How Satisfied Are The Nation's Professors? (PHOTOS)

In which discipline are professors happiest? A new study (.pdf) by the Harvard Graduate School of Education looked at professor satisfaction rates across different academic subjects, basing their findings on a number of aspects of professors' work lives, including teaching hours, university expectations for tenure, ability to balance work and home responsibilities and time for one's own research. The results? Professors in the physical sciences are the happiest, and those in visual arts are on the lower end of the scale.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with these findings? Join the discussion in the comments section.

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1. Physical Sciences

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They do seem grumpy... Mine are great!

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Comments

[RZoroaster]

07:38 PM on 07/25/2010

You'd think that education professors would be the most satisfied. I mean they're pretty much living the dream right?

[FdeBear]

10:00 PM on 07/24/2010

Rate the photos????

[GAYF]

08:20 AM on 07/17/2010

I have been out of active teaching for a number of years, but as an interdisciplinary social scientist, every day is still involvement in this area of education. Knowing general and specific skills in Social Science allows one to use the observer-participant mode daily--to seek connections. People, individually and in groups, are our research. The disciplines from which this approach draws are: Anthropology-Economics-Geography-History-Political Science-Psychology-Sociology. Having these bases while, in my case, teaching specifically within two of them, History and Social Psychology, was very satisfactory. Students were able to better comprehend, self and society and function with greater skill as total persons.

My teaching was primarily at a new community college founded on the "Student Development" model. In cross-discipline "Clusters," not separated departments, we were able to engage teaching-learning experiences that were exciting for professors and beneficial to students. The work of organizing and execution was difficult, but rewarding. Everyone benefited.

At Oakton Community College, in Illinois, cross-discipline courses in Humanities and Science were encouraged. If other disciplines would try such organization many aspects might be more satisfactory. I am an advocate, because it was satisfactory.

Unfortunately, the community did not--as most still do not--understand that integrated teaching-learning, such as Sociology AND Business, Environmental Science AND Humanities AND Sociology, is a highly satisfactory approach, structure and practice. The pay, well, not as satisfactory. Respect for the effort slow to grow.

[mikefina]

05:18 PM on 07/17/2010

So, you liked your job. Great.

Did you teach org-chart locutions, or just study them?

[GAYF]

11:21 PM on 07/17/2010

My point, I hoped, is not that I "liked my job," but that the philosophy, organizational structure, facilitation and people created an environment that provided an improved model of teaching and learning. The teaching-learning environment promoted multiple tangible factors of accomplishment and satisfaction.. The interdisciplinary approach/model was paramount.

My "job satisfaction" was infinitesimal, of no significance. I took this opportunity to respond to the report of the survey, instigated by a study that, in my estimation, has minimal significance for the process of teaching and learning. The experiment at Oakton Community College is, I submit, worthy of study in the confusion of today's educational floundering. It was modified due to its incomprehension by traditionalists. It was merely my intent to share the experience, given the failures in much contemporary education for learner and educator. Maybe some educator will find value--a spark--in the recounting.

My involvement was as an enthusiastic participant-observer. I did not teach org-chart locutions, I studied and participated inthe system for its benefits in real situations. A balance of theory, experiment, application is my interest, not counting for counting's sake..

[Jeannette Harris]

07:59 PM on 07/16/2010

I wonder if this survey makes some feel dissatisfied that they're not in a field of higher satisfaction, as reported anyway.

[FdeBear]

10:06 PM on 07/24/2010

Naw. 'cause its a lotta bs.

[Ladyrantsalot]

07:36 PM on 07/16/2010

There aren't "disciplines," these are groups of disciplines. At any rate, after 2 years of a very bad economy, most tenured profs are probably feeling pretty good now. Some of our salaries have been slashed, some of us haven't seen a pay increase in years but, in times like these, having job security is very very precious.

[Dr. Jonathan David Farley]

06:24 PM on 07/16/2010

Somehow I wound up as picture #8.

[blackguy32]

07:23 PM on 07/16/2010

Well, just how satisfied are you?

[Dr. Jonathan David Farley]

07:00 AM on 07/18/2010

Not very, since being subjected to death threats and other forms of attack by supporters of the founder of the Ku Klux Klan.

[Ladyrantsalot]

07:37 PM on 07/16/2010

Hey, what a coincidence. I'm in picture #7, the one with the red hair.

[sempronia]

05:04 PM on 07/15/2010

I'm doing my PhD coursework right now in the Humanities, and from what I've experienced, I suspect that the relative happiness in the humanities has to do with people achieving a certain equilibrium (or tenure): those who can find satisfaction stay there, and those who can't go find something else. I'm seeing this a lot right now with friends who are hitting the job market and having to decide whether to take the one-year position in podunk-wherever. One friend's wife just got a dream job offer, and he's decided to put her career first, and see what happens with his own -- and their marriage, in this case, will probably be a lot happier.

Sometimes we forget, going in as graduate students, that the people we study with and admire and wish to emulate are the people who've survived a long and nasty selection process/gauntlet.

[dlivtx]

12:57 AM on 07/14/2010

Science is the way to go! Especially out-of-the-lab science

[rjmtx]

10:13 PM on 07/20/2010

You mean field science? I prefer the out-of-mind-education.

[FdeBear]

09:45 PM on 07/24/2010

Lots of mega grants in the sciences! Compared to the arts and humanites- the research grants for faculty and amount of money provided for support of grad students is phenomenal.

[bigshotprof]

11:27 PM on 07/13/2010

Sure! They got to blow stuff up. I blow stuff up and all of a sudden committees meet. Calls get made. etc etc. :)

[mrs adler]

04:44 PM on 07/13/2010

As a Humanities student, I feel proud of such results. However, I must admit that I expected Medicine teachers to be the happiest since it's so hard to access such studies.

[Deli]

03:40 PM on 07/13/2010

The guy in pic 7 looks like he is having a grand old time.

[Sunflo]

05:01 PM on 07/13/2010

LOL

[ProfGiles]

09:35 AM on 07/13/2010

The study only surveys full-tenured professors and only measures those full-tenured professors' attitudes toward the administrative aspects of their positions. SO, this study only reveals how various academic departments feel about how their institution treats their academic departments. It is not a good indicator of how those professors feel about their chosen academic disciplines. (From the study document, pp 4-7)

[MarauderF]

02:39 PM on 07/13/2010

But if we pretend it was something else it would make for a great story lad.

[ivorytower54]

04:54 PM on 07/13/2010

They really should have just shut the comments down after your post. You nailed it. I chair a humanities department and I can assure you we are not the 2nd happiest group on campus:)

[ProfGiles]

10:04 AM on 07/14/2010

Thanks. I am humanities also :)

[DrWini]

07:43 AM on 07/13/2010

1. I'm a big fan of picture #2, the Humanities picture. It's Madness!
2. According to these pictures, only 8% or so of professors are women. Way to go, patriarchy.

[LucyReynell]

07:11 AM on 07/13/2010

Number 4 isn't a professor at all, that's the prime minister of Britain. He didn't even study Business.

[Andrew FingerlickingGree]

05:39 AM on 07/13/2010

ha, I guess you all agree with me seeing that business professors have the lowest ratings.