But alas, tenure seems to be less than a permanent thing these days.

-----Original Message-----
From: UTC Staff E-Mail List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
LingJun Wang
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 12:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [UTCSTAFF] Theory and the Real World

In the field if physics, there is a different trend. Many theories, such as
the Big Bang theory and the super string theory, are controversial. A
political concern usually forces a faculty to take the prevalent side.
Challenging authority is a thorny and risky business. If a Ph.D diploma is a
license to forget, a tenure seems to be a license to speak truth.

-----Original Message-----
From: UTC Staff E-Mail List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Matthew Guy
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 8:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [UTCSTAFF] Theory and the Real World


Well, I for one appreciate such progress, and I always welcome any move away
from theory, especially in my field.

Matthew Guy
Professor of Literary Theory and Criticism
Dept. of English

-----Original Message-----
From: UTC Staff E-Mail List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Richard Rice
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 7:25 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [UTCSTAFF] Theory and the Real World

President Petersen last week at the Trustees Meeting defended his incentive
plan to attract and reward the best young scholars in the UT system. A
recent survey of scholars teaching international relations in Foreign
Policy suggests that an unintended consequence of this will be a trend
towards teaching more theory and less real world application. I wonder if
this will be true in most disciplines at UTC? I quote:

"The international relations field today is surprisingly young: Half of the
professors who teach at U.S. colleges received their Ph.D.s in the past 12
years. Even more surprising is how young scholars change the focus of their
teaching over time. Early on, when young faculty are fresh out of graduate
school, they focus their teaching on theoretical questions and scholarly
debates. But, as their careers progress, professors are inclined to teach
their students more about real-world policy debates and less about
scholarly arguments. The image of the ancient, tenured professor reading
from decades-old notes needs to be revised."

  Richard