The Big Bang Theory "The Tenure Turbulence" (OAD 4/4/2013, Spoilers)

I think it makes it crystal clear what positions they have: Nothing that even vaguely resembles any position a faculty member at a research university has ever had.

Tenure is not competitive. You earn tenure by winning a tenure-track position (i.e., an Assistant Professorship), and then putting in several years of fairly grueling teaching and research. You then apply for tenure, and are granted or denied it on the basis of the quality of your teaching and research.

If somebody with tenure dies, it doesn't mean they give somebody else tenure. It just means there is an opening in the department. It might be filled by a tenured professor (from another institution), or a tenure-track position (filled by a national job search).

But this show, as has been noted in the past, does not take place in an actual physics department. It takes place on a sit-com set, where behavior and situations are governed by the desire to make millions of people laugh, not by what happens in physics departments.

 

But adjunct lecturers aren't eligible for tenure. In fact, adjunct lecturers are hired for the very purpose of having teachers to whom you never have to give tenure.

Nope, it's clearly just fantasy-land, with no correlation whatsoever to real academic life.

Four posts, and we're still on topic!

Wow, Penny's breasts sure looked feloniously drunk tonight...

 

Advertisements

Hello Big Guns!

 

They could just be (non adjunct) Lecturers. Lecturers can be given tenure and are part of the faculty, but do not hold the title of "Professor". My mother was a tenured lecturer for the University of California for 30 years (until she died).

Of course, Lecturers don't typically do research. They only teach.

 

As a matter of fact, yes, yes they are.

 

Penny..your shoes are untied.

 

Penny's dress.

Dayum.

 

They're real and they're spectacular.

 

And of course The Boys rarely do research, and never teach.

Arguing about what faculty positions The Boys have is like arguing about what basketball position Derek Jeter plays. It could get lively, sure, but it would be utterly meaningless.

 

Let's bring this discussion back on topic? Can we have more discussions and screengrabs of "The Girls". - Penny's girls, that is!

Yowza!

 

What were the lines?

Leonard "Do it"
Penny removes her jacket for the 'reveal'
Sheldon "Did she do it yet?"

 

Actually, I think it was a memorial service.




Bazinga!!

 

I have to say, Raj's reaction to "the pups' was priceless!

 

So has Raj taken the drunken criminal title from Penny??

 

Nice.

 

May they REST in peace...

 

I'm a psychic GENIUS.

 

I was waiting for that.