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Social Science PhDs—Five+ Years Out: Anthropology Report

Presents key findings from the Social Science PhDs—Five+ Years Out based on anthropology graduates’ views of the quality of training and on their career paths.  Offers evidence for the continuing relevance of PhD training for anthropologists’ careers and also suggests that programs and dissertation advisors leave students too much on their own when it comes to mastering practical skills and knowledge that would facilitate the transition from student to practicing professional in the actually existing labor markets for PhD anthropologists.

Rudd, Elizabeth, Emory Morrison, Joseph Picciano, and Maresi Nerad. 2008. Social Science PhDs—Five+ Years Out: Anthropology Report. CIRGE Report 2008-01. CIRGE: Seattle, WA. www.cirge.washington.edu

Download: Anthropology Report

See a related article by Tami Blumenfield: Anthropologist in Motion

PhDs in Art History—Over a Decade Later

PhDs in Art History – Over a Decade Later surveyed all PhD recipients who graduated from US art and architectural history programs during the academic years 1985 to 1991. The survey response rate was 66 percent (792 respondents). Respondents completed a 22-page questionnaire that focused on their employment histories from degree completion to the present and on the intersection of career and family. We also asked about respondents’ career goals, prior work experience, job search processes, factors important to the choice of their first jobs and their current jobs; for retrospective evaluations of their doctoral programs and the usefulness of the doctoral degree; the number and kind of their publications and memberships in professional organizations; and demographic information about respondents, their spouses and life partners, and their children.  The study was funded by the Getty Grant Foundation.

Main Findings:

  1. Although art history is a field with a majority of women (70 percent), men achieved tenure status more often and faster, earned more money, and were employed at institutions of greater prestige than women
  2. The main gender differences in career achievement are attributes of family status (marriage and children). Men benefited from marriage and fatherhood; women were disadvantaged by marriage and motherhood. Single women’s career achievements were nearly on par with married men
  3. The internal family/partnership arrangements of dual-career couples affected career outcomes
  4. Nearly 100 percent of the respondents were employed 10 to 15 years after PhD completion, most of them in jobs related to their fields of study
  5. The gap between academia and museum careers is wide; there are almost no crossovers between the sectors
  6. Dissertation advisors mainly encouraged academic career choices
  7. Job satisfaction was high, especially among museum professionals and tenured professors
  8. Respondents praised their education but criticized mentoring, job preparation, and help from faculty with job placement

 

Researchers: Renate Sadrozinski, Senior Research Associate, CIRGE, University of Washington, Seattle; Maresi Nerad, Professor and Director, CIRGE, University of Washington, Seattle; Joseph Cerny, Professor and Graduate Dean 1985-2000, University of California, Berkeley; and  Sylvia La, Project Assistant, University of California, Berkeley.

Report

This report presents extensive information on individuals who received their PhD in the relatively small field of Art History. And yet many of its findings are applicable to a variety of fields both within the humanities and outside of it.The unique and original aspect of this study is its focus on generating an analysis of career paths and of family paths and the interconnections between these two paths.

Sadrozinski, Renate, Maresi Nerad and Joseph Cerny. 2003. PhDs in Art History—Over a Decade Later.  Download: PhDs in Art History—Over a Decade Later

Publications

  • Rudd, E., Morison E., Nerad, M., Sadrozinski, R., & Cerny, J. (2008).  Equality and Illusion:  Gender and Tenure in Art History Careers.” Journal of Marriage and the Family, vol. 70, no. 1, 228-238. Download: Equality and Illusion
  • Aanerud, R., Homer L, Rudd, E., Morrison, E, Nerad M., & Cerny, J. (2007).  Widening the Lens on Gender and Tenure: Looking beyond the Academic Labor Market, NWSA Journal, 19:3, pp. 105-123. Download: Widening the Lens on Gender

Chronicle Reports on Social Science PhDs Report

The Chronicle of Higher Education has written an article on our Highlights Report from the Social Science PhDs – Five+ Years Out survey.

Doctoral education in the social sciences requires a “paradigm shift” that takes into account significant changes in the job market and uncertain early-career prospects, according to a study that tracked the experiences of recent Ph.D.’s in six social-science disciplines…

[article link]

Doctoral Education in the USA

Presents an overview of the state of doctoral education in the US and discusses the changes that will need to be made in response to external forces.

 Nerad, M.  (2007).  Doctoral Education in the USA.  In Stuart Powell and Howard Green eds.,  The Doctoral Worldwide, pp.133-140, Berkshire, England: Open University Press.

Download:   Doctoral Education in the USA

 

Social Science PhDs—Five+ Years Out: Survey Methods

This working paper documents the methods used in the study, Social Science PhDs— Five+ Years Out. It describes the survey purpose and administration, sampling methods, and types of data collected. It details items that were collected irregularly.  Finally, it provides information helpful for evaluating the generalizability of results.

Picciano, J., Rudd, E., Morrison, E., & Nerad, M. (2007). Social Science PhDs—Five+ Years Out: Survey Methods. CIRGE Report 2007-01. CIRGE: Seattle, WA.

Download: Social Science PhDs—Five+ Years Out:  Survey Methods 

 

Astrobiology IGERT Student Survey Report

The surveys were designed as components of the multi-year evaluation of the University of Washington Astrobiology (AB) IGERT conducted by CIRGE in accordance with the National Science Foundation grant requirements. The results are intended to provide anonymous student feedback to the program faculty and to increase understandings of interdisciplinary graduate programs and student experiences of those programs. Students had mostly positive feedback on many of the AB components and elaborated on the rewards of the program, their expectations that it will help them in their careers, the teamwork it involves, and the writing skills it enhances.

Download:  Astrobiology Survey Report 

 

Widening the Lens on Gender and Tenure

Asks the question, if women are now receiving doctoral degrees in relatively equal numbers to men, can we anticipate nearly equal tenure achievement in the next decade?  Uses data from the PhDs – Ten Years Later national survey to show that in fields where there are strong non-academic labor markets, women have equal chances of getting tenure to their male counterparts.  However, in fields where most PhDs work in academia, men have better chances of tenure than women.

Aanerud, R., Morrison, E.,  Home, L.,  Rudd, E.,  Nerad, M.,  &  Cerny, J. (2007).  Widening the Lens on Gender and Tenure:  Looking Beyond the Academic Labor Market,  NWSA Journal, Vol 19.  No. 3 , pp. 105-123.

Download:  Widening the Lens