The APDA Blog

Philosophy PhD Programs: University of Georgia and Tulane University

Carolyn Dicey Jennings -

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are University of Georgia and Tulane University. These programs were chosen randomly, using an app called "Pickster." (Next week's picks are listed at the bottom of this post.) I updated this information myself, using the program's placement page and what I could find online. I aim to construct these posts with an eye to what can be seen about the programs from the APDA data set alone. This information has come from several sources, including current students and graduates. Prospective graduate students should look at the websites for the programs, linked above, for more complete information. The running tally includes select numbers from all of the programs covered so far.

tl;dr

  • Both Georgia and Tulane are small to mid-sized programs, but few graduates were participants in the survey
  • Georgia's permanent academic placement is about average, whereas Tulane's is below average
  • Both have a specialization in History and Traditions
  • Both have below average gender diversity and about average racial/ethnic diversity

Overall placement, 2012-present
Georgia appears to have had 25 graduates in this period, whereas Tulane appears to have had 27. Of Georgia's 25 graduates, 18 went into academic employment, and they placed 8 of these into tenure-track or other permanent academic positions (44%), with 1 of these in a program that offers a PhD in philosophy (6%). Tulane placed 7 into permanent academic positions of 24 in academic positions (29%), with 1 in a philosophy program with a PhD (4%). Of Georgia's other graduates, 7 are in other temporary academic positions, 7 are in nonacademic positions, and 3 have no or unknown placement. Of Tulane's other graduates, 4 are in postdoctoral or fellowship positions, 11 have other temporary academic placements, 3 are in nonacademic positions, and 2 have no or unknown placement. Too few graduates from either program provided salary information or job preference to report.

Note that removing nonacademic positions from the total number of graduates is a new standard for this project. According to the old standard, the overall proportion of 2012-2016 graduates from the 135 programs tracked by APDA in permanent academic positions is 36%, with 11% in PhD granting programs. The current database values for all 2012 and later graduates according to the new standard are 43% and 14%, respectively, with an overall average salary of $68,542 and 90% who prefer an academic job.

Areas of Specialization, by Category
Including all past and current students in the APDA database, 29% of Georgia students are in LEMM, 26% are in Value Theory, 42% are in History and Traditions, and 3% Science, Logic and Math. 14% of Tulane students are in LEMM, 35% are in Value Theory, 51% are in History and Traditions, and 0% are in Science, Logic and Math. For Georgia, the plurality of graduates 2012 onward placed into permanent academic positions were in History and Traditions (50%), as were the majority from Tulane (57%).

Note that the current database values for all past graduates and current students are 28% in LEMM, 34% in Value Theory, 24% in History and Traditions, and 14% in Science, Logic, and Math.

Diversity
Including all past graduates and current students, 27% of those from Georgia are women, as are 20% of Tulane students.

29% is the overall proportion reported by APDA in 2017. The current database percentage is 31% for all past graduates and current students.

Including all past graduates and current students, 20% of those who answered questions about race and ethnicity from Georgia and 14% from Tulane identified as something other than White, non-Hispanic.

13% is the overall proportion reported by APDA in 2017. The percentage from the Diversity and Inclusivity survey is 14%. The current database percentage is 20%, but this is likely inflated relative to the true population due to some of our data gathering efforts.

Too few graduates from either program provided SES information to report.

The percentage of all survey respondents who are first generation college students is 23.4%, compared to 31% for all United States doctoral degree recipients in 2015.

Georgia students provided one public comment on how philosophy could be more inclusive:

More inclusiveness in what we teach would certainly help: Even if any given faculty member by definition cannot be a role model for every student, a more diverse set of authors taught in introductory classes can provide opportunities for students to see people like themselves as philosophers.

as did Tulane students:

N/A. I worry that proactive measures will have, unintentionally, the opposite effect. My concern is that, insofar as increasing the number of marginalized groups is an explicit criteria of admissions & hiring, (a) lead to the tokenization of qualified marginalized people, without undermining bias against them (us) and (b) that the danger of this will lead successful marginalized people to be unsure whether they merited their present position or were merely a token hire.

Program Rating

Too few students/graduates from Georgia or Tulane responded to questions regarding their program to report.

"Somewhat likely," 4.0, is the average rating reported in 2017. The current database overall average is the same, with an average of 3.7 for teaching, 3.9 for research, and 3.7 for financial support.

Public Comments

Georgia students did not provide public comments on the program.

Tulane students provided one public comment on the program overall:

I would only recommend the program to students who wished to study agency and responsibility or political philosophy.

Next week I hope to look at Macquarie University and Carnegie Mellon University. Feedback is welcome, at apda@ucmerced.edu.

Link to this post at: https://academic-placement-data-and-analysis.ghost.io/philosophy-phd-programs-university-of-georgia-and-tulane-university/