Moved from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
Gfactor
General Questions Moderator
[QUOTE=Morrison]
My wife is currently a professional who would eventually like to teach at the university level. Because she will surely need a masters degree in her field to do so, she is currently applying to various programs. However, it has come to our attention that the more prestigious universities will not recognize masters degrees from certain schools. Is there a way to ensure that the masters degree she chooses to attain will qualify her to teach at the university level?
Thanks for any guidance…
[/QUOTE]
Not an answer to your question, but I would point out that in many fields, there is a huuuuuuge imbalance between tenure track university level teaching positions and applicants with the necessary credentials.
Before your wife spends the time and money getting an advanced degree, she needs to investigate this issue very carefully. There are a lot of professor wannabe’s out there who are unemployed or (possibly worse) working as adjuncts.
Do some web searches for “unemployed” “phd” “bitter” “adjunct” and “academic job market”
[QUOTE=ultrafilter]
The MBA is not a terminal business degree. There is a doctorate in business. Most schools refer to it as a DBA, but some award PhDs as well.
[/QUOTE]
You can get a doctorate in business, but many tenured professors only have MBAs (or MBTs in Tax). Particularly at a state school level. Harvard Business School may be different (although I’ve never seen Kaplan referred to as Dr. Kaplan where Norton is referred to as Dr. Norton - so I suspect even there it isn’t required).
Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor writes:
> My Grandfather taught at U of Penn at Pittsburgh, & he had only a Bachelor’s.
In what year? Things have changed over time. The educational requirements for teaching at university level have increased quite a bit. Incidentally, I can’t find anything that says there was ever any campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. It’s always been in Philadelphia.
Why doesn’t she look up the CVs of profs who teach broadcasting at various reputable schools, and see where they studied?
[QUOTE=BlinkingDuck]
Ex College Math prof with Masters degree checking in…
If you wish to teach at a 2-year school AND have a degree in a field with demand (Math, hard sciences etc) then you can teach.
However, if you want to teach at Univesity as a Prof or a 2-year school in a field not in the above then you pretty much need a Ph.D.
I don’t think your mileage may vary.
[/QUOTE]
I teach English at 2-year colleges, and very few of my colleagues have PhDs. Most of us have MAs.
One of the two-year colleges I work for specializes in court reporting, and a lot of the people there only have BAs - the ones teaching subjects like “Legal Terminology.” I daresay most vocational schools are in similar situations.
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner]
Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor writes:
> My Grandfather taught at U of Penn at Pittsburgh, & he had only a Bachelor’s.
In what year? Things have changed over time. The educational requirements for teaching at university level have increased quite a bit. Incidentally, I can’t find anything that says there was ever any campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. It’s always been in Philadelphia.
[/QUOTE]
1–you are right. I got the name wrong.
2–Art & Music occasionally get a “pass”, as a gifted painter or sculptor, pianist or violinist, has much to teach, even if he has little formal training.
So what college did your grandfather teach at and in what years?
[QUOTE=alphaboi867]
Or if the terminal degree in your field isn’t normally a doctorate. An MFA is sufficient for the fine arts or drama while and MBA is for business. And as you pointed out even where a doctorate is required there are exeptions. Just look and Vivian Vance or Neil Armstrong.
[/QUOTE]
I’d say Neil Armstrong had special qualifications. 
[QUOTE=ratatoskK]
Why doesn’t she look up the CVs of profs who teach broadcasting at various reputable schools, and see where they studied?
[/QUOTE]
This seems like the best advice yet. Like others have said, there are plenty of people who want to teach at the university level, so see what combination of experience and education might get your wife in the door. I would add that she should focus on the people who were hired more recently, because their credentials are more likely to resemble those she needs (as opposed to the folks who started the departments).
[QUOTE=Morrison]
My wife is currently a professional who would eventually like to teach at the university level. Because she will surely need a masters degree in her field to do so, she is currently applying to various programs. However, it has come to our attention that the more prestigious universities will not recognize masters degrees from certain schools. Is there a way to ensure that the masters degree she chooses to attain will qualify her to teach at the university level?
Thanks for any guidance…
[/QUOTE]
If a school is accredited by one of the Associations of Colleges and Schools such as http://www.sacs.org/, that’s pretty much the seal of approval.
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner]
So what college did your grandfather teach at and in what years?
[/QUOTE]
I checked with my Dad, as my memory is faulty.
He says University of Pittsburgh. No dates available.
In any case, your grandfather taught there a long time ago. Degree requirements for teaching are tougher these days than they used to be, even in art and music.
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner]
Incidentally, I can’t find anything that says there was ever any campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. It’s always been in Philadelphia.
[/QUOTE]
Pennsylvania’s a funny place when it comes to state universities (and the whole nomenclature of state universities in general is probably too complex for human comprehension).
The name of the school is the University of Pittsburgh, not University of Pennsylvania at Pittsburgh. It calls itself “semi-public” or “state-related”. I think Penn State calls itself something similar. Just to confuse the issue, there is a “University of Pennsylvania” that is a private school… Pitt and Penn State get state funding, like a normal state university, and give discounts to in-state students like a normal public university, but they’re not quite public schools.
The long and short of it is, there is no University of Pennsylvania at Pittsburgh, but there is a public university (or the closest thing Pennsylvania has to it) in Pittsburgh.
Pitt has had other names in the past, though it’s been the University of Pittsburgh since 1908. Before that, it was called Western University of Pennsylvania since 1819. It has never been called the University of Pennsylvania at Pittsburgh.
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee]
I teach English at 2-year colleges, and very few of my colleagues have PhDs. Most of us have MAs.
One of the two-year colleges I work for specializes in court reporting, and a lot of the people there only have BAs - the ones teaching subjects like “Legal Terminology.” I daresay most vocational schools are in similar situations.
[/QUOTE]
I hope that is true.
One of my ‘quasi-retirement plans’ is to go back and do this, once age discrimination kicks in for me.
Anne Neville writes:
> The long and short of it is, there is no University of Pennsylvania at Pittsburgh,
> but there is a public university (or the closest thing Pennsylvania has to it) in
> Pittsburgh.
Yes, I know which universities in Pennsylvania are public and which are private (and I know most of the names of the universities in Pennsylvania). I knew that Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor probably either meant the University of Pittsburgh (in which case he got the name of the university wrong) or he meant the University of Pennsylvania (in which case he got the city wrong). The problem I had with his post was that he was mentioning his grandfather’s teaching experience as if it had some current relevance to the question of whether someone without a Ph.D. can teach at a university. Since he got the name of the university wrong, I was suspicious of whether he got the rest of the story right.
I don’t know how old Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor is. If he’s 20, it’s possible that his grandfather only retired from teaching recently. If he’e 60, then it’s more likely that his grandfather retired from teaching about forty years ago and thus might have been hired by the University of Pittsburgh about seventy years ago. Things have changed in academia a lot over seventy years. The educational requirements for professors have tightened up in that time. It’s possible that someone might have gotten hired to teach at a regular university with just a master’s degree or even just a bachelor’s degree seventy years ago, even in a core academic subject (and in art and music it was even easier). These days it’s harder to get hired without a Ph.D. And that’s my point. Morrison’s wife should not rely on old stories about people being hired to teach at a university. She should investigate what degrees are necessary now for teaching at university level.
Skip the master’s degree and go straight to doctorate. I’ve seen it done at Vanderbilt University.
I’m 45.