Where do universities find professors?
When a position becomes vacant, we advertise across the nation for qualified applicants. We usually define the position somewhat narrowly (“Atlantic world history” instead of “history”) both to fit our curricular needs and to avoid having to review many hundreds of candidates. Teaching in Clark Honors College is regarded as a good job, and we typically have lots of strong applicants. University professors are thus recruited from a national labor pool, and professors are likely to be working far from their home states, and indeed may have worked all over the nation. Universities are a little like the U.S. army in the degree to which their employees may move all around the country over their careers. And like the army, the university divides its workers into ranks.
Related Questions
- These are not necessarily areas traditional professors focus their attention on in research universities. How do faculty members who have participated in an audit react to questions like the above?
- Can professors at Canadian universities use their NSERC funds to collaborate with foreign researchers?
- How much are adjunct professors paid at universities?
