Where are GIS Professors Hired From?

A
study
that
was
just
accepted
for
publication
by

Cartography
and
Geographic
Information
Science
(CaGIS)
Journal
takes
a
look
at
geographic
hiring
patterns
among
GIScience
faculty.
Titled
“Where
are
GIScience
Faculty
Hired
from?
Analyzing
Faculty
Mobility
and
Research
Themes
Through
Hiring
Networks”
the
examines
where

GIS
faculty
come
from,
how
they
move
across
the
globe,
and
how
academic
networks
in
GIScience
are
formed
through
mobility
and
recruitment. 
The
analysis
was
conducted
by
a
research
team
led
by
Prof.
Yuhao
Kang
at
the
University
of
Texas
at
Austin
and
Yanbing
Chen
of
the
University
of
Wisconsin–Madison.

GISphere
Project
data

The
study
is
based
on
a
database
compiled
by

the
GISphere
Project—containing
summary
information
on
more
than
400
GIS
programs
and
nearly
1,000
GIS
faculty
from
over
380
universities
worldwide.
Data
was
collected
from
departmental
websites,
academic
profiles
(such
as
ORCID
and
LinkedIn),
and
other
public
sources. The
analysis
for
this
study
focused
on
tenure-track
faculty
to
capture
those
actively
involved
in
mentoring
and
research.

Where
GIS
faculty
are
educated
influences
their
placement

The
study
found
two
strong
geographic
patterns:

1. A
   handful
   of
   global
   institutions
   led
   in
   terms
   of
   overall
   placements.

   Wuhan
   University,
   Chinese
   Academy
   of
   Sciences,
   University
   of
   California
   Santa
   Barbara,
   and
   Ohio
   State
   University
   accounted
   for
   15.43%
   of
   global
   faculty
   placements.

2. There
   is
   a
   strong
   regional
   bias
   in
   placements.

   The
   study
   found
   that
   many
   faculty
   members
   are
   hired
   by
   institutions
   within
   the
   same
   region
   where
   they
   earned
   their
   PhD,
   emphasizing
   strong
   local
   recruitment
   networks.
   Regional
   clustering
   is
   especially
   prominent
   in
   
   North
   America
   and
   Europe,
   where
   hiring
   practices
   typically
   favor
   domestic
   or
   nearby
   graduates.

This
study
builds
on
previous
work
by
the
authors
presented
at
Spatial
Knowledge
and
Information
Canada
2023:

Investigating
Demographics
and
Mobility
through
Faculty
Hiring
Network
in
GIScience

Go to Source
Author: Caitlin Dempsey