The New PhD: How to Build a Better Graduate Education

by Leonard Cassuto, Robert Weisbuch

This book examines the failed graduate school reforms of the past and presents a plan for a practical and sustainable PhD. For too many students, today's PhD is a bridge to nowhere. Imagine an entering cohort of eight doctoral students. By current statistics, four of the eight―50%!―will not complete the degree. Of the other four, two will never secure full-time academic positions. The remaining pair will find full-time teaching jobs, likely at teaching-intensive institutions. And maybe, just maybe, one of them will garner a position at a research university like the one where those eight students began graduate school. But all eight members of that original group will be trained according to the needs of that single one of them who might snag a job at a research university. Graduate school has been preparing students for jobs that don't exist―and preparing them to want those jobs above all others. In The New PhD , Leonard Cassuto and Robert Weisbuch argue that universities need to ready graduate students for the jobs they will get, not just the academic ones. Connecting scholarly training to the vast array of career options open to graduates requires a PhD that looks outside the walls of the university, not one that turns inward―a PhD that doesn't narrow student minds but unlocks and broadens them practically as well as intellectually. Cassuto and Weisbuch document the growing movement for a student-centered, career-diverse graduate education, and they highlight some of the most promising innovations that are taking place on campuses right now. They also review for the first time the myriad national reform efforts, sponsored by major players like Carnegie and Mellon, that took place between 1990 and 2010, look at why these attempts failed, and ask how we can do better this time around. A more humane and socially dynamic PhD experience, the authors assert, is possible. This new PhD reconceives of graduate education as a public good, not a hermetically sealed cloister―and it won't happen by itself. Throughout the book, Cassuto and Weisbuch offer specific examples of how graduate programs can work to: • reduce the time it takes students to earn a degree;
• expand career opportunities after graduation;
• encourage public scholarship;
• create coherent curricula and rethink the dissertation;
• attract a truly representative student cohort; and
• provide the resources―financial, cultural, and emotional―that students need to successfully complete the program. The New PhD is a toolbox for practical change that will teach readers how to achieve consensus on goals, garner support, and turn talk to action. Speaking to all stakeholders in graduate education―faculty, administrators, and students―it promises that graduates can become change agents throughout our world. By fixing the PhD, we can benefit the entire educational system and the life of our society along with it.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education

408 pages, Hardcover

Published January 19, 2021

Reviews

[Douglas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think that this book is well meaning but not very informed. The book's major premise is that graduate education needs to be reformed, mainly because most PhDs don't get jobs. Most do not. I have a PhD in English, and I've managed to create a career for myself. Cassuto thinks that PhD programs should offer graduate students more options. Right now--and he is correct about this--the PhD--like the one I earned at the University of Minnesota, is designed to get you a job at a major research institution. And the reality is that there are very few of those jobs. And if your PhD isn't from an elite institution, you're not going to get one of them.

Cassuto seems to argue that--at least in the humanities--one can engage in public scholarship or maybe get a job at a museum. How many jobs at the history channel or major museums are there? Not many. Cassuto--a tenured professor himself who seems not to have worked outside of the academy--doesn't understand what the real non-tenure track possibilities are. I'm 3/4 of the way through the book and he hasn't mentioned what real jobs there are. One can--if one is a decent editor--get several kinds of jobs with a PhD. But he doesn't seem to know what they are. Here are several possibilities: university press editor, course designer, corporate trainer, freelance copy editor, textbook development editor, ghost writer. Good ghosts can get 3000-5000 a pop for month-long gigs. I know because I've done it. Senior developmental editors can make 65,000 to 85,000 a year. Sales reps at big textbook companies can make nearly 100,000.

I teach at a community college (and yes it's a tenure line job). I find it so interesting that he spent a great deal of time talking about the evolution of the dissertation. He knows that community colleges are one of the few areas in the academy that offer jobs. (And don't kid yourself: those are not easy to get, either.) But he doesn't seem to understand that during most CC interviews, you're not asked at all about your dissertation. So, the nature of the dissertation doesn't matter at all. You're not going to be asked about it.

He talked about digital teaching, but he doesn't seem to understand that one of the hottest jobs out there is a corporate course designer. They can make a lot. But he hasn't even used the term course designer once. He also doesn't talk about the piles of educational content companies that employ PhDs. While Cassuto's book is interesting, it's not very savvy about possibilities for people who actually have to earn a living.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graduate school in the arts and science prepares students for jobs that don’t exist and it teaches them to want those jobs above all others (2). This book offers a constructive and hopeful re-envisioning of doctoral education (21). It is organized around nine challenges in graduate education: career diversity, admissions and attrition, student support and time to degree, curriculum and exams, advising, pedagogical training, the dissertation, public scholarship, and diversifying the cohort. It asks: how can we create the best conditions for thoughtful change? The book offers two primary answers: first, give the person in charge (the graduate dean) enough power to do things and second, look at the process to see what is working and what is not (31). To that end, the book examines a previous reform movement (1990-2005) as well as current reforms from 2013 onward. This book (400+ pages) is way too long and sometimes repetitive but it is full of good ideas, many of which I’m happy to say are already being implemented by the University of Michigan English Department! My three favorite moments were:
1) I love the description of William Bowen (former President of Princeton) as “as close as academia ever came to having a godfather” (41).
2) I also like this: “Perhaps most concerning is a deadly inertia that has led us to require more and more of graduate students, as if the doctorate were the last stage of knowing, rather than a moment that leads beyond itself” (179).
3) And finally: “Who would want to fly in a helicopter piloted by someone who had been taught as much about piloting as students are taught about teaching in graduate school? That’s okay. We’ll ride the bus, even if takes three days” (243).

[Dan Gorman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provocative ideas for reforming PhD programs, along with a comprehensive reference to major PhD review studies conducted in the last 25 years.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a strong overview of past innovations that attempted to reimagine the PhD at US institutions, including why many did not live up to their promises. I appreciated.that so much. It also identifies a few of the more promising models, and locates the need for leadership in an empowered graduate dean to prioritize structural changes to implement them. I could tell that they really care about graduate school students' experiences.

That said, the book has several weaknesses. The approach of trying to weave in discussions about diversity equity and inclusion is weak. The authors explicitly rejected dedicating a chapter to it, but that seems like it would have pushed them to stronger conclusions, because diversity always came across as an afterthought. The discussion of PhDs in the sciences sections were ok, but could have been more robust. And the possible career paths beond professorships for PhDs seemed curiously out of date or just not strong examples (museum work and high school teaching for instance) where hugely growing fields were not mentioned (instructions design and e learning jobs, medical writing and medical science liaison jobs, UX/UI research jobs, etc).

Future books on the latter would benefit greatly from collaborating with or at least heavily consulting early career professionals with PhDs who work beyond academia, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds, to include their perspectives of what helped them the most and how those ideas can inform plans to revamp PhD programs.

[Zachary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a third-year graduate student in Biology. This book helped put to words many of my feelings throughout this experience. I knew early on that I didn't want to be a professor but a professional citizen scientist. It felt like a betrayal when I told my advisor this, but reading this book made me feel a lot better about my decision. This book also helped me appreciate my situation more. My advisor gives me lots of room to explore my interests within the field and is determined to get us graduated within 4-5 years.

In terms of the actual book, I felt like it was a little too long, so I ended up skimming through quite a few parts and skipping case studies. The authors intended the book to appeal to a large audience, so I think it's totally appropriate to pick though the information you find most relevant to your situation. Some other reviewers pointed out some dated information regarding these outside-academia jobs and I tend to agree. Otherwise, an interesting read.

[M Arteaga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended by Peter Krause, a PhD student in History with whom I had worked with prior in my capacity as the vice president of the graduate student council at Fordham. Peter was looking for a career in higher ed, was working with another Fordham Alum over at Princeton, and Leonard Cassuto is a Fordham professor. This book came as our discussions of my interests in higher ed leadership (director of academic admin, Dean, etc) came to fruition; I was set on being graduate student council president. I still believe in the transformative power of higher education and the need for continuous professional development.