A Professor's Work

A Professor's Work attempts to clear up questions about the role of the college professor in society by providing a field study of what a professor actually does. The author organizes a year of his work and his colleagues into an overview of a years teaching, research, and service. The first section describes the service work, including a depiction of the search for a new faculty member, and a committee that investigated the appearance of extremely large general educational classes. Then the teaching section focuses on the teaching and evaluation of a single course, and the dealing with problems encountered by the wide variety of students who attend an urban university. Finally, the research section exposes the relationship of writing and publishing to the conflicts and interactions of scholars and with the impact the study had on the university community. The author also includes a representation of community activities, the relationship of a professor's work to his family life, and an evaluation of professors studied against two theoretical models of professional behavior and activity.

Table of Contents:
chapter 1 Perceptions of the Professor chapter 2 Inside the Department chapter 3 How an Intrepid Band of Professors Confronted the General Education Monsters chapter 4 University Encounters chapter 5 But Don't Professors Also Teach Courses chapter 6 And of Course There Were Students chapter 7 The Scholar Writes War and Peace, Participates in the Scientific Enterprise, and Receives a Call From the East chapter 8 A Professor's Work chapter 9 Photographs chapter 10 Serving the Community chapter 11 Even Professor's Have Families chapter 12 Is the Professor a Professional chapter 13 Cast chapter 14 Serving the Community chapter 15 Even Professors Have Families chapter 16 Is the Professor a Professional? chapter 17 Cast chapter 18 References

About the Author :
Matthew Melko is the author of The Boundaries of Civilizations in Space and Time (University Press of America, 1987) and is Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Wright State University.

Review :
...it is generally very difficult to quantitatively measure what we do in small increments of time. It is in this area that this study may provide its strongest contribution. ...this book does indeed document the multiplicity of roles and the long hours of a faculty member> ...a lively, frank and very readable book. ...a lively, frank and very readable book. ...it is generally very difficult to quantitatively measure what we do in small increments of time. It is in this area that this study may provide its strongest contribution. ...this book does indeed document the multiplicity of roles and the long hours of a faculty member