写给有志申请美国文科类博士并从事教职的朋友们

昨天读了小明同学的《大学时候舒衡哲(Vera Schwarcz)教授的一些教诲》（http://www.douban.com/note/288246377/），心有戚戚，想起了本科里和导师李爷爷（Jonathan Lipman）交流漫长而愉悦的时光。今天上午拔牙，脸肿胀暂时不能出门访友，于是抽着闲暇，再爬梳一遍记忆，把当年李爷爷的一些珍贵的指导意见整理出来，希望对有志申请美国文科类博士并将来从事教职在tenure-track上的朋友们有点滴作用。 文章根据当年office hour里面的录音对话，加上记忆整理而成，，暂用英语撰文。，分为“美国大学教授真实的生活”“如何成为大学教授”“如何做文科research”“如何在博士申请中为自己增添优势”四部分。今后再慢慢添加补充。 1. What is the real life a university professor has? What part of your work makes you sigh with content and say, “This is the work I dreamt of!”? A professor's "real life" follows a rather erratic rhythm, with one kind of intensity (teaching) dominating eight months of the year and another kind (research, writing, creative work, etc.) the other four. At liberal art college, the ideal of the "scholar-teacher" means that we try to combine the two. A recent study found that a professor works 50-60 hours per week during the two semesters, somewhat less during January and the summer. We must design and teach our courses, deal with our students as individual advisees and independent studies, conduct our own research and creative projects, and "keep up with our fields," which in my case means reading over a hundred new books each year. Some elements of my job that make me sigh with contentment: a. Giving a really good lecture on a subject I know well or have recently learned, one in which all of the students' faces express some new understanding, curiosity, or question. b. Reading a difficult primary source in classical Chinese, translating it lucidly, and linking its contents to my current research project. c. Finishing a smooth, clear, original essay, whether an eight-page conference paper or a forty-page monograph, and hearing my wife (my toughest critic) say, "I really understand what you are saying here." d. Having a serious and productive conversation with a student or a colleague, one to which I can contribute some knowledge and from which I learn new things. e. Working on an independent study with a student I have taught for four years, recognizing how far she has come and how much farther she will go after she finishes Mount Holyoke. I could name hundreds more, but these will suffice for now. 2. What it takes to be a university professor? For example, what did you do in university that takes you here? Graduate work in history requires, among other things, the same four skills as learning a new language: speaking, reading, listening (comprehending), writing. It demands perseverance, intellectual curiosity, commitment to extending and transmitting the discipline, and a strong desire to help people achieve their educational goals. Learning every day becomes a habit, as does relying on others--teachers, colleagues, and students--for ideas, arguments, readings, and techniques. I majored in social psychology, so in graduate school I had to learn not only new languages (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic) but also a discipline and its rationales (how and why do we do history), academic integrity, and the skills necessary to thrive and succeed in cultures very different from my own. All of this required an ongoing self-discovery ("self-cultivation" in Chinese), which continues to this day. 3. Compare to science and engineering, humanity offers less chance for the students to carry out research. So, how to squeeze chance and opportunity? How to find a research in humanity field? On the contrary, humanities study offers a remarkable range of research possibilities, from linguistics to literature, from social history to systematic ethics. Humanistic disciplines supply both methods and subject matter for a curious learner. The discipline might define the work, but the researcher powers it with passionate engagement. Regardless of discipline, we all write our autobiographies in our research and teaching. In my case, historical method combined with the realities of East Asia (past and present) to stimulate my lifelong desire to learn, teach, and write. I had some wonderful teachers to guide and encourage me; I would like to be that kind of teacher for as many of my students as I can reach. For me, research work brings new energy to teaching, and teaching provides new insights and incentives for research. In that way, humanities do not differ much from science or engineering. Though the practical applications may not be as obvious, they certainly exist. I have often been called to present the results of my research to people who need them, policy makers, scholars, or people interested in a richer, more complex understanding of the world. You do humanities research by learning the field you have chosen and looking within yourself for the topics, sources, methods that most deeply engage you. 4. What special quality or experience that makes a student stands out when she is applying for a PhD program, high GPA, published papers, research or recommendation letters? Energetic, even passionate commitment to learning stands out as the core qualification. Self-discipline, academic skills (all four), interpersonal skills (academic institutions require skillful people!), and a good sense of humor all contribute significantly to academic success. 更多有关美国法学院\本科\研究生申请的资源，请关注小鹿留学： http://www.douban.com/photos/album/107896715/ http://shop105465191.taobao.com