Time-to-degree distorts success

University of Iowa Provost Wallace Loh is right to confirm that student outcomes and student success are better measurements of a graduate program's success than the time-to-degree. In classics, for instance, all of our doctorates in the last 10 years have been hired in academic positions and all but two (both job hunting during the current financial crisis) have received tenure-track positions.

All our MATS (as well as BAS with teaching certificates) have job offers before they finish their degree because of the nationwide need for Latin teachers.

Those who took longer than normal to get their degree did so precisely because they were hired before their dissertations were done. In these cases, the time-to-degree measurement wrongly takes successful graduate students and makes them into statistics showing the opposite.

We are training teachers and scholars for real-world positions in a complex and demanding field. Our students must be flexible and respond to opportunities when they arise. The fact that others are measuring time-to-degree does not therefore make it a useful indicator of success. Over the last two years, we have taken steps to manage time-to-degree issues, but we remain concerned about it as a legitimate measurement. Loh's more nuanced approach in this context is encouraging.

Carin M.C. Green

Professor/ chair of classics

University of Iowa