Investing money, time and effort into getting a PhD used to almost guarantee a position at a college or a university somewhere, but times have changed. The job market for academics has gotten a lot tighter, the competition stiffer and the future less certain.
Rusty Gates is a history professor at Bradley University in Peoria, and while he feels incredibly lucky to be working in his field, he does sometimes wish he could find a job closer to home. He lives in Iowa City, where his wife, who is also a professor, works at the University of Iowa.
"Well, I thought probably like all PhDs that I would get my degree and get a wonderful teaching job and live out my life doing what i love, researching and teaching. To some extent, that's what happened," he says.
"I met my wife my first year of graduate school, who had the same area, and didn't think about the complications until three or four years later."
Gates teaches Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the history department at Bradley University and spends Tuesday and Wednesday evening in Peoria, and then commutes back to Iowa City.
"So far it works. We haven't had too many crises to cover," he says. "The flexibility of academia is part of what allows us to do this."
He's not the only one. He says he has a friend who lives in London, and his wife, who is also a professor, lives in Japan.
Scott Jasichk is an editor at Inside Higher Ed. He says this is all too common.
"It's hard to find a job," Jasichk says. "Last year, for example, there were 500 jobs for history professors. There were 1,100 PhD graduates."
"There's also a growing reliance on adjunct professors in the university system," he adds.
During this hour of Talk of Iowa, Gates and Jasichk join host Charity Nebbe to discuss the challenges and benefits of working in modern academia. Jennie Morton, who is an adjunct instructor at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, and Toby Johnson, who holds a PhD in religious studies, also join the conversation.
