A ranking has named higher education professors the least stressful job for 2013, much to the outrage of academia.
CareerCast.com created a ranking of the 10 Least Stressful Jobs for 2013. The list includes seamstress/ tailor, medical lab technician and audiologist as some of America’s least stress-producing jobs.
“The field’s high growth opportunities, low health risks and substantial pay provide a low-stress environment that’s the envy of many career professionals,” the website reported on professors.
In a Forbes article regarding the ranking, Susan Adams explained professors are the least stressed of professionals because they get long breaks throughout the year, make a comfortable salary, enjoy good work conditions and often don’t have strict deadlines, even when they are on track for tenure.
Kim Walsh-Childers, a UF journalism professor, was not impressed by the reporting done on the story.
“It just sounds to me like the original organization that did the ranking didn’t really check their facts and made assumptions,” she said.
Faculty Senate Chair Cheri Brodeur was also not amused.
“There is no way we have the least stressful job,” she said. “We are trying to get out information to students, do research, are losing funding in every direction and are trying to do the best job possible.”
Brodeur said UF faculty and professors are often on the cutting edge of information in order to give students the best education possible. That includes teaching themselves so they can better teach students.
She said a reporter would have no idea how stressful the job was because they have never been in the shoes of a faculty member.
“There are a lot of distinguished professors,” Brodeur said. “They didn’t get there by not being stressed out.”
Kim McCall, a lecturer at the UF William and Grace Dial Center for Written and Oral Communication, said there is stress in unexpected places.
McCall worries about the students and is concerned when they don’t come to class.
“I have had two students pass away over the years,” she wrote in an email. “One passed away during Spring Break, so I am always worried over the break and thankful when all the students return.”
Although not a professor, Mary Roca, a 22-year-old first-year English master’s student, desires to be one and feels that the website didn’t consider the times that professors work outside of teaching.
Despite the potential stress level, she said she and others like her desire to teach because they love the academic community and learning more.
American Sign Language professor Glenna Ashton teaches students during her American Sign Language 2 class on Tuesday.
