Any professors out there?

[Vulcan Princess]

Are any of you BBSers out there professors?

I'm a second year law student, and I want to become a law professor. I'm doing all the usual stuff- I'm on law review, I'm working on getting a publishable article, and I'm staying abreast of the developments in the field. Does anyone have any advice on how to break into the teaching field? I'm open to teaching undergraduate law-type classes as well as teaching in a law school, and I would be open to adjunct as well as tenure-track.

I'm interested in hearing from all kinds of professors, not just law professors. Thanks in advance!

 

[RJDiogenes]

Well, my Brother-In-Law says that I have the "Professor Thing" down pat. Does that count?

 

[Deckerd]

I take it this is the US definition of professor and not the UK one.

 

[RoJoHen]

I take it this is the US definition of professor and not the UK one.

What's the difference?

 

[Rocketman]

Probably, 'head of a specialty/research group' rather than 'someone who teaches classes at a university'

 

[Deckerd]

Probably, 'head of a specialty/research group' rather than 'someone who teaches classes at a university'

Correct.

 

[SmoothieX]

Are any of you BBSers out there professors?

My wife is a post-doc in biomedical engineering, with aspirations of becoming a professor in the next couple years.

So yeah, I'm an expert on how to become a law prof. Fire away!

Good luck with your studies.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

Probably, 'head of a specialty/research group' rather than 'someone who teaches classes at a university'

Correct.

I'm interested in the 'someone who teaches classes at a university' definition, but whatever people have to offer is great.

What do you teach, RJDiogenes?

 

[SmoothieX]

^17th Century French spamming?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

I'm a professor.....................a professor of Lurvvvvv.

 

[RJDiogenes]

What do you teach, RJDiogenes?

Everything. I'm a Professor of the same sort as the Professor on Gilligan's Island; i.e. both brilliant and funny.

^17th Century French spamming?

Well, 1700s Colonial America, anyway.

 

[wew]

I actually am a professor. Good grades and a good number of speciality areas can help. Furthermore, published works especially books or journal articles are really helpful for getting a job.

However, sometimes its luck that is important.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

Thanks, wew. What do you teach?

 

[wew]

History & Geography

 

[Deckerd]

Professors over here are rare creatures only seen in high social circles.

 

[SmoothieX]

Professors over here are rare creatures only seen in high social circles.

I've sat around and gotten high with people trianing to be professors. Same thing right?

 

[Deckerd]

You don't 'train' to be one in universities, as such. You start with a phd and keep publishing for years. Then you need a vacancy for a university chair in your specialist faculty or subject. Basically you get invited if you're good at pulling in grant money.

 

[wew]

It took me seven years of adjunct teaching and working at Walmart before I got a full time position. In my case luck helped my cause a lot. The school really needed a professor after the previous two members of the department were let go and classes were starting within a week. I've served them well, the other one they hired was let go last year.

 

[Chimpy Chompy]

Professors over here are rare creatures only seen in high social circles.

Which was why I always used to get confused when Americans referred to their lecturers, tutors etc as their "professor", until i looked up the formal definitions.

 

[SmoothieX]

Professor can mean a number of things in the states. The place I went to college was predominantly a teaching college rather than a big research university. So a number of the profs basically taught several classes and did a little research on the side.

My wife's PhD advisor taught a couple classes as the need arose, mainly specialized grad classes, but his focus was on running a lab and churning out research/papers.

Her current post-doc advisor is strictly a researcher, doesn't teach any classes, ever.

Make sense?