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> >> Many departments don't stay in touch with > >> their PhD holders after they get their degree, and tracking all of these > >> people down would be a major headache for the entire profession. > > >This is a shameless and ridiculous lie. > > Can we maintain some semblance of civil discourse here? At most > the first statement might be an exaggeration of the difficulties involved. > Even if outright untrue (which I do not believe it to be), there is no > reason > to think that the original sender was trying to mislead. > > Tom Cravens > University of Wisconsin-Madison > Mea culpa. Seeing my sentence out of context, it might not have been clear that waht I was disbelieving was any department chair or college presdient who said it was impossible to keep track of graduates. I wasn't doubting the sender of the post. I do wonder a bit at any department chair or college president who doesn't ask the alumni office for a list of current addresses of graduates. It might even be a nice gesture. None of my three colleges has ever shown any interest in what I'm doing from the moment I graduated. All they do is dun me for money. I imagine that for people starting out in the profession, a kind word of encouragement or some interest from their college might be particularly appreciated. I would guess the civility is being overlooked because everyone thinks it's someone else's job. pat sloane %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%