Faculty perceptions of their graduate education

Abstract

Most studies of graduate school socialization utilize samples of either current students or recent graduates. This study investigates how professors, established in their academic careers, retrospectively view their graduate training by asking and examining what deficiencies they detect from this preparatory stage. The sample is composed of academics at different stages of their careers, who work in a spectrum of institutional types in the US system of higher education. Four analytic dimensions are used to examine variation in which professors identify deficiencies in their graduate training: time (as indicated by career stage), employing institution, Ph.D. institution, and publication productivity. The findings cast additional light on socialization by suggesting how academics, differentially situated in an academic career, view their graduate education years after it has concluded.