Karen,
Your questions have a contextual nature to them, that is, there are no
universal answers but only relative ones.
In the USA, where I teach, the general rule about PhDs in design education
has only become relevant over the last decade or so. Until then the MFA had
been the so-called terminal degree in design education. However, the
situation is changing especially in what are called research-intensive
universities. The PhD is becoming more and more de rigueur, especially in
those cases where faculty members are expected to attract research grants
and must often deal with granting agencies that expect a PhD as a minimal
qualification--implicitly at least. For example, the last three teaching
appointees in the College of Design at Arizona State University (where I
teach) all had PhDs.
Furthermore, more universities in the USA are offering doctoral education in
design and therefore require that faculty members have PhDs to be involved
in such programs.
That said, one can certainly do research without a PhD. And, in the context
of the USA, professorships (referring here to the rank of full professor)
are also granted to faculty members without PhDs.
This requirement may not, however, affect those design colleges in the USA
that are situated in a fine-arts environment and that remain focused on
educating designers with little expectation of research from their faculty.
I hope that my answer has shed some light.
Jacques Giard, PhD
Professor and Director
Cross-College Programs
BA/MSD/PhD
College of Design
Arizona State University
PO Box 2105
Tempe, AZ 85287-2105
T 480.965.1373
F 480.965.9656
The College of Design‹of the top global D-Schools as selected by
BusinessWeek
On 12/3/06 9:30 AM, "Karen" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I had actually posted this topic over at ID forum and
> two somebodies advised me, a small nobody, to
> put my questions over here to everybody about the following questions.
> One said it would be good to post it here for discussion and the other
> promised me that most professors here don't bite...Honestly, I was and am
> still hesitant to post but I promised them I would post it after the
> interesting
> debate on gender. So here I am with 2 main queries and I post them
> in original state without modifications:
>
> 'is a PhD that important when it comes to research and study ?
> -Is it that essential for lectureship and professorship ?
>
> I realize that many educational establishments seem to require one to have
> written a list of papers published together with a string of certificates.
> While this is important, my impression is it seems to have a heavier
> weightage than other creative and character qualities which are
> desirable to teaching.'
>
>
> Have a good weekend,
> Karen Fu
>
>
>
>
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