Some sociology faculty salaries edge up: New research brief

The ASA Department of Research has released its 2012-2013 analysis of salary trend data for the academic sociology profession and other social sciences. Among our findings: average annual faculty salary changes between Academic Year (AY) 2011/12 and AY 2012/13 show slow or no growth in salaries at public institutions, compared to private institutions.

FACULTY: What happened in the past academic year to salaries at your institution?  Why?

What kind of interdisciplinary work are you being trained to do?

A AAAS interview with economist Dr. Stephan points out that the biomedical sciences are overproducing PhDs for the research positions available inside and outside the academy and have been for some time. According to Dr. Stephan’s research, many biomedical science PhDs do not perform work for which they have been trained.

Considering that sociologists–although more than capable of interdisciplinary work–are not necessarily encouraged to perform such work (especially in light of the discipline’s concern with disciplinary identity), how will graduate education need to change to prepare students to seek out and perform interdisciplinary research?

What kind of interdisciplinary work are you being trained to do?  Tell us whether you’re a PhD candidate or a postdoctoral position holder.

We thank L. Williams of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for contributing to this blog posting.

Are postdoctoral positions another stage in the sociology pipeline?

Are sociology PhDs seeking postdoctoral positions to become more competitive on the job market?  What have been the effects on your career of different types of postdocs including sociology, interdisciplinary, research, teaching?  Do you think that a postdoc is a necessary step in a PhD career trajectory?

View ASA’s latest data brief: Postdoctorates: Another Stage in the Sociology Pipeline?

Read and comment about this here at our blog site and view our latest data brief: Postdoctorates: Another Stage in the Sociology Pipeline?

Pathways to Full Professorship: What Do the Data Tell Us About the Role of Gender?

Contrary to what we all hear and say anecdotally, women and men academics in some disciplines advance to full professor at the same rate. Data from the American Historical Association’s (AHA) 2010 Career Paths survey indicate that academic historians reach full professor in the same amount of average time, regardless of gender (Townsend 2013). The differences, however, were found in the different pathways that lead women and men to the upper ranks of academia.

Townsend attempted to explain this discrepancy by not only looking at the total time it took to advance, but also the number of years between each rank, how marriage and/or family and childcare issues affected promotion, amount of time spent on professional activities, amount of productivity, and other factors. Townsend found that married male historians in this sample were promoted faster than women who were married. And although women survey respondents reported spending more time on child and other family care than men reported, the amount of time they each spent on professional activities was the same. Although there was no direct comparison of the mothers and fathers in this sample, mothers moved through the ranks faster than women who did not have children. Data from an ASA survey of the 1996/97 cohort of sociologists support this notion (Spalter-Roth and Van Vooren 2012).

Is this true across disciplines?  A forthcoming study from ASA’s 2012 Time in Rank survey of full and associate professors in sociology will further explore this question, including whether there is a significant difference between the amount of time it takes men and women sociologists to advance to full professor. As we examine the data from the Time in Rank survey of sociologists, we will look at these and other factors to uncover the pathways men and women take to reach full professor and the different challenges they overcome in order to do that.

The ASA’s–as well as the AHA’s studies–are based on responses to questionnaires.  What would you add to such as study? Comment below and share your thoughts with us.

Resources for Careers Beyond Academia

Graduate students and recent graduates: we share with you a list of resources especially relevant to those at the Master’s and Doctoral level, courtesy of the American Sociological Association’s Sociological Practice listserv. These resources are particularly useful for those seeking or interested in careers outside of academia:

U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s New Pathways Program

Executive Order for the New Pathways Program took effect July 10, 2012: http://www.pmf.gov/news-events/new-pathways-programs.aspx. This program streamlines pathways to federal internships and opportunities for careers in the Federal government for students and recent graduates): http://www.usajobs.gov/StudentsAndGrads. The three programs of this New Pathways Program are:

1.  Federal Internship Program: http://www.opm.gov/HiringReform/Pathways/program/interns/
2. Recent Graduates Program: http://www.opm.gov/HiringReform/Pathways/program/graduates/
3. Presidential Management Fellows Program: http://www.pmf.gov/

Students interested in the Presidential Management Fellows Program should sign-up for the PMF listserv to receive updates on the eligibility and 2013 application cycle. They can subscribe by sending an email to listserv@listserv.opm.gov with “Subscribe PMF” in the body of the email.

Job Market for New Sociology PhDs Is on the Upswing

Are you a recent doctoral degree recipient in the sociology profession? What has been your experience with seeking positions at the assistant or open rank level? Have you interviewed for academic sociology positions whose preferred expertise differs from your area(s) of study?  Do your experiences match our findings? Share your thoughts and stimulate a discussion with others in the field through our blog.

 

Findings

Results from ASA’s fourth job market survey suggest that the job market for recently-graduated sociology PhDs is improving, with the number of available jobs approaching pre-Great Recession years. In 2011, we saw a larger number of open specialties being advertised in the ASA Job Bank than in 2010, and almost 90 percent of advertised positions were for assistant or open rank professorships. The 2011-2012 Job Bank survey also quantified the top five most-frequent and least-frequent advertised areas of specialization in position advertisements, and enumerated the types of non-sociology academic departments that advertised for sociologists in 2011.

The findings from the 2011-2012 study are cause for cautious optimism among new sociology PhDs, though we note that the “overhang” of unplaced or under-placed sociology scholars resulting from the Great Recession (since 2008) is likely to create challenging conditions for recently-graduated PhDs in the field.

Sociology as a Career: Listen to a Special Podcast!

Recently, College Funding Resource conducted an interview with Roberta Spalter-Roth, PhD–Director of the ASA Department of Research and Development. Listen as Dr. Spalter-Roth discusses what becoming a sociologist entails, and why she places this career field among the top 100 of the decade.

Outcomes for Women Minority Fellows Differ Strikingly from Male Counterparts

Data analyzed by the Research Department on ASA’s Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) show that women in the MFP are half as likely as their male counterparts in the program to be employed at research-extensive universities, half as likely to receive National Science Foundation and/or National Institutes of Health grants, about two-thirds as likely to become ASA section leaders, and have about half the amount of peer-reviewed journal publications as men in the MFP, since receiving their PhDs.

We speculate that Women in the MFP might be less encouraged to participate in normative academic activities than men in the MFP. For example, publications in grad school usually suggest that one will have a career of scholarly publishing ahead of him/her. Over three-quarters of MFP men had a least one publication prior to receiving their PhDs, compared to 38.1 percent of the MFP women. These differences will require further study. We welcome you to share your thoughts about these findings.

New Data on Jobs in Sociology and Other Social Sciences

We are underway with our annual Job Bank study. This is a two-part study. First, we conduct an audit of all jobs advertised through the ASA in the previous calendar year. We look at the number and types of jobs being advertised, and compare this to previous years. In the second part of the study, we survey departments that advertised assistant and open rank faculty teaching positions to find out whether their searches yielded successful hires. Or, if not, then why not? (i.e. Was the position canceled? Was the search suspended? Is the offer still in negotiation? etc.) For findings from last year’s study, see “Moving Toward Recovery: Findings from the 2010 Job Bank Survey.”

This year, we compared jobs advertised through the ASA with those advertised through other social science associations. Results from the full study (we will not begin the survey until April) will be presented at the ASA Annual Meeting in August.

PhDs in the Job Market: Comparing Sociology With Other Disciplines

We began the new year with our annual study of the sociology job market. In this two-part study, we will first be looking at the number and types of jobs advertised through the ASA in 2011. Findings will be reported this year. For the second part of the study, we will be surveying departments that advertised assistant rank positions to determine how many searches were conducted and jobs were filled in 2011. Survey results will be reported this summer. (Findings from last year’s study is available on our website).

In the meantime, early data from this study was reported in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education article on job market trends in select disciplines. **Please note that you will need an account to view the article.