Search committees, say professors and leaders of scholarly associations, strongly favor applicants whose degrees are not more than two or three years old.
Two weeks ago, Colorado State University's English department posted an ad seeking an assistant professor specializing in pre-1900 American literature and culture. The ad specified that applicants should have a "Ph.D. in English or American Studies or closely related area between 2010 and time of appointment."
Harvard University's comparative-literature department had posted a similar ad this month. It stated that applicants for a tenure-track assistant professor opening "must have received the Ph.D. or equivalent degree in the past three years (2009 or later), or show clear evidence of planned receipt of the degree by the beginning of employment."
Marc Bousquet, an associate professor in English at Emory University, said the ads reflect the reality of whom search committees routinely favor without saying so explicitly. "They blurted out the truth about the feelings and biases that people on hiring committees have," he said. "This is not unusual. What's unusual is that they were published." (...)
'Damaged Goods'
"Nobody's Ph.D. really goes stale," Mr. Bousquet said. He said that he's been on search committees where faculty members expressed their suspicions about candidates who were more than three years removed from graduate school and had not been hired. "They asked, 'How can this person be so great and not yet be hired?' There's a degree of ageism, sexism, and a failure to understand nontraditional career paths, or work choices of candidates who are parents," he said.
Michael F. Bérubé, president of the Modern Language Association, was also disturbed by the recent job postings. "There are still plenty of clueless people out there who think that candidates are damaged goods if their Ph.D. is four or five (or, in Colorado State's case, three) years old. That foolishness can be entertained only by people who have no idea what the job market has been like since 2008," Mr. Bérubé said.
by Stacey Patton, Chronicle of Higher Education | Read more:
