Can You Rank Crotchetiness?
If departments really wanted to help would-be graduate students find a good place to earn a Ph.D., they would publish a new set of rankings: on the crotchetiness of each faculty member. So said Timothy Burke, an associate professor of history at Swarthmore College, in a discussion of how departments could be more transparent about the experience of graduate students…
In conversations after the presentation, graduate students who were present praised just about every idea discussed, several saying that they wished they had known more before enrolling in their current programs. But in a sign that the crotchetiness factor is very much alive in graduate programs, several graduate students approached about being quoted in this article offered variations of: ?I work with Professor X. Are you crazy??
So says a January 9, 2007 InsideHigherEd report by Scott Jaschik.
(Thanks to investigator Kristine Danowski for bringing this to our attention.)