5/17/2015 Twobodyproblem(career)Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twobody_problem_(career) 1/2

Twobodyproblem(career)FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Thetwobodyproblemisadilemmaforspouses(oranyothercouple)workingintypicallyacademia(orsometimesotherfields)thatdescribesthedifficultyofbothspousesobtainingjobsatthesameuniversityorwithinareasonablecommutingdistancefromeachother.Thecentraldilemmaisthusanowinsituationinwhichifthecouplewishestostaytogetheroneofthemmaybeforcedtoabandonanacademiccareer,orifbothwishtopursueacademiccareerstherelationshipmayfalterduetothespousesbeingconstantlyseparated.[1]Theterm"twobodyproblem"hasbeenusedinthecontextofworkingcouplessinceatleastthemid1990s.[1][2]Italludestotheinsolublethreebodyprobleminclassicalmechanics.

Morethan70percentofacademicfacultyhaveaworkingpartner,whilemorethanthirdoffacultyhaveanacademicpartner.[3]

Contents

1Solutions2Seealso3References4Externallinks

Solutions

Typicalsolutionsinclude:

twotenuretrackpositionsatthesameuniversitytwotenuretrackpositionsattwonearbyuniversities(dailycommutespossible)twotenuretrackpositionswithoneorbothpartnerscommutingbetweentwogeographicallyseparateinstitutions(dailycommutesimpossiblebecauseofdistancepartnersmaybeseparatedweeklyorforsemestersatatime,dependingontheircircumstances)onetenuretrackpositionshared(iftheyareinthesamefield)onetenuretrackpositionandoneinstructorpositiononetenuretrackpositionandoneindustrypositiononetenuretrackpositionandoneadministrationpositionatasameuniversity

Althoughitisnotanidealsolution,apossibleoutcomeisabreakupoftherelationship.Longdistancecommutingcertainlyplacesastrainonrelationships,especiallywhenmaintainedoverlongperiods(yearsorevendecades).

Manyacademicinstitutesrecognizethetwobodyproblemisachallengingissuewhentheyhireanewfacultymember,andpreparepoliciestohelpdualcareeracademiccouplestosettledownattheirinstitutions.Aninstitutioninasmall,ruralstatesuchasWyomingmaybeunderincreasedpressuretohireaspousethaninalargemetropolitanareawithmanycollegesanduniversitiessuchasBoston.

Moreproactiveinstitutionsmayestablishfundsandprocedurestoassistwiththissituation.Frequentlyauniversitywillseektohireonepersoninacouple,therebymakingtheotherthe"trailingspouse."Oneapproachisforatenuretrackpositiontobefundedforthetrailingspousebeacombinationoffunds

5/17/2015 Twobodyproblem(career)Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twobody_problem_(career) 2/2

frombothacademicdepartmentsinvolvedwithadditionalfundsfromthedeanand/orprovost.Substantialresourcesmustbeofferedexternaltothedepartmentthatwouldacceptthetrailingspouse,asthisdepartmentwouldnottypicallybeinthepositiontohiresaidpersonnorwouldthatparticularpersonnecessarilyrankhighlyifasearchweretobeconducted.Forthisreason,itisnotunusualfordepartmentstorejectthetrailingspouseevenifsubstantialexternalfundsaremadeavailable.Thismakestheproblemparticularlyintractable,asqualifiedpersonsmayremainunemployedsimplybecausetheyarenotanidealfitforthetrailingdepartment.Morecommonly,institutionsdonothavesuchproactiveprogramsinplace.

Seealso

AcademiaAcademicmobilityHighereducationOpportunitytrapDualcareercommutercouples

References1. Benton,ThomasH.(pennameofWilliamPannapacker)(2009)."JustDon'tGo,Part2

(http://chronicle.com/article/JustDontGoPart2/44786/)".TheChronicleofHigherEducation,13March2009,accessed21June2012.

2. McNeil,Laurie."REPORTONTHEDUALCAREERCOUPLESURVEY"(http://www.physics.wm.edu/~sher/survey.html).

3. LondaSchiebinger,AndreaDaviesHenderson,ShannonK.Gilmartin."DualCareerAcademicCouples:WhatUniversitiesNeedtoKnow"(http://gender.stanford.edu/dualcareeracademiccoupleswhatuniversitiesneedknow).TheClaymanInstituteforGenderResearch.Retrieved19March2012.

ExternallinksSpousalHiringPolicies(http://www.historians.org/grads/Spousal_Hiring_Policies.doc)bytheAmericanHistoricalAssociation

Retrievedfrom"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Twobody_problem_(career)&oldid=640151182"

Categories: Academia Highereducation Educationeconomics Academicculture

Thispagewaslastmodifiedon29December2014,at22:08.TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionShareAlikeLicenseadditionaltermsmayapply.Byusingthissite,youagreetotheTermsofUseandPrivacyPolicy.WikipediaisaregisteredtrademarkoftheWikimediaFoundation,Inc.,anonprofitorganization.