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NEXT STORY

Full professorship

RELATED STORIES

Climbing the academic ladder
Tomas Venclova Poet
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Na, ir aš įtojau į Jeilo aspirantūrą. Aspirantūrą... aspirantūrą... gavau šiokią tokią stipendiją, taip pat paėmiau paskolą iš universiteto, kurią vėliau gražinau, man tas užtruko devynerius metus, grąžinti tą paskolą, ir pradėjau studijuoti. Ir per porą metų išlaikiau visus reikalingus egzaminus ir apsigyniau disertaciją. Po to man pasiūlė vadinamojo "assistant" profesoriaus vietą, tai jau yra pats žemiausias akademinis laipsnis, bet jau... alga jau kiek geresnė negu tie septyniolika tukstančių, kuriuos aš ligi tol buvau gavęs. Kie geresnė, gal porą kartų geresnė. Vis tiek skaitosi labai nedidelė. Nu, ir darbo nemažai. Ir aš, po to gali kilti akademiniais karjeros laipteliais. Po kelerių metų tau gali duoti arba gali ir neduoti "associate" profesoriaus vietą, kuri reiškia kiek reikšmingesnes pareigas ir kiek aukštesnę algą. O toliau, jau po devynerių metų, jau sprendžiama ar tau dous pilną profesorių ar neduos. Vadinamą "full professor". Pilnas profesorius tai yra aukščiausias įmanomas laipsnis, kurį Jeile labai retai kas gauna. Ypatingai jie nemėgsta duoti to laipsnio tiems, kuriuos patys išaugino. Kada žmogus Jeile išdirba devynerius metus, jis aprastai ieško darbo kitame universitete. Paprastai prastesniame, nors alga kartais būna geresnė negu Jeile, nes Jeilas yra žinomas kaip labai šykštus universitetas. Sako, kam jums tie pinigai jei jūs Jeile čia esate pasaulinės kultūros centre, tai jums pakankama konpensacija, o ten sėdėsit kur nors provincijoje, pinigus gausite geresnius, bet ten nei, nei koncertų, nei teatro, nei, nei įdomių paskaitų, nei, taip sakant, o čia jūs verdate pačiame tame pasaulinės kultūros katile. Todėl ir algos pas mus mažesnės. Na, bet reiškia, kai praėjo tie devyneri metai, aš jau buvau vedęs, o kaip aš vedžiau aš papasakojau pereitą sykį, susiradau savo seną, taip sakant, bičiulę iš Petrogrado arba Petrapilio, arba Peterburgo, tada dar Leningrado, bet jau buvo nauji laikai, jau vadavosi ir Lietuva, ir Rusija iš tarybinės valdžios. Ir iškviečiau tą savo buvusę draugę į Ameriką ir pasiūliau jai susituokti ir susituokėm.

Well, I started a post-graduate course at Yale. A post-graduate course... a post-graduate course... I got some sort of a grant, I also took out a loan from the university which I later paid back – it took me nine years to pay back that loan – and I began studying. And within a couple of years I passed all the required exams and defended my dissertation. After that I was offered the post of Assistant Professor, that’s the very lowest academic title but all the same – the salary was better than $17,000 which I had been getting up to that point – somewhat better, perhaps twice as good. But all the same it was very small. Well, there was a lot of work. And I... after that you can climb the ladder of an academic career. After several years you could be appointed to the post of Associate Professor or not, which meant a more important post and a somewhat higher salary. And in the future, after nine years, a decision would be taken as to whether you would be appointed as full professor or not, what was known as a full professor. Full professor is the highest possible title which hardly anyone gets at Yale. They in particular do not like to give that title to anyone they have trained themselves. When a person has worked at Yale for nine years, he normally looks for work at another university. Usually at a worse one, even though the salary might be better than at Yale because Yale is known as a very stingy university. They say, ‘Why do you need that money if you’re at Yale? You’re at the centre of world culture here, that’s sufficient compensation, you’ll get better money but there won’t be any concerts or theatre or... or interesting lectures, or, so to speak, and here you’re at the very heart of world culture. That’s why salaries are smaller with us’. Well, nine years went by, I was already married, and how I got married I told you last time around. I found my old friend, so to speak, from Petrograd – or Petrapilis or St Petersburg, it was still called Leningrad then, but the times were new, Lithuania and Russia were breaking away from Soviet rule – and I invited that former friend of mine to America and I suggested that we marry, and we got married.

Born in 1937, Tomas Venclova is a Lithuanian scholar, poet, author and translator of literature. He was educated at Vilnius University and later at Tartu University. As an active participant in the dissident movement he was deprived of Soviet citizenship in 1977 and had to emigrate. Between 1977 and 1980 he lectured at University of California, Berkeley, where he became friends with the Polish poet Czesław Miłosz, who was a professor of Slavic Languages and Literature at the school, as well as the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. He is currently a full professor at Yale University.

Listeners: Andrzej Wolski

Film director and documentary maker, Andrzej Wolski has made around 40 films since 1982 for French television, the BBC, TVP and other TV networks. He specializes in portraits and in historical films. Films that he has directed or written the screenplay for include Kultura, which he co-directed with Agnieszka Holland, and KOR which presents the history of the Worker’s Defence Committee as told by its members. Andrzej Wolski has received many awards for his work, including the UNESCO Grand Prix at the Festival du Film d’Art.

Tags: Yale University, Petrapilis, Saint Petersburg, Petrogard

Duration: 2 minutes, 46 seconds

Date story recorded: May/June 2011

Date story went live: 20 March 2012