>Not sure I follow that. If you want a research career, you need to
>finish your dissertation; if you want to teach, especially in the
>community college setting, the dissertation is irrelevant. Like Chris
>and Doug, I did not finish my Ph.D., and it has created no real
>obstacles in my teaching career.
Ok, teaching/research. But then you have situations like a good number of community college jobs in California being held by people with a PhD. who intended to pursue a university career but spent years on the market with no good result. Also, while in the past you could work in the California State University system and concentrate on teaching with minimal publishing requirements, it's not like that anymore. That's why I'd also question what Jordan said yesterday about the dissertation not being important. There's increasing pressure to turn the diss into a book, and quickly, to keep up with the publishing merry-go-round.
I'm glad to hear you've been able to build a teaching career without the dissertation. That's as it should be.