Midcareer Transitions: Teaching
My father was an elementary school teacher who eventually became an elementary school principal, a position that he retired from about 15 years ago. As you might imagine, education was an important part of the lives of my three siblings and me. Like my father, three of four of us eventually pursued careers in education: my sister teaches art to high school students in California; my brother is a professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Vermont and I have been a science educator for most of my adult life.
When I first entered graduate school in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I intended to pursue a teaching career at a small liberal arts institution. My career goals changed during my graduate school experiences, and ultimately I chose to pursue a career in academic research rather than teaching. Despite that decision, my first and perhaps only love has always been teaching. Ironically, it was my love of teaching that prevented me from winning tenure at the University Of Miami School Of Medicine. While I have reinvented myself no fewer than 10 times during my admittedly circuitous career path, the one common and constant element that links together some of my seemingly disparate career choices has been my love of teaching.
No matter what the experts may say, there is no middle ground in teaching—you either love it or hate. Put simply, there are those who were born to teach and others who were not!
When I give my Alternate Careers for PhDs talk to graduate and postdoctoral fellows who are looking for career options, I always mention teaching. Not surprisingly, I wax romantically about how noble a profession teaching is and the acute need for qualified science teachers. However, I always temper my remarks by emphasizing that “unless you are passionate about teaching, then becoming a teacher may not be an appropriate career choice. In other words, unless you are “all in” you never be an effective teacher. To that end, I came across an article in this Sunday’s New York Times by Peter Wilson; a former executive who decided to eschew a successful public relations career in his mid-30s to become a middle school English teacher.
If after reading Peter's story, you find yourself energized or “moved” by his story, then I believe that you possess the “right stuff” to pursue a career in education. As the old Nike ads urge: “Just Do It!”
Hat tip to Peter Wilson!
Until next time...
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!
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There has been a growing reliance on the use of online tools to teach science to primary, secondary and college students. This makes sense because anybody who has pursued a science career will tell you that using web-based programs, applications and searches is absolutely essential when conducting scientific research. To that end, Amber Johnson at .jpg)
The compensation packages for CEOs of many publicly held companies have recently, (for obvious reasons), come under intense scrutiny. This has spilled over to the chief executive offices of many not-for-profit organizations including private colleges and universities. While the compensation packages for most university presidents and administrators are substantial in many instances, there are a few university employees who sometimes earn substantially more. 
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Convincing students and adults that science can be fun and even cool at times can be a very challenging proposition. This is mostly because science is perceived as “being hard” and in many cases, the people who teach science are not appropriately trained. Consequently sciences classes are frequently boring and unimaginative. Nevertheless, creative scientists can sometimes figure out ways to overcome these negative perceptions of science. One of the best examples of this is the use of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) in some so-called consumer products. While this application of GFP may pose ethical dilemmas for some, I haven’t met many children or adults who don’t think that transgenic mice, fish or flowers that glow green, red, blue or yellow (or a combination of these colors) in dark aren’t cool! While this wasn’t GFP’s intended use—the scientists who first demonstrated GFP’s utility as a genetic engineering application won a.gif)
I had little to do last night, so I decided to download Stumble Upon for Firefox. While I was stumbling, I came across an 
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