Accepting an Assistant Professor position at a low ranked university

Question

I recently completed a postdoc at a prestigious R1 university, in a high profile lab. My publication record is not prolific, but those that I have published as first author are well respected journals, and a handful of middle author publications in top journals as well. I have a consistent teaching record throughout my graduate and postdoc training as well.

I applied to faculty positions at ~30 schools over the past two years, including several that I was not very excited about, but were in my target location and had open positions, so I applied. In total, I've had two on campus interviews and have been offered a faculty position at a low ranking liberal arts university (awards Master's but not PhDs) that seems like somewhat of a good fit for me personally in terms of the teaching I would do and the research interests of the other faculty, but lacks the prestige and resources of larger/more research intensive schools.

Would it be wise to take this position in the hopes that several years of faculty experience will allow me to jump to a different college/university that is a better fit for my professional goals (i.e., more research, higher caliber students, more resources for faculty)? Does this happen often, where someone takes a "starter" appointment and moves to a more fitting situation when it arises, somewhat like a Visiting Assistant Professor position?

Answer 1

The chances of successfully "moving on to bigger and better things" depend on one's discipline, and also what topic one studies within that discipline. Some topics look much more attractive than others to departments/faculties seeking to boost their standing; note that this is, erm, less than perfectly correlated with the actual depth/worth of those topics.

Would it be wise to take this position in the hopes that several years of faculty experience will allow me to jump to a different college/university that is a better fit for my professional goals (i.e., more research, higher caliber students, more resources for faculty)?

This strikes me as risky, if you feel those professional goals are essential to your job satisfaction within the next 4–7 years. It's also the case, at least in my discipline, that people hiring in smaller places are not keen on applicants who give the impression — rightly or wrongly — that they are using such places as stepping stones.

Moreover, it may not be as easy for you to move on to "better things" as you might hope; you'll be up against younger people applying for similar jobs, and your rate of publication — if that is important in your discipline — will almost certainly be lower than those people, especially if you start work somewhere that has fewer resources than the place you did your PhD.

Does this happen often, where someone takes a "starter" appointment and moves to a more fitting situation when it arises, somewhat like a Visiting Assistant Professor position?

I'm afraid I don't have anything more than anecdotes and a very partial sample based on my own discipline.

My own experience, which may differ from yours, is that permanent positions in my sub-discipline were hard to come by in my home country. Consequently, I ended up taking a job in North America which, although not in a liberal arts college, was not too far from the situation you describe as

somewhat of a good fit for me personally in terms of the teaching I would do and the research interests of the other faculty, but lacks the prestige and resources of larger/more research intensive schools.

At the time I did not do so with the intention of moving on, but it was always a possibility I kept in mind, and subsequently I did indeed quit that job to take up a new one elsewhere, which unexpectedly arose. So I guess you could view this story as some evidence to support your initial idea — start somewhere and then move on — but I'd also counsel caution.

Answer 2

This happens a lot (job hopping for professors) but it's mainly depending on your research whether you get hired.

If the infrastructure is not there for you to do decent research, you're probably only going to do a lot of teaching without getting many grants or publications that would get you a subsequent position. I think you're better of staying in a postdoc position where you have less teaching responsibility. Get a big grant and you can probably choose where you want to go.

Answer 3

You describe the resources as likely insufficient to garner the publications that will fuel the leap up.

Academia abounds with professors who were generally useless at a top lab for a few years and then got hired lower down the food chain in the mistaken hope that some of the magic would have rubbed off on them.

There are not so many people who jumped up because they did something remarkable at a low-prestige uni. One reason is the lack of resources as noted. Another one is that the top places will not hesitate to copy your work without acknowledging you. (Yes, Kevin, this happens, and it happens a lot, and there exists no effective recourse.)

The jump "upwards" is very much easier from industry, especially if you manage to be sitting on funding or acces to (or knowledge of) some new instrument.

Another warning: low prestige places are often run by people who are - how to put this politely - mediocre prima donnas. Your experience at a much better place may inspire some unpleasantness on the part of your new colleagues.