Ward Churchill and Shelby Thames - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: May 17, 2005

Ward Churchill and Shelby Thames

Date: May 17, 2005

You are right about his credentials! MA in Comm...from Sanagamon State Univ (now Univ of ILL in Springfield)!!! How can you become a tenured full professor with an MA...he must have publish in many of the leading journals in his field...does he have a field?

Date: May 17, 2005

At the time I left my really good but killing federal job to get an MA, you could get a tenure track job with an MA. By the time I got through, you couldn't. When I was an employee/adjunct at Memphis, the last batch of tenured MA's were still teaching, but it was understood there would be no more.

Date: May 17, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: LVN
"At the time I left my really good but killing federal job to get an MA, you could get a tenure track job with an MA. By the time I got through, you couldn't. When I was an employee/adjunct at Memphis, the last batch of tenured MA's were still teaching, but it was understood there would be no more. "

Tenure, maybe.

Full professorship? With a non-terminal degree? I've never, ever heard of that. Anywhere.

Date: May 17, 2005

Happens all the time in the arts, especially at the best universities. An MM from Julliard or Eastman is worth a thousand doctorates in music from a USM.

Date: May 17, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Miles Long
"

Tenure, maybe.

Full professorship? With a non-terminal degree? I've never, ever heard of that. Anywhere."

The people at Memphis were long-time instructors. They were made Asst. Prof, I don't know that they would have been promoted. It was done as a reward to a group of very dedicated teachers.
As for getting a tenured position with an MA, I don't know. I was pretty ignorant about the academic world at the time, but I did know tenured people with MA's. The rank situation probably escaped me. However, I think in the smaller private colleges there were professors with MAs. Didn't the PhD used to be an advanced research degree until we boomers came along and flooded the market?

Date: May 17, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Paint by numbers
"Happens all the time in the arts, especially at the best universities. An MM from Julliard or Eastman is worth a thousand doctorates in music from a USM."

Isn't a MM a terminal degree?

I know that there is a DMA, but most performance majors only have MA/MM degrees, no?

Date: May 17, 2005

Not my field but I thought an MFA was considered both terminal and prestigious in the arts.

Date: May 17, 2005

Yes, a MFA is terminal. Note that I simply said that Churchill did not have a terminal degree.

Even though a MFA is terminal, there are a few DFA programs out there. Just like a JD is considered terminal, but there are law doctorates.

Churchill has a masters degree in communication and he's a full prof. THAT is what I ain't never he'red of.

Date: May 17, 2005

Nor should you ever have heard of it!!

Date: May 17, 2005

An MFA in terminal for visual artists. An MM used to be considered the terminal degree for performers but it no longer is at many universities. USM always asks for the DMA when advertising. But the really top schools in music don't require it. because many of the best performers don't haveit--don't need it.