Hey, I’m a current PhD student and I am interested in possibly exploring more of the administrative side of a university once I graduate. However, I know very little about this side of things. I know a whole lot about being a research professor and writing grants, but have no clue about managing students, course offerings, and special events. I think it’d be incredibly rewarding to get to invest into degree programs to make sure students get the best and most valuable experience possible, while hopefully preparing them for adulthood in a way that is authentic. I realize a STEM PhD might not be the best degree to have when entering this space, but does it at least help a little?
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Sell your soul.
I think it would be quite a serious advantage. University administrators who understand STEM are a tough hire because they can’t pay as much as industry STEM jobs.
Unfortunately these are mostly positions that are supported by indirect fund so they are not hiring right now, but in normal times you would be an attractive candidate given what you wrote.
Most of the assistant/associate dean type people I have seen at large schools are academic PhD professors, often non-TT, who sit on school committees and keep advancing up. I have seen tenured research professors get into the dean of research and faculty positions.
So I would say you would get a position as a professor. Then volunteer for committee work especially at the college level. Display enthusiasm there and keep getting more responsibilities.
There are often administrators who are faculty and those who are not. Executive roles at the college and campus level are typically held by faculty (or former faculty, some might argue). But many roles are held by people without phds and who might have a background in business, management, etc.
So the paths for these two types of roles differ quite a bit.
Be bad at your academic field but incapable of a real job.
Friendly fire will not be tolerated.
You would learn that stuff in an EdD program.
Fail at everything else.
Dm me and I’ll give some actual advice. You’re talking about student affairs, which there are both degrees and certificates in.
Most administrative roles (DGS, deans, deanlets, etc) here, at an R1 Uni, are roles that successful, full professors escape into after they completely burn out on research.
Get that TT Research faculty position and they will commence trying to turn you into an administrator, starting about year 3. 🤣
Get that TT Research faculty position and they will commence trying to turn you into an administrator, starting about year 3. 🤣
Walk into the office and act real stupid, they’ll believe you already have the job.
The somewhat snarky comments you’re getting here might seem unhelpful, but they are indicative of a deeper truth: academic administration is not the place to pursue the (highly laudable) goals you have articulated.
Universities were set up, once upon a time, based on an ideal of shared governance. That is, the people doing the teaching and research shared the responsibility of running the institution with a dedicated senior management (and often took on most of it). That system is now perverted. A generation of academics neglected the duty to defend shared governance at a time when systematic attempts were implemented to managerialize universities on the basis of outdated B-school fads.
The result is that university administration is now either a) a place where managers who couldn’t hack it in the business world wash up who are not invested in the core missions of the university because they do not understand it, or b) an off ramp for mediocre researchers and uninspiring teachers who are not invested in the core missions of the university because they were no good at them themselves.
If you want to do best by students, I’d recommend trying to set yourself up for a faculty position at a teaching focused institution, such as a liberal arts college or community college, where you can put your energies directly into helping specific students achieve specific aims, often through doing the kind of organizational work you describe—because the administration sure as shootin’ ain’t going to be doing it for you.