Ivory towers are feeling the economic pinch

"What other profession would you like to be in and what is the scenario in that profession? Do you have a crystal ball that tells you that being a computer scientist or an electrical engineer or a lawyer or a banker these days is going to be any better? If you don't, my most important selling point is the life curve of this profession. . . . It's one of the few professions I know that gets better over the years."

Sean Connolly, who earned a doctorate in comparative literature from Cornell University, wants to experience that. A French language scholar, Connolly has a temporary teaching job at the State University of New York's Stony Brook campus and has applied for about 40 others throughout the U.S. and overseas. He landed six interviews at the convention and was upbeat about them.

Still, if only part-time or low-paying offers arrive, Connolly, 32, said he'd consider careers other than being a university professor, possibly teaching at a community college or high school. "I'm not willing to work for what is essentially slave labor. I have debts to pay back," he said. "I have a future to think of. I have my health to think of. I'm not willing to sacrifice my entire well-being just to be a professor."

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larry.gordon@latimes.com