'Not of faculty quality': How Penn mistreated Nobel Prize-winning researcher Katalin Karikó

Being a good scientist is NOT the same as being good faculty.

Faculty have one main job, which is to get funding. A portion of that goes to the university, which is part of how they make money. A side job is to teach, which also makes the university money. Another side job is to do service, which is really just in service of others getting money (sitting on committees, department admin, maybe museum work).

Notice that none of those jobs are doing science. Theoretically, one has to do science to get funding, but in real life it often means managing others to do science and guiding them effectively.

I’m not defending this, it sucks and is stupid and drove me out of academia. But that’s how you can be a good scientist and be bad faculty, and it happens A LOT. like often.

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Being a good scientist is NOT the same as being good faculty.
Faculty have one main job, which is to get funding. A portion of that goes to the university, which is part of how they make money. A side job is to teach, which also makes the university money. Another side job is to do service, which is really just in service of others getting money (sitting on committees, department admin, maybe museum work).
Notice that none of those jobs are doing science. Theoretically, one has to do science to get funding, but in real life it often means managing others to do science and guiding them effectively.
I’m not defending this, it sucks and is stupid and drove me out of academia. But that’s how you can be a good scientist and be bad faculty, and it happens A LOT. like often.