UChicago to take advantage of others' hiring freezes

Parents Forum
1

<p>Looks like UChicago is going to actively exploit the hiring reductions and freezes at peer schools such as Harvard. They reduced spending last year, did not overly rely on their endowment, and took a more conservative approach all around.</p>

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Zimmer [UChicago president] said the recently announced faculty expansion was only possible because the cutbacks ensured the University’s budget would not decrease in the foreseeable future.</p>

<p>He added that the economic standing of the University makes it a good time to begin a faculty expansion, which will be the first in over 40 years. Many peer institutions have instituted hiring freezes or cut back on hiring, putting the University at an advantage for hiring.</p>

<p>“The current situation makes it a good time to be looking for people. And people who are getting their Ph.D.s are looking at the job market, and it is very competitive. And we are in a position to hire these people,” Zimmer said.</p>

<p>The same administrators who determined the cuts will decide where to expand the departments, Zimmer said, and the University will focus on hiring mostly lower-level faculty positions in many departments.

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<p>Zimmer</a> optimistic at openforum - The Chicago Maroon</p>

2

<p>my entry level position seeking new PhD daughter will be on the job market in Spring of 2011.I hope theres more places besides U Chicago that will be looking :)</p>

3

<p>UC made offers to 6 Wisconsin faculty last year and all rejected the offer. UW also is hiring about 40+ additional faculty over the next couple years.</p>

<p><a href=“http://madisoninitiative.wisc.edu/[/url]”>http://madisoninitiative.wisc.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>I’ve heard of other schools doing this, too. One school is flying in 2 MIT profs and 2 Berkeley profs next week for their Engineering dept.</p>

5

<p>It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. The faculty to student ratios at some schools is going to suffer and affect their ranking, “oh, no.”</p>

6

<p>Lafayette did that last year. They hired several new (additional) professors. The President said that thanks to the job cutbacks/freezes at other colleges, the quality of the candidates they interviewed was the highest they had ever seen.</p>

7

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Yes! :)</p>

<p>We may be seeing some of the concentration of talent spread more around.</p>

8

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<p>I wouldn’t discount the possibility that the MIT and Berkeley profs are trying to wrangle a competing offer which they can use as a threat. That is not an uncommon move when universities freeze salaries. Sometimes it works, sometimes you have to take the offer. The response of the department to the competing offer is a good indicator of just how serious the financial situation is.</p>

<p>The quote in the original post refers to an expansion of the number of faculty positions at U Chicago. That is indeed unusual this year.</p>