You're welcome! I didn't realize there was another RCTNer so close to me.
Another thought has come to me, one that may help clarify matters a bit more. The vast majority of violations aren't written to address truly dangerous conditions, because those are dealt with as soon as they occur, even if it means shuting down production. From a foreman up to a superintendent, no mine manager is stupid enough to ignore those kinds of risks. It'd be like driving down the interstate even though you know your brakes don't work. And no way is MSHA going to say, "oh, you have a significant explosion risk, but go ahead & mine coal anyway." Instead, violations tend to target the little things, the kinds of things that in & of themsleves are inconsequential, but if you have a dozen of the right kind of little things go wrong at the same time, you may have a bigger problem.
Jacqueline in Carmichaels PA, soon to be Fairmont WV WIPs: Minerva by The Goode Huswife, Max's Moon by Cross My Heart
In the county I'm from , the levy helps fund textbooks and school building improvements and additions. If I remember correctly from the last time I voted for one, it specified on the ballot what it would cover. And there's always a series of articles in the paper explaining exactly what the levy will cover. I Preston County, it also covers textbooks, and my mother said when she was a student there long ago, if the levey didn't pass, then she had no idea how they got textbooks. She seemed to think they bought them or rented them or something. I asked about low income kids, and she said she thought their principal helped them out. I can't think of anywhere that the levy increases salaries, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen....I'm just not familiar with it is all. I have no problem at all voting for a levy that lays things out in the paper in an itemized fashion, and that also explains it in short form on the ballot again. Sara
Pat, I don't know if it's just me, but I haven't seen anything from you in your last two posts. Just the quoted material. Just letting you know in case your news program is being hokey. Or it could be me being hokey :-) Sara
Aah, so only an hou-2 away from me. I'm in Morgantown at school, doing my student teaching this semester in Clarksburg in Harrison County. Glad to see another WV person here :-) Sara
I lost your original post, and I was going to forward it to my husband. It was such an excellently written and knowledgeable piece that I knew he would appreciate it.
It is so easy for people to fly off with opinions ( and I have done so too on occasions) without having the depth of knowledge to really assess the situation. Hearing first-hand for someone who is extremely familiar with the situation was worth it's weight in diamonds.
Many thanks for such a thoughtful and well-written presentation of FACTS!
You're welcome. The coal industry is so very different from anything else, even other heavy industries, that it's almost impossible to explain without showing someone first-hand. Our mine sponsors family tours on occasion, and I took my parents a few years ago - they loved it. They thought it was one of the coolest things they'd ever done. That's the reaction from most family members once they see it for themselves.
Yep, that's exactly what my friend said. Her DH is at the top of his field with the very large company he works for. He is planning to retire next year and the replacement he found has his PhD. There has never been a "different" job for him to have, so it would have been the same research type job, but with a $50 K increase in pay.
(nodding)...I am sure you are right about this. My son will be completing his Masters in Compuer Science this year. Now comes the decision as to whether a. he carries on and does his PhD or b. goes to work for a private company. He already knows of two companies he could most likely get a job with. He has been approached by one of these companies twice in the last two years, but has told them he wanted to complete his Masters first. He has been extremely fortunate to be on a Research Grant and a TA to complete his Masters, so will finish his education with no student loans to pay back.
Eek...only $50,000 a year for a full tenured Professor??? Sounds like DS will be working for a private business.
Actually the branch campuses of Kent State will hire adjuncts and some faculty in "vocational" programs who have no more than a B.A. The main campus will hire adjuncts and N.T.T.s (non-tenure-track faculty) without a Ph.D. but prefers to hire Ph.D.s or A.B.D.s (completed all but dissertation toward a Ph.D.) for tenure-track faculty positions.
Personally, I'd be quite skeptical. I wouldn't say it was impossible, as pretty much anything has happened
*somewhere*, but it would be *quite* unusual. PhDs don't usually even pay for themselves, unless you're in a field where a PhD is the price of playing at all.
Here's data from the latest collective bargaining agreement at Kent State (source:
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annual contract salaries for faculty in academic year 2006-7 are: 9-month 12-monthFull Professor 64,000 78,222Associate Professor 53,000 64,778Assistant Professor 42,000 51,333Instructor 38,000 46,444 Promotion increments for faculty:
Promoted to: Promotion Increase: Full Professor 5,500 Associate Professor 4,500 Assistant Professor 3,500
Someone with a Ph.D. (or terminal degree in that field, or all but dissertation, or a foreign degree recognized as the equivalent of a Ph.D.) is likely to be hired in at Assistant Professor level unless they are just on a one-year instructor contract to fill an emergency need. Usually those hired as Instructors on the main campus are not considered tenure-track although they may be given credit for time served at that rank if they are subsequently hired for a tenure-track position. The set up is a bit different at the branch campuses since they offer few
4-year programs in their entirety. The research and service expectations are much lower for instructors since teaching is their primary purpose. Typically someone who hasn't achieved adequate years of service to be tenured will be at the Assistant Professor level. Promotion to Associate Professor is often granted upon achieving tenure.
This information may or may not be representative of universities in other areas, non-research institutions, colleges, or community colleges. It does at least provide a glimpse of how the system is set up.
If he were to get a PhD in computer science, and if he did very well at it, he would have a shot at better salaries at some of the major universities--depending on his area of specialization and whether it was of interest to those universities. According to DOL, a 2004-05 survey by the American Association of University Professors found that the average salary for associate professors was about $65k. Depending on the university, he'd probably be hired in as a newly minted PhD as an associate professor, but the range on that average is *huge* and varies substantially by region and field and also encompasses people with quite a few years more experience than an entry level PhD. On the other hand, prestigious Bus. Schools are courting the high end of the graduating class of new business PhDs with salaries well into the six figures. If he wants an academic career, he needs to do a number of things:
1) Talk to faculty and learn about what it's *really* like, including responsibilities and the pressures of a tenure track position.
2) He should really want to teach and do research, and he'd better not mind writing and publishing.
3) He should scope out his possible area of specialization *very* carefully. His earning potential as a professor will vary dramatically based on his area of specialization. With a bachelors and a masters in computer science, he could target engineering, computer science, business, information systems, etc.
4) Once he knows what direction he wants to go in, where he decides to go to school and, even more importantly, what faculty member mentors him is very, very important. He wants someone who will really mentor him, who has a good track record of getting students through the process successfully (not just getting the degree, but also getting them placed in their first job), and who is capable of and interested in mentoring him in his chosen area.
If he wants the academic position and he plays his cards right and he does well, he could very well land a job that will pay handsomely and afford him interesting opportunities. However, if he's not really all that interested in an academic career and is just scoping out where he can make the most money, then industry is probably the better bet.
You might be surprised if you look at, say, their business school or other areas where it can be *very* challenging to find faculty and where many of the "stars" in the field do not have PhDs. This is very common, even in the top ten B. schools, so it's not like it is a sign of a second-rate university.
Depends on the field, the school, the area of the country, the country, etc. Also, there is significant salary compression. I'm a tenured associate professor in political science. I make more than $50,000/yr. But there's a young faculty member recently hired in Sociology who makes more than I do and I make more than one of her senior colleagues.
Is the $50K difference between your friend's DH and the new person due entirely to the Ph.D., or do salary compression and market changes also play a role?
Yep. Most schools insist that their faculty have terminal degrees in their field, but the terminal degree is not always a PhD. In many of the arts, an MFA is considered a terminal degree.
And a heck of a lot of music performance faculty don't have even that. They're not going to turn away a world class performer because he or she doesn't have the right degree. The music theory and music history folks, on the other hand, are much more likely to have PhDs (or DMus). There are some fields where there's a lot of academic "received wisdom," and in those fields you're much more likely to see the advanced degrees required. In fields where there's a large experiential component for the superstars, universities are much more likely to waive the usual requirements to bring someone in who's perceived as having something to offer despite the lack of the usual degree. That's not to say it doesn't sometimes create some tensions in departments with such a mixture, though....
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