quote:I frequently criticize Behe for his lack of publication in the technical literature, so to be fair I would have to criticize Myers too if he shares this quality with Behe.
Yet Myers does not parade around presenting himself as the leading scientific light of evolution or allowing others to do the same.
quote:Decreasing output is associated with increasing seniority? Hard for me to buy that.
I would have expected decreasing direct involvement with the research due to a growing coterie of grad students whose activities must be managed, but with the result of increasing publication output.
Actually, his pub record is rather typical for faculty at smaller, more teaching-oriented schools. Bringing with them their grad research and connections when they are first hired, they finish up and perhaps expand on their grad research, and then over time get bogged down with administrative and teaching duties. It happened to me, and I've seen it in every lab-science oriented faculty member that has been hired at my school since I've been here, and form discussions with colleagues elsewhere, the trend seems to be the same. A decreased research/publication output, however, does not in any way mean that one is further removed from what is going on. In fact, when one is not so concerned with one's own specific research area, one has the time to indulge their other interests and curiosities. I would agree that his lack of recent publications would be an issue but only if he were presenting himself as some sort of expert, like Wells does.
quote:I'm suggesting that he would be a full professor by now, unless his publication rate is below expectations.
That would certainly be the case at a big R1 school, but UMM is not one, and there are many other issues that go into such promotions, to include things like time in rank requirements, university service, etc. We have a chemist here who has been here for 30 years and is still an associate professor because he does not do much service and has not done any research since he's been here, and one of his colleagues is a full professor, even though he has also not published anything but has been very active in university service and has won several teaching awards.
Point is, it is very hard to judge one person's faculty rank without knowing the criteria used and other factors.
Re: The video of the Q&A session following PZ's talk.
derwood writes: That JonathanM seems to think rather highly of his amazing scientific skills....
It is consistent with my experience as an educator, that seriously ignorant people greatly overestimate their own knowledge.Fundamentalism - the anti-American, anti-Christian branch of American Christianity
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