Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ucbvax!ucbcad!ames!lamaster
From: lamaster@ames.arpa (Hugh LaMaster)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: U.S. Mathematicians dying breed
Message-ID: <3682@ames.arpa>
Date: 16 Dec 87 19:04:03 GMT
References: <1878@pdn.UUCP> <2424@killer.UUCP> <147@piring.cwi.nl> <1245@gumby.cs.wisc.edu>
Reply-To: lamaster@ames.UUCP (Hugh LaMaster)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Lines: 19


In article <1245@gumby.cs.wisc.edu> g-mccann@gumby.cs.wisc.edu (Lester I. McCann) writes:
>
>I can't say that I agree with this argument in all cases.  If you wish to
>teach at the college level, you will have a hard time getting hired at all
>and have an even harder time getting tenure if you "only" have a Master's.
>I can understand needing to have an all-PhD faculty at a research school,
>but I don't see that it makes that much difference at a "teaching" school,

The reason that most universities demand all PhD faculty is that they can - there are still
many more PhD's in most fields that want to teach and do research than there are positions
available.  Computer Science would appear to be a (temporary) exception to this rule - an
opportunity for those who want to teach CS at a university.  Historically, it has rarely 
been the case that there have been persistent PhD shortages in any University teaching/
research field.  It is simply a question of supply and demand.  There are a lot more people
capable of, and desiring to do, teaching and research out there than there are positions
out there.  For the same reasons, it is likely that salaries in universities will persist
in lagging behind industry, as historically they usually have.