5-8 students because the pre-engineers needed it to transfer to Top Ten State Engineering School. If we didn't have 5, we would have issues with running it, and I routinely started talking to other CCs about combining resources for student preparation for transfer. If your institution has a 10:1 ratio, it's no wonder you have under-subscribed courses. Most places with which I am familiar (regional universities, SLACs, and CCs) aim for a ratio of 25:1, and the state flagships are usually higher.<<<