This paper examines the empirical anomaly that in a sample of 5811 patents on which US faculty are listed as inventors, 26% of the patents are assigned solely to firms rather than to the faculty member's university as is dictated by US university employment policies or the Bayh Dole Act. In this paper we estimate a series of probability models of assignment as a function of patent characteristics, university policy, and inventor fields in order to examine the extent to which outside assignment is nefarious or comes from legitimate activities, such as consulting. Patents assigned to firms (whether established or start-ups with inventor as principal) are less basic than those assigned to universities suggesting these patents result from faculty consulting. A higher inventor share increases the likelihood of university assignment as compared with assignment to a firm in which the inventor is a principal but it has no effect on consulting with established firms versus assignment to the university. Faculty in the physical sciences and engineering are more likely to assign their patents to established firms than those in biological sciences.
Numerous essays exist on the lived experiences of academics from working‐class or poverty‐class origins. Yet, to date, there exists no systematic analysis of the class origins of university faculty members. This study utilizes surveys from a random sample of full‐time university professors at all 95 Canadian universities affiliated with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) to analyze the ways in which socioeconomic background impacts experiences within university and graduate school. Findings indicate that several measures of socioeconomic background are indeed significant predictors of this experience. Qualitative data reveal that working‐class faculty members are hyper‐aware of the ways in which their class backgrounds affected their educational trajectories; while conversely, academics from middle‐class backgrounds were also reflective about the ways in which they were privileged. The paper concludes with implications for developing public policy that shifts focus away from apolitical discussions of diversity, toward promoting inclusivity for those from working‐class or lower‐income backgrounds.Il existe de nombreux travaux concernant les expériences vécues par des académiques qui font parties de différentes classes sociales, particulièrement les classes ouvrières. Par contre, jusqu'à date, il n'existe aucune analyse systématique concernant les classes d'origines des membres du corps professoral qui travaillent aux universités. Cette étude utilise des enquêtes qui ont été obtenues avec un échantillon aléatoire de professeurs qui travaillent à temps plein aux 95 universités Canadiennes affiliées avec "L'association des Universités et Collèges du Canada" (AUCC). Cette étude analyse les façons que le statut socio‐économique de la famille affecte les expériences à l'université et aux études supérieures. Les résultats quantitatifs démontrent que plusieurs mesures de statut socio‐économique prédisent ces expériences. En plus, les résultats qualitatifs démontrent que les membres du corps professoral qui viennent la classe ouvrière sont très conscients des façons que leur statut socio‐économique affecte leurs trajectoires académiques. Par contre, les membres du corps professoral qui viennent la classe moyenne sont aussi conscients et même réfléchissant des façons qu'ils sont privilégiés à cause de leur statut socio‐économique. Les résultats indiquent la nécessité de développer des politiques publiques qui détourne l'attention et les discussions apolitiques sur la diversité, aux discussions sur les façons de promouvoir, aux universités, l'inclusion de ceux qui viennent des milieux socio‐économiques inférieurs et défavorisés.
The study aimed at identifying democratic practices among members of the faculty at the Private University of Jerash from the viewpoint of its students. The study sample consisted of (450) students in the academic year 2007/2008. A questionnaire was used to measure the degree of application consisting of (35) paragraphs distributed over four areas. The results of the study showed that the majority of the democratic practices of members of the faculty at the Private University of Jerash were average for all the four fields of study: justice, equality, freedom of expression, course study and teaching style. Results showed that there were no statistically significant differences attributable to the gender variable and specialization, while they demonstrated the existence of statistically significant differences attributable to the scholastic year variable. In light of the results of this study, the researcher presented a set of recommendations which will hopefully serve to raise the awareness of the concept and practice of democracy and commitment to its fullest at the Private University of Jerash.
