Comments on: GOP3 Exclusive: The Yardley Report on PhD Programs and MU’s Future

By: Marcia

Marcia — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:08:36 +0000

The thing that NO ONE is talking about is that this report is on PhD programs at Marquette. I am a PhD student at MU, and I participated in the survey for this report. If Marquette is going to have competitive graduate students, then the faculty have to be able to provide the grad students with knowledge of current research as well as mentor them in how to do professional research. That means, whether they are researching and writing articles themselves, they most certainly need to keep up to date with what other researchers are doing. That takes a lot of time. Honestly, my opinion is that if MU is going to be what it wants to be, they are going to have to hire more tenure-track faculty and spread the teaching out a little, so that everyone has time to do what is expected. If MU isn’t willing to do that, then maybe they should drop their graduate programs and just be a school that caters to undergrads — which, let’s be honest, they already, silently, do, since that is where the money is.

By: wally

wally — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 02:36:24 +0000

“Let Georgetown, Notre Dame, Boston and Fordham compete to be the best Catholic research university in the country.”

This is a great comment. Among true “research universities” these four aren’t even on the map. One of the reasons Notre Dame would be such a poor fit in the Big Ten is that it brings nothing to the table in this area. How can a university be a “research university” without such elements as a medical school or outstanding graduate schools?

It is undeniable that Notre Dame is a great undergraduate university, but a research university it is not.

By: Gop3.com: The Triumvirate » Blog Archive » Further Thoughts on the Yardley Report

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:31:30 +0000

[...] Fighting Like Warriors and Thinking Right. Systematically Debunking Liberal Rhetoric. « GOP3 Exclusive: The Yardley Report on PhD Programs and MU’s Future [...]

By: Luke

Luke — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:07:24 +0000

“The XFL tried to do their own thing cause they were to far behind the NFL, and we all know what happened to the XFL.” The XFL’s problem was that it was directly inferior to the NFL in every measurable way, so I think your metaphor is fairly inaccurate.

The NFL had better athletes, a better t.v. deal and better endorsements. Much like Notre Dame has better students, a stronger national reputation, and a larger endowment.

Frankly I chose Marquette over huge research institutions (Minnesota & UW) and it was not for the Catholic Identity of Marquette. If I had wanted to attend a huge national research institution and receive my undergrad degree from TAs I wouldn’t have chosen Marquette.

By: ZC

ZC — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:27:16 +0000

Daniel,

I think that your argument assumes that the people that would be the best researchers would also be the best teachers. At a college level, I don’t think that’s true. The ability to teach a fresman-level chemistry class has nothing to do with the ability to do world-class chemistry research.

I think what the report is suggesting and what I agree with is to have adjunct faculty who are really good teachers teach the freshman classes. Then, we should have the full-time faculty mostly research and teach the upper-level/graduate classes.

By: Brandon A

Brandon A — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:43:10 +0000

Dan this is an excellent analysis. I do tend to agree with you most of the time, but concerning this post, I do disagree. I would agree with Yardley that we (MU) do need to concentrate greater on research.

The way I see it is schools prominence are judged but the sources coming out of the school with its name attached. Like a Harvard Business Report or a University of Chicago physics study. If we have to be recognized across the nation as a premier catholic school we need to compete with the other Jesuits the way they are competing. The XFL tried to do their own thing cause they were to far behind the NFL, and we all know what happened to the XFL.

By: John McAdams

John McAdams — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 02:35:30 +0000

You’re absolutely on the mark, Dan.

In spite of a bit of rhetoric about the teaching mission of Marquette, Yardley really seems to believe that a proper university is a research factory, with external funding dollars the be all and end all of the enterprise.

I think all faculty should be at least pretty decent researchers. But all faculty should be good teachers too. And a mediocre research factory is the last thing Marquette should want to be.