I am an Associate professor in the Physics and Astronomy department at the University of Pittsburgh. Three years ago my life changed significantly when I became a full-time single parent of two young boys (then four and one year old). With no family in the area, I faced one of the biggest challenges of my life and encountered many difficult questions about myself, my future, and my priorities. Facing these questions has made me into a better scientist, teacher, and human being. I’m extremely grateful to my department chair, colleagues and staff, and the administration for their support during these challenging years. Pitt is a top-quality research and teaching institution, I’m proud to have found a home here.
My colleagues and I teach the next generation of scientists and leaders and carry out award-winning research. We obtain millions of dollars in funding from government and private agencies; give invited seminars at universities and scientific conferences across the world; organize science outreach events in our community and STEM workshops in local high schools. This is true not just in my department but across the university. But increasingly I see the support and resources available to the faculty eroding even as we are asked to take on greater administrative responsibilities. Every year salaries and benefits seem to decrease in real dollars even as childcare and living costs continue to escalate. And although the endowment of our university now sits at $3.6 billion (source: IPEDS Fiscal Year 2016 Financial Statement), the number of contingent and adjunct faculty keeps increasing. I don’t know how many of those faculty members are single parents, but I know I wouldn’t have been able to do my research and teaching and take care of my children without the security of a long-term contract.
While tenure-stream faculty members technically work on an eight-month contract, almost none of the professors I know actually stop working on their teaching, research, or grants during the summer months. Further, the university is allowed to claim any intellectual property we generate during those months. Is it any surprise then that many talented students and post-docs no longer view academia as a desirable career? Destroying the morale of our brightest, most highly motivated future scientists and faculty seems completely counter-productive. How will the university retain its status as a world-class institution that attracts the best STEM talent when it doesn't stack up against the Googles and Facebooks or even other universities that may be more equitable in their faculty support?
These are uncomfortable questions that challenge many of the assumptions that have become the norm not just at our university but at most other institutions of higher education in the U.S. From my own experience these last few years, I can say that whatever the final answer, honestly confronting these questions will make us a better institution. I believe a faculty union will be an important first step in that process.
--Gurudev Dutt, Physics and Astronomy
My colleagues and I teach the next generation of scientists and leaders and carry out award-winning research. We obtain millions of dollars in funding from government and private agencies; give invited seminars at universities and scientific conferences across the world; organize science outreach events in our community and STEM workshops in local high schools. This is true not just in my department but across the university. But increasingly I see the support and resources available to the faculty eroding even as we are asked to take on greater administrative responsibilities. Every year salaries and benefits seem to decrease in real dollars even as childcare and living costs continue to escalate. And although the endowment of our university now sits at $3.6 billion (source: IPEDS Fiscal Year 2016 Financial Statement), the number of contingent and adjunct faculty keeps increasing. I don’t know how many of those faculty members are single parents, but I know I wouldn’t have been able to do my research and teaching and take care of my children without the security of a long-term contract.
While tenure-stream faculty members technically work on an eight-month contract, almost none of the professors I know actually stop working on their teaching, research, or grants during the summer months. Further, the university is allowed to claim any intellectual property we generate during those months. Is it any surprise then that many talented students and post-docs no longer view academia as a desirable career? Destroying the morale of our brightest, most highly motivated future scientists and faculty seems completely counter-productive. How will the university retain its status as a world-class institution that attracts the best STEM talent when it doesn't stack up against the Googles and Facebooks or even other universities that may be more equitable in their faculty support?
These are uncomfortable questions that challenge many of the assumptions that have become the norm not just at our university but at most other institutions of higher education in the U.S. From my own experience these last few years, I can say that whatever the final answer, honestly confronting these questions will make us a better institution. I believe a faculty union will be an important first step in that process.
--Gurudev Dutt, Physics and Astronomy