{"id":55906,"date":"2021-02-06T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2021-02-06T08:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=55906"},"modified":"2021-02-06T00:27:30","modified_gmt":"2021-02-06T08:27:30","slug":"graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

There used to be a time \u2013 back in the 1960s \u2013 when it made sense for doctoral programs to prepare students to become professors. For that\u00a0brief postwar moment<\/a>, there were more jobs for professors than there were doctorate holders to fill them.<\/p>\n

But that time is\u00a0long gone<\/a>.\u00a0Professorships are scarce<\/a>\u00a0now, and most people with doctorates will end up working\u00a0outside of academia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe New PhD: How to Build a Better Graduate Education<\/a>,\u201d former professor and university president Robert Weisbuch and I argue that graduate programs aren\u2019t preparing doctoral students for the jobs they\u2019ll likely have outside college classrooms or laboratories.<\/p>\n

We propose a new design for graduate school that points graduates toward fulfilling work both inside and outside the academy.<\/p>\n

Rethinking doctorates<\/h4>\n

Instead of seeking work across society, many highly skilled doctorate holders end up teaching a course here and there \u2013 for\u00a0low wages<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 in the vanishing hope of full-time jobs as professors. This\u00a0proliferation of adjunct labor<\/a>\u00a0devalues the people doing it and the academic workplace together.<\/p>\n

We argue that the problem starts with an intense desire to stay in academia no matter what. Professorial jobs are scarcer than ever, but doctoral education\u00a0socializes students<\/a>\u00a0to want those jobs above all others.<\/p>\n

Professors model a rarefied existence without educating students to prepare for the actual alternatives they will face. For example,\u00a0scientists are encouraged to narrowly specialize<\/a>\u00a0within their subfields, while\u00a0humanities scholars are given few opportunities to collaborate with others<\/a>\u00a0in ways that are common in most workplaces.<\/p>\n

In both cases, we believe graduate students would be better served by a curriculum that encourages a wider variety of skills and capacities, including working in project teams and translating their work to nonspecialized audiences.\u00a0Our research finds<\/a>\u00a0that such a program would draw more people of color and more women, and that graduates would be\u00a0more competitive in today\u2019s job market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why should anyone care?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

What happens to the doctorate holder ripples outward. The doctoral curriculum shapes liberal arts curriculum because doctoral programs train most professors who teach liberal arts subjects. And the way universities design and\u00a0teach the liberal arts<\/a>\u00a0affects colleges, high schools and every other level of the education pyramid.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d like to see an academic experience that remains rich in scholarship but is far less hermetic. In \u201cThe New PhD,\u201d we offer real-life examples of programs that offer disciplinary expertise while recognizing the diverse career outcomes that students will face.<\/p>\n

A new humanities doctoral program at University of Iowa\u2019s\u00a0Obermann Center<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Versatile Humanists program<\/a>\u00a0at Duke University are examples. They place graduate student interns in a variety of workplaces outside the university.<\/p>\n

Lehigh University<\/a>\u00a0and other schools have used alumni career data to redesign their curriculum and prepare graduates for the jobs they will actually encounter. For example, the department recently added a certificate program in writing instruction.<\/p>\n

Programs like Lehigh\u2019s admit smaller student cohorts to advise students individually as they progress. We support this curated approach to doctoral education, and believe a program should admit only as many students as it can advise carefully and attentively.<\/p>\n

Valuing people of color and women<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Doctoral students don\u2019t resemble the demographics of the country at large. Black Americans, Latinos and Native Americans together make up about\u00a030% of the U.S. population<\/a>\u00a0but only\u00a015% of U.S. doctorates<\/a>. Women are\u00a0greatly underrepresented<\/a>\u00a0in graduate STEM programs.<\/p>\n

And once women and people of color get through the door, they often feel a\u00a0lack of support<\/a>\u00a0from their institutions. A 2014 study found\u00a0fewer than half<\/a>\u00a0of Black and Latino doctoral students in the behavioral and social sciences earned a doctoral degree within seven years. More than a third left their programs without finishing.<\/p>\n

Graduate schools can recruit more diverse students by looking to the undergraduate pipeline and even high schools. Many undergrad programs recruit heavily among students from marginalized groups. But graduate schools compete for a much smaller pool of qualified and interested candidates, and such recruitment can strain departmental budgets.<\/p>\n

One way to do this is for graduate faculty to work with teachers at all levels to excite young people about their fields. The City University of New York has done this successfully with its\u00a0Pipeline Program<\/a>, which immerses undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups in academic culture. Surveys tell us such social engagement helps\u00a0persuade underrepresented students<\/a>\u00a0to pursue graduate study.<\/p>\n

At CUNY and elsewhere, on behalf of students from all backgrounds, work is being done to make doctoral education more attentive to the reality that doctorate holders face. Our book describes that work and brings it to light.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Leonard Cassuto is Professor of English and American Studies at Fordham University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There used to be a time \u2013 back in the 1960s \u2013 when it made sense for doctoral programs to prepare students to become professors. For that\u00a0brief postwar moment, there were more jobs for professors than there were doctorate holders to fill them. But that time is\u00a0long gone.\u00a0Professorships are scarce\u00a0now, and most people with doctorates […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":55907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[366188],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-55906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-rethinking-doctorates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGraduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Graduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There used to be a time \u2013 back in the 1960s \u2013 when it made sense for doctoral programs to prepare students to become professors. For that\u00a0brief postwar moment, there were more jobs for professors than there were doctorate holders to fill them. But that time is\u00a0long gone.\u00a0Professorships are scarce\u00a0now, and most people with doctorates […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-06T08:00:34+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-06T08:27:30+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ph-back-in-phd.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"418\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Graduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-06T08:00:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-06T08:27:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":800,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/ph-back-in-phd.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Rethinking doctorates\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Higher Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/\",\"name\":\"Graduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/ph-back-in-phd.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-06T08:00:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-06T08:27:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/ph-back-in-phd.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/ph-back-in-phd.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":418},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Graduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Graduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Graduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"There used to be a time \u2013 back in the 1960s \u2013 when it made sense for doctoral programs to prepare students to become professors. For that\u00a0brief postwar moment, there were more jobs for professors than there were doctorate holders to fill them. But that time is\u00a0long gone.\u00a0Professorships are scarce\u00a0now, and most people with doctorates […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2021-02-06T08:00:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-02-06T08:27:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":418,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ph-back-in-phd.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Graduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives","datePublished":"2021-02-06T08:00:34+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-06T08:27:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/"},"wordCount":800,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ph-back-in-phd.jpg","keywords":["Rethinking doctorates"],"articleSection":["Higher Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/","name":"Graduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ph-back-in-phd.jpg","datePublished":"2021-02-06T08:00:34+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-06T08:27:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ph-back-in-phd.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ph-back-in-phd.jpg","width":680,"height":418},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/graduate-students-need-a-phd-that-makes-sense-for-their-real-lives\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Graduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55908,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55906\/revisions\/55908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55906"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=55906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}