I just read an article
in the Chronicle on a report about changing the tenure system to a more
user-friendly state. What I particularly like about it are the
recommendations that will help female faculty who are mothers, such as:
allowing more than seven years to earn tenure and allowing a certain
amount of part-time work. This not only supports women, it supports
families. If they finally take action on this, it will show that our
institutions can support "family values" even though it might hurt them
in the pocketbook.
I thought I knew what the definition of ABD was. It was exactly the same as defined here in Carnegie Mellon's University Doctoral Candidate Policies for All But Dissertation (ABD) : After the completion of all formal degree requirements other than the completion of and approval of the doctoral dissertation and the public final examination, doctoral candidates shall be regarded as All But Dissertation(ABD). I have, though, occasionally run into the term ABD being used as a somewhat disparaging designation for one who fulfills the formal degree requirements of the Ph.D. but never finishes the dissertation, and then quits the program. Most recently, I saw it in What They Didn' t Teach You in Graduate School: 199 Helpful Hints for Success in Your Academic Career , by Paul Gray and David E. Drew. Number 9 of their helpful hints is one that I strongly agree with: "Remember that a Ph.D. is primarily an indication of survivorship." They go on to say, "You stuck wi
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