Beyond the ( Problematic ) RI Target : Graduate Education for a Range of Institutions
Dwight A . McBride Abstract of Presentation
Recent data says there is an increase in the number of things that people are doing with a Ph . D . Similarly , instead of cloning students in our own image , we should listen to what they are trying to accomplish and what they want to do with the Ph . D . Job market data from Northwestern shows that academic jobs have not declined , but tenure-track jobs have . Of our ( Northwestern ) Social Scientist graduates , about 40 percent who annually go on to academic appointment do so at public institutions , indicating a linked fate between publics and privates . Because the tenure-track market has been difficult to crack – sometimes taking 2-3 years to land such jobs – we ’ ve seen a marked increase in postdoc and , in some cases , industry placements . And the data from Northwestern University over the past 10 years bears this out .
As to strategies we ’ ve been using to try and help students prepare for and think about different options beyond the Research 1 university placement , three examples include an NIH-sponsored program running about 5 years called New- Start ; a partnership with the Kellogg School on an 8-week course in management , entrepreneurship and leadership ; and our Ready . Set . Go . summer program that helps students become better communicators around their work . This is true whether talking about science and research ; government and policy ; corporate finance ; arts management ; or people who steward the world ’ s art and culture . All of these require a kind of training , a kind of expertise , and a kind of place that I think is important for doctoral-educated folk to occupy in a Democratic society . iii