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.