Professor job at B&M school with a doctorate earned online?

Warning This poll is unscientific, oversimplified and, according to some, unethical. It ignores the nuances of the problem and it trashes the concepts. Enjoy!
How likely is it that you can land a full-time professorship at a traditional university if you earned your doctorate online? Given equal experience with other applicants who earned their doctorate butt-in-seat. I'm talking about a traditional, full-time professor who teaches classes in person before students who are present in the room. I'm not talking about a part-time adjunct who teaches online classes.

Please note: I am not seeking an answer on this for myself or for anyone else. I was just interested to know the general consensus that board members have on the idea. I also thought this might be useful for the many individuals who visit our board hoping to become a professor with a doctorate that was earned online.

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At a small college or university or a community college, I'd say a person has a fair chance. At a major state university or large, private university, I'd say the chances are much less.

 

This is a nuanced question. The poll will not accommodate nuance. Thus, the results will be less-than-useful. Also, since it is assured that almost all of the respondents will not either (a) have DL doctoral degrees or (b) have been full-time professors at B&M universities, the informants will be less-than-helpful.

Finally, there is a huge difference between "full-time" (the term used in the OP's first post) and "tenure-track," which is the last choice in the survey. Which is it?

Here's an example of the nuance that gets trashed by this kind of poll: Full-time? The DL degree can be invaluable. Tenure-track? Much less so.

 

I think there might be a difference between the acceptance of doctoral degrees earned online at non-traditional schools vs those earned online at traditional schools. For example, let's say I live in North Texas. If I earned my degree at University of North Texas, not only would the school have name recognition as a decent public school all over Texas, but everyone will probably assume that I attended on ground. Even though I live 3.5 hours away from San Angelo, people who didn't know me while I was attending always assume that I attended Angelo State University on ground. On the other hand, if I earned my doctorate at University of Phoenix, that would raise huge, red flags.

 

I agree but would like to add that the definition of an online doctorate is very vague. Dr,
Robert W. McGee for example earned a Doctorate from Warwick by publication and works as a tenure track faculty. Can a doctorate earned by publication considered an online doctorate? Other examples are research doctorates that do not require residency from B&M schools that is quite common in the UK and Australia, can these be considered online?
Is an online doctorate a degree from a virtual institution with no physical presence such as NorthCentral?
What about degrees that are blended that use online courses and residency such as the PhD from university of Idaho or Colorado State?

My take is that is the reputation of the institution and the CV of individual that matters the most and not the delivery mode. A PhD from Warwick by publication should have no trouble getting a tenure track in my opinion.

 

I have an online doctorate and on the tenure-track at a small ACBSP accredited institution.

Like many of the others, the doctorate is just one piece of the puzzle. Experience, publications, conferences, etc. all weigh into the mix. Sadly, as a member of Capella University's Alumni LinkedIn board, I see time and time again that people just think that the doctorate is going to open the door wide open. I like to point out that I did adjunct work for several years before packing up my family and moving to rural Wisconsin to teach at a Tribal Community College for very little money.

At my current position, the doctorate is a "check the box" requirement. It was my experience that got me the job.

Also, I am realistic enough to know that my Capella PhD isn't going to open the door at an R1. It's all about knowing the realistic expectations of the market.

 

It's intentionally generalized, maybe trashed, but it serves my intention. I believe, possibly incorrectly, that the information in this overly simplified form will be useful to searchers who do not posses the experience that you and a few others do. Your patience and cooperation is greatly appreciated.

 

I think that the perception of the online doctorate in academia is not that great but it depends a lot on how you present the degree. Let's say that a non tenured faculty with a solid masters degree has a great reputation and is doing a PhD from UNISA mainly because financial reasons, the faculty member has great publications and an amazing resume, the faculty member defends his choice by explaining that the dissertation adviser at UNISA is a leader in his field and explains that the degree was not earned online but in external mode from a government sponsored institution. In this case I would say that the faculty member can have a good change of a tenure track in spite of a distance learning (or online) degree.

On the other side of the coin, we have a person that finished a BS degree from an online institution with poor reputation, the individual cannot find work in his field so he or she decides to enroll in another online Masters degree from another online institution mainly because he or she cannot get a good score in the GMAT and this second institution offers open admissions to the student. After the masters degree, the person still cannot find work in his or her chosen area of study, then he or she decides to enroll in a PhD program but because the Masters degree from a low reputation school, the person has a hard time getting admission to a better PhD and also cannot get a good score in the GMAT so enrolls at third online institution with open admission with the hopes to find full time academic work mainly because he or she heard that there is a shortage of business professors and thinks that the PhD might be a ticket to get full time employment. However, the individual is working a field non related to the field of study and has no publications nor teaching experience. The individual is expecting that the PhD is going to do the magic trick by itself but the he or she is disappointed because after sending 500 resumes there is not a single response. The individual blames his online degrees for the failure.

Two different scenarios with two different probabilities of success.

 

Thank you for getting the joke! Unlike, ahem, some people. :smile:

 

This violates ethical principles regarding research involving humans. It serves as a warning to anyone participating in a poll on this site.

 

You mean our votes are not anonymous. Oh, boy! LOL.

 

When I was working on my Ph.D. with NCU, it was never my goal to work at a traditional University. However, after earning my degree, I applied to a local state university, mostly on a whim, and was given an interview and hired. Yes, it could have worked into tenure track, as we were encouraged to go to meetings and told what types of things we would need to do in hopes of earning tenure. But I was already in my early 50s and would be getting close to retirement age by the time I earned tenure so I decided I did not want to put that much time and energy into earning tenure. I enjoyed my year working there but decided to go back to teaching fully online as I was doing before. I did get some additional work (teaching online) that required a doctorate.
In addition to the State University, I also applied at a local community college and I believe they were ready to hire me full time as well, but I had to let them know I had chosen the four year state university instead. The interviewers at these institutions did not ask me even one question about my doctorate, nor say anything about it being "online." The 4 yr. institution was very interested in my online teaching experience, though and I do believe that played a positive role in them hiring me since they wanted me to "be able" to teach online classes since they also offered some online Master’s Degree programs. They only had me teach one online class, which I found disappointing and probably played some part in my decision not to plan to continue with that university after one year. It seems the professors with lots of seniority and experience did want to scoop up those online courses and they were allowed to do so.
I did a lot of supervising student teachers; in fact that was my entire workload my second term there. I also enjoyed that, but had to travel a lot and our winters are brutal! I’d rather not have to travel at all in the winter so I’m doing just exactly what I want to do now.

 

Also keep in mind that different fields have differing deficits or surpluses with regard to doctorally prepared faculty. I know of a woman that got a full-time professorship at a small state because she was a PhD candidate at UoP. Now that she has the PhD from UoP she is in the running (if she is interested) in becoming the department chair.

The catch is that this is the nursing department. There is a big shortage in doctorally (particularly PhD) prepared nurse faculty. Also, this is a time when A LOT of faculty are retiring. Combine that with the fact that this is a small, 4th tier, state university, and she is MUCH more competitive here than she would be if she were in the English or Sociology department at a bigger name university.

 

BINGO! That's the right answer in academia and in other career fields. When I entered the pastoral ministry as a former Marine working on seminary degrees, I was willing to go wherever God opened a door (in my language) or wherever a job offer came from (less religious language).

That had me the pastor of a very small church in Northern Michigan ... buuuuurrrrr ... happily making a very low salary and living in a 100 year old house that only appeared to be 200 years old... and I was glad to do it.

I've since done many more things in ministry but it began with a with reasonable expectation and a willingness to do what it took to get past the "gate keepers." A similar principle applies in many areas of life - including academia.

 

I have a friend that graduated from the Univ of Florida, with a PhD in information systems. He still can't find any work at school. I guess the poll might as well state, "How hard is it to get a job at a B&M school with a doctorate...PERIOD." I think Shawn probably had it right...experience got him the job but the doctorate was a checkbox he was able to checkoff.

For me, I'm still trying to figure out what, if anything, to do with all these PhD credits from Northcentral. I'm not looking for a uni job, though. But, in my industry a PhD is looked upon very favorably.

 

My answer was intended to be sarcastic.

 

You sarcastic? Perish the thought!