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I assure you that at a Research I university like Harvard, student evaluations have at best a pro-forma impact on tenureship, and probably salary as well. Facul

I assure you that at a Research I university like Harvard, student evaluations have at best a pro-forma impact on tenureship, and probably salary as well. Faculty at Harvard are tenured and compensated on their abilities to publish high profile research and attract major grants, showing up to lectures is about all that is expected of them teaching-wise.

nether 13y ago
Yeah, that sounds reasonable. I don't have firsthand experience with Harvard, this is what I've just heard to be the general case with universities.
impendia 13y ago
Maybe Harvard. But I am employed as a math professor at a Research I state school, in which context you are quite mistaken. Research is most important, but good teaching is also important. "Universities don't care about teaching" is a fun meme to kick around, and there are anecdotes to support this, but by and large it is not true.
- greenburger 13y ago
  My comment was directed more specifically to Harvard and narrow set of top tier schools, I do not believe that universities don't care about teaching. The list of "very high research activity" (apparently research 1 is no longer used) includes 108 schools [1] of which Harvard is at one extreme end. That said, my father recently retired after 33 years with his department at a "high research activity", the second tier, and he can't recall a single case when someone was denied tenure where teaching performance was an issue. Research, and increasingly grant acquisition were always the issues. Personally, I went to a small liberal arts school. Having taught at two top universities, private and public, I'm happy I went where I did. Undergrad teaching was the top priority and the difference is stark. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_research_universities_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_research_universities_i...
- pge 13y ago
  To play devil's advocate for a moment, the tenure evaluations I am familiar with at many universities take student feedback into account, as a proxy for "good teaching," but unfortunately teachers students like and teachers that are good at teaching may not be the same. Thus universities seem to care more about keeping students happy than about "teaching" per se.

nether 13y ago

Yeah, that sounds reasonable. I don't have firsthand experience with Harvard, this is what I've just heard to be the general case with universities.

impendia 13y ago

Maybe Harvard. But I am employed as a math professor at a Research I state school, in which context you are quite mistaken. Research is most important, but good teaching is also important. "Universities don't care about teaching" is a fun meme to kick around, and there are anecdotes to support this, but by and large it is not true.

greenburger 13y ago
My comment was directed more specifically to Harvard and narrow set of top tier schools, I do not believe that universities don't care about teaching. The list of "very high research activity" (apparently research 1 is no longer used) includes 108 schools [1] of which Harvard is at one extreme end. That said, my father recently retired after 33 years with his department at a "high research activity", the second tier, and he can't recall a single case when someone was denied tenure where teaching performance was an issue. Research, and increasingly grant acquisition were always the issues. Personally, I went to a small liberal arts school. Having taught at two top universities, private and public, I'm happy I went where I did. Undergrad teaching was the top priority and the difference is stark. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_research_universities_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_research_universities_i...
pge 13y ago
To play devil's advocate for a moment, the tenure evaluations I am familiar with at many universities take student feedback into account, as a proxy for "good teaching," but unfortunately teachers students like and teachers that are good at teaching may not be the same. Thus universities seem to care more about keeping students happy than about "teaching" per se.