Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 230
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4758-3648-6 • Hardback • May 2017 • $74.00 • (£57.00)
978-1-4758-3649-3 • Paperback • May 2017 • $38.00 • (£29.00)
978-1-4758-3650-9 • eBook • May 2017 • $34.00 • (£26.00)
John J. Hampton is a Professor of Business at St. Peter’s University in New Jersey and a principal in the Princeton Consulting Group. He was dean of the schools of business at Seton Hall and Connecticut State universities, and provost of the College of Insurance and SUNY Maritime College in New York City. He is the author of Culture, Intricacies, and Obsessions in Academia – Why Colleges and Universities are Struggling to Deliver the Goods (Rowman and Littlefield, 2017).
PrefacePart 1. Welcome to the Academy1. What’s all this Business about Purgatory? Do Professors Make a Stop before They reach the Heavenly Gates?2. Why would Anybody in their Right Mind Choose to be a Professor? Would Electrical Shock Therapy be a Better Choice?3. Are Contingent Faculty the Barbarians at the Gate? What on Earth is a Contingent Faculty?4. What’s the Buzz about Faculty Value over Replacement Economics? When did this Silly Theory Creep in?5. Are Tenured Professors an Endangered Species? Will the last full-time Professor please turn out the lights?Part 2. Welcome to the Classroom6. Who do you want in front of the Classroom? Are Professors Perfect in Every Way?7. Professor, can you ever be Wrong? Do you Understand What Happens if you don’t Agree with me?8. Why do Students Fail to Learn what I Fail to Teach? Why did Nobody Tell Me Nothing about Teaching?9. What is your Problem with Students Sleeping in Class? Would it bother you if a Student asked you to Keep It Down?10. Did you Hear About the Death of Written Exams? Did the end of Cursive Writing Pass you by?Part 3. Life on the Faculty11. How About a Last Great Lecture just for Posterity? Can you Offer Some Words of Wisdom for the Ages?12. Should you be David or Goliath in the Classroom? As Goliath is my role model, what’s the Question here?13. Is the Faculty Search Process Fatally Flawed? Why do we Make so many Wrong Hiring Decisions?14. Is the Faculty Evaluation Process Fatally Flawed? What on Earth is Going on in that Promotion and Tenure Committee?15. Should you Take a Stint as Department Chair? Does Anybody Need this Grief?Part 4. Protecting What We Have16. Does a Liberal Arts Foundation Protect Anything that Needs Protecting? What are we Teaching and Why do we Teach it?17. Does Anybody Believe in Hybrid and Distance Learning Courses? Is a Changing World your Friend or your Enemy?18. Does Academic Freedom Protect Anything that Needs Protecting? Would the Academy Collapse if Academic Freedom went away?19. Does Tenure Protect Anything that Needs Protecting? Would the Academy Collapse if Tenure went away?Part 5 Career Decision Making for Professors20 Despite it all, would you Like to be a Professor? Can you Tell Me More about Academic Purgatory?21. Can you Believe Limbo is the Next Stop after Purgatory? Where, Oh Where, is Tenure?22. Do you Know you can Choose Your Own Limbo or Paradise? Does God Give Us so many Options Simply Because She Loves Us?Index
The Hampton book offers a keen insight into the status of professors in colleges and universities. As the father of a young woman in graduate school, I am familiar with the stresses of pursuing the doctoral degree. I was less familiar with the fact that the pain continues as the assistant professor pursues a full-time appointment. I reflected on the quote about the juvenile sea squirt. When it finds its home for life, it no longer needs to think. Does it really eat its brain? Is the same true for a professor who gets tenure? I enjoyed the reflections throughout this book. The portrayal of the journeys by Dante and the aspiring professor are compelling. I recommend this book to anyone concerned about the current state of higher education in the United States.
— Robert A. Smith, JD, Managing partner, Smith, Hiatt, and Diaz (retired)
Jack Hampton offers a glimpse into the culture of higher education through his vetting of the university tenure system. His ability to use both humor and stark reality in exploring this cultural anomaly is an eye-opener for academics and citizens alike. He demonstrates that, what at times looks like "hazing" robs valuable time and resources from the heart of the educational process. Although tenure is seen as a badge of honor, the process is described by Hampton as meaningless and inane given the arbitrary hoop-jumping required. It is an "all-hands-on-deck" time for higher education, a time to revisit the University tenure process through a new set of eyes.
— Mary McDonough, PhD, Professor / Prior Chief Academic Officer, Organization Development Specialist, and UPS Executive
You’ve decided you want to be a college professor. Stop. Before you spend the next 6-10 years getting your doctorate, read Hampton’s informative, thought providing, startling and often amusing assessment of this prestigious profession. Hampton will guide you through the dissertation process, help you keep your sanity while getting tenure, and highlight the characteristics you need to become a superstar professor. Keep a pen handy because you’ll want to check off many of the gems in this book as you become the great professor you’ve always wanted to be.
— Nathan Sambul, entrepreneur; investor; visiting professor at universities in the U.S.A. and Europe
This book is a courageously unvarnished look at the implications of academia as a career choice. Its rules are starkly different from those of practitioners, and its objectives often lack alignment with those of students, parents and the industries in need of an educated labor force. Using questions and answers, stories, studies and personal observation, John Hampton takes readers through the maze of processes, contexts and attitudes that are invisible to outsiders. It is a clear wake-up call that academic preparation via the Ph.D. and post-doctoral career progress toward tenure are not designed to produce optimal student outcomes. Hampton’s work provides a valuable basis for focus on student interests and the role of universities as facilitators and enablers of student success.
— Linda Hermansen McNeely, PhD, visiting Instructor of marketing, University of Tampa
Hampton’s book captures a lesson for so many natural-born teachers. Maybe higher education as currently formulated is not the path for them. I saw this in a science teacher who could not make it at the doctoral level in Oceanography. As a sixth-grade teacher, he shared wonderful lessons with students, encouraged them to careers in science, and fulfilled many of his expectations. Sure, he felt disappointment but at least he got out. Other struggling professors should read Hampton’s book to help them make the right choices.
— George Schafer, middle and secondary school teacher, assistant principal and principal (retired)