Taken from:
http://www.sciencemag.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/cgi/content/full/323/59…
HIGHER EDUCATION:
New Ph.D.s to Teach Harvard Undergrads *Susan
Gaidos**<http://www.sciencemag.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/cgi/content…
Harvard University plans to hire up to 20 recent Ph.D.s to teach
undergraduate courses in a move that officials say will improve instruction
and help students facing a tough job market.
The new College Fellows Program was announced last week in an e-mail to
faculty and will go into effect this fall. Fellows will be paid $48,000 with
full benefits to work in some 20 academic departments throughout the Faculty
of Arts and Sciences. The program is open to all recent--since 2005--Ph.D.
graduates. The awards are for 1 year, with a second year possible, and the
money will come from the university's instructional budget.
"A large part of the goal was to support graduates and mentor excellent
teaching among recent Ph.D.s, and [another] was to meet essential teaching
needs in Harvard College," says Allan Brandt, dean of Harvard's Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences. "We wanted to develop strong teaching for our
Harvard College students and to make sure our teaching needs were met."
Each fellow will be assigned a faculty mentor, and teaching-focused seminars
are planned. The program, Brandt says, "is designed for people who have a
deep interest in university teaching." Fellows will be expected to carry 70%
of the teaching load of a faculty member, leaving them some time to pursue
their research. "At this career stage," says Brandt, "it's very
important
that they have some protected time to continue their research endeavors."
James Hanken, Alexander Agassiz professor of zoology, says the program
offers new Ph.D. recipients "a sort of a temporary hold" in a tough job
market. "If it's a teaching postdoc that doesn't consume all of your
waking
hours and leaves you time to do some research, I think it can be a good
deal," he says.