A month ago, the author wrote about the "official" materials one submits for a tenure-track academic hire, like a statement of one's teaching philosophy and a list of references. But in the Internet age, the "unofficial" part of an application is what exists about a person online. In 2009 the author wrote columns about the role of social media,…

Since 2008, Italian universities have seen their budgets slashed by 14 percent. And in late 2010 the Italian government passed a law that drastically reduced the number of contract university workers, effectively laying off thousands of postdocs, assistants, researchers, and lecturers. The law also included a planned decrease in the number of…

Todd Wolfson just finished graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, and already he's landed a tenure-track teaching job in journalism and media studies at Rutgers University. One might think he's the embodiment of the academic dream, in which the struggle to earn a Ph.D. has long provided an entree to a fulfilling academic career. But…

With baby boomers on college campuses nationwide getting ready to retire, those next in line--professors, administrators, and staff members in the middle of their careers--feel somewhat dispirited. They are more likely than anyone else on their campuses to harbor negative feelings about their jobs, career advancement, and the fairness of the…

The politics of dual-career academic couples, and the policies directed toward them, have been dissected and debated at length. Rarely mentioned, however, is how an academic career can be affected by a husband, wife, or significant other who is not on the professorial track. Most pairings of professor and nonprofessor work just fine. The partners…

The underrepresentation of women in almost all science and engineering fields is a well-documented statistic. The National Academies have issued four significant reports since 2001 examining the status and challenges of women in academic science and engineering and offering recommendations to broaden the participation and advancement of women in…

In this article, the author shares his realizations as he changed careers from a former publisher to a dean of the faculty of humanities and social sciences at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He describes that his work as a dean in academe is not so much different from his job as a longtime editor. He also relates that…

As vice chancellor for advancement at the University of California at Irvine, Thomas J. Mitchell is running two campaigns: one to raise $1-billion for the university, and the other to attract and keep the people whose job it is to raise that money. Since joining Irvine six years ago from Iowa State University, Mitchell has deployed a range of…

The need for high quality initial training and accessible, academically sound programs allowing workers to update their skills and advance in careers as their jobs change in a period of rapid technological advancement will be an ongoing challenge to postsecondary education. (MSE)

This article discusses Sundar Kumarasamy and how he is remaking the rituals of recruitment at the University of Dayton. For years Sundar Kumarasamy walked through the lobby of the University of Dayton's admissions building and daydreamed about changing every inch of the place. Mr. Kumarasamy, the university's vice president for enrollment…

Increasingly, college career counseling centers are using the World Wide Web to provide career information, job listings, and telecommunications links for long-distance job interviews. The online listings tend to be specialized, and there is concern about accountability for them, but supporters find the greater availability of career information a…

Fewer women are choosing science and engineering careers at the same time that the college-age population is shrinking, threatening a dire shortage of scientists in academe and the general labor force. Affirmative action is seen no longer as only a moral responsibility, but also as a matter of national survival. (MSE)

College faculty, particularly in the humanities, are finding institutions do not always treat substantial work with electronic media as a form of scholarship or service. While more humanities departments are embracing technology, faculty are finding involvement in innovative projects risky to their careers. Professional associations are criticized…

Over 500 of the 60,000 students at Northern Virginia Community College already have doctorates, but are seeking job-specific training. Some are enhancing current skills and some are changing careers for personal or economic reasons. Proliferation of high-technology companies in the area has influenced this trend. About 15% of the college's…

Internet-based master's programs in business administration (M.B.A.s) serve a market that could bring significant revenues to business schools, providing new access to mid- to upper-level managers who want degrees to advance their careers but who cannot take time from work, or to young executives whose bosses offer to pay for the degree but not…