two-body problem (career) - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Two-body Problem (Career) - Wikipedia, The Free EncyclopediaTRANSCRIPT
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5/17/2015 Twobodyproblem(career)Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia
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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
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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
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Categories: Academia Highereducation Educationeconomics Academicculture
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