Do You Want To Be A University Professor?

Since becoming a consultant in the petroleum field, I have been asked by petroleum geologists facing layoffs and mergers whether they should explore the possibility of becoming a university professor. This paper summarizes what I tell them, but the reader is advised that some of my commentary (1) may appear a bit jaded, (2) may be out of date because I left a faculty position in 1993, and an executive directorship of an academic marine consortium in 1996, and (3) is based on a career in research universities because I never taught in a small liberal arts college.  Nonetheless, I maintain contact with people in academe and such conversations update my perceptions.
All candidates for faculty positions must have earned a PhD.  I then remind industry geologists that their possibly idyllic views of academic life and responsibilities also should have changed considerably.  The principle reasons for these changes are funding issues in higher education and how faculty, programs and colleges within a university are evaluated by administrators, particularly when funds are tight. 
BOTTOM LINE FACT:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
The principle guideline for evaluating individual faculty performance, departments and colleges is represented by the following formula:
                                               E = ($CNF)X + $Og   (1)
Where    E = Effectiveness of either individual faculty, department, or college
              C = Credit hours per course
              N = Number of students enrolled in a course
              F = Tuition fee rate per credit hour for each course
              X = Number of courses taught in an academic year
              Og = Overhead for University Campus generated from research grants a
                            professor wins for personal research, or aggregate overhead of all
                            faculty in department or college.
Administrators view faculty, departments and colleges as highly effective if E is greater than 80 percent of the annual state (or endowment) budget appropriated for salary or program costs; acceptable if E ranges from 70 to 80 (but don’t get complacent because things can wrong quickly); and concerned or oversized if E ranges from 60 to 70. A faculty member or a department faces strong pressure or even closure if E falls below 60 percent.
So, the message is clear.  Faculty members will survive as a professor if they raise lots of grants with lots of overhead for the university coffers, or teach a lot of classes with large student enrollments.  In reality, faculty are required to undertake and publish research, so they must develop a constant multi-tasking, juggling act.  A professor is viewed as a profit center by university administrators, no different from a petroleum geologist in industry.  As one friend put it, deans expect “money in and publications out”.
Consequently,  professors are under strong pressure to raise grants and keep E respectable.  Thus the collegial comfortable life of college campuses in the 1970’s and early 1980’s has evaporated. Faculty have less time for students and for casual conversations than in the past.  Moreover, because of lack of time to talk with students, career counseling and mentoring has declined, and in some instances, has fallen out of favor due to work load and campus-wide political climate. 
Accountability standards have increased also, partly in response to federal funding mandates after the “overhead scandals” of the late 1980’s.  Thus faculty time is also devoted to completing more forms accounting more for one’s time, and responding to countless memoranda.  Ignoring accountability requests is fraught with risk.
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR
A university faculty member works and functions as an independent contractor.  Thus no job description exists; courses are staffed by the department head; and one pursues whatever research one wishes to conduct (as long as it brings in grant funds).  It also means that whenever the university asks a faculty member to do something “extra” or new, it provides a negotiating opportunity to request things from one’s department head so one can keep one’s research program functional, and be successful within the framework of the new assignment.
THE INTERVIEW
If a prospective faculty members are invited for an interview, it is absolutely critical to determine institutional criteria for promotion, including a tenure promotion. Be sure to ask everyone you meet during a campus visit to see if the response is consistent
During interviews, it is critical to ask about teaching loads, availability of office and lab space, starter funds for research equipment, internal grants, sabbatical leave policies, local schools (if one has children), local cost-of-living index, housing, and housing financial assistance (if the campus is located in a super expensive area like the New York City area or California).  All are legitimate questions.  Also know what is needed in costs and space to develop your proposed program and be sure to ask if and how the university can provide it as part of your appointment.
ADVANCEMENT TO TENURE AND PROMOTION
When ready for advancement to tenure (usually at the Associate Professor rank