A friend who taught computer nerdism in Hong Kong before joining our lab at MIT used to try to intensify the pain and suffering of graduate students by remind us that the Chinese had an expression “Poor as a Professor, Dumb as a PhD”.
In an age where an average OpenAI employee earns $1 million/year and a receptionist at an NVIDIA branch office likely gets considerably more, UCLA is hiring mathematics professors for “$78,200 – $101,400 annually.” In case the original URL gets memory-holed, here are some screen shots:
Google’s AI says “The average home price near UCLA in Westwood, Los Angeles is around $1.3–1.6 million, depending on the source. The median sale price per square foot is around $857–$859.” The same AI says that a 30-year mortgage on a small house near UCLA will cost about $90,000 per year (i.e., roughly 100 percent of what UCLA is offering to pay the proud Ph.D. in mathematics.
Let’s dive into some of the specifics to figure out what a successful applicant looks like. In theory, California government employers aren’t supposed to sort applicants by skin color (the hated-by-progressives Proposition 209 from 1996). Let’s look at some of the language:
We strongly encourage applications from individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, and other individuals who are underrepresented in the field, across color, creed, race, ethnic and national origin, physical ability, gender and sexual identity, or any other legally protected basis.
If they don’t discriminate by skin color in hiring then where’s the “strong encouragement” for those who have a favored skin color?
Donald Trump is trying to eradicate DEI from federally-funded universities such as UCLA. Instead, UCLA will have “EDI”:
Statement of contributions to equity, diversity, and inclusion that includes previous and planned efforts that advance EDI through formal and/or informal mentoring, especially of Latina students
Are they trying to put together a “Hot Latinas” calendar for their nerd departments?
This search is part of a cluster hire with faculty positions in the departments of Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy who will support UCLA’s goals to achieve federal designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution as early as 2025. … Faculty hired through this search are expected to maintain an active affiliation with the Chicano Studies Research Center and to have a track record or demonstrated commitment to mentoring and encouraging the success of U.S.-based Latinx and first-generation scholars. Since the Latina population is particularly under-represented in physical sciences nationwide, the Department of Mathematics and the Division of Physical Sciences are especially interested in candidates with potential to serve as outstanding mentors to Latina students.
Maybe I could be considered, despite my lack of a math Ph.D., because I consistently use the term “Latinx”:
the Office of the Chancellor and the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost have sponsored this search in order to recruit exceptional scholars whose teaching, scholarship and/or mentoring has strong ties to Latinx experiences in the United States.
Let’s have a look at Proposition 209:
The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.
Circling back to the economics… as prestigious as some of these institutions are, how is a math professor earning $78,200/year in his/her/zir/their 30s ever going to be able to afford a family unless he/she/ze/they chooses a job at a school in a part of the country with a lower cost of living? It’s tough to have two children in a studio apartment shared with another adult.
Perhaps them could join small business franchise, in 4 month xthey are not teaching calculus.
For example have OnlyFans presence. I do not know exactly what it is but based on this blog descriptions this is what smart folks now do,.
Almost everything at Micron requires an MS & above. Despite being under a lot of pressure these days & considered obsolete compared to online courseware, the lowly professors are still being used as the gatekeeper in getting a lot of the best private sector jobs.
The Chinese, at least according to Prof. John Mearsheimer, are a very realist bunch. I actually don’t believe that profs don’t choose to be poor and the PhDs don’t choose to make dumb decisions. The quote implies that it’s a professional hazard, but from what I have seen, it’s not, people with an inflated sense of ego and self-worth always “end-up” as something because their pride inhibits them from having a clear understanding of what’s happening around them. So, what they think they are doing, what they really want to do and what actually happens are very far from each other. PhD degree and professorship attracts people who have these problems, not the other way.
Simpsons flashback:
They should seek employment in the Federal or State government. It’s one of the few places where a non-MD PhD can secure a 9-5, well-paying job with early retirement and good pension. But wait, many PhDs are already working for government agencies.
The UCLA assistant professorship is a state job w/ a defined benefit pension.
@George A: “But wait, many PhDs are already working for government agencies.”
No one else will hire them.
It could be a smart but very risky strategy of UCLA. In a paradoxical way they look for top talent by offering low salaries. With this strategy they fish at the extremes of the pond. Either they get dumb slackers who are unable to compete somewhere else for better payed jobs, or, their bet, geniuses for whom only maths, research, the life of the mind count, and for whom money does not matter, who would work in exchange for basic food and accommodation. I am thinking of the Grigori Perelman type.
The Chinese saying reminds me of an anecdote told by me former research adviser. He attended a conference in Hamburg, Germany. As one of the most important harbours of Europe, Hamburg has a red-light district, ‘die Reeperbahn’. Like Amsterdam, it became a tourist attraction. So he strolls down the Reeperbahn with a PhD student of his. They are approached in English by a prostitute who offers her services. They decline in English. They continue their walk and a couple of seconds later they are approached by another woman. The first woman, not knowing that they actually understand German, shouts in German to the second, ‘Don’t bother, they’re poor professors’.
What gave them away as professors?
If the university can find qualified candidates for that salary, why should it offer higher pay? The money saved could be used to hire more high-paid administrators, enhance the Disney-resort-style facilities, or other priorities. The savings could even go toward lowering tuition (just kidding).
Can anyone offer a description of what qualifies someone as Latino/a? Is this a good example of what universities consider a Latino?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilan_Stavans
https://www.amazon.com/Spanglish-Stavans-Library-Latino-Civilization/dp/0313348049/ref=sr_1_2?crid=O2QJDCDWSW6B&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.i5n9S0ZHmolBJ9JBffI4BwEWwFHs91o0iKDfj9AJwXJ5yhUdtzNZvEllYe7RLopcqjZXnHb8GEEMyGKQBY3oPpFRyftiQRs1g4z-tXtIGwA91aSal6haxsuusyZDqq0fOWia7G-DUnrB4234m1KJvg.Koyo0_ZxYtvFzG0L4o43NqJwNML8Ly-agQmeeksCGOM&dib_tag=se&keywords=ilan+spanglish&qid=1741437308&sprefix=ilan+spanglish%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-2
Maybe also Luis Alvarez? Also all Ashkenazi Jews should qualify, as all Ashkenazim something like sixth cousins and they have at least some Sephardi ancestry. If Elizabeth Warren was a Cherokee at Harvard, then all Sephardi (Latina Rita Levi-Montalcini) are Latinos in cube and Ashkenazi Jews are Latinos squared for UCLA!
Luis Álvarez and David Farragut are always included in “famous Hispanics” lists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Walter_Alvarez
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut
Lots of Ashkenazi Jews have obtained Spanish and Portuguese citizenship.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/16/portugal-nationality-by-descent-law-roman-abramovich-citizenship
All you need is a little money and an honest Rabbi.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/rabbi-said-detained-in-inquiry-into-how-roman-abramovich-got-portuguese-citizenship/
Wish that Cherokee nation had legal jurisdiction over Harvard Cherokees TM.
Fire and the Spirits: Cherokee Law from Clan to Court. https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Spirits-Cherokee-Civilization-American/dp/0806116196
Would Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (Pardo is a Spanish family name, Bulgarian Sephardic) be a good Latina candidate for a California university?
Due to tight budgets, universities can’t afford to pay faculty more. Also, this is a 9 months salary and professors are allowed to pay themselves over the summer via grants so you can multiply the salary range by 1.33. In addition, faculty are allowed to consult one a week so that helps supplement salaries.
And they offer faculty college housing, probably at around 85% of market price. The housing that I visited was extraordinary, not sure what UCLA does for faculty housing.
“It’s tough to have two children in a studio apartment shared with another adult.”
The new prospective Math professor’s family will. undoubtedly, be Chinese and, yes, they could make it in a studio w/ “hot cots” like the US Navy does on submarines.
@philg: “UCLA is hiring mathematics professors for “$78,200 – $101,400 annually.” ”
I was offered the lower end of that pay range for a Financial Analyst job at the University of FL, and that was over twenty-five years ago. My lifelong poor career decision-making led me to turn down that job offer for a private sector job that paid $5000 more, and got laid off two years later.
“UCLA is hiring mathematics professors for “$78,200 – $101,400 annually.” ”
The school will soon be paying UCLA football players more than this.
Perhaps Philip can enlighten us on what motivates these candidates.
Surely someone qualified for this position could do better than this in the private sector.
And yet, they chose to be professors.
I am not sure I’d want to send my kids to learn from professors who are so economically illiterate.
Either these candidates are independently rich, or they don’t care about money.