From: cf124@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Claudio Ruggieri)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil
Subject: Dr. Tenure
Date: 17 Dec 1992 07:34:18 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
Reply-To: cf124@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Claudio Ruggieri)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu



Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 10:04:03 EST
From: (anonymous)
Subject: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF DR. TENURE 
To: ysn@zoyd.ee.washington.edu


A DAY IN THE LIFE OF DR. TENURE (PROFESSOR AT A WELL KNOWN 
UNIVERSITY)
 
9:00-Dr. Tenure walks down to his lab, as he does every 
morning when he is in town. He enters and feels a sense of 
pride. He has built a productive research group, ten 
postdocs/research associates and five grad students. 
Including collaborations with other labs, Dr. Tenure 
publishes 10-15 papers per year. He smiles at everyone and 
walks to his lab manager's desk. Together, they go over 
recent progress and plans for all the projects. Dr. Tenure 
would like to speak to everyone individually, but he doesn't 
have the time and besides, everyone in the lab is from 
<Country X> and many of them speak very broken English. The 
language of <Country X> is the language of the lab and the 
lab manager interprets for Dr. Tenure. This always brings to 
his mind scenes from his childhood, when Dr. Tenure's parents 
would act as interpreters for his immigrant grandparents. He 
reflects that this is the great strength of the United 
States, bringing together peoples from everywhere.
 
10:00-Dr. Tenure returns to his office for the first 
appointment of the day, an advising session. Advising 
undergraduates is the last vestige of teaching that Dr. 
Tenure performs and he likes it because it keeps him in touch 
with the students. Today it's Enrico Vasquez, a very bright 
young man with an excellent academic record. Dr. Tenure 
paints a glowing picture of an interesting and challenging 
career in research. Mr. Vasquez did very well on his 
undergraduate research project. Dr. Tenure delivers his 
canned speech about how one person can make a difference and 
standing on the shoulders of giants. He points out that this 
country needs more scientists from underrepresented minority 
groups to act as role models for the next generation. He 
promises Mr. Vasquez that he could get a fellowship at any of 
a number of top Depts, including this one. Mr. Vasquez 
doesn't buy it. His own preference would be to go into 
science, but he is the first of his family to attend college 
and there is strong pressure for him to go into a prestigous 
profession. From his contact with grad students and post-
docs, Mr. Vasquez has decided that the uncertainties and low 
pay of a scientific career are too much to risk. He has 
decided to go to medical school and would like Dr. Tenure to 
write him a recommendation. Dr. Tenure sees that it is 
useless to try and change his mind, so he agrees to write the 
letter. After Mr. Vasquez leaves, Dr. Tenure reflects on the 
Deans's memo from just last week urging the faculty to 
recruit more blacks and hispanics for graduate school. Oh 
well-Dr. Tenure has done his part; in his opinion the fault 
lies with high schools, for failing to introduce these 
students to science in a more constructive way.
 
11:00- Dr. Tenure looks at the morning's mail. Most days, he 
gets a request for a letter of recommendation from a former 
student or postdoc. Today there is one from Dr. Struggles, 
who left Dr. Tenure's lab eight years ago. Dr. Struggles is 
on his third postdoc and is again applying for jobs. Dr. 
Tenure has written many letters for him in the past, and he 
pulls up the computer file from the last one. Dr. Struggles 
is a good scientist, hardworking and bright, and Dr. Tenure's 
letter reflects that. It is Dr. Tenure's highest 
recommendation, with phrases such as "outstanding young 
scientist" and "at the very top of his group". Dr. Tenure 
changes the address and forwards the letter to his secretary 
for printing. He feels good about providing strong support to 
a former colleague. He feels sure that Dr. Struggles will get 
a permanent job as soon as the economy turns up.
 
1:00- A meeting with the immigration lawyer. Dr. Tenure has a 
system; during the first year Dr. Tenure expects a postdoc to 
make excellent progress at the assigned research project. 
This is a make or break situation, with no excuses for 
failure. Dr. Tenure expects 12 hour days six days a week. 
After all this is free enterprise and the system is supposed 
to reward success. In this case the reward is Dr. Tenure's 
wholehearted efforts to obtain a green card for a postdoc in 
his lab. Dr. Tenure and the lawyer compose an ad for 
publication, closely matching the postdoc's CV. It is a 
university staff position in Dr. Tenure's lab. The pay is 
low, but the postdoc has agreed to accept it if a green card 
is included. This is not a "Resume ad" Dr. Tenure tells 
himself. If an Amercian citizen applies for this position, I 
would be perfectly willing to hire him or her if the 
credentials fit-it's just that that situation has never come 
about. The lawyer is experienced and aggressive in dealing 
with immigration & naturalisation. He will charge the 
university $5000 for this case. The bill will be paid by 
overhead monies from Dr. Tenure's grants.
 
2:00- A meeting of the graduate admissions committee. The 
committee examines the applications without regard to race, 
ethnic background, or country of origin; that is university 
policy. Again this year, 75% of the applications are from 
<Country X>. Again this year, there are no applications from 
black or hispanic American citizens. Applications from 
American citizens tend to be weaker than the foreign 
applications, especially in standardized test scores. 
Moreover the committee knows from past experience that many 
of the American citizens, if accepted, will just stay in grad 
school for one year, to build up their resume for a medical 
school application. The faculty members go over each 
application carefully and objectively. After deliberation, 
the faculty votes to send acceptances and fellowship offers 
to the best applicants.
 
4:00- Dr. Tenure finishes his day writing reviews of grant 
proposals for an upcoming meeting of the NIH study section. 
Again this year NIH funds are very tight. Of the 12 grants on 
which Dr. Tenure is primary reviewer, only one will be 
funded. Dr. Tenure works through the proposals. In order to 
be funded, a grant must receive perfect reviews, with highly 
laudatory phrasing on all aspects of the project and no 
negative or even lukewarm comments. Dr. Tenure decides that 
two of the proposals are clearly outstanding. One is from Dr. 
Aspiring. Two years ago she invented a new technique which 
Dr. Tenure's lab has been captializing on for some of their 
own research projects. The other is from Dr. Established. Dr. 
Established is a longtime friend and colleague of Dr. Tenure. 
His proposal is a continuation of a productive research 
effort which has been funded continously for 20 years. Dr. 
Tenure ponders his heavy responsibility in this matter. He 
carefully and objectively examines both grant proposals. He 
notes that Dr. Aspiring only published one paper last year. 
Her lab is small and it is uncertain whether she has 
sufficient personnel to carry out her objectives. Dr. 
Established, on the other hand, has published over a hundred 
papers and has a good track record of accomplishing projects. 
After all, Dr. Tenure is allocating the hard earned 
taxpayer's money. He writes the two reviews, giving Dr. 
Established a perfect review and Dr. Aspiring a very good 
review with a few lukewarm comments.
 
6:00- Dr. Tenure goes home, with the tired but gratifying 
feeling which comes from another productive and challenging 
day at his chosen career.

--------------------------------------------------------


-- 
Claudio Ruggieri                     !  Cerimonial Tea : 
Faculty of Engineering               !  Just boil the water,
Osaka University, Japan              !  make the tea and drink it.
email: a62420a@center.osaka-u.ac.jp  !  That's all !!!