Teaching and universities/colleges

[Triskeliongirl]

I am a professor of Biochemistry at a major research university. I am expected to peform research and teach, both at a high level. I think you are misunderstanding your professors. Its not that they don't think teaching is important, the idea is that it is only by aquireing deep knowledge through your research, that you will have the knowledge base to be a really good teacher (and by teaching I mean not just in the classroom but in mentoring future PhD students), and to do this you need to be totally immersed and focussed in your research, and not distracted by a teaching assignment. Cuz teaching well is also serious business that takes total immersion until you get the hang of it, but that is something you can do later after you aquire your research skills. Also, all those exercises where you present your research, IS training in how to teach, even if it doesn't seem like it now. It was in learning how to communicate my work effectively, that I learned how to effectively lecture students.

With all this being said, I had a friend who felt as you did. So, she took a temporary position replaceing a colleague on sabbatical at a teaching college for a year between her post-doc and taking a tenure track position at a research university. But, she had a plan to continue her research through this period, primarially through a summer collaboration. And I have to tell you that it was a risky move, although for her it worked out.