Notices of the American Mathematical Society
The following letter has been sent to all Ph. D. granting mathematics departments November 11, 1975 Dear Colleague: The Council of the American Mathematical Society, at its meeting on 19 August 1975, asked me to address a letter to all chairmen of mathematics departments which award the Ph. D. degree, concerning the present employment situation. At present most graduate students working toward a Ph. D. in "pure" mathematics hope for an academic career, and it is likely that the vast majority of these Ph. D. •s will remain dependent on teaching for their long term employment. You certainly know that new Ph. D. 1s in mathematics have difficulties finding their first academic jobs, and that people have difficulties, perhaps even greater difficulties, in getting a second job. The AMS Committee on Employment and Educational Policy estimates, on the basis of careful studies, that for several years to come, the number of new long term posi tions in colleges and universities will be substantially lower than the current production rate of Ph. D.'s in "pure" mathematics. I refer you, for more precise information, to R. D. An derson's "Doctorates and Jobs", Notices AMS, November 1974 and to Wendell Fleming's "Future Job Prospects for Ph. D.'s in the Mathematical Sciences", Notices AMS, December 1975. While long term predictions in such matters are sometimes unreliable (the very opti mistic predictions in the so-called COSRIMS Report of 1968 were also made by competent people on the basis of careful studies) we must face the present difficulties and the difficul ties which we will certainly encounter in the foreseeable future, responsibly.
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