Does academic pedigree equate to destiny? Not necessarily on an individual scale, according to K. Hunter Wapman, Sam Zhang, Aaron Clauset, and Daniel B. Larremore in this September 2022 paper in Nature (vol. 610, pp. 120-127). But the study, spanning 2011-2020, does confirm that a small number of high-ranking PhD-granting institutions (including UCLA) supply the vast majority of tenure-track faculty in the US overall. Furthermore, white male faculty with degrees from these prestigious institutions show the lowest rates of attrition after hiring of any demographic in the study. Scroll down for key takeaways from this study. You can also read the article to explore the data behind these intersecting factors in the composition of the US academy, which highlight the barriers that endure within and beyond the academic job market.
Departmental Variation in Hireability?
While it may be comforting to note that UCLA falls within the top 20% of highest-prestige US universities, which produce 80% of US faculty, any variability in successful tenure-track faculty hiring and retention across disciplines and departments from these top institutions are not accounted for in this study. The extent to which a handful of programs at UCLA may carry its overall prestige and success in getting its PhDs hired at other PhD-granting institutions remains an open question, and should discourage students and faculty alike from assuming that traditional, lasting tenure-track career trajectories remaining a possibility for the majority of UCLA PhDs across departments.
Inequality in Faculty Hiring and Retention Based on Degree Institution
This study reveals that PhDs who earned their degrees from institutions outside that top 20 percentile are more likely to leave academia even after obtaining tenure-track positions. Qualitative data could further illuminate the reasons for these departures; regardless, the loss of scholars produced outside the sphere of a handful of the most prestigious universities in the US signals a shrinking base of knowledge production, and highlights a sobering reality that the challenges presented to PhDs produced beyond the confines of the highest-ranked institutions may extend and even grow after initial hiring to tenure-track positions.
Inequality in Faculty Hiring and Retention Based on Background and Identity
The trend towards homogeneity in degree sources for hired and retained faculty at American PhD-granting institutions is also reflected in the backgrounds and identities of scholars hired and retained. The study shows a much higher probability for white male PhDs with degrees from select institutions to get hired and remain in tenure-track positions long-term in comparison to any other demographic. The results of the study highlights a lack or loss of diverse research perspectives and topics, which frequently overlap or draw on scholars’ identities and experiences.
What About Non-PhD-Granting Institutions?
It is notable that this study does not address placement of US PhDs in non-tenured but often long-term university positions such as adjuncts, or, especially, the placement of PhDs in faculty positions at primarily undergraduate institutions which do not grant doctoral degrees themselves. As many academic job opportunities lie outside of the traditional, often favored R1 pathway. It will be difficult for UCLA PhDs to garner a sense of their hireability across all spheres of the American academy without insight into their hireability at non-PhD-granting institutions, which still retain a prestige hierarchy of their own.
