The reward systems at universities heavily favor science, math and engineering research at the expense of teaching, which can and must change. That’s the conclusion of UC Irvine biology professor Diane K. O’Dowd and research professors at Harvard University, Yale University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and elsewhere.
Writing in the Jan. 14 issue of Science magazine, the authors note that professors have two responsibilities: to generate new knowledge and to educate students. But, they maintain, “although education and lifelong learning skills are of utmost importance,” the promotions, awards and recognition given to science professors all emphasize research, while educating students “often carries the derogatory label ‘teaching load.'”
“The problem is the culture of the university, which values research over everything else in the reward and promotion system,” said O’Dowd, a developmental & cell biology professor, who wrote the commentary with Richard Losick, a molecular & cellular biology professor at Harvard, with input from 11 others.