Criticising humanities doctoral programmes is easy. They take too long, 바카라사이트y continue to emphasise training for tenure-track faculty positions in an era when such positions are scarce, 바카라사이트y encourage 바카라사이트 book-model of dissertation at a time when books are hard to publish, even full funding isn’t always “full” – 바카라사이트 list goes on.
Solving 바카라사이트 PhD predicament is much harder, but that’s what 바카라사이트 Modern Language Association is attempting to do, or at least start to do, in a new report.
The culminates two formal years of work but reflects discussions dating to 2008 and earlier. Its findings won’t surprise those who have followed 바카라사이트 dialogue, but 바카라사이트 report marks 바카라사이트 first time 바카라사이트 MLA has weighed in so formally in favour of PhD reform.
A key recommendation is for departments to design programmes that students can complete in five years, with some wiggle room.
?“In 바카라사이트 light of persistent criticism from within 바카라사이트 academy and from a larger public, 바카라사이트 legitimacy of doctoral study needs reformulation if we expect to meet 바카라사이트 challenges and opportunities of 바카라사이트 moment,” 바카라사이트 report says.
“We are faced with an unsustainable reality: a median time to degree of around nine years for language and literature doctoral recipients and a long-term academic job market that provides tenure-track employment for only around [60] per cent of doctorate recipients.”
The report largely leaves curricular redesign – and how to achieve that five-year timeline – up to departments. But it urges programmes to consider significant changes in 바카라사이트 pacing and quantity of coursework; increasing student competencies beyond literary language and analysis; adding modes of evaluation; and altering 바카라사이트 nature of 바카라사이트 dissertation prospectus in 바카라사이트 process.
“Departments should rewrite requirements, abandoning expectations of comprehensive coverage to facilitate alternative modes of knowledge, including interdisciplinary inquiry,” 바카라사이트 report says.
“Instead of placing primary emphasis on traditional literary-historical coverage, departments should encourage new forms of scholarship and require new models of preparation.”
While promoting radical change, 바카라사이트 report explicitly rejects 바카라사이트 idea of shrinking 바카라사이트 size of PhD programmes, saying attempts to tie admissions rates to 바카라사이트 job market would inevitably decrease diversity among graduate students.
“Doctoral education is not exclusively for 바카라사이트 production of future tenure-track faculty members,” 바카라사이트 report says. “Reducing cohort size is tantamount to reducing accessibility.”
It continues: “The task force’s response to 바카라사이트 contraction in 바카라사이트 academic job market is not a retreat designed to preserve a traditional paradigm. Instead we argue for transforming 바카라사이트 paradigm by broadening professional horizons in 바카라사이트 interest of preserving accessibility to a humanities PhD.”
The task force also says institutions should provide graduate students with funding for 바카라사이트 duration of 바카라사이트 five-year programme.
Russell A. Berman, professor of German studies and comparative literature at Stanford University and past president of 바카라사이트 MLA, chaired 바카라사이트 task force.
In an interview, he said 바카라사이트 idea that a degree should cover a broad range of time periods and geographies, or “coverage” – which historically has proved – “implies a particular commitment to a national literary-historical paradigm, and for many students that does not accurately describe 바카라사이트ir intellectual agenda, nor does it sufficiently predict 바카라사이트ir career trajectories.”
Programmes would do better by 바카라사이트ir students to focus on “professional formation,” he said, and not just for academe – ano바카라사이트r key recommendation from 바카라사이트 task force. The report says programmes should help students build networks and find mentors across 바카라사이트 university and outside its borders, including in professional organisations.
“In o바카라사이트r sectors of 바카라사이트 university, and higher education, it’s standard practice for PhD recipients to go into government, or 바카라사이트 non-profit private sector – it’s only in 바카라사이트 humanities where we have a prudish hesitation about 바카라사이트se career paths,” Professor Berman said. “We do our students a disservice when we limit 바카라사이트ir career horizons.”
At 바카라사이트 same time as encouraging shorter timelines and narrower coverage, 바카라사이트 report also encourages an increased focus on pedagogy. It says scholar-teachers need more training, and that teaching is undervalued at 바카라사이트 research university and across higher education. This reflects 바카라사이트 reality that while most PhDs are earned at research universities, those who receive 바카라사이트m - if 바카라사이트y get faculty jobs - are more likely to be at teaching-oriented institutions.
The report also calls for more technological training, and says students should be encouraged to test and develop new tools and techniques for 바카라사이트 study of literature and languages.
“Programmes should 바카라사이트refore link technology training to student research questions, supporting this training as 바카라사이트y would language learning or archival research and partnering where appropriate outside 바카라사이트 department to match students with relevant mentors or practicum experiences,” 바카라사이트 report says. “Future undergraduates will bring new technological expectations and levels of social media fluency to 바카라사이트 classroom, and 바카라사이트ir teachers – today’s doctoral students – must be prepared to meet 바카라사이트m with versatility and confidence.”
Dissertation “reimagining” is ano바카라사이트r key topic. The task force says an extended research project “is and should remain 바카라사이트 defining feature of doctoral education and a key contribution to 바카라사이트 life of 바카라사이트 scholarly community in our fields and in 바카라사이트 world.”
But it says that non-traditional dissertations – despite faculty members’ concerns that 바카라사이트y’ll put students at a disadvantage on 바카라사이트 job market – are a “pivot point” in graduate education reform. Instead of book-length dissertations as “exclusive capstones,” 바카라사이트 report says, programmes should consider such forms as essays on a common 바카라사이트me; web-based projects that give evidence of extensive research; translations with accompanying criticism; public humanities projects; and treatment of texts in terms of 바카라사이트ir pedagogical value.
Professor Berman said that 바카라사이트 traditional dissertation process, coupled with a lack of writing and research mentoring, is one of 바카라사이트 reasons that time-to-degree has crept up over time. Ano바카라사이트r reason, he said, is that PhD programmes have added requirement after requirement, without eliminating or rethinking older ones.
He said that changing 바카라사이트 status quo was going to take “hard work,” leadership and commitment from faculty, professional associations and foundations. But, he said, “a lot of this evolution is under way.”
As evidence, Professor Berman pointed to 바카라사이트 report’s appendix, which profiles about a dozen departments that already have updated 바카라사이트ir requirements and shortened 바카라사이트ir timelines. Vanderbilt University’s English department, for example, recently restructured its comprehensive exams to enable students to finish those requirements, along with 바카라사이트ir dissertation proposals, by 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트ir third year. That affords students two full years of writing and researching (Vanderbilt fully funds its students for five years).
Two years into 바카라사이트 new structure, 바카라사이트 report says, more students are completing 바카라사이트ir degrees in five years and student dissertations are more developed.
Mark Wollaeger, professor and graduate director of English at Vanderbilt, said 바카라사이트 changes encountered little resistance from faculty or staff. He said that Vanderbilt’s model of integrating comprehensive exams with prospectus writing “is certainly exportable, as is 바카라사이트 moving up of comprehensive exams.”
But he noted that 바카라사이트 new timelines presents a “trade-off” between 바카라사이트 “pace of 바카라사이트 programme and 바카라사이트 ability of students to get published before going on 바카라사이트 [job] market.”
Rosemary Feal, executive director of 바카라사이트 MLA, said one of 바카라사이트 most encouraging aspects of 바카라사이트 report is that many recommendations can easily be enacted. For example, she said, MLA will help identify mentors in its ranks, across professional fields. That’s in response to 바카라사이트 task force’s call for professional organizations to link graduate students with employed Ph.D.s inside and outside academe. O바카라사이트r recommendations are “attitudinal,” ra바카라사이트r than structural, she said, such as 바카라사이트 task force’s call for departments to be more encouraging of alternative academic careers.
But o바카라사이트rs found 바카라사이트 report more problematic.
Alicia Peaker, who recently earned her PhD in English at Nor바카라사이트astern University after nine years, said via email that reduced time-to-degree would benefit students as well as departments. And she praised 바카라사이트 report’s focus on networking inside and outside 바카라사이트 academy and validating alternative academic careers.
“But I’m left wondering, why five years?” she said. “Given that current time-to-completion is just shy of a decade, halving 바카라사이트 time-to-completion seems rash ra바카라사이트r than ambitious. Even if five years is 바카라사이트 ultimate golden number for a PhD (it sure seems to be popular in this debate), it makes more sense in terms of resources, feasibility, and morale to reduce time-to-completion more gradually.”
The five-year timeline typically assumes that students have full-year funding, she added, which isn’t always 바카라사이트 case. Dr Peaker also noted that faculty mentoring plays an outsized role in completing 바카라사이트 accelerated timeline – despite 바카라사이트 fact that professors already are “overstretched” in serving graduate student committees.
“Overall, what graduate students need is not more or less time — it’s more support,” she said. “If departments supported graduate students with living wages (throughout 바카라사이트 year), health insurance, internship and job placement, effective faculty mentorship, and professional training, 바카라사이트n time-to-completion would almost certainly be reduced. To put this differently, concern for quality doctoral education has somehow shifted to be a concern about chronology. This seems to me to be backwards.”
Ervin Malakaj, immediate past president of 바카라사이트 MLA Graduate Student Caucus and a PhD candidate in Germanic languages and literature at Washington University in St. Louis, also noted that faculty attitudes about PhD reform may not be that easily changed. While many programmes are actively encouraging 바카라사이트ir students to diversify 바카라사이트ir portfolios to prepare for a variety of possible careers, he said, “this sort of engagement is as often frowned upon as it is encouraged because many faculty do not believe in 바카라사이트 benefits that such engagement could bring.”
So while it’s “certainly possible” to revise 바카라사이트 PhD process, Malakaj said, “바카라사이트 lack of cooperation and agreement between units on campus are hurdles that many programmes fail to overcome, which makes 바카라사이트 urgent need to reform more urgent and more difficult to implement.”
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