I am, by nature, a very curious person (read - nosy as hell). That's why I love living in the 21st century--it is so easy to find out information about people you know on the internet!
One of my favourite places to indulge my nosiness about my professors is here. The Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act requires public disclosure of the salary and benefits of employees who earn a salary of $100,000 or more a year. Meaning, of course, that I can find out how much money my profs make from the university. Fun!
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Don't you ever wonder why certain profs are making so much money when they obviously don't deserve it? I think that most of my professors are actually underpaid, considering how much they work and their level of education, but there are others (who shall rename nameless) who SO do not deserve to make more than 130K a year.
Your comments did eventually get published though, right? I started to moderate comments after some not very nice ones were being posted. Now I am able to muzzle my brother Fred's snarky remarks. I have to approve all comments before they appear on the blog. But don't let that stop you! I love reading what you peeps have to say.
And by the way, of course I knew that you were Moriarty. I know all about your wild love affair with SH.
Some profs are really underpaid and some are terribly overpaid.
We have this one terrible prof who is above the 100k mark and we don't think she deserves it at all. We've had her twice now and she does not teach well. Nor do I think she's doing any interesting research.
Some are very underpaid though. Some of our directors and associate directors do a ton of work, yet they don't get paid very much. The director of Software Engineering works like CRAZY to get our program properly accredited, as well as performing her own work, and yet she barely made it past the 100k mark.
Ah good... I was just afraid that my comments were getting lost in some wierd cyber-void. It was kinda scary. But now that I know that they are just stuck at customs - so to speak - I won't panic. ;-) Stupid people being nasty. Good thing I wasn't around or I would have layed a little smack-down on them.
Oh yeah... there are some profs making that money right out of the students pockets too. Agree totally, some totally deserving, some don't deserve at all, and others definitely deserve more.
Exactly, David, I think that the student evaluations that we do every term should have some impact on prof salaries. Do they have any effect now, or am I just wasting my time filling them out?
Also, Erin, I liked your analogy to your comments getting stuck in customs. They must undergo a full cavity search (eww) before they are allowed to be posted.
Oh, and are you by chance talking about any professors in particular (who I strongly dislike) when you alluded to some making money straight out of the students' pockets? That's why I loved Dr. Ward this semester because he wrote a textbook but didn't feel right asking us to pay $120 for it, so he took sections of it and made it into $16 course notes. That man rocks.
Theoretically the difference in salary between profs should be a reflection of seniority and, more importantly, of their official status as a professor (assistant prof, associate prof, etc.). I'm not sure whether this is pans out in practice though. I always personally suspected that the universities just gave all of their money to the science people and let those of us in humanities survive on the joy of learning alone...
Yes, it's true Lydia that with each rank (even going further back Post-Doc/Lecturer/Assistant Professor/Associate Professor and so on) there is a pay increase. There is a minimum amount that they should be making at each stage. But some professors are making way more than their peers and that is supposedly due to their "performance" rather than their "seniority". Maybe I'll go ask one of my profs, the Biology Chair, because I am really curious.
Oh, and are you saying that you needy Humanities people don't think that the joy of learning is enough sustenance? You actually need to buy food?! What a bunch of wimps. A lot more money does go into Science, but sadly, not for professors salaries. (At all!!) It goes into the very high cost of research, buying equipment, setting up lab space, hiring technicians, etc. So sadly, Science professors are underpaid (I believe that at UW their salary starts at $65,000) and work an average of 60 hours/week. Sucks to be them.
He he... glad you liked my analogy. :-)
Yup, a certain prof who liked to adjust his belt frequently and make his students buy a whole new textbook that he wrote, rather than giving us a supplemental. Not that he was a bad prof, but he would have been making a fair chunk of change off of those textbooks.
I love Dr. Ward (and not just because he wrote me a reference letter). He's got that generous spirit... like you say with the textbook thing. Plus, I believe he's making alot of his money off of patents and his 3 companies that he founded... and that's on top of his professorial (is that a word?) stuff. The guy works so hard... but the thing he is most proud of is that he taught the first female brewer at Guiness. Him and Dr. Muller are tied for my favourite profs.
Has he sung to you guys yet?
Yup, I may have been thinking about that one prof. You know me so well! (Or you've heard me bitch about it enough). I'm still pissed off that we couldn't use the 2nd edition that we all just bought. As a Jew, I get very resentful when people come between me and my money. So after that, I never liked him.
I also liked Dr.s Ward and Mueller a lot, but I wouldn't call either my favourite UW professors. I've had some truly fantastic ones here, often in my elective courses. One of my English profs is just exceptional. Also, I think that Dr. Moffatt is an absolute sweetheart. I just went to talk with her for a bit yesterday and although she is always so busy, she is always willing to take the time and talk with her students--plus, she's honestly interested in what we do/who we are. Although I complain about UW and its professors a fair bit, we are pretty lucky here. There are some real stinkers (DB is right up at the top of the list) but in general, they are pretty good!
Hey Leora! It was great to see you Thursday! It's been too long! I loved your presentation, and I have to agree with your post here. I find myself googling random (ok not really random) people, to see if people from my past, and present, are doing anything noteworthy...
I have also jumped on the blog band wagon...you can find it at:
http://kateincanada.blogspot.com
Take care!
Kate
Kate, it was SUCH a nice surprise to see you the other night also! And to catch up on all the amazing things that you've been up to. I'm so glad that you came here because I meant to get your e-mail address, but now I'm just excited to be able to check out your blog. I'll do so right now! :) Take care!
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