1 / 10

My Job

My Job. I’m a… professor at George Mason University economist and non-fiction author. What Do Professors Do?. Most people think that professors are basically teachers for college students.

lucita
Download Presentation

My Job

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. My Job • I’m a… • professor at George Mason University • economist • and non-fiction author.

  2. What Do Professors Do? • Most people think that professors are basically teachers for college students. • But I only teach 180 hours per year: 2 classes, three hours a class/week, 30 weeks/year. This is typical. • Question: So what do professors do all day? • Answer: Some professors just kick back, but we’re supposed to do RESEARCH.

  3. What Is Research? • Research is an original contribution to human knowledge. • A researcher is supposed to discover truths that no one else knows – then publish his findings. • What you research depends on your field. • I’m an economics professor, so I do research in economics.

  4. What Is Economics? • Narrow view: Economics is the field that studies aspects of society connected to money: Jobs, interest rates, stock market… • Broad view: Economics is the field that studies ALL aspects of society. • I take an extremely broad view of economics.

  5. My Research: Lots of Articles + 2 Books

  6. How I Got Here • Professors have one of the least flexible career paths in the world. To become a full-fledged (“tenured”) professor, you almost HAVE to the following, in order…

  7. What’s Good About My Job • I get to read, think, talk, and write about whatever interests me. • I work with my best friends and we get lunch almost every day. • I choose my own hours. • I can wear anything I want. • I can bring my kids to work whenever I want. • I’m well-paid by GMU, and have lots of opportunities to make extra money. • I can’t be laid-off or fired. • I never have to retire.

  8. What’s Bad About My Job • Despite all this, many professors still complain!

  9. The Complaints • $$$: Econ professors are well-paid, but professors in most other fields make a lot less money. • Teaching load: Many professors think 180 hours of teaching a year is a lot. Some professors teach as much as 360 hours a year. • Loneliness: Many professors are in “closed-door” departments where faculty rarely show up or talk to each other. • Boredom: Many professors, strangely, aren’t very interested in their own research topics. • Fear: Assistant professors spend 6 years worrying they’ll get fired because their research isn’t impressive enough. • Overall, the only people with a reasonable complaint are probably taxpayers.

More Related