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[quote=Anonymous]I'm the "exactly this" and "also this" commentator above.  But it's also true that morale varies widely between different colleges and campuses and between different ranks of professors.  (I have been a professor at 2 major universities and a medical school; my sister-in--law is a dean at a major university and many of my friends and relatives have been in higher education for years.)  The more senior, well-compensated and "protected" you are (only teaching classes with select graduate students, for example) - well, what's there to complain about?  Lower ranks are increasingly miserable and treated abominably.  If you're a senior professor who goes to bat for a junior professor you feel is being treated unfairly, you might both lose and both be punished by a venal administration.  On the other hand, there are colleges and universities that are delightful places to work.   They hardly ever have faculty openings because no one ever wants to leave. I've been on  the faculty at both kinds of places.  Life as a college professor can be heaven or hell, just like any job in America.  If you want to suss out ahead of time what a particular environment is like, you can't rely on any printed material or "tours."  You have to go there, sit in on classes, go to lunch at the cafeteria or faculty club and put your ear to the ground.  You will hear everything you need to know.  P.S.  About those published statistics.  When I was a tenured faculty member at state university, I chaired a Faculty Senate committee on part-time faculty policies.  The university statistician told me point-blank that the state university routinely lies to all accrediting bodies about the ratio of student credit hours taught by part-time vs. full-time faculty.  By a lot.  [/quote]

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