Category: CIRGE Publication

Communication PhDs find faculty positions more readily than doctorate holders in other social science fields. Whether in faculty positions or working in business, government, or non-profit sectors, the majority are satisfied with their jobs and career paths. When assessing careers from the perspective of balancing work and family, both men and women report problems combining work and family, but women delay parenting because of their career more often than men do. According to graduates’ assessments, communication PhD programs prepared them well for their careers. Jobs outside of academia are more likely than faculty positions to require skills in data analysis and synthesis, team collaboration, working in interdisciplinary contexts, and managing people and budgets. Most respondents rated their PhD programs as “excellent” in terms of academic rigor and training in critical thinking. However, major criticisms included a lack of training in skills important to obtaining and administering grants, less than adequate formal teaching training, and little guidance from mentors in publishing and in finding a job.

Hickerson, A., Rudd, E., Morrison, E.,  Picciano, J., & Nerad, M. (2008). Communicating the PhD Experience: Communication PhDs Five+ Years after Graduation. CIRGE Report 2008-03. CIRGE: Seattle, WA. www.cirge.washington.edu

 Download: Social Science PhDs—Five+ Years Out: Communications Report

This analysis distinguishes between the PhD completion skills normally acquired in completing PhD research (critical thinking, data analysis and synthesis, writing and publishing, and research design) and the professional skills (working with diverse groups, working in interdisciplinary contexts, teamwork, presenting, grant writing, and managing people and budgets) that more and more PhD recipients are finding crucial to success in their employment.

Rudd, E., Nerad, M., Morrison, E.,  & Picciano, J.  (2008). Professional Development for PhD Students: Do They Really Need It? CIRGE Spotlight on Doctoral Education #2. CIRGE: University of Washington, Seattle, WA. www.cirge.washington.edu.

Download: CIRGE Spotlight on Doctoral Education #2: Professional Development for PhD Students: Do They Really Need It?

The first in a series of spotlights on hot issues in doctoral education, this report focuses on the potential for gender equality in careers of social science doctorate holders using findings from Social Science PhDs—Five+ Years Out, CIRGE’s most recent national survey.

Rudd, E., Morrison, E. Picciano, J., & Nerad, M. (2008). Finally equal footing for women in social science careers? CIRGE Spotlight on Doctoral Education #1. CIRGE: University of Washington, Seattle, WA. www.cirge.washington.edu.

Download: Spotlight on Doctoral Education #1: Finally Equal Footing for Women?

Presents key findings from the Social Science PhDs—Five+ Years Out based on sociology graduates’ views of the quality of training and on their career paths. The sociologists in this study, like respondents in other fields, reported positive evaluations of their graduate training programs.  They rated their programs highly with respect to academic rigor and training in thinking critically. However, ratings were substantially lower for training in skills for presenting, writing, and publishing. The study suggests that sociologists from these cohorts encountered a relatively strong job market, especially as compared to historians and anthropologists. Sociology, the field in this study with the most women, is also the only field with clear evidence of gender inequalities in careers.

Morrison, E., Rudd, E., Nerad, M., & Picciano, J. (2008). Sociology Report: PhD Program Quality, Early Careers, and Gender Stratification. CIRGE Report 2008-05. CIRGE: Seattle, WA. www.cirge.washington.edu

Download: Social Science PhDs—Five+ Years Out: Sociology Report

An overview of the history of graduate education in the United States, the current structure of graduate education at most US universities, recent challenges and changes within doctoral education and national responses to those challenges and changes.

 Nerad, Maresi. (2008). Doctoral Education in the United States of America. In Maresi Nerad, Toward a Global PhD? Forces and Forms in Doctoral Education Worldwide, p. 279-296, Seattle: University of Washington Press.

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This CIRGE Spotlight focuses on the potential for gender equality in careers of social science doctorate holders using findings from Social Science PhDs–Five+ Years Out, CIRGE’s national study of recent graduates in six fields. We find surprising equality in early careers of men and women: men and women are equally likely to begin careers in a tenure-track position and equally likely to ever be on tenure track at Research 1 institutions. Yet we find that this equality of beginnings is unlikely to last over the course of these cohorts’ careers. Further, women seem to be “subsidizing” equality in PhD careers by paying higher personal costs than men do.

Rudd, E., Morrison, E., Picciano, J., &  Nerad, M. (2008). Finally equal footing for women in social science careers? CIRGE Spotlight on Doctoral Education #1. CIRGE: University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

Download: Finally Equal Footing for Women in Social Science Careers?